Save Flint and buy a house

Gordie Young, the Flint expatriate who authors the eponymous blog, has had some thought-provoking posts recently.

There are a lot of houses up for grabs in Flint (and in Detroit, for that matter, where I hear mansions are going for $1 - but you have to pay the back taxes).

It seems that other Flint expatriates are actually buying houses in Flint, from afar, to help stop the blight of absentee investors, slumlords and urban decay.

Yesterday's post on out-of-town property owners in Flint looked at some of the negative aspects of absentee investors. It prompted Flint Expatriate Sarah Swart to comment: "I'm wondering if any of these out-of-towners (which, remember, are only one of numerous OOT options, including bank ownership) are actually expats. Personally, I am tempted by the $900 home in Carriage Town and by one on Forest Hill Ave listed for $4,000. I'm not a real estate investor, I'm pro-local and -civic action, and I'm very tempted.

You're not alone, Sarah. I've been tempted as well. And in the past week I've had the chance to reconnect with another Flintoid who has already taken the plunge ...

Yes, that Flint expatriate Sarah Swart is my sister, the one who lives in Gloucester. If I had the money, I would do it.

Consider this: the University of Michigan has a branch in Flint. It was just a tiny satellite when I lived there and shared buildings with the community college, but now it is a huge presence.

Add this (also from Flint Expatriates, but reported in the Flint Journal): Although the count won't be official until September 10, UM-Flint is on pace to have the largest first-time freshman class in school history. With 890 freshmen, the class is 42 percent larger than last year.

A 42 percent jump in freshman enrollment. Flint could go from being a blight on the landscape to being a 'real' college town, such as Ann Arbor! Imagine that.

Where General Motors abandoned Flint, my alma mater (go blue) is picking up the slack. Or at least that's how it looks from over here.

And don't forget the Swedish biogas facility and the factory under consideration to build engines for the new Chevy Volt. (The location of the biogas facility, by the way, was suggested to Swedish officials by yet another Flint expatriate, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Michael Wood.)

The Concept Chevy Volt, with its revolutionary E-Flex Propulsion System, will be different than any previous electric vehicle because it will use a lithium-ion battery with a variety of range-extending onboard power sources, including gas and, in some vehicles, E85 ethanol(1) to recharge the battery while driving (from the website).

I'm taking heart that Flint is poised on the brink of an upswing. Sadly, the city leaders seem to be asswipes.

But look at the expatriates turning out to help the city. I did not grow up in Flint - we moved there after I graduated from high school and then I took off for Ann Arbor - but my Swart siblings did.

And yet, I would do it, if I could.