Last Christmas: Flint Sends Santa Packing

In Flint, even Santa Claus and his reindeer can lose their jobs. Scott Atkinson of The Flint Journal reports:

The jolly (plastic) old fellow got the ax from the city and will be up for auction along with four of his reindeer. (No word on where the other four, or Rudolph, have flown to.) Like all items up for bid in an online auction on repocast.com for city property on Tuesday, Santa's starting price is $5.

The Fires and Their Aftermath

The apartment building at 617 S. Grand Traverse burned in December of 2009. Earlier this month, it was demolished. Thanks to Mike Sargent of Sargent's Title for the photos.

A Tale of Two Bars

Rube's near the corner of Chevrolet and Flushing recently closed.

But the nearby Ambassador Bar survives.

Why Not Just Close Parts of Flint?

One particular solution to Flint's woes has come up repeatedly in conversations I've had with friends, urban planners, economists and drunk guys in bars. Sometimes they are kidding, sometimes not. The solution? Shut down entire sections of the city and concentrate the population and the city's meager resources in the areas that are still "open."

It's an interesting urban planning question, but what happens when the mayor of Flint suggests the same thing?

Kristen Longley of The Flint Journal reports:

Temporary Mayor Michael Brown made the off-the-cuff suggestion Friday in response to a question at a Rotary Club of Flint luncheon about the thousands of empty houses in Flint.

Brown said that as more people abandon homes, eating away at the city's tax base and creating more blight, the city might need to examine "shutting down quadrants of the city where we (wouldn't) provide services."

He did not define what that could mean -- bulldozing abandoned areas, simply leaving the vacant homes to rot or some other idea entirely.

Don't laugh. Youngstown, Ohio is already putting the plan into action. And as this article in American City & County shows, Flint officials have been observing the former steel town's progress. Go here to listen to an NPR podcast on Youngstown's attempt to downsize gracefully.