Tick Tick Boom! Imploding Stuff Is Fun.

     Two big things happened this month.  On the same day. 

This is the second one...

 

Genesee Towers (on the left)  2013

 

     On Sunday, December 22nd, the tallest building in Flint was demolished.  Finally. 

     After years of controversy and legal battles over who was responsible for the building, Genesee Towers was bought from the city for $1 in 2012 by Uptown Reinvestment Corp.   (www.uptownreinvestment.org) with the agreement that Uptown would pay for its demolition. 

 

     Built in the late 1960's, the Towers was the pride of downtown Flint when Flint was still riding high on the then robust auto industry. 

     But the '60's are long gone, and over the years Genesee Towers was sold and resold many times, steadily losing tenants along the way as businesses and population fled Flint.  Its last major tenant left in 1999.

     Since that time, the building was abandoned by its last owner, and left to go the way of all abandoned properties.  It began to literally crumble.  A barrier had to be erected around a wide perimeter of the building to keep people safe from random chunks of the building which had taken to falling down onto the street without warning  (a scary thing I witnessed first hand when I was downtown on some business).  The building was condemned in the early '00's.

     Now, as Flint's revival gained traction downtown, the blight of Genesee Towers became a physical eyesore and a drag on the  healing of the city.  But no more.  Because this happened on December 22nd:

Tick tick boom!  Watching stuff implode is awesome!

 

And, in the blink of an eye, that (above) became this (below):

     Having this building come down is a long over-due relief and it removes huge barriers, both physical and psychological, to Flint's progression into a modern college town and a once again thriving city.

     There are plans for an urban plaza to be developed on the site, but this harsh winter will delay the removal of the debris, so it's hard to say when the plaza project will begin.  I can't wait to see it when it's finished, though.

     In less than a minute, a building came down, a sky-line was forever changed, and the course of a city was transformed.  I feel privileged to be here to see it all first hand and be a part of it. 

Until next time,
Robin in Flint

See more of the exciting redevelopment happening in Flint at  www.uptownreinvestment.org
Learn more about Flint at www.cityofflint.com

Ice Ice Baby

     Two big things happened this month.  On the same day.

This is the first one...

  

Trees and power lines in my neighborhood, covered in ice.

     Last Sunday (December 22nd), I woke up to find myself with no power and no heat.   
Evidently, during the night, we were struck by an ice storm.   

     It turns out, Michigan has  been hit with the worst ice storm we've seen in years!  We got a coating of between half an inch to three-fourths of an inch of ice.  On everything.  Can you imagine?  The last really bad ice storm I can remember was back around 1977 (I did live out-of-state for thirteen years after that, so if there were any bad ones in those years, I don't know of them). 
    
     States-of-emergencies are declared in multiple counties across Michigan, and utility workers are here from 13 states - all missing Christmas with their families - to help DTE (www2.dteenergy.com) and Consumers (www.consumersenergy.com) get our power restored.  God Bless them all for that.  

     Anyway, I roughed it for the first two days, staying in my freezing home with the cats, but then it just got too cold, so on Christmas Eve, I caved and spent the night at my brother's house in Lake Orion.  After our Christmas Eve family festivities, I went

A kerosene heater - something I will
 have before next winter!

home to take care of the cats, get some necessities, and then went back to my brother's house.  I ended up having to spend two nights there.  It was stressful because (a) I had to leave the cats in the house (with plenty of blankets piled up for them to snuggle down into so they could keep each other warm), and (b) I then had to drive back and forth from my brother's house to my house twice a day (45 minutes each way) to take care of them and make sure everything was okay with the house.

      No power meant no house-alarm and I was very nervous leaving my house vulnerable like that during a huge black-out.  Luckily, my neighbor stayed in his house (he has a kerosene heater - something I am determined to have by next winter so I'll be ready for the next big power outage!), and he kept an eye on things for me.

 

A lot of downed tree branches throughout my neighborhood

     People are doing dangerous things to keep warm, too.  Just in the first three or four days of the outage, there were three major house fires in my neighborhood because people are doing anything they can think of to keep warm.  I've been hearing about people bringing their gas barbecue grills inside to keep warm.  It's a miracle nobody has been killed, or even seriously injured.

     I ended up spending two nights - Christmas Eve night and Christmas night - at my brothers house.  When I came home on the day after Christmas to take care of the cats, the power miraculously came back on!  I was never so glad to hear my loud, ancient, asthmatic, clunker of a furnace kick on in my life!  It took four hours for my house to warm up.  While I was waiting for it to warm up, I went to Kroger's to replace the food I had lost in my fridge and freezer.  I lucked out.  I didn't lose much at all.  Because I never opened my freezer during the outage, I didn't lose any frozen stuff, and that shocked me.  I thought for sure I'd lose it all.

