Rand Simberg: From Flint To Outer Space

Flint Expatriate Rand Simberg has a new book out on exploring the frontiers of space called Safe Is Not an Option. Here's how he made it from the Vehicle City to the frontiers of space exploration:

I was born and raised in Flint (my mother was born in northern Michigan, but grew up in Flint), a son of a GM executive originally from Brooklyn (first at AC, then at headquarters in Detroit). I went to Flint Central, and then (after a couple years at Mott) to Ann Arbor and got degrees in astronautical engineering. Upon graduation, I moved out to southern California to work in the space industry. I've been an independent consultant and entrepreneur for the past couple decades.
I wrote the book because I've been concerned for years that our approach to safety in human spaceflight is needlessly holding us back from opening up the high frontier. It started at a Kickstarter project to just write a long essay on the subject, but it eventually grew into a book. I'll be trying to raise money to get it on the desk of every key policy maker in Washington.

The Commonwealth of Flint

Flint Expatriate Rand Simberg has a fascinating blog called Transterrestial Musings that's tackling the idea of shutting down parts of Flint to make the rest of the city economically viable. He's getting some comments from readers who point out that Flint could go a lot further than simply turning parts of the city over to the county.

For example, why not create a commonwealth — like Puerto Rico with bad weather, good hockey, and blander food — in Michigan.

Jim Bennett says:

"This has been discussed in Detroit for a while. I suppose it the area were given back to county jurisdiction there would be no obligation for the county to provide any greater amount of police or fire services than they do to rural areas. Also, in Michigan, any unincorporated part of a county automatically is organized as a township, so there would be some vehicle for providing some governmental services locally. Rico with bad weather, in Michigan?

"Of course the Federal government could try exempting such areas from federal taxation, which would certainly revive them. That’s been proposed for DC. But that’s probably too radical, so I suppose they’ll just get torched.

"I’ve thought of the idea of taking some of the rapidly depopulating parts of the Great plains and offering them the option of becoming a commonwealth on the model of Puerto Rico. It would require the consent of the states involved, but hey, it would relieve them of a big expenditure obligation. No Senators, no presidential vote, just a non-voting delegate in the House. Still US citizens. But no federal taxes. Like the “buffalo commons” idea, only for libertarians. A 'libertarian commons.'"

Musical Tent

Flint Expatriate Rand Simberg, who writes the Transterrestrial Musings blog, checks in with a request for information on the dearly departed Musical Tent and the AC concerts.

“I was born in Flint in 1955, still have family in the area, attended Potter, Pierce, Whittier and Central, and Mott Community College, but haven't lived there since the mid seventies. (I went to Ann Arbor in 1977, then moved to California on graduation in 1980.)

“I was wondering about a couple things. One was the Musical Tent. Do you have any recollections of it? It might have been a little before your time, but it was a tent that was raised in the summer out on Dort Highway, most of the way to Clio (or even beyond toward Birch Run?) where they produced Broadway-style musicals.

“The other is the Fall and Spring AC Concerts, which were held in the IMA Auditorium in the sixties. The latter is of particular interest to me, because my father was an executive at AC, and he produced them. They had big-name stars in them (e.g., Florence Henderson, Edie Adams, Anita Bryant, in her pre-orange juice, gay bashing days, etc.), combined with the AC men’s and women's chorus and local talent.”