PLANNED SHRINKAGE IN FLINT, MICHIGAN- DEMOLISH NEIGHBORHOODS

How can you shrink a City? Planned shrinkage is the ‘new world’ solution for saving the city Flint, Michigan from the ravages of the recession. The proposal to demolish blocks of houses is an unfathomable option. Foreclosure and an exodus of people have left almost no other alternative.

Ripping down a city, feels like some Sci-Fi film when everyone flees to survive a curse, or the plague. The curse in this case is unemployment, poverty, substandard living. In reference to the notion to shrink Flint, Dan Kildee, the Genesee Country treasurer said, “Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life. We need to control it instead of letting it control us.” It sounds like a line out of the horror film “The Blob”, where a creeping crud was oozing over the city.

Quote given in New York Times, “Shrinkage is moving from an idea to a fact,” said Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective Program at the University of California, Berkeley. “There’s finally the insight that some cities just don’t have a choice.”

Houses have been vacated in droves. Local officials want to demolish blocks and whole neighborhoods before more homes are abandoned. The remaining residents would live in the condensed areas. The land of Buick would become a wasteland. A rational for Flint’s demolition proposal as stated by the city’s financial planner, “We can save $100,000 yearly in garbage pick-ups.” Some streets have only one occupied home and only one trash can for pick-up. Sad, but true.

I grew up in the Detroit suburbs. As a young model I spent time at Buick’s headquarters in Flint. I felt comfortable, at home on a sound stage as a kid, reading my school books in a prototype car that was being photographed for an advertisement, with me in it. It’s not like I’m crying over landmarks or memories lost. It’s disconcerting to contemplate the notion of abandoning a town and leaving housing and stores in only designated areas, the chosen populated zones seems surrealistic. Maybe things like this happen in Siberia, or in Russia or …anywhere other than the United States.

The Detroit area never saw a housing boon like California, for sure. I remember back in the 50’s my parents paid under $20,000 for their home. They sold it in the late 70’s and made a profit of $8,000 dollars.
The planned shrinkage debate is being considered as a feasible option by the acting mayor, Michael K. Brown proposes, “shutting down quadrants of the city.” A master plan is needed to reconstruct how the 100,000 people, many living at a poverty level will survive. There are 70+ neighborhoods in flint over a 35 mile radius. Determining which ones to be bulldozed is a hot-box for the city planners.

Downsizing has been going on in various states, like Indiana where manufacturing is a mainstay. The recession manufacturing cities is giving cause to pink slip police officers and Fire-fighters. Schools are struggling to stay open as a $15 million budget deficit threatens to close their doors.

Drastic measures are being taken. Referring to the broken cement in most of the cities sidewalks, Mr. Kildee said, “When was the last time someone walked on that? Most rural communities don’t have sidewalks. Not everyone’s going to win. But now, everyone’s losing. If it’s going to look abandoned, let it be clean and green. Create the new Flint forest — something people will choose to live near, rather than something that symbolizes failure.”

Ghost towns may be a part of the future with more of the population aggregating in smaller communities. Having less is not necessarily a bad thing, if we can provide jobs and adequate incomes for our mass population. Jim Ananich, president of the Flint City Council said, “A lot of people remember the past, when we were a successful city that others looked to as a model, and they hope. But you can’t base government policy on hope.”

Change is imminent, being hopeful empowers the people. Without hope, there is lack of positive vision – the basis of the American Dream- we can flourish in equality, and equal opportunity.
Even a sun-flower would wither and die without the flame of hope.

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