More downed branches, and everything covered in ice.

     So, it has been seven days since the storm struck, and I have had my power back on for two days.  I couldn't be more grateful.  There are still a lot of people who don't have their power back yet.  On the news they're saying some people might be without power well into next week.  I feel really bad for them.  I was only without power for three days, and it was miserable.  I can't imagine how miserable it must be for the people who are still without their power and are faced with the prospect of having to wait another three to five days before having it restored. 

     Well, it's over for me, and I am making plans for the next big power outage.  I've already ordered a lithium battery powered lantern, and I will be getting a kerosene heater before next winter.  Come hell or high water.  There will be no more sitting in the dark freezing my butt off during an ice storm!

Until next time,
Robin in Flint  

 

To learn more about Flint www.cityofflint.com

 

Of Mice and Motivation (and Hamster Wheels).

       If you have a great idea for a book, but haven't written a book, then you don't have a book.

     If you have a great idea for a business, but haven’t outlined a business plan and started checking things off a list, you don’t have a business.

     If you really want to lose weight, but are sitting watching TV, you're fat.  

      Until you put your foot on the base of Mt. Everest and then start walking upward, you’re not climbing Mt. Everest. 

     My cousin Don is a writer.  Among other things, he is a blogger extraordinaire.  The above excerpt is from one of his blogs, Kaleidoscopic Raygun (www.kaleidoscopicraygun.com)

     I enjoy my cousin's blogs.  He is a good writer, very funny, and often inspirational, but this particular entry from last August 22nd really hit me.  Like a bus.  It literally took my breath away.

     In this blog entry, Don goes on to talk about a guy who really wants to write a book and has asked for help.  This man did not sit around watching TV, wishing he could write a book.  He did something about it.  He took action. 

     He did not, as my cousin says, quit his job, hide away in a cabin in the woods or buy himself expensive coffee while waiting for the perfect writing conditions to happen.  He just kept doing little things consistently, every day, one day at a time.  Over the course of four years, this man cobbled together blog entries, tweets, documents and articles he saved from the paper, and fashioned himself the beginnings a great story. 

     This man took action and moved forward. 

     I, on the other hand, have not been moving forward.  I have things I want to do - have always wanted to do - but I've been stuck on the hamster wheel of 'waiting for the right conditions' which never seem to come.  Thanks to my cousin's blog, I see now that the right conditions will never come because the 'right conditions' are an illusion. 

     The truth is that there are no 'right conditions' and no 'right time'.  There is only here and now, and what in God's name am I going to do with it?  I have wasted a lot of time waiting for the 'right conditions' and I don't want to waste a minute more.  I want to dive in and take action! 

     I don't want to 'think about' writing.  I want to actually write!  Really write.  Consistently.  Everyday no matter what.  That is one of the reasons I started this blog!

     Towards that end, I have written a plan of action.  It is a list of specific steps I am going to take to make sure I write something every day.  No matter what.  And in this plan of action, I have definite, concrete goals for what I want to accomplish with my writing.  This is a step.  It is an action.  It is a move forward.

     It feels very good to take action.  It feels very good to move forward.

     One of the other reasons I started this blog is because I want to do something that causes me to go out and become involved in my local community, but this is another instance where I have been stuck on the hamster wheel of  'waiting for the right conditions'. 


But no more!  I have taken an action here, too.  I have joined a fantastic local walking / running group which goes year-round.  You can check it out at the following link:   www.facebook.com/groups/206222421048/
    
      I  joined because in addition to getting out and becoming involved, I need to reclaim my health, I need to lose weight.  I don't want to be the person sitting on the couch watching TV and only thinking about losing weight because, as my cousin points out, that just makes me fat. 

     Walking has been great.  I get to exercise, see downtown, and make new friends.  (How great it will be in February remains to be seen, but I am determined). 

     Although I haven't seen any physical pay-off yet, I sure am feeling better. 

     So, there you have it.  Sure, I won't be climbing Mount Everest any time soon, but I am going to keep on doing little things every day; little actions that move me forward one day at a time. 

     What motivates you?  What are the little things that you do to keep yourself moving forward?

Until next time,
Robin in Flint    


 

Blight Me No Blight, Part II (Or, What It Takes to Raze a House)

     Demolition of abandoned homes in Flint is underway.  According to the Genesee County Land Bank (www.thelandbank.org), this is what it takes to knock down a house:

• $12,000  The average cost in Michigan for demolishing a single-family home.

