Michael Glasson

Is Downtown Flint On Life Support ?

Just a day or two after I ended my last blog entry with that question, the Rowe Building collapsed in the middle of the night, on the eve of the Crim race. Lest anyone make an unmerited association, I shied away from my chosen subject until now. In the meantime, the best thing to happen to Flint in a long time arrived and that's the Will Ferrell movie "Semi-Pro", the story of a fictitious ABA team, the Flint Tropics. While the movie itself is lackluster, its treatment of Flint is surprisingly positive. In part, that's because the downtown shots are either very long range or dominated by the Vehicle City arches. In addition, facilities from other cities are presented as being in Flint.

The life support question actually arises from the role of government and foundation money in securing downtown investments. The current showcase projects largely rely on this type of involvement to lure private investors into risking some of their own money. Meanwhile, the availability of tax-free zones in the downtown area has failed to bring about significant job growth, and the looming hulk of the misbegotten Genesee Tower looms over the core of downtown, while the City battles the owner and fights a generous award from an arbitrator in its quest to get rid of the eyesore.

On the positive side, student housing is under construction on the east edge of campus, and a few small hospitality businesses have opened.

Future Topic: The Real Bright Spot in Flint