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Raymond Sist
F L I N T O I D
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If I understand this correctly....... According to the journal (small "j" is deliberate) none of the demolition money coming in can be used in the Civic Park area because it's a "Historical District". BUT, the historical district designation for the Carriage Town and Atwood Stadium areas is being considered for removal to speed up demolitions. Why not the Civic Park area as well? Is the Civic Park area in the "wrong" part of Flint? I thought that Flint was Flint, but it seems like I've been wrong on that. Law enforcement, rehabilitation funds, assorted grants, and now demolition money only for certain parts of Flint. I guess some people really are more equal than others.
Oh, yeah, while driving around the Civic Park area, I happened to see one of the guys mentioned in the book "Teardown". He was busy rebuilding the motor for a riding mower for a lady that lives a couple blocks away. He said she needs it to keep her block looking nice since the land bank doesn't care about it. He told me he would charge her what she could afford, since he knows she can't afford the total cost. His block looks nicely mowed as well. |
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Sat Aug 24, 2013 1:02 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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There is a lengthy process to get an area designated as historical and there is also a process to withdraw that designation.
The city has demolished homes with that historic designation in Civic Park and I don't believe they went through the proper channels. The Governor and officials in the state recognized how much of a bad precedent it was to just demolish these homes without going through the process.
The historic part of Civic Park is horrible. Open and vandalized houses, high weeds and streets filled with garbage.
I am not sure if they are correctly going about changing the historic designation of Atwood Stadium or not. I am sure someone will speak up .
Say Hello to Dave! |
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Sat Aug 24, 2013 4:49 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| There is a move to decertify some of Civic Park. If I understand Save White correctly, there may be both a state historic designation on some areas and a federal historic designation for other properties. |
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Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:33 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Saginaw, Flint kick off new blight removal efforts
10:30 AM, October 14, 2013 |
Associated Press
SAGINAW — Officials in the Saginaw and Flint areas on Monday are kicking off a new round of blight removal efforts using their share of $100 million in federal aid for Michigan.
“Blight Blitz” work begins in the Saginaw area, which got $11.2 million, and in the Flint area, which received $20.1 million. Officials in both cities describe the work as their largest in the fight against residential blight.
Targeted are 950 homes in Saginaw and 1,600 in Flint.
“This is the largest single award of blight eradication money to Flint at one time and will be a big strike at the blight that undermines too many neighborhoods,” Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said in a statement. “We hope this encourages the people who live in our neighborhoods to take heart and continue revitalizing their communities.”
With the Saginaw demolitions, officials said crews will eliminate about 50 percent of the city’s 1,800 abandoned properties. The Flint-area effort aims to demolish roughly a quarter of the city’s 5,600 abandoned homes. Demolitions are expected to take place in groups.
Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Snyder announced that the U.S. Treasury Department approved aid to demolish abandoned buildings and fight blight in five Michigan cities. Funding included $52.3 million for Detroit, $3.7 million for Pontiac and $2.5 million for Grand Rapids.
“By working together at the ground level, we will reverse the challenges caused by blight,” said Scott Woosley, executive director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
The rest of the aid is to go to a reserve fund for additional demolition, the state has said.
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Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:35 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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There is certainly enough funding left to take a good bite out of the 240 to 260 houses targeted in Civic park.
However there is a bigger problem looming and that is the unregulated violence in Flint is driving more residents out. I keep hearing of residents who have said enough is enough and they are getting their moving supplies. Many of these people are not only leaving Flint, they are leaving the state.
They tell us our water rate are increasing because of a loss of population while the expenses of the water and sewer plant remain the same. That still does not explain why some senior citizens have had water bills that have jumped up to $260 to $350 when plumbing checks reveal no leaks. If residents continue to flee because of crime and homes are torn down, will the increases continue?
Also the Master Planning crew has bragged that services to these nearly vacant city neighborhoods will not be cut. That means fewer houses will have to pay for all of the services when many blocks do not have enough residents to cover the cost of these services. Does that mean our special assessments will rise.
There is a bill in the house initiated by Republican Joe Graves that will allow city councils to vote to give special assessments for police. They say it is too difficult to explain to the public why a tax is needed, so they want to make it an assessment.
This is no way to maintain an urban area and help it grow. I have seen some commenters on blogs refer to this as part of the gentrification of Flint. |
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Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:49 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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| Instead of letting scrappers scavenge these abandoned buildings of wires, appliances, etc., before and after demos, how about the city making money on the salvageable materials from them first! Good way to eliminate some crime and make money doing so. There have been people "stealing" sizeable rocks and stones by the truckloads from foundations of older demolished buildings where holes have yet to be filled. Landscaping materials, I suspect. |
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Mon Oct 14, 2013 6:47 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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At one time MSHDA wanted to have deconstruction used on all properties that used their funding. They specifically requested homeless people trained to do the deconstruction.
Problem is many of these abandoned homes have already been gutted.
I could see many of the blocks from the foundations being used to make raised gardens or even patio benches with wooden seats or pavers as seats. The Home depot and Lowe books have similar designs. |
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Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:21 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Developers of planned Flint manufacturing spot hope for a share of $10M in unused state 'Blight Blitz' funds
Jeremy Allen | jallen42@mlive.com By Jeremy Allen | jallen42@mlive.com
on October 14, 2013 at 5:30 PM, updated October 15, 2013 at 10:49 AM
FLINT, MI – None of the $20.1 million allocated by the state for blight elimination in Flint will be used for homes in the Civic Park Neighborhood because of its certification as a historic district.
And presents a problem for developer and president and CEO of Shaltz Automation, Phil Shaltz.
Shaltz has a plan in place to have 225 blighted properties torn down to make way for the building of a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on the property at Civic Park School on West Dayton Street in Flint.
The state said that homes in that area are not eligible to receive any of the demolition funds unless areas are decertified as historic districts by the state of Michigan.
“Whether we get it from state or feds or where ever, if we can’t demolish those homes, I don’t know how we go forward with putting a manufacturing site on Civic Park when the rest of the neighborhood is just going to deteriorate further. To me that makes no sense,” Shaltz said.
He said that aside from reaching an agreement with the school district to purchase the property, the final barriers would be getting the demolition funds and getting the district decertified for the demolition of the 225 properties.
“That, and, assuming we can apply to get some funds to help us build the facility. Those are the three legs of the stool in my mind.”
According to the state, $10 million of the $100 million were held back as “extenuating circumstance” funds to assist in future demolition projects, meaning that only $90 million was disbursed to cities in Michigan.
While officials said that the money wasn’t set aside for particular projects, revitalizations efforts like the Civic Park revitalization that Shaltz, Diplomat CEO Phil Hagerman, St. Luke’s NEW Life Enterprises, Steve Landaal of Landaal Packaging and Nita Kulkarni, OB/GYN, are eligible for some of the funds.
“The $10 million in reserve is for undetermined project costs and future demolition. At this point in time, there is no way to access those funds,” said Michele Wildman, director of special programs with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
“We want to see how the initial pilot goes before making future awards. I’m aware that the Genesee County Land Bank is supportive of the (Civic Park) effort and would like to eventually have it included in some of their work and is working with the local groups to get through the current historic designations that present a barrier.”
Doug Weiland, executive director of the Genesee County Land Bank, said that under the initial proposal, the 225 homes slated for demolition in the Civic Park neighborhood were added to the city’s demo list, but MSHDA declared the homes ineligible.
“The state asked us to remove anything that was in the historic areas. They removed it from the proposal and reduced the grant by that amount. We are still moving forward trying to get that area decertified. The whole process could be done, ideally, in about a 90-day period,” Weiland said.
He said that the homes would cost roughly $2.5 million to demolish – or about 25 percent of the reserve funds. The city of Flint received more than 22 percent of the original $90 million disbursed.
Shaltz is confident that the state will release funds following the decertification process at the state level.
“I’d be surprised if another community gets to the entire $10 million first, but that’s one of the reasons we’re trying to get this out there so that people know that this is an expectation. Part of this $10 million is what we’re planning on,” Shaltz said.
“I don’t know of any reason we couldn’t access that $10 million. My understanding is that if we get (Civic Park) decertified we should be ok.”
Citizens of Civic Park are concerned that if Shaltz’s group isn’t able to press forward with the redevelopment then the neighborhood will continue to deteriorate.
Sam Connors said she spent a lot of time in the neighborhood and was back home visiting her grandmother. She said she’s seen the neighborhood dwindle quickly over the past 30 years.
“It started to get bad when I left in the late 80s, and every time I came back it was like it was just worse and worse,” she said.
“I think that it would be stupid to stop somebody who’s trying to develop the neighborhood and create jobs just because of a historic label. There’s nothing historic about this neighborhood anymore when all you see is crumbling houses and burned out buildings.”
Larry Watkins, the superintendent of Flint Public Schools, said that he won’t be one to stand in the way of the development, either.
