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Topic: Flint, Genesee County spar over run-down property

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Steve Myers
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Mayor Don Williamson is threatening to sue Genesee County for what he says is the run-down condition of property the county owns in the city.

But two top officials with the Genesee County Land Bank Authority said the facts don't back up Williamson's talk.

"We're serving notice to the county: In the next 48 hours, clean up the junk houses you got, the weeds, the rats, or we're going to sue," Williamson said Thursday. "We are not tolerating Genesee County bringing our city into the slums."

Daniel T. Kildee, chairman of the Land Bank Authority Board of Directors, said Williamson is wrong about the county contributing to blight.

"The property we get is the worst property in the city," Kildee said. "We're trying to clean up 35 years of decline."

The Land Bank takes over properties where taxes haven't been paid in Flint and elsewhere in the county. Its goal is to transfer the land to adjacent homeowners or to hold it in trust, waiting to develop it into green space, new housing or business.

Williamson said the county is letting those properties slide into disrepair - some of them becoming infested by rodents and snakes - while it waits to demolish buildings or work out land deals. The mayor said the county controls about 2,500 parcels, but Kildee said the number actually is higher.

The Land Bank board might have a special meeting next week to spell out what good the organization has done and problems that it has encountered because of the city, said Kildee, who also is county treasurer, and Richard E. Hammel, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners.

Hammel said Williamson should "shut his mouth and file the paperwork" if he thinks he has a real legal claim.

"He's been threatening that for a long time," Hammel said.

In a letter to Hammel released by the mayor's office, Williamson said he's received "numerous complaints ... relative to Land Bank homes."

"I am personally asking that the county do all things necessary to correct this growing health hazard faced by the citizens of the city of Flint. I cannot and will not allow this to continue," Williamson wrote

Full Story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-31/1123860202178870.xml&coll=5
Post Sat Aug 13, 2005 2:18 am 
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