• $15,000  The potential cost for a house with hazardous material (including all houses that are severely burned, which must be treated and demolished as if they contained hazardous material.)

• $10,600  The average cost for the Land Bank to demolish a home
• property inspections & surveys:  $300-$600
• abatement and disposal of hazardous materials:  up to $15,000
• utility costs (disconnecting, etc..):  $250-$600
• demolition permit:  $75-$350
• structure & mandatory basement removal: $2300-$25,000
• mandatory backfill with clean soil & initial site grading:  $1200-$2000
• final grade, seeding & mulching: $500-$750

• 3000  The number of structures the Land Bank has torn down in Flint since 2003.

          The Language of Blight 

• reinvestment neighborhoods:  areas near schools with recent investments in housing through the Federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (www.portal.hud.gov)
• tipping-point neighborhoods:  are neighborhoods with vacancy rates of less than 20% and have recently experienced an increase in vacancies and foreclosures
• buffer areas:  surround reinvestment and tipping-point neighborhoods; and include neighborhoods with higher vacancy rates than adjacent areas targeted for demolition

 



Flint Demolition Map 2013

Some sobering facts and figures, eh?

 

Until next time,

Robin in Flint


Learn more about Flint at www.cityofflint.com

* additional resource:
   Flint Journal www.mlive.com/flint
   article by Dominic Adams
   (dadams@mlive.com)
   dated 10/27/13
    

 



Purple =   tipping point neighborhoods

Blue =  reinvestment neighborhoods

Light Green = buffer area neighbor    hoods

<---------  I live in a buffer area, the lower part of the green area just to the right of the Flint River (the big river in the middle)


*Dark Green = key corridor neighborhoods in critical need of demolition.

Blight Me No Blight

      "Cities, like forests, have their dens in which all their vilest and most terrible monsters hide.  But in cities, what hides this way is ferocious, unclean, and petty, that is to say, ugly; in forests, what hides is ferocious, savage and great, that is to say beautiful.  Den for den, those of beasts are preferable to those of men.  Caverns are better than the wretched holes that shelter humanity." (Victor Hugo, Les Miserables; www.victorhugo.com)

     Blight can kill a city.  Empty, decaying houses fester and ooze much like gangrene on a soldier's torn leg, and the rot and stink of decay spreads, slowly but surely, from one house to another...and another...and another...until whole neighborhoods are consumed.  Under the rot and stink of decay, ugly things hide.  The toll isn't just cosmetic and economic, either.  Blight has a significant psychological impact.  The physical decay of property and buildings erodes souls and sucks the hope out of the people living in its midst.  

     When I moved here back in '03, the house across the street from my garage was a nice, respectable house with a nice, respectable family living in it.  They had three teenage boys.  The house, like the teenagers, was a bit rough around the edges - it was old, after all -  but it was lived in, and the family kept it up.  The boys spent every moment they could out in their driveway playing basketball with their friends.  Most times, there would be upwards of twenty noisy, goofy kids out there shooting hoops, running and jumping in the driveway and out into the street with the clumsiness of Labrador puppies who haven't grown into their feet yet.  It was great.  I loved it.  The sounds of a neighborhood full of life.

House across the street from my garage (view out my back door.)

     Sometime during the Great Recession that family left, abandoning the house, and the sounds of neighborhood life disappeared. 
 
     It didn't take long for the house to be stripped of anything of value - doors and windows; metal and all copper piping; and anything else that could be sold to scrapyards.  Soon the house became a sanctuary for homeless people and a haven for drug dealers.  A lot of 'sales meetings' occurred in that house.  Frankly, I got a little nervous of some of the people lurking around and hiding inside of that house, and I began to feel bad about my neighborhood.

City arsonists, who target abandoned houses, struck in the night.

         
     But, what the city of Flint couldn't take care of, the vigilantes eventually did, and a couple of years later, the local  arsonists (who have been very busy over the last few years) burned the house to the ground.  I went out my back door one day and was shocked to see the only thing left was the cinder block basement and a pile of rubble.  Charred wood bits and ash littered my yard and driveway, and the smell of scorched house burned my nostrils.  My house and garage had been hosed down by the fire department to keep them from catching fire, as well (and I'd slept through the whole thing!) 

The gaping hole where the house once stood.

