[moxymama]

How safe is the Carriage Town neighborhood of Flint? How about the college/cultural area, and what are the boundaries of each neighborhood?

[Tricia819]

Carriage Town.....no...not yet anyway. I'm not to familiar with the area, but I think the boundary of Carriage Town is west of Saginaw St.
The college/cultural area (a.k.a. The East Village) is decent. East Court St. is like the main street of the cultural area. There are several apartment complexes and a couple large houses that rent out apartments. (Not exactly duplexes because they have at least 4 apartments in each house.) The boundaries would be Saginaw St to the west, Robt T. Longway to the North, Dort Hwy to the East, and I-69 to the south. The neighborhood between Court St. and Robert T has a lot of nice, little houses, but you don't want to live right on Robt T or Dort Hwy. The neighborhood south of Court St. is very upscale. Many large, expensive, older houses. You can't live anywhere in Flint where you don't have to lock your doors and be aware of your surroundings at all times, but it's a pretty safe area.

[moxymama]

Thanks, Tricia!

How about even further south, the area east of Saginaw and north of Atherton, near Thread Lake, McKinley Park, the Flint Golf Club?

You're the second person to warn me away from Carriage Town.

It's so hard to do this without being there, and on such short notice. I just want to be able to contact a few landlords/property management places before driving up for an overnight in Flint.

I live in a big city, in a neighborhood that used to be a lot like Carriage Town, but that has seen a big rebound. I'm not afraid of dicey, but I don't want it too dicey -- and as a big city girl, I always lock my doors the moment I walk into my apartment. :-)

Any other advice on safe places? You've been really helpful, and I appreciate it. It's just abstract to me right now and hard to wrap my tiny little brain around.

[Tricia819]

I used to babysit on Mason St in Carriage town and it was dicey then, the area is trying to rebound, but it's too dicey right now.

The area around the Flint Golf Club is a little strange. We went house hunting in that area nine years ago and there are a lot of really nice houses that were out of our price range, but you turn a bend and they go down hill fast. If your interested in that area it would be better to go south of Atherton Rd. It's a blue collar area, but it's safe.

The Cathy Platt neighborhood is safe, course I'm biased I live there, but there aren't any good apartment complexes.

[edgey]

Why not? I pay $1750.00pm in rent to live in a 2 bd Queens, NY dump! I may as well move my whole operation to Flint and save on rent! In Flint I'll own my own warehouse instead of renting. And, own a 3 bd house for less than I paid for a apartment in Queens NY!
I can employ 7 or 8 workers at the same rate of pay I use here. So what am I doing in the high rent zone? I don't know? Kids are grown and the wife wants to leave anyway.
Look out Flint, here we come!
edgey

[Tricia819]

Um....is that sarcasm? I can't tell. You're right though, I live in a 3 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood and we pay $650.00. For $1750.00 you could own a $175,000 house!!!

[kaypurdue]

Carriage Town is starting to make a comeback. There are still a lot of empty lots there and I'm not sure how the crime rate is. Downtown in general is getting cleaned up though.

You can read more about Carriage Town and its historical society here:
CT Menu Page (a bit outdated but good info and lots of pictures)

College/cultural neighborhood is nice. I have friends who have lived on both sides of Court St. and have never had a problem.

[dori36]

Thanks for all the comments about the "cultural neighborhood". I'm heartened to learn from y'all that it is still a viable and relatively safe neighborhood. It's where I grew up in the late 50's/early 60's when Flint was safe and had lots to offer. I lived right on E. Court St, across from what used to be Flint Jr. College, and where the biggest challenge in my neighborhood was learning how to back out of the driveway on to Court St. without getting creamed!

[moxymama]

I'm coming to Flint Monday to look at a place (and probably sign a lease for it) a couple of blocks north of Court.

Thanks, everyone, for your input!

[edgey]

Good luck to you in Flint!!! The local politics have changed over the years. Public services are low and the cost is high. Water, energy are a little high here. Try to find a home with a fire place. The winter is cold. One thing I did notice that is somewhat remarkable. The Homes built post 1958 are somewhat cheaply erected. They were sorta quick made and cheap materials were used. This was to meet the housing demand during the late 50s and early 60s, these are the homes that no one wants. Look for older homes, at least they are better built and you can add extensions as needed.
Best of luck to you!
edgey