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Topic: Finally-demolition for Civic Park

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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Flint Civic Park booster: $2.6 million for demolition should 'make a whole lot of difference'
The state will be sending $2.6 million to the Civic Park Historic area in order to demolish 225 vacant and rundown houses in the northwest corner of Flint whose homes were originally built to house many General Motors employees on Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2014. The Genesee County Land Bank, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, and Civic Park Neighborhood Association worked together to make this project possible. "This project is about historic preservation as well as eliminating blight," Civic Park Neighborhood Association President Maurice Davis, 58, said. "We want to keep the historic integrity of the neighborhood." Erin Kirkland | MLive.com

Erin Kirkland | MLive.com


Ron Fonger | rfonger1@mlive.com By Ron Fonger | rfonger1@mlive.com
on September 10, 2014 at 5:55 PM, updated September 10, 2014 at 5:56 PM



FLINT, MI -- One of America's first subdivisions is about to get a $2.6 million makeover, something that can't come soon enough for the Rev. R. Sherman McCathern.

"We've just seen a community that had been written off come back," McCathern said Wednesday, Sept. 10, after the Genesee County Land Bank announced that $2.6 million in federal funds would pay to demolish 225 blighted houses in Civic Park, a small neighborhood planned and developed on Flint's northwest side by General Motors nearly 100 years ago.

"Approximately six years ago when we came to this area, we recognized that this is a special area -- a beautiful place -- that had been forgotten by many people ...," McCathern said. "We believed that if we could bring this (place) back, it could (be done) anywhere in America."

GM planned and developed Civic Park to provide new housing for a rapidly growing city of Flint workforce starting in 1919, constructing streets with modest but well-built residences in 28 identifiable types, according to the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.

In 1979, more than 1,000 parcels in Civic Park were included on the National Register of Historic Places, but during the last 25 years, those houses have increasingly become abandoned, according to the Land Bank, which now owns or is in line to own nearly half of all property in the area.

The Land Bank said in a news release Wednesday that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority awarded the $2.6 million in Hardest Hit funds for the demolition of 225 homes in the area roughly bounded by Pasadena Avenue, Dupont Street, Welch Boulevard and Brownell Boulevard.

The grant came despite the neighborhood's historic designation initially proving to be a stumbling block to getting the work done.

Heidi Phaneuf, a spokeswoman for the Land Bank, said work by representatives of the city of Flint, a newly formed neighborhood association, the Flint Historic District Commission and others contributed to winning the grant funds, which come in addition to a $20.1 million award of Hardest Hit funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury late last year.

"We had every property evaluated to determine which ones could be demolished," Phanuef said. "Getting all these groups talking and meeting together was quite an effort."

McCathern, pastor of Joy Tabernacle Church, was among those who worked on the successful application for Civic Park demolition funds, according to the Land Bank, which said the city of Flint, Genesee County Habitat for Humanity, St. Luke N.E.W Life Center, Diplomat Please delete me!, the Civic Park Neighborhood Association, Flint Area Reinvestment Office, Haskell Community Center and the Flint Police Activity League were also involved in the effort.

"Residents and community partners have been working for years to improve the neighborhood," Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said in a news release announcing the demolition grant. "Removing blighted houses in Civic Park will support these investments and create new opportunities for redevelopment."

Maurice Davis, president of the Civic Park Neighborhood Association, said he also sees the potential for big change in the area, where he has lived for more than 20 years.

"We're all excited about it," said Davis, who owns Maurice Davis Hair and Nail on West Dayton Avenue. "We wanted to keep the historic integrity of the neighborhood but we want to move all the blight out of Civic Park."

The "$2.6 million should make a whole lot of difference," he said.

Ron Fonger is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him atrfonger@mlive.com or 810-347-9963. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook orGoogle+.
Post Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:31 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Several years ago photographs were taken of the 2 block area surrounding the Haskiill Center and the Boys and Girls Club. There was about 76 vacant and abandoned homes at that time. Since then the homes north of Haskill up to Dayton have suffered even more abandonment and vandalism.

Cross Dayton and the devastation becomes worse. Gang graffiti, fire ravaged homes, and mountains of trash and tires were the dominant feature. Two major cleanups have alleviated most of the trash issues, but the abandonment is still glaring.
Post Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:44 am 
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