     
     Not long after the fire, the city cleaned up the property.  The only thing left was the driveway, and a giant hole in the ground where the house once stood.  Eventually, the hole was filled in, and now it is just a nice, green, gently sloping, empty lot.  It is a much better view than that old, tore up gangrenous house.  

Now a nice, green city lot.  

     
     That is the story of just one house.  There are over 9000 abandoned and blighted  properties in Flint right now, with little resources to deal with them.  However, there is hope and help on the horizon.  Michigan has just scored a $100-million federal grant to help erase blighted and abandoned properties.  It is to be used to eliminate blight in five cities, and Flint is one of them.

    
     Detroit, with over 78,000 abandoned and blighted properties will get the bulk of the grant ($52-million), followed by Flint which will get $20.1-million.  The rest will go to Saginaw, Pontiac and Grand Rapids.
 

Flint Demolition Map 2013
Black Dots Are Houses Slated For Demolition

 

<-------  I live in the lower part of the green area on the right of the Flint river (the big river in the middle.) 


     This is great news for Flint, and demolition is already under way.  It is estimated that the federal grant will take care of 40% of our blight, and that is HUGE.   

     I've already noticed a difference.  It seems like every time I walk through my neighborhood, I notice another house gone, another property cleaned up.  It's a great feeling out of which optimism and hope grows.  Not just for me, but for my neighbors as well.  Seeing abandoned houses disappear and the properties cleaned up spurs people to get out and maintain their own yards, and I see more of that while I'm out on my walks, as well.  There are more people for me to say hello to - a first step in creating a sense of community.    

     How uplifting!

     There is an extra unexpected benefit for me, too.  When I began house hunting in 2002, I kind of wanted to be a little out in the country, someplace where the houses weren't right on top of each other, but I couldn't find anything I liked in my price range.  Now, with houses disappearing and green spaces appearing where the houses used to be, all I have to do is sit back and wait for the country to come to me!  Sweet!

Until next time,
Robin in Flint

Learn more about Flint at www.cityofflint.com

The Road to Flint

     For me, the road and the journey to Flint started  in Detroit in the 1960's...    

     I grew up in the country.  Our street was a dirt road in a neighborhood next to a lake.  I spent summers riding the Honda dirt bike my dad bought and taught me to ride; climbing  (and falling out of) trees; laying on the grass with my friends watching the clouds roll by for hours; and in the lake at our neighborhood beach.  Winters were full of skating on the lake, sledding, and snowball fights.
    
     But, I was born in the city.  In Detroit.  In fact, I come from a family with deep roots in Detroit.



Me, on our back porch stairs in Detroit.

     In the first decade of the 1900's, three of my great-grandparents emigrated from Europe and settled in Detroit.

     Two of my grandparents were born and raised in Detroit (a third was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, but grew up in Detroit; the fourth came to Detroit from Poland when she was sixteen). 

     Both of my parents were born and raised in Detroit.

     My mom's family all lived within walking distance of each other, and my great-grandfather would regularly stroll over to our house in the morning to have coffee with my mom.  If he could coax me out from my hiding place under the dining room table, he would take me for a walk.  

     When I was nothing but a toddler, my parents used to take me to the Hudson's Thanksgiving Day Parade downtown, and the experiences of those parades are my earliest, most enduring memories of downtown Detroit.  I loved everything about being there.  The sights, the raucous city noises, the smells - I even loved the sound my shoes made as I walked on the concrete sidewalks. 

     I remember being in awe of the giant buildings surrounding me, so varied in their size and majesty; their colors and textures of concrete, brick and mortar, steel and glass.  Looking up, up, up and not being able to see where they ended made me believe that they went on forever, all the way up to heaven. 

 

                                                                                    
     The throngs of people lining the streets for the parade were a little frightening to me, but as I sat up on my dad's shoulders, I could feel the excitement humming through the air like a low current of electricity and it was mesmerizing. 

     I only lived in Detroit for the first six years of my life (the entire family scattered to the four winds, as part of the White Flight out of the city after the '67 riots), but that was long enough.  By the end of those six years, the city had become a living, breathing entity, both fearsome and beautiful to me, and I had absorbed it into every fiber of my being.  I cried when we moved out of it.

     Yes, I grew up in the country, but I have always felt the pull of the city, and have always ended up there one way or another. 

     When I was sixteen, we moved to Rochester, Illinois, an ink spot on the map just outside of Springfield, the state capital.  The neighborhood we lived in was surrounded by cornfields on three sides, and I even had to walk through a cornfield to get to school.    After my high school graduation, I moved into downtown Springfield proper, not far from the capital building (sidewalks! civilization!).  I could practically see it from my front yard.



