blight

Getting the public involved in fighting blight in Flint

Steve Carmody — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:00:10 +0000

The city of Flint plans to use a $25 thousand grant to get the public involved in efforts to reduce blight in the city.

Flint Mayor Dayne Walling says blight is a multi-faceted challenge that includes demolishing abandoned homes and reclaiming neighborhoods. He says volunteers are critically important to solving Flint's problem with blight.

Flint to resume tearing down blighted homes

Steve Carmody — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:24:23 +0000

The city of Flint is restarting its derelict home demolition program.

The program was stalled earlier this year because of a lack of money.

Flint’s Emergency Financial Manager Ed Kurtz says the city plans to use some federal grant money to tear down abandoned homes that have become public safety problems.

“Hopefully, with the 2.3 million we can maybe get somewhere…around 300 homes,” says Kurtz, “Just to put it into perspective….there’s probably some ten thousand properties in the city that would be subject to demolition.”

Karate farmers take back the neighborhood

Kyle Norris — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:42:05 +0000

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-976752.mp3

King Karate is a martial arts studio that’s been in the Flint area for 22 years. But in the past few years, the couple who run the studio have broadened their definition of self-defense…and that’s why they’ve added farming to their arsenal.

18 year old Hakim Gillard has a lot on his plate today.

First he’s got to harvest vegetables for tomorrow’s farmer’s market...

Mayor Dave Bing looks to New Orleans for ideas to recreate Detroit

Steve Carmody — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:47:03 +0000

Mayor Dave Bing says there’s a lot the city of Detroit can learn from the way the city of New Orleans has tried to recover from Hurricane Katrina. And, there’s much they can learn from Detroit.

Bing and other Detroit city officials spent a few days this week touring part of New Orleans’ Ninth ward, a section of the city heavily damaged by t

Artists seek a room of their own in Detroit (audio slideshow)

Jennifer Guerra and The Cost of Creativity — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:26:27 +0000

Struggling artists generally don't make a lot of money, so they tend to live in grittier parts of the city where rent is really cheap. Inevitably, they spruce things up, more people move in, rent goes up, and artists are priced out. To ensure that doesn't happen to them in Detroit, a group of artists are taking matters into their own hands.

Flint to demolish more houses to fight blight

Mark Brush — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:49:28 +0000

More houses are coming down in Flint. Kristin Longley reports in the Flint Journal that 174 houses will come down by December 31st. That's on top of the 125 houses city crews are expected to take down by the end of the year.

Flint union leader Sam Muma says city crews can't take down all the homes scheduled for demolition: