To commemorate General Motors emergence from bankruptcy, let's look back to before the beginning. These are shots of the the "ribbon wheel" that still resides in the Durant Dort Carriage Company Building, the birthplace of G.M. It's a unique, homemade keepsake that the carriage company created to honor its employees — many of whom have streets named after them in Flint.
1. "[CEO Fritz] Henderson announced several new ways that G.M. planned to reach out to customers through the Internet. A Web site called 'Tell Fritz' will let consumers offer suggestions directly to Mr. Henderson, and the company will experiment with selling vehicles through the online auction site, eBay."Thanks for the empty P.R. gesture, G.M. Do you think potential customers really believe Fritz will take regular breaks from saving a corporation on the brink of extinction to peruse random email suggestions? This reveals a lot about how G.M. regards the public. At best, the company is out of touch with its customer base. At worse, the G.M. executives think we're all a bunch of idiots.
2. "Robert A. Lutz, a G.M. vice chairman who planned to retire at the end of the year, will stay to oversee marketing and communications. Mr. Lutz, 77, is responsible for the improvements that G.M. has made in vehicle design recently, with notable examples such as the Chevrolet Malibu and the newly revived Chevrolet Camaro."Do you really want a 77-year old, regardless of his management skills, in charge of marketing a company that is notoriously alienated from the younger demographic?
I was a guest yesterday on WDET 101.9 FM, the Detroit NPR station based at Wayne State University, discussing the concept of Flint as a "college town" following my recent article in Slate.
Flint bloggers Gordon Young (left) and Gerry Godin (right) relax in the private club accessible only to those who blog about the Vehicle City. (Well, technically, the owner of the house, along with his friends and relatives, are also allowed access.)
We began the day taking in the great outdoors at Oak Park, which happens to be right next to the now-demolished Buick City plant where Gerry worked for many years.
Gerry attempts to fathom the logic behind GM tearing down a neighborhood to create more parking for their factory, and then building a park for the neighborhood they had just leveled. For good measure, G.M. then closed the factory but left the park.
Tennis at Oak Park is particularly challenging.
Just what the Michigan economy needs right about now.
Next, we toured some Flint factory sites and discovered that even though all the jobs are gone, the security guards remain. We we're told to get lost by one guard who clearly didn't know who we were.
Fine food is one luxury we enjoy as Flint bloggers. Although we could have sat in a private area at Angelo's, we chose seats near the counter.
Gerry demonstrates excellent coney-eating technique acquired by years of practice.
My technique...not so good. When the onions fell in my lap, I started to panic. Luckily, Gerry's old union president, who was eating at the counter, didn't notice me.
I tried to impress Gerry by wearing a t-shirt with a childlike drawing of a car engine on it. It's the sort of thing considered cool in San Francisco, but Gerry put me to shame with an amazing shirt commemorating the last car made at Buick City on June 29, 1999.
Next we paid a visit to our friend Bill who owns the Hardwood Smith house.
Gerry gets under the hood of Bill's 1956 Buick Century.
Who says old Buick hood ornaments weren't pedestrian friendly?
Thirty years of Buick craftsmanship and paint jobs that look a lot like primer. The '56 Century next to an '86 Century.
After a long day of all things Flint, Gerry rests on his Park Avenue and has a smoke while the birthplace of G.M. looms in the background. Notice the inexplicable one-way street sign in the background. Yes, Flint still has all those maddening one-ways. It's good to know some things don't change."Who cares what some guy that leaves town for 20 years thinks? Does he have some sort of credentials relating to Urban Planning? If not, Why the heck is this guy's opinion even news-worthy? Because he has a blog about living in Flint 20 years ago? What a waste of space."I often ask myself the same questions and reach the same conclusion.
