Why I'm proud of my hometown, Flint, Michigan, USA

http://www.family-vacation-getaways-at-los-angeles-theme-parks.com/images/ChuckECheeseGreetsFamily.gif

make your own ballcrawl-and-sticky-floor joeks here

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-50/1202132646317400.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

Note that the cops DID spray the crowds

Chuck E Cheese has BEER.
Protective parents, irritating light & sound, beer...
Draw your own conclusions.

I bet that mouse looked at someone funny or groped a feel.

lol trolls

(in the MI sense)

I recently saw a woman threaten to kill a guy with her bare hands for picking up her dog: Chuck E. Cheese's is full of actually human offspring.

someone post those animatronic robots doing those cover songs!

also someone post that rap video about Saginasty

Maybe they got crazy due to salty pizza!

http://consumerist.com/355278/americas-10-most-miserable-cities

Woo hoo! #3 on the most miserable American cities to live!

New York no.4?
Over here all we ever here is that NY is the bestest place ever now that there's no crime or litter.

http://www.the-frat-pack.com/images/news/will-tropics.jpg

HA. I just found out that my best friend from school just won a seat again on the city council in a special election last month. This was after the dick mayor ran efforts to unseat him 4 years ago.

Kingfish, are you from Flint proper, or a neighboring area? I've spent plenty of time in ridiculously seedy areas of Detroit with people who own homes there & what not, but no one ever goes to Flint. People seem to be really afraid of Flint for some reason, like it is some sort of post-apocalyptic forbidden zone.

Somewhere between Flint proper and the Neighboring Zones. I went to Kearsley High School in the northeast side, and was raised about 2-3 miles away from Buick City, the world's largest factory which was abandoned by GM in the 90s and is a full-on Fallout 3-looking post-apoc industrial wasteland.

Flint is on fire

FLINT (WJRT) -- (04/05/10) -- The people of Flint are getting tired of all the fires, and their frustration is building after two families were burned out of their homes this weekend.

There were two dozen more fires this past weekend in Flint. Most were in abandoned homes, but families have also lost their homes and their peace of mind.

Mildred Lott's house was one of those occupied homes. Burned rubble is all that's left. Her house caught fire with 20 people inside. Her house wasn't set on fire. Neither was the house next door.

It was the house next to that, and the fire spread to this doorstep.

Mildred had her entire family over for Easter when an arson two doors down spread.
Her house is gone, and so are 25 other houses this past weekend alone. Most of the fires were arson, most were abandoned homes.

But a threat led to an arson fire at Oklahoma and Iowa. The family there is so scared and so upset, they don't want to be on TV. They are getting what they can from the rubble and getting away from the neighborhood they called home.

People in Flint have had enough. Firefighters are tired of it, too.

"I'm angry. Now, all of a sudden, we're getting all these fires and it's burning down the places where we (sic) living," said Anthony Gray who lives near a fire scene.

"To wake up like that at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, and see some flames that high in the back of your house, you never know. It could have been me, it could have been my neighbors, could have been anybody," said Kenneth Dupree who also lives near a fire scene.

How much more can firefighters take? Battalion Chief John Babb says he's not sure. "Fatigue is starting to set in with the firefighters. I don't know how long we can keep this pace up. It takes a lot out of you."

Police have one man in custody who they believe started the fire at Avenue A and East Taylor was taken into custody Friday night and remains in jail, but hasn't been formally charged.

As for Mildred Lott, she's using donations to pay for a hotel room.

Apparently arson is now the town's major industry since this happened a little over a week ago...

Flint Laying Off 69 Police Officers And Firefighters

46 Flint police officers and 23 city firefighters will officially be laid off Thursday.

Union leaders and the mayor disagree whether that will make Flint less safe.

The layoffs come after months of failed contract talks between the mayor's office and public safety unions. The mayor's office has been demanding 15 percent wage and benefit cuts from the police and firefighters unions.

Firefighters union president Raul Garcia accuses the mayor of trying to be a union buster.

"Obviously this mayor doesn't care about the citizens of Flint, as well as us," says Garcia, "And I guess he's gonna have to wait until he kills one of us whether it's a firefighter of police officer."

Mayor Walling says the city has little choice but to make cuts in public safety. Flint's facing a 6 million dollar deficit and public safety is 60 percent of the city's budget.

Walling insists laying off 46 city police officers will not make Flint less safe.

"This city will be safe," says Walling, "Its not the size of the force, but how effectively they fight crime." But Flint's public safety unions say the city will be less safe. In addition to the layoffs, the city will be closing two fire stations.

Firefighters union president Raul Garcia says if any Flint police officers or firefighters die in the line of duty, it will be Mayor Walling's responsibility.

Obligatory Google map

Yeah, I got an email from a friend asking if my family was all safe, but fortunately they all split town years ago.

Christ almighty, this lead thing

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/18/460234581/high-lead-levels-force-state-of-emergency-in-flint-mich

The Snyder administration quietly trucked in water to state buildings in January of 2015 – ten months prior to Governor Snyder publicly admitting there was reason for concern in Flint, according to a document obtained by Progress Michigan.

http://www.progressmichigan.org/2016/01/document-snyder-admin-trucked-in-clean-water-for-state-building-in-january-2015/

some discussion here:

I'm just wondering what the heck is in our water supply.

happy fifth anniversary to the flint water crisis!