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Gooch
F L I N T O I D
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Split Flint City Council votes to fund more code enforcement over business center renovations
By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal
December 23, 2009, 8:49AM
Flint Journal file photo
FLINT, Michigan — The battle to spend federal grant dollars has revived an age-old Flint argument: Renovate a crumbling north side establishment or combat citywide blight?
A split city council voted 6-3 this week to shift $200,000 away from the Oak Business Center and put it toward more neighborhood code enforcement in a move one councilwoman called a “slap in the face” to the north side.
City Administrator Gregory Eason presented a plan Monday for spending the federal Community Development Block Grant funds that included $300,000 for the Oak Business Center and $105,000 for code enforcement.
But several council members said the overwhelming cry from residents is that code enforcement should be a top priority, and voted to shift the $200,000 despite protests from Eason and council members Jackie Poplar, Bryant Nolden and Bernard Lawler.
“It seems like everytime something good comes up for the north side of Flint we put it on the back burner,” Poplar said. “Now we got some money to put into a building on the north side that people see every day and we’re not going to do it. I’m appalled.”
Poplar and Nolden argued that giving the business center, located on North Saginaw Street, the funds for renovations and energy upgrades would show tangible results and possibly lure more businesses to the city.
But other council members said more money for code enforcement will benefit the entire city, not just one area.
The city currently has two neighborhood enforcement officers, who are licensed to do building inspections and enforce city ordinances.
“As we spend dollars I’d like to see more going toward public safety and more going toward code enforcement,” Councilman Dale Weighill said. “Code enforcement will be seen across the city. We need to make that a priority.”
The city administrator said the $100,000 left for the business center is not enough to cover the renovations it needs.
Council members said they’re hopeful more money for the center will become available |
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:09 pm |
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Gooch
F L I N T O I D
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| It seems to me the code enforcement is what we been talking about here. Wont that in the long run get us more money if truely enforced? The law should be changed so Salem housing and the Landbank aren't exempt from this and more out of state people need to be gone after. That will get us an income. |
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:12 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The 5th Ward residents are so angry over this story they are counting the days until they can recall Walling. Lawler may be next. Residents say he needs to decide his priority- 5th Ward or 3rd Ward. He represents 5th but his church is in rd.
The Economic Development Corporation controls the Oak Business Center and it should be self sufficient. |
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Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:53 pm |
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Gooch
F L I N T O I D
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I'm ready and willing to sign these people out if they don't produce. I'm sick of everything going on outside 5th ward. And I'm sick of the money getting wasted on the inside in more ways then one. I'm still pissed our neighborhood wasted 10k on a booklet of what could be insted of what should have been done already.
Lawn bags, gas for mowers, weedwacker string, a hundred gallons of paint, some lumber for small repairs, some new glass, 20 or so boxes of nail and screws, push brooms, shovles, and some garbage bins and were good to go. And I still would of had 8k to work with. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:19 am |
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Pachuco
F L I N T O I D
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| I can't wait until Walling wins re-election in two years, maybe after that people will shutup... |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:00 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| He's just using Flint as a stepping stone to something else. Just another politician that couldn't care less about the people. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:55 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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But Dave hes a democrat thats all that matters.   |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:35 am |
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Domet
F L I N T O I D
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Gooch - I don't know where you came from, but though I've been busy the last few weeks I have been reading your points with a good amount of interest. It is completely ridiculous that Salem and the Landbank are exempt from anything of this sort, but they are part of the greater machinery here in the City.
As for signing people out of office that don't perform - I'm really in the middle on this one. I would like to see Walling get at least a single term in office before I sign him off as "failing," though by a number of indicators I don't know if even I will want to wait that long. He certainly looks smart in that suit though, eh? XD
Could one of you clue me in, webs or Gooch - what is the Oak Business Center? Never heard of it. |
_________________
Lack of support for your assertions does not make you a sage, it just makes the rest of us doubt your reasoning skills. - Elias12, Flint Talk Poster |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:16 am |
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back again
F L I N T O I D
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| it was originally touted as a small business incubator. i believe it's the old summerfield chevrolet building. i've leased several spaces there over the years. as a matter of fact, greg eason was the guy who ran it and i might say, he ran it quite well (we're talking the early 90's if i recall correctly). if a business had a need of business advice there were several entities available Flint U of M being one of them. Greg eventually left and it was run by a lady. I think one of the problems was funding being cut for years, until williamson moved the auto recovery thing in. about that time the price per foot rental fee went up and people eventully left. i havent been over there in several years so i have no idea whats going on there these days. |
_________________
even a small act of goodness may be a tiny raft of salvation across the treacherous gulf of sin, but one who drinks the wine of selfishness, and dances on the little boat of meaness, sinks in the ocean of ignorance.
P.Y. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:20 pm |
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Gooch
F L I N T O I D
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I have never been sure of what the Oak Center is. I knew a girl back in the 90's that wrote for a paper that worked out of that building. She and her boyfriend ended up becoming heavy crack heads and subsequently got his face bashed in with a brick in the parkinglot one night while they tried to gank the crackman. Having lived here all this time I can say I have seen nothing really change with the building or areas around it except it got more over grown and the area around it has continued to fall into disrepair. It has always looked empty to me but maybe I don't drive by it at the right times.
