David_Harris_AMA

This is just my opinion, but cities like Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids for that matter, were not as tied to the auto industry as Flint and Detroit. They have much more diverse economies with different businesses, including universities. Flint has never been able to put back in what GM left.

Not sure, haha. But I enjoyed the movie. My favorite scene was when Jackie tackles the Russian guy who is making the last shot to give everyone in the crowd free corn dogs. Cracks me up every time.

Any crime dealing children is hard. We had a 9-year-old and 12-year-old killed in separate homicides this summer. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/07/two_children_taken_away_too_ea.html

Also, these two stories dealing with children slain will haunt me forever. Dominick Calhoun was a 4-year-old boy killed by his mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend was convicted as was the boy's mother for not doing enough to stop it. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/01/attorneys_give_closing_argumen.html

Also, a 6-year-old boy was killed when a man fired a gun into the car the boy was riding in with his father. The suspect and the father had an argument over a drug debt. I interviewed the family, and the boy had a twin brother, who was asked what he would tell his brother. He said "Duck."

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2010/11/family_of_jonaries_holden_expr.html

Not necessarily in order: Lack of education, loss of hope, declining police force, lost city services, breakdown of the family structure, lack of respect for life

There are many good things about the city. The downtown has seen a revival the last 10 years or so with new bars, restaurants and residential apartments. The local colleges, the University of Michigan-Flint, Kettering (formerly General Motors Institute), Baker and Mott Community College, have grown.

Plus we have two really awesome events, The Crim Road Race and Back to the Bricks car show, that bring hundreds of thousands of people in the city.