Demolition Means Progress

Abstract

In 1960, city officials in Flint, Michigan, announced plans to demolish the St. John Street neighborhood. In support of the clearance project-which promised to replace a segregated black neighborhood with an industrial park and a freeway-executives from General Motors, municipal officials, and downtown boosters argued that redevelopment would provide more jobs and a growth-oriented future. Yet urban renewal in Flint was much more than a top-down campaign for growth. Many civil rights and neighborhood activists also supported St. John redevelopment, viewing urban renewal as an opportunity to secure new housing, desegregation, and clean air. Nevertheless, by the mid-1970s, corporate and city officials had triumphed over local civil rights activists, ultimately presiding over a renewal program that valued short-term industrial growth and ghetto containment over housing equity. Emphasizing state-sanctioned segregation, this article challenges the usefulness of de facto segregation as a descriptor of the North's color lines.

Rethinking Tiebout: The Contribution of Political Fragmentation and Racial/Economic Segregation to the Flint Water Crisis

“…The enactment of a 1978 bill known as HB 4030 gave townships the same legal powers as central cities, so long as basic tax base and public service criteria were met. 37 An attorney working for a suburban township insisted that amalgamation constituted an ''injustice'' for the township due to their recent infrastructure investments, although he failed to acknowledge the history of Flint providing services to said suburbs and the fact that the very existence of the suburbs was linked to the rising economic fortunes of the city. Suburbanites maintained that if Flint's leaders desired new development, they should clear built-up land in the city.…”

Creating a legal framework for urban agriculture: Lessons from Flint, Michigan

“…(U.S. Census Bureau, 1990), but the city soon began losing manufacturing jobs to the suburbs, and later to overseas countries (Highsmith, 2009 …”

Alternative Agrifood Projects in Communities of Color: A Civic Engagement Perspective

“…Unjust practices of urban housing and neighborhood exclusion such as redlining, block-busting, restrictive covenants, and steering segregated neighborhoods by both race and class. This was followed by consistently inequitable and reduced investment in minority neighborhoods by city governments and private interests throughout the U.S. (Gotham, 1998;Highsmith, 2009;Logan & Molotch, 2007;Massey & Denton, 1993;Schildt, 2011). Racism, exclusion, and disinvestment led to a downward spiral in opportunity that is reflected in high unemployment rates, high vacancy rates, high rates of preventable health problems, and failing local economies (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom, 2004;Massey & Denton, 1993;Wilson, 1996).…”

“…As local economies failed and access to necessary resources like credit and insurance declined, many businesses (not just food-related businesses) left these neighborhoods (Massey & Denton, 1993). The combined effects of these practices made the acquisition of land for any use-residential, commercial, farming-challenging for the African American community (Gotham, 1998;Highsmith, 2009;Logan & Molotch, 2007;Massey & Denton, 1993;Schildt, 2011). Thus the U.S. food system remains inequitable, long after overt racism has subsided (Alkon & Agyeman, 2011).…”

“…Building trust and commitment is a necessary step toward empowering communities to create transformative change. A culture of distrust often exists in impoverished communities as a result of years of disinvestment, broken promises, and structurally segregative policies (Gotham, 1998;Highsmith, 2009;Logan & Molotch, 2007;Massey & Denton, 1993;Schildt, 2011). Suspicion of new public and private initiatives is a common result of this sad experience, frequently culminating in civic disengagement.…”