As for Walling, I like the guy personaly. I met him as a every day dad doing his dad thing. But I can't help but feel a little cheated on what is getting done in his office. And I'm just going by what an every day person sees, I haven't went to meetings, can't name everyone off that works for him, or don't know every bill or change he has made. I also can't tell you much of anything he has changed for the better of Flint in his time in office. I can't
see
anything happening. I see him getting lots of face time in peoples photos. I see him attending every event he can. I see him as an image man, not an action man. Granted he has allot to fix but what's been fixed so far. He has taken people close to him and advanced their careers. There is no sweeping changes. There is no new people being heard. I see a goverment that is still doing business as it did before.
Why does the city council still run as slow as ever. What are they getting done? They have opened or reopened up new mini stations but what good are they if there is no one to run em? He wants to drug test the police and fire but what about his own people? Why is this even big news, I would have thought it was standard pratice for the job. Wal-mart has better hiring pratices. How can you repair downtowns image is you still have a bunch of hoods hanging in the street outside the court and welfare office? Why do I hear Saginaw and Bay city every day and the new jobs going there? So what if Grand Blanc and Davison and Fenton are doing well. All I hear every day about Flint is new fires, shootings, robberies, and violence. What has Flint got yet? A few resteraunts that no one can afford? How can you get people downtown when there are still homeless and deranged people walking the streets? Why are our schools going down the drain? Whats changing there except for more overcrowding and less education? Lets cut Gym, Music, Art, Hell our school has even lost recess for the most part. Why aren't more people who own the blight in Flint being held accountable for cleaning it up? Why dump leaves on concrete and hope something will grow in a few years? Just look to the old Buick lot to see what you'll have. Why let GM and the like tear down buildings and run from the respoceablity of cleaning the gapping holes up? Why aren't we sueing GM for their mess. If you drive around my side of town it's a wasteland. And nothing is getting done to any of it. Why hasn't Flint called for a state of emergency or a national disaster, we need Federal dollars to get back up and running. We have been hit by GMtrina and crooked government wild fires. There are way too many holes in the dike and we are running low on fingers. Why isn't the public being involved more. Where is the call to service. Where is the call to fix up Flint. Where is the Flint pride being restored? I'd like to see the Mayor get 1000 people together and storm through the blight and clean it up. Take a different block every week and you could have the city cleaned by the end of next year. I'd like to see the city recyle itself and he has the power to make the jobs from it.
I just want something done and I want it now. I want people who are going to go out there and make a difference now. I don't want face time on TV I want to see them going up and down my streets with the doors unlocked. Get outside and do something I can see. Everyone hated Don but atleast I could see an effort even if it was a crooked one. I could see a change. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:35 pm |
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Gooch
F L I N T O I D
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| Who started the banning of same broadcasts in Flint? Like ya see ABC or NBC and they have sister stations blocked at certain times of the day. If I recall this was to stop outside advertising to effect the minds of Flint consumers. And now all I see is things pertaining to outside places again as far as news or advertisers. Davison, Fenton, GrandBlanc, Saginaw, Bay City, and anywhere else ya want to pick on NOT Flint. I see news casts about places I never even knew about until now. Why can't something be done to bring this in back to all Flint almost all the time? I remeber as a kid hearing every Monday all the council meetings and hearings and public forums for getting stuff done in Flint. It was a calling to people to come out and get involved. Now all I ever see is the news broadcasting as it's taking place or after the fact. If they do give ya any kind of warning its early the same day or at the 11pm news the night before. How do I get more involved if I don't even know where to start. Why isn't there a weekly or monthly newspaper that all Flint residents get detailing what when and where. My mom got one for seniors, what about doing this for regular people. I can't get channel 17 any more cause I cut cable. And even that wasn't the best source in it's format. Ya had to sit there for a half hour just to see everything and then it only could fit so much info at a time. Why isn't there a website detailing this info. I know I can dig through the many websites and links to try and piece it all together. I'm getting better at it for a newb, but why isn't there a website city run or otherwise detailing all the need to know info out there. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:07 pm |
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back again
F L I N T O I D
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hey gooch, if dave was'nt kidding us, some outfit he's aware of called the "5th. ward mafia" is going to soon have a website detailing everything flint related!!!!! i certainly need it.
the flint journal????
channel 12???? (even worse) |
_________________
even a small act of goodness may be a tiny raft of salvation across the treacherous gulf of sin, but one who drinks the wine of selfishness, and dances on the little boat of meaness, sinks in the ocean of ignorance.
P.Y. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:24 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| I wasn't kidding. It'll be up & running in a couple of weeks. As far as I know, it's being worked on now, with the normal delays due to the holidays. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:46 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Percy Braun donated the building to the city to be used as a business incubator. His daughter Wendy is still in town. Flint's Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is in charge of the building and currently Bill Woods does the day-to-day operation.
In the early 90's the EDC made a series of really bad loans. One was a Swedish Corporation who used the loan to buy equipment. They left the country, sold the equipment to someone in Ohio and defaulted on the loan. There were some other big ones, but I don't recall them at this time. Jack Minore was the Flint Councilman appointed to the EDC about that time and he is still in the College Cultural area.
Stanley and the EDC allowed Community Capital Development Corporation (CCDC) to operate the facility at one time (they may have been called Flint Community Development Corporation at he time). I don't exactly know when that arrangement ended, but there has been a series of poor management until Woods took over. He is licensed building contractor and knows how to properly maintain the building.
The facility had a series of tenants who were delinquent in their payments, but I understand the facility is now showing increased payments. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:34 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| The facility is located close to the federal Job Corps. This area was called Oak Park and many years ago was slated for urban redevelopment. That never materialized. |
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Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:36 pm |
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