[Tricia819]

A biodiesel plant is going to be built (is being built?) on the old Buick site...and there is talk of opening a shipping hub for soybeans as well. That is in addition to the great things U of M is doing. Flint is turning around.

[michmoldman]

Originally Posted by Tricia819

A biodiesel plant is going to be built (is being built?) on the old Buick site...and there is talk of opening a shipping hub for soybeans as well. That is in addition to the great things U of M is doing. Flint is turning around.

Flints worst days are behind them I believe. I have said it a ton of times...I still love going to flint! I heard walmart is closing 10 Sams Clubs, I hope the one on Corunna Rd is not one of them. I go there all the time.

[RememberMee]

I think that Biodiesel is a great idea.

Bio-diesel, corn ethanol have no future, both are net energy losers (it takes more energy to produce than combustion releases) both are wasteful ecological disaster. In the wake of Bush administration carpet bombing ethanol industry with $ubsidie$ and tax breaks, true "visionaries" built an ethanol plant in Burly Idaho (now bankrupt). Burly Idaho is not even Illinois, it's desert, 20 miles south and you'll hit hardcore Nevada deserts. Yet they grow irrigated corn there. Naturally irrigated Illinois corn ethanol is a major energy loser, to appreciate the wisdom of Idaho corn ethanol enthusiasts take 5 gallon bucket of water in your powerful hands and carry it for a few miles to appreciate the extra energy it takes to grow Idaho corn.

[RememberMee]

Instead of thinking along "race to the bottom" lines to lure in bottom feeding corporations, it would be nice to see at least a single community developing its local economy into something more self-sufficient regardless of Wall-Street, corporate ROI and price of labor in China or MS. What are basic human needs? Food, clothes, shelter... What is industrial approach to satisfy those needs? Build a plant manufacturing crankshaft, for example, and employing hundreds specialized in dozens of brain numbing manufacturing steps. Get money. Buy food and clothes. If money is not particularly great buy drugs to escape in the better worlds. This way everybody is on the mercy of corporations and things that are way beyond of his/her comprehension, not speaking of control. I don't think there is something principally impossible about decreasing corporate control over one's access to the food and shelter. Jefferson was writing about the danger of the wage slavery 200+ years ago.

[mr penguin]

Bingo. Ethanol is a total ruse. Gratiot county had big plans for a plant. Went around to every farmer and seed salesman within a hundred miles and got "investors" I know of a couple that "invested" $40k 3 years ago. The whole project sits unfinished and nobody has seen a nickel of their money. What a crock.
One of the huge roadblocks that Flint faces is the attitude of the people. They still think $74 an hour and 7 weeks of vacation with full tilt health benefits is a reasonable wage for installing glovebox doors. I say kaboom.

[gogetta]

Maybe the worst of the worst times are over from Flint, highly doubtful as things only look like they are going to get worst.

[danielj72]

What can be done for Flint??? Anyone got a bulldozer?

[Tricia819]

Flint has some things going for it. We need some entreprenural types to open some more businesses downtown for the students. Fixing up the capital theatre would be pretty cool, get the grocery store that's been discussed opened, reopen the metropolis for local bands, a few more restaurants, tear down all the vacant houses, etc. The university center has a lot of things for the students, but they all shut down pretty early. There isn't really anywhere within walking distance to go for a cheap hamburger or a decent breakfast.