FLINT, MI— We pay Senior Millage, yet Senior Centers are being closed. We pay annual fees for garbage collection, yet our garbage collection has been outsourced to a private company. We pay a Park millage, yet our city’s Parks and Recreation Department is non-existent. All the city’s lawn equipment has been auctioned off. Meanwhile, the Emergency Manager (EM) held closed door meetings with United Water and American Water. Water rates have soared through the roof for increasingly impoverished citizens.
Last year, the EM sold Genesee Towers, an abandoned office building, for One Dollar to local investors. The same group was awarded almost One Million dollars of Community Development Block Grant (federal) funds for future demolition of the building! These funds are sorely needed for neighborhood development. All of this was done by Executive Order of the EM.
New lawsuits, public forums and civil disobedience activity are escalating. Citizens are retooling and recharging to confront fascist rule.
Claire McClinton is a Flint resident and UAW retiree.
