Flint, Michigan

City of Flint
Official seal of City of Flint Seal
Nickname(s):  The Vehicle City, Buick City, Flint Town, Bedrock, The 810
Location of Flint within Genesee County, Michigan.
Country	United States of America
State	Michigan
County	Genesee
Settled	1818
Incorporation	1855
Government
• Type	Strong Mayor-Council
• Mayor	Donald Williamson
• City Administrator	Peggy Cook
Population  (2000)
• City	124,943
• Urban	365,096
• Metro	443,883
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	48501-48507
Area code	810
Website	http://www.cityofflint.com

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, located along the Flint River, 66 miles (106 km) northwest of Detroit. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 124,943, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County⁶.

Flint Charter Township is adjacent to the city on the west but is politically independent.

History

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1860	2,950	—
—	1870	—
5,386	82.6%	—
1880	8,409	—
56.1%	1890	—
9,803	16.6%	—
1900	13,103	—
33.7%	1910	—
38,550	194.2%	—
1920	91,599	—
137%	1930	—
156,492	70.8%	—
1940	151,543	—
-3.2%	1950	—
163,413	7.8%	—
1960	196,940	—
20.5%	1970	—
193,317	−1.8	—
1980	159,611	—
-17.4%	1990	—
140,761	-11.8%	—
2000	124,471	—
-11.6%		—

Some scholars consider the Saginaw Valley, particularly in the vicinity of Flint, to be the oldest continually inhabited part of Michigan. Regardless of the validity of this claim, the region was home to several Ojibwa tribes at the top of the 19th century, with a particularly significant community established near present-day Montrose. The Flint River had several convenient fording points which became a point of contention among rival tribes, as attested by the presence of arrowheads and burial mounds near Flushing.

Jacob Smith, a fur trader on cordial terms with both the local Ojibwas and the territorial government founded a trading post in Flint itself in 1819. On several occasions, Smith negotiated land exchanged with the Ojibwas on behalf of the U.S. government, and was highly regarded on both sides. Smith apportioned many of his holdings to his children. As the ideal stopover on the overland route between Detroit and Saginaw, Flint grew into a small but prosperous village. It was incorporated in 1855. The 1860 U.S. census indicated that Genesee County had a population of 22,498 of Michigan's 750,000.

In the latter half of the 1800s, Flint became a lumber center, and at the turn of the 20th century the revenue and infrastructure from lumbering funded the establishment of the local carriage making industry. As horse-drawn carriages gave way to the automobiles, Flint became a major player in the nascent auto industry. Buick, as well as AC Sparkplug (now part of Delphi) both originated in Flint, as do several defunct automobile marques such as the Dort Motor Car Company and Flint Motors. Chevrolet's first (and for many years, main) manufacturing facility was also in Flint, although headquartered in Detroit.

In 1904, local entrepreneur William C. Durant bought the Buick Motor Company, which became the largest manufacturer of automobiles by 1908. In 1908, Durant founded General Motors, filing incorporation papers in New Jersey, with headquarters in Flint. Eventually GM moved to Detroit.[1]

Durant lost control of GM twice during his lifetime. On the first occasion, he befriended Louis Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet, which was a runaway success. He used the capital from this success to buy back share control. He later lost decisive control again, permanently. Durant experienced financial ruin in the stock market crash of 1929 and subsequently ran a bowling alley in Flint until the time of his death in 1947.

For the last century, Flint's history has been dominated by both the auto industry and car culture. During the sit down strike of 1936-1937, the fledgling United Automobile Workers triumphed over General Motors, inaugurating the era of labor unions.

The city was a major contributor of tanks and other war material during World War II due to its extensive manufacturing facilities.

The eighth deadliest tornado on record in the United States struck Beecher, just north of Flint, on June 8, 1953, killing 115 people, injuring 844. Known as the "Beecher Tornado," after the North Side community, the tornado devastated the area. On the next day the same weather system spawned the worst tornado in New England in Worcester, Massachusetts, killing another 94 people.

For decades, Flint remained politically important as a major population center as well as for its importance to the automotive industry. The city's population peaked in 1960 at almost 200,000 (196,940). These decades are seen as the height of Flint's prosperity and influence, and culminated with the establishment of many local institutions, most notably including the Flint Cultural Center, which remains one of the city's chief commercial and artistic draws to this day.