Watkins and the school district are currently in talks with Shaltz to come to terms on an agreement that would allow Shaltz to control the property where Civic Park School is located.
He said he hasn’t seen the proposal from Shaltz to purchase the shuttered Civic Park School, but he is willing to entertain all offers for the district’s unused schools.
“I know there’s been some conversation…but we’re eager to get all vacant properties off our hands. These schools are even bigger eyesores than the houses that are being torn down,” Watkins said.
“We’re just waiting to hear back from Cooper Commercial – the company that deals with our vacant properties – about a recommendation and then we’ll go from there.”
The redevelopment of the Civic Park neighborhood is also backed by the city of Flint.
Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said that he’s confident that the developers will be able to get the historic certification lifted from the neighborhood in order to receive funds and begin with the project.
“I’m confident that there will be demolition funds that get made available for the Civic Park Neighborhood. The key is to get a plan in place that respects the historical and cultural value of a number of those properties, but also allow for the blight elimination and maintenance,” Walling said.
“A balance can be struck and we can maintain the most important elements of that are while making it a safe place for families to live and a new business to thrive. There’s always that last resort of unsafe structures being taken down when they become a threat to public safety and welfare, but what we want is a proactive strategy for that neighborhood just like the rest of the city where we can support the residents and property owners that have stayed there during these tough times and bring new funding and programs.”
Shaltz said that the goal is to have the homes demolished and the manufacturing facility built by the end of 2014. |
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Tue Oct 15, 2013 6:41 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Plans for manufacturing facility at Flint's historic Civic Park site halted
Dominic Adams | dadams5@mlive.com By Dominic Adams | dadams5@mlive.com
on December 11, 2013 at 6:55 PM, updated December 11, 2013 at 8:14 PM
FLINT, MI – Plans for a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at a shuttered school on Flint’s north side have been halted.
Phil Shaltz, the president of Shaltz Automation, said he is no longer planning to purchase the long-shuttered Civic Park Elementary School on West Dayton Avenue.
In October, Shaltz said he was going to build a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on the site for 100 jobs that St. Luke’s NEW Life Ministries’ garment-making business called for in April of 2013.
Wednesday, Dec. 11, Shaltz said there has been a change in strategy for the NEW Life project and that it does not include Civic Park.
“At this time, (Civic Park) will have to come off the table,” Shaltz said.
Rather than go with a new facility on the Civic Park spot, St. Luke’s NEW Life Enterprises will expand its gymnasium to house production, said Steve Wolbert, a spokesman for Flint-based Diplomat Please delete me!, which is partnering with NEW Life for garment production.
“In terms of the NEW Life Center, our goal with that is to support the sisters,” said Wolbert. “We don’t really view this as a negative thing.”
Wolbert said the work on the NEW Life gym will be complete by the end of February.
With uncertainty over whether state and federal officials would lift the historic designation at Civic Park to allow for demolition, Wolbert said NEW Life could not wait on a decision.
“We just know that we can’t let them wait,” he said. “They need to be in the position to expand their business right now.”
NEW Life founders Sister Carol Weber and Sister Judy Blake, who started the medical wear enterprise in 2008 as an employment pathway out of crime and poverty for area women, could not be reached for comment.
“Over the course of time, and as the Civic Park neighborhood goes through this revitalization process, we will listen to all stakeholders,” Wolbert said. “They will provide us the road map for how to proceed and then we will do what we can to help make their vision for Civic Park and NEW Life a reality.”
Shaltz wanted to use a portion of the federal demolition dollars to raze more than 220 homes in the community for the project.
A study commissioned by the Genesee County Land Bank found that there have been changes in the conditions of the properties and areas of the neighborhood that don’t contribute to the historic integrity of the district, according to a news release.
Civic Park, however, is still in a designated historic spot under the revised boundaries of the study.
“From our perspective, we own over 200 properties in the neighborhood that we want to deal with – that we get calls on all the time,” said Heidi Phaneuf, community resource planner with the land bank. “Once we get the boundaries shrunk, we can push really hard with the state to get more funds.”
The land bank will host two public meetings where the public can give feedback on a proposal to change the historic district boundaries on Thursday, Dec. 12. The meetings will be at 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at Joy Tabernacle Church, 2025 Chevrolet Ave.
Shaltz said he was disappointed that he won't be able to contribute the Civic Park site to the project but said the new plan could allow for more future expansion at NEW Life.
"I'm certainly not disappointed in NEW Life," said Shaltz. "I'm just disappointed I couldn't bring Civic Park to the table."
Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
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Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:42 am |
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