Los Angeles

     When I was twenty, I landed in Long Beach, California, just south of L.A.  I loved Long Beach, and I especially loved L.A.  Once, after an early morning job interview in downtown L.A., I spent an entire day wandering around the city, just soaking it all in.  Standing on a sidewalk, surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers (that sway back and forth during earthquakes - and how awesome is that?), I was in seventh heaven.  Just like when I was that toddler on adventures with my parents in Detroit, I could feel it singing through my blood, that humming current vibrating in my bones.  It felt like coming home.  

     When I was twenty-nine, I came back to Michigan, my wandering days behind me.  I stayed with my folks for a couple of  months, then settled in the city of Pontiac, just minutes from downtown, and minutes from my job.


Saginaw Street, Flint, Michigan

     In 2003, on the weekend of my forty-first birthday, I moved into my just purchased house in the city of Flint, and have been here ever since.  Originally, I picked Flint to be closer to some family who settled in Grand Blanc, and because I could get more house for my money.  But I stayed because I fell in love with it.  My move to Flint is the end of the road for me, but certainly not the end of the journey. 

     While close to 120 years younger than Detroit, Flint is just as fearsome and beautiful - full of old buildings and rich history - and I am happy to be here.  Although the why of it is not entirely clear to me yet, I know I'm supposed to be here, just as I know the sun rises in the east every day.  Flint is experiencing tough times right now, but it will come out better and stronger for it on the other side, and I'm excited to be here to see it, to be a part of it.  Flint is teetering on the verge of something big, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for me here.

Until next time,
Robin in Flint

Back To Work and Back To Blogging!

     Well!  It's been almost a year since I lost my job of thirteen years (my position was eliminated), and it's been a busy and hectic year - a challenging year of upheaval and adjustment - but things are finally settling down.  My job search was smoother than I could have ever imagined.  It took me barely two months to land a job.  My last day with my previous employer was September 19th, I was hired by my new employer in mid-November, and was back to work on December 3rd. 

     Before I talk about my new employer, I must back track a little here.  My previous job was at a manufacturing plant down in Troy (in the shipping offices); and while I loved the people I worked with there, it was a very toxic environment.  The ONLY reason I stayed as long as I did (besides the people, and the Blue Cross) was for college tuition.  One of my benefits was tuition reimbursement and I took full advantage of it to finish my degree.  I went part-time at night, after work.  Right now, I am one class away from having that degree - and my previous employer paid for 90% of it!  How awesome is that?

     My long-term goal always was to leave that place after I got my degree.  I planned on finding a job much closer to home - but not just any job.  No, sir.  No ma'am.  I had criteria that must be met...

     My goals, at the bare minimum, were to find a job in - or very close to - Flint (so I wouldn't have to spend two-plus hours a day in my car); with a local employer who's business contributes to the local economy and who is deeply rooted and involved in Flint and Genesee county.  I wanted this because I plan to become involved in the on-going revitalization of Flint, and being with an employer who is like-minded would be a huge advantage.   

     Most importantly, though, I wanted to be in a positive work environment where I can use my skills; where I can learn and grow; and where people are treated like human beings, instead of disposable commodities. 

     You're probably saying to yourself - 'Yeah.  In your dreams, cowgirl.'  That's exactly what I thought when I first put it all down on paper while mapping out my goals.  Well, guess what!  I found it.  I found almost exactly what I wanted in a new employer, and I couldn't be happier!

     My new employer is Landaal Packaging Systems: a provider of eco-friendly packaging products, packaging supplies, and packaging services since 1959:   "From Design to Delivery!"   Check out the website:  www.landaal.com  You may not have heard of us, but I can guarantee that you are familiar with our work (more about that later). 

     Landaal Packaging is owned by the Landaal family, and they are deeply rooted, involved, and invested in Flint and Genesee county. 

     I am a procurement representative - I order the corrugated items needed for our ongoing and upcoming projects.  Packaging is a whole different world from fastener manufacturing and I've  learned a lot about it this past year, but I've still got a lot to learn.    
    
     The environment is wonderful, and is the most positive I've ever worked in.  It is a very team-oriented and very supportive atmosphere.

     My total daily commute is 9.6 miles a day and I spend less than 25 minutes a day in my car.  I can even go home for lunch if I feel like it!  A luxury, to be sure.

     I am very excited about my future, and the new adventures and opportunities coming my way, and I think it's going to be fun to chronicle it all here for anyone, or no one, to see.

 Until next time,
 Robin in Flint