File:Buickcityflint.JPG

Flint's 235-acre complex known as Buick City was in operation from 1904 until 1999. The facility was recently demolished.

Since the late 1960s, Flint has suffered from disinvestment, deindustrialization, and depopulation. Initially, this took the form of the "white flight" that afflicted many American towns and cities, but the decline was exacerbated by the 1973 oil crisis and subsequent collapse of the U.S. auto industry. In the 1980s, the rate of deindustrialization accelerated with local GM employment falling from a 1978 high of 80,000 to under 23,000 by the late 1990s. Many factors have been blamed, including Reaganomics, outsourcing and exporting jobs abroad and to non-union facilities, unionization and exorbitant overhead, globalization, and most recently, a dramatic decline in General Motors sales. These rationales are often strictly applied along lines of political orientation, and labor remains the most divisive and polarizing local issue.

The recent decline was highlighted in the film Roger and Me by Michael Moore (the title refers to Roger B. Smith, the CEO of General Motors during the 1980s). Also highlighted in Moore's documentary was the failure of city officials to reverse the trends with entertainment options (e.g. Six Flags' AutoWorld) during the 1980s. Moore, a native of the area, revisited Flint in his later movies, including Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11.

Today, the auto industry continues its exodus from Flint as does the population and sources of revenue.

General Motors facilities that have been closed include Chevrolet Manufacturing, (known as Chevy-in-the-Hole to city residents) the first Chevrolet plant; Fisher Body 1 and Fisher Turnstead, the V-8 plant near Truck and Bus (replaced by Flint Powertrain South in 2000); and the massive Buick City complex, closed in 1999 and demolished in 2002. Delphi's Flint East (formerly known as AC Sparkplug) operations are scheduled to close sometime in 2007, and the last few building of Buick City known as Powertrain North, where the 3800 V6 engine is built, is scheduled to close in 2010. The Flint Truck and Bus assembly plant was one of the first factories General Motors initially closed, but it was reopened in the early 1990's.

Remaining General Motors factories in the area (not scheduled to close) include Truck and Bus, the last assembly plant in Genesee County, where GM's heavy trucks are built; Flint Metal Center (metal fabricating), Powertrain South (3.6 liter and 3.8 liter engines), the only factory to be built since General Motors started outsourcing from the city , Service Parts Operations in nearby Swartz Creek, and the Grand Blanc Metal Center (metal casting). The last building (also a tool and dye plant) of Chevrolet Manufacturing is also left, but the General Motors name does not appear on the building. General Motors has been investing heavily in both Truck and Bus and Powertrain South.

Of the nearly 80,000 people that worked for General Motors in Flint during its peak years in the late 1970s, only about 8,000 are left.

Unable to pay its debts, the city was placed into receivership by the state of Michigan in 2002, with a financial manager effectively replacing the mayor. In 2004, local control was resumed.

Recently, many skilled workers have been leaving Flint for jobs in Wyoming in the booming energy industry of coal, oil, and gas. The state of Wyoming has conducted three job fairs in Flint in 2006. At least 200 families have moved so far, many citing the October, 2006 Michigan unemployment rate of 7.1% as reason to leave.

Ironically, the city has seen a huge decline while its suburbs have flourished. Outlying towns such as Grand Blanc and Swartz Creek have seen significant growth and development as bedroom communities. Many professionals who work in the Metro Detroit area have moved outward due to lower housing costs and larger lot sizes. Numerous residential subdivisions have been built in recent years to meet this demand.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 88.2 km² (34.1 mi²). 87.1 km² (33.6 mi²) of it is land and 1.1 km² (0.4 mi²) of it (1.26%) is water. Flint lies just to the northeast of the Flint hills. The terrain is low and rolling along the south and east sides, and flatter to the northwest.

File:Flint skyline2.JPG

View of the Downtown skyline from the Flint River.

For a city of its size, Flint has many neighborhoods, grouped around the center of the city on the four cardinal "sides." The downtown business district is centered on Saginaw Street south of the Flint River. Just west, on opposite sides of the river, are Carriage Town (north) and the Grand Traverse Street District (south). These neighborhoods were the center of manufacturing for and profits from the nation's carriage industry until the 1920s, and to this day are the site of many well-preserved Victorian homes and the setting of Atwood Stadium. Just north of downtown is River Village, a successful example of mixed-income public housing. To the east of I-475 is Central Park, a small neighborhood defined by cul-de-sacs.

