[michigan83]

Originally Posted by PatrickB92

Not very many around anymore. The subdivisions on W Court towards Elms are pretty decent but getting worse and worse and the property values are dropping pretty substantially... Ever since people of a certain race have been moving more into the outlying areas and into the nicer subdivisions, their property values have been rapidly dropping and crime has gone up a lot out here. Nothing really violent or anything towards Elms Rd but people's homes and cars have been getting broken into and there's been a lot of vandalism and graffiti stuff like that by kids that think they are 'gangsta'. They usually end up getting caught or seriously injured / killed when they break into the wrong person's home. This one kid got stabbed in the head with a screwdriver not too long ago when he tried robbing someones house at night.

There's been some pretty horrible incidents this year, the murder rate is at an all time high and a lot of the white people are leaving and moving to nicer areas or out of state... so pretty soon the blacks will have this craphole all to themselves like in Detroit.

ALL of the schools around here suck, except for Flushing / Swartz Creek / Grand Blanc which are not in Flint. If you live in the Carman-Ainsworth district you'll be sending your kid to a 75% black school where most of the blacks are not even in the district so they are getting a free ride by the taxpayers in district.

Also drugs, illegal guns, flash mobs, car theft, stuff like that is every where around here. Just the other day I was at a gas station not too far down West Court st, right outside of the city limits and I heard several gunshots in the parking lot next to me.

Once you get around the city limits and especially into the down town area there are the token crackheads just walking around begging people for money, trying to heckle you, giving you some sob story about how their car broke down and they need money for a gas can, etc etc. The funny thing is they are right by the police station and the police do nothing about it.

Earlier this summer I was down Corunna a little getting a pack of cigarettes and there was this older black man who told me something about how his car ran out of gas down the street and he had it parked in the taco bell parking lot and that if he didn't move it it'd get towed... I actually believed him and felt sorry enough for him to give him a ride (I had a gas can with gas in it)... I felt safe enough because I was with a friend... sure enough as soon as he gets in the truck I can tell hes on drugs or whatever, he kept changing his story the whole time then tried asking me for money had his hand in his pocket the whole time, he kept saying he needed to go somewhere else.. refused to get out of the car. That whole time I had my hand on my knife just waiting for him to do something and eventually i just had to push him out of the car because he refused to get out.

Oh and the jails are full, law enforcement is undermanned, etc. Not a very nice situation.

Wow. Did someone wake up on the Racist side of the bed this morning?

Although, on a similar note... I was at a McDonalds in Flint near the freeway, and a guy in the parking lot told me he needed some money for gas because he ran out on the freeway and his kids were in the car. I gave him $5.00, and he walked straight into McDonalds! Didn't even pretend that he was going to do anything else.

But I'm more mad at myself than anything over that one. That was just stupid on my part.



But seriously, back to what I was saying... you seem to have some racist tendencies. Might want to take it down a notch.

[tigerfan41]

For those who want a good idea of what the city's like, see the Flint Police Operations page on Facebook. Virtually all crime gets reported on there, and it's a great way for residents or those with relatives in the area to keep on top of everything that's happening.

As for me, I'm a lifelong resident of Flint (over 23 years and counting). Myself and my parents live on the south side of Flint, though we're looking to move at some point in the near future. I've seen my area, in particular, change a LOT over the years. Back in the 90s, things were much safer around here. Kids played outside without too much of a worry, the local elementary school (Cody) was still open, there was a T-Ball league and lots of activities for the kids. It was even better in the 70s/80s from what I've heard from my much older siblings.

Now? Well, most of the area is not too good. Our block, in particular, is fairly decent. We haven't had shootings or robberies. We have had a few isolated incidences (a police chase and some arguments--all due to one crazy neighbor who finally left a couple months back) but other than that, it's OK. I think what makes our block different from the others is that most of the people on the block own their houses. They've also been around for 20-30 years. There's a certain pride in ownership, and we all look out for one another. When there have been issues in the past (such as the prostitution house two doors down a few years back), we've banded together to drive out the troublemakers.

However, what I will say is this: what's ruining Flint is the slumlords and renters who refuse to work and continually live unlawfully. You have to understand, back in the 60s/70s/80s, most people who lived in Flint owned their house. They kept it up. There is a reason why Flint was once voted the best city in America to live. Part of that was the auto boom and part of it was the high home ownership. Once people started moving to the suburbs around here and people started snatching up properties to rent to the lowest of the low, things went down hill. Now people will rent a house for a month or two and then get evicted. These people generally do drugs and some are prostitutes, too. Arguments are common and it's just bad for the neighborhood.

But here's the thing: there's power in community. There ARE good streets in Flint still, in virtually every area. As long as there are enough people on a block to drive out the troublemakers, Flint really isn't that horrible of a place to live. Trust me when I say this, people who sell drugs, prostitute, are in gangs etc. don't want attention and if a group of people make it known that they know what they're up to and they're going to report it to the authorities, they're gonna leave the area. I've seen it happen with the prostitution problems in the area, the drug houses etc.

As for police, all I can say is that the response time has gotten much better in my area. We see police cars on patrol all the time around here. Crime has decreased a bit as a result. Again, there are still some good areas around here.

If you can't afford the suburbs and do your research, there are areas of Flint that are pretty decent to live in. That having been said, my reasons for wanting to get my parents out of here are mostly related to health and space (they need a bigger ranch-style house, rather than the house with big stairs and small space that we're in now).

Also, I have to say, if you don't live in the area now or anytime in the past few years, you really don't know what you're talking about. Lots of people are fast to condemn Flint when they don't even know it. I'm not saying the city is perfect (it's not) but it's not fair to judge what you don't know.