It's official.
The final 287 jobs at Delphi Flint East have been shipped off to Mexico, bringing to a close the eventful and illustrious manufacturing history that took place on a stretch of N. Dort Highway in Flint.
The site began as a Dort Motor Company plant; became the world headquarters of A.C. Spark Plug; and, at various points, fell under the auspices of General Motors, Delco Systems, and Delphi. As Jeremy Allen of The Flint Journal explains, the site's confusing history was peppered with bankruptcies and strikes:
On June 11, 1998, Flint East followed in the footsteps of Flint Metal
Fab, taking part in one of the longest strikes in GM history. The
54-day strike for which Flint East was a part almost stalled operations
for the entire company within two weeks.
On July 28, GM agreed to
the investment to Flint Metal Fab and to keep Flint East open until at
least 2000.The union agreed to cooperate on efforts to increase
productivity at both plants. The strike cost GM an estimated US$2.8
billion.
It's a confusing, chaotic trajectory, but the bottom line is that the place many Flintoids knew simply as Plant 43 is no more.
Is this a sign of things to come? Two big defections from the Flint Farmers' Market and its new downtown location. Jeremy Allen of mLive reports:
Two of the biggest vendors at the Flint Farmers' Market say they won't follow the market when it moves to downtown Flint in 2014, instead opting to join a proposed new market set to open in Davison in May 2014.
Coykendall
Produce owner Sandy Coykendall and the owner of Knob Hill Meats, Tom
Alex, said that they won’t make the move from the Flint Market’s
location at 420 E. Boulevard Drive to downtown because it’s not in the
businesses' or their customers' best interests.
Looking for a way to help Flint businesses prosper? Consider a Kiva loan. Jeremy Allen of The Flint Journal describes how it works:
Kiva is the world’s first online lending platform which enables
members of the community to act as a business' collective lender through
the use of microloans. The microloans allow community
members to make loans ranging from $25- $5,000 to business owners, with
hopes that it leads to the building of vibrant communities.
Michigan Corps recently launched Kiva Flint to specifically target businesses in the Vehicle City.
Three Flint small businesses are currently raising funds for their expansion and growth, and we would greatly appreciate your help in building a community around these businesses.
There are generally two things we are looking for from people:
1 - Lend directly to one of these great Flint businesses.
2 - Spread the word and share these pages widely. Online mediums are best (email, social media, etc), but anything helps!
Here are the borrower's respective links:
https://zip.kiva.org/loans/1255/i/pey
https://zip.kiva.org/loans/1254/i/e4p
https://zip.kiva.org/loans/1246/i/0db
