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