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Complete an Unabridged History of Flint: well, almost! The history of Flint is perhaps as long and complex as the federal bureaucracy. OK, maybe not. The first white man to visit Flint was the famous fur trader Jacob Smith. He was the first to settle in the area and established his lucrative trade here. His trading post was the cornerstone of the city, that is until it was torn down to make room for a parking ramp.
The social life of this time was not great. In fact, the husky, rugged guy to girl ratio was about 10 - 1. This does not include the women who could have been men. These numbers are not good in anyones book. Then, out of the utter despair came a beacon of hope the first tavern in the Flint area was established. Contrary to popular belief this oasis in the desert was not Paddy Mc Gees, but Todd's Tavern, founded in 1830 s.
Although the settlers still had no women, at least they now had a place to go where everyone knew their name. Things ran pretty smoothly, but the city didnt boom until the entrepreneur William Durant came to town and established Flint as the vehicle city, with his production of carriages. Carriage town as the area was termed still stands today. It is one of few remaining historic areas left in the city.
The others being Todd's Tavern. Oops, that washoe away with when women came to town. But we still have the hole where the first shutdown strike in the nation occurred Oh, wait, they just tore that down didnt they? Well atleast there s still AutoWorldI forgot, thats going down, too, isnt it? Thanks to the Irish folk we still have one historic place left Italia Gardens. (Just Kidding). Around this time William Durant began to notice a new up and coming gizmo, known the automobile.
Along with Charles Stewart Mott, Dallas Dort, who was himself very fond of the Vu, Louis Chevrolet, David Buick, Charles Nash, Walter Chrysler, and Henry Ford, William Durant turned the carriage town into the horseless carriage town. When Flint boomed, the social life went right with it. Dort highway sprung up another were now hussies on every street corner, not silver bells, as the carol leads you to believe. There were now a whopping three watering stations in the city, but nothing prepare the townsfolk for what was to come next. A young desperado strolled into town, some hotshot who just graduated from some Irish school in the midwest.
He bought, and converted an old, run down place into a location that was to be treasured and revered for several generations to come. This was not your average Cheers. This was a full-fledged, beer battered, deep-fried, big juicy hamburger, green beer drinking Irish pub. This was Paddy Mc Gees. This was the good life.
Today, the passion and the glory of Flint may have faded, but two landmarks still remain, Dort Highway and Italia Gardens. And some other Irish place on Flushing Road. 4. The City Government The Mayor Woodrow Stanley The City Council The Judicial Branch Budget Office The Ombudsman Friend of the Court Treasury Department City Clerk Zoning Committee Internal Revenue Service Public Works and Utilities Water Supply and Pollution Controls Building and Safety Inspection Committee Waste Distribution Center City Engineers Parks and Recreation Community Development Office Traffic Engineers Street Maintenance Fire Department Police Department 5. The Flint City Government has many parts and divisions, as you can see. Each has ison set of goals and duties to perform.
The Mayor, Woodrow Stanley, is the head of the operation. He has a lot of power over the committees and departments in the city. He gets appoint several key figures. The Ombudsman, Daryl Baker, acts as the mayors voice to the people and the departments when the mayor can not be present. Along with these duties, the ombudsman also conducts investigations to determine that city services are being delivered properly and make certain that the power or the rights of the city are not being abused by elected or appointed officials. It is the job of the city clerk, Louis Hawkins to see that all the busy-work is done forgot the mayor and the ombudsman, as well as any other city official.
The City Council holds meetings which suggest and enact rules and zoning disputes, as advised by the zoning boards. See the City Council Meeting Section. Each member oversees his district and voices the complaints of the people of that area. The City Councilmembers are elected by the voters in each district. The councilmember from my district the 6 th, is John W. Northrup. 6.
The City Council Meetings, a. k. a. , lash out at the City Government hour I attended the city council meeting on the night of November 25 th. The meeting began most meetings do, with the call to order. To get it out of the way, the meeting was re-arranged so that the award for the soccer team would be first. We received a certificate of recognition from the members of the council and were commended for our achievement.
After this was done, the meeting officially began. My first observation was that there were not a lot of people in the room. I understand that Flint is not the biggest of cities, but the room was virtually empty. Even some of the people who had proposals were not there to speak on behalf of the proposal. A couple washer to speak in favor of granting a liquor license to their shop and rob, as Winchestersays, but they must have gotten bored during the course of the meeting, because they left before their proposal was called. The meeting began with a review of all former proposals; those which the council had already voted upon.
The floor was open to discuss the proposals, but no one stood up. After this was done, all new proposals, those which hadnt been finalized, or those which were previously postponed were called. Again the floor was open for anyone to speak. This time a group from the outskirts of Dort Highway, a.
k. a. the drag, spoke to get action a particular dump zone in the neighborhood. As much as the council people tried to convince these people that they were working on the problem, the people would have none it.
Each and every one stood up and commented on the pile. Some proposed 24 hour police patrols in the area. Others proposed that the city should install cameras to catch the dumpers. Still others, thought that a nearby paint and chemical plant was the problem. These people proposed re-zoning the building to get rid of the shop. 7. It seemed endless.
In the vote on the issue, the council members exercised their right these bureaucratic red tape by deciding to postpone their vote until more information could gathered. Each and every issue had to be voted upon, no matter how crazy the proposal. A few ofthe more outlandish include: a liquor license for a private residence and granting a liquor license to a business which had just lost its license. Coincidentally, the committee which handled the matter recommend approval for the latter.
Fortunately, Northrup brought outre point that the city had fought hard to rid the store of its license and it would seem silly to give it right back. The council then voted to postpone their vote until further information was gathered. After endless proposals the meeting was turned to future endeavors. This included a proposal to mount cameras in various locations throughout the city, to deter and monitor crime. After a debate on the legality of such a measure in accordance with civil rights, the council, you guessed it postponed the debate until further information was gathered. Another future proposal concerned forcing landlords to pay a lump sum for the removal otras, from the curb, after an eviction.
I did not agree with this proposal, and it is discussed in my interview with Councilman Minore. 8. The Interview Note: this interview was cut short due to a prior engagement of the councilman Councilman Jack Minore did not plan on becoming a city councilman until late in life. He was studying to become an architect, but then realized one day that he loved to design homes, but he hated to measure and count parts. This is a very big problem if one is to become an architect, so he figured he needed to find another career. He then decided that wanted to impact the community in some way, so he chose to run for office and won.
When asked about his major concern, Mr. Minore overwhelmingly believed that crimes his overriding concern. He was a big proponent for the use of cameras. Financial matters tie into crime because a main cause of major crime, such as selling drugs, is despair. When people are desperate, they will do almost anything. I then brought up the point that I believed that the way they were handling the landlord issue was wrong and unjust.
Councilman Minore backed his position stating that it mayor be right, it may not be fair, but it is the best way to go handle the issue. I asked him why it was such a big problem, and he responded by stating that several landlords own homes within the city and live outside the boundary. They only come to town to clean up after an eviction and end up throwing the trash on the curb, no matter how large a pile, andrew large a mess it makes. I responded that my father owns a few homes within a three block radius of our own, and he, too places the trash on the curb after an eviction. I pointed out that most people are evicted because they are slobs or behind on rent.
It is often hard on the owner to evict this person in the first place, and event harder to clean up after them. 9. For instance, we had a friend of the family living in one of our homes who fit both criteria for eviction, but he had just gone through a divorce, so we were very lenient and finally were forced to throw the man out. The house was a mess after this and we had already lost several months rent in the process, and to h
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