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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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What Synder's representative, Harvey Hollins, seems to be saying is "no money for Flint's north end".! What the artcle doesn't say is that Hollins and his organization are paid for by foundations and not the taxpayers. So where does his loyalty lie?
"Ignite The Fire" panelists talk economic expansion in Flint, Genesee County
Published: Saturday, May 12, 2012, 4:48 PM Updated: Saturday, May 12, 2012, 4:49 PM
By William E. Ketchum III | wketchum@mlive.com
Brett Carlsen | MLive.comPastor Reginald G. Flynn, D. Min at Word of Life Christian Church leads attendees in a prayer to start Saturday's "Ignite The Fire" event. Word of Life Christian Church holds a convocation about economic empowerment for their 5th anniversary.
FLINT, MI—"The people in this community need to get married," said Phillip Shaltz, "and this is the first date. Hopefully, we all want to go on a second date."
The president of Shaltz Automation and vice chair of Hurley Medical Center Board, was one of several panelists who gathered at Riverfront Banquet Hall for "Ignite The Fire," an 'economic expansion convocation' that invited the public to attend. The event is part of Word of Life Christian Church's fifth anniversary celebration this weekend, which also includes a gala and a church service that features Jesse Jackson as keynote speaker.
Shaltz's closing statement above referred to a previous point he made, stating that people from different communities—he named blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Muslims—need to talk more regularly to solve issues of economic disparity.
The event began with an introduction by Word of Life pastor George Wilkinson and a two-part video that showed dismal Flint statistics and images before portraying positive aspects of the city. Afterward, panelists fielded questions by moderator Kevin Williams, president and managing director of General Motors of Canada. Audience members could submit questions through note cards.
Allocation of investment funds was referred to as an "elephant in the room" several times throughout the night. Pastor Reginald Flynn said money was not being invested into poor communities like Flint's north side, which has more crime than other areas
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Shaltz said that such remarks were "frustrating" when Williams asked about the issue, saying that he and the Uptown Six had to get loans because their money and guarantees weren't enough to get things moving. He didn't know of any projects that matched the qualifications for HUD loans, so they invested into businesses downtown to develop a core that would create jobs and bring more business from outside of the city. Others have followed suit by opening more businesses.
"If we knew then what we knew now, we may not have even started it," Shaltz said. "We started this as a social project, and despite what people say, there aren't financial benefits."
He said that despite not having financial help, that he would gladly help other projects with what he has learned over the past few years about the process of making them happen.
Harvey Hollins III, director of Michigan Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives, said that Flynn's "peanut butter spread" approach of distributing funds everywhere wouldn't help revitalize the city.
"You can't serve all neighborhoods equitably [that way]," Hollins insisted. He said that neighborhoods and projects who are already growing should get preference over areas that are already "too far south. ... Is it your neighborhood that has to lose, so another wins? These are the tough decisions people are going to have to make."
Alicia Booker, president and CEO of Career Alliance, Inc., told attendees that community resources like churches and chamber of commerce, who she's partnering with, need to target children before they're of working age so they can get the skills ahead of time. Many employers require a sixth grade reading level, but she said that many people are graduating high school with only third grade qualifications.
"We need to build less 'hoods and more communities," Booker said, quoting a young man she said she met at another event.
The event wasn't all negative: like the video, different panelists gave insight into initiatives that their organizations were working on to battle the obstacles they knew about. Shaltz said that there needs to be more dialogue among people of different ethnicities and religious groups, but said this forum was a step in the right direction.
"We need to start now," he said, while pointing to a young girl in the audience. "If we have this same meeting in five years and nothing has changed, then it's our fault." |
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Sat May 12, 2012 4:08 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Even the neighborhoods in Bloom project in Richmond spent money on diverse neighborhoods. And the neighborhoods were not all bordering upon one another. |
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Sat May 12, 2012 4:10 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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doinit4me May 13, 2012 at 1:01AM
Regardless of Uptown's motives, progress has been made in downtown Flint and the entire county benefits. The question is, are things downtown better than they were 10 years ago? The answer is obviously yes.
Certain parts of Flint outside of the north end experience higher crime rates. Crime is no longer a problem for only one geographic area in Flint. The "me first" tact is no longer a sustainable argument. That is what makes answers to the crime problem so difficult to find and the decisions coming from city hall so troublesome. Currently, with Mr. Brown's "plan," nothing is being done to stem the flow of crime and its omnipresence throughout Flint. Community groups need to come together and demand action from city hall regarding crime fighting efforts before any more money is spent on anything else. Flint has the money to take action against crime if it's "leaders" would stop trying to be all things to all people and stop playing political games. There is no more pressing issue in Flint than crime and once the money flowing into pet projects, feel good, politically driven programs and politically motivated appointments is cut off progress will be made but assuredly not before. |
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Sun May 13, 2012 9:36 am |
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