Hall's Flats on the West Side is one of Flint's many neighborhoods.

The North Side and 5th Ward are predominantly African American, with such historic districts as Buick City and Civic Park on the north, and Sugar Hill, Floral Park, and Kent and Elm Parks on the south. Many of these neighborhoods were the original centers of early Michigan blues. The South Side in particular was also a center for multiracial migration from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Deep South since World War II. These neighborhoods are most often lower income, but have maintained some level of economic stratification. The East Side is the site of the Applewood Mott Estate, and Mott Community College, the Cultural Center, and East Village, one of Flint's more prosperous areas. Just north is Eastside Proper, also known as the "State Streets," a low-income rental area that has rapidly diversified and is the center of Flint's Hispanic community. Eastside has had trouble with prostitution, particularly in districts centered on Dort Highway and Olive Avenue. The West Side includes the main site of the 1937 sitdown strike and the historic Woodcroft neighborhood, home in the past to influential engineers and automotive executives, and the Mott Park neighborhood, adjacent to Kettering University.

Facilities associated with General Motors in the past and present are scattered throughout the city, including GM Truck and Bus, the Flint Metal Center, Powertrain North, Delphi East and West, among others. The largest plant, Buick City and adjacent facilities, have been demolished.

Half of Flint's fourteen tallest buildings were built during the 1920s. The city's tallest building, the 19-story Genesee Towers, was completed in 1968.. The building has become unused in recent years and has fallen into severe disrepair. City officials have considered having it demolished.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 124,943 people, 48,744 households, and 30,270 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,434.5/km² (3,714.9/mi²). There were 55,464 housing units at an average density of 636.8/km² (1,649.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 41.39% White, 53.27% Black or African American, 0.64% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.11% from other races, and 3.14% from two or more races. 2.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 48,744 households out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.0% were married couples living together, 27.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the city the population was spread out with 30.6% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $28,015, and the median income for a family was $31,424. Males had a median income of $34,009 versus $24,237 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,733. About 22.9% of families and 26.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.4% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those age 65 or over.

Crime

According to the FBI, Flint has one of the highest crime rates in Michigan (5538 incidents/100,000 residents), and in 2004 the second highest violent crime rate in the United States. Flint was recently named as the third most dangerous city in the United States in an evaluation by Morgan Quitno Press.

Education

The University of Michigan-Flint is a regional satellite campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Other universities include: Kettering University formerly known as GMI (General Motors Institute) and Baker College which is a private institution with twelve different campuses in Michigan. Mott Community College is a community college in Flint with satellite campuses in nearby Fenton and Lapeer.

Public K-12 education is provided under the umbrella of the Flint Community Schools. Students attend 25 elementary schools, one 7-9 facility (Whittier), a gender based 7-8 academy (Holmes), and six high schools. McKinley and Longfellow middle schools were recently shut down due to budget cuts, however McKinley was reopened in December of 2006 as the Flint Southwestern Academy Annex in order to reduce the student population of Flint Southwestern Academy. The city's two oldest schools, Flint Central High School (formerly Flint City High School) and Flint Northern High School have relocated from their original locations, but have remained local institutions since 1875 and 1929 respectively. Both will become 7-12 institutions in the fall of 2006. Flint Central's current building is in East Village near Mott Community College and the Cultural Center, and was finished in 1923. The building was designed by Malcolmson, Higginbotham, and Palmer. There is also Mott Middle College, Flint Southwestern Academy, Flint Northwestern Preparatory Academy, and Schools of Choice, all of which are 7-12 institutions.

Declining enrollment and costly maintenance, however, have threatened the future of many of Flint's schools. The district has come under fire for high truancy and dropout rates as well as low test scores. The district has also been lauded for its ground-breaking magnet program, particularly programs in math, science, and fine arts. Moreover, the district was the testing ground for Frank Manley's community schools ideas. A local elementary school has been named in his honor.

The state-run Michigan School for the Deaf and Blind is also located in Flint.

Flint also hosts a number of private schools such as The Valley School. Luke M. Powers Catholic High School is located just outside the city limits in neighboring Mount Morris Township.

Westwood Heights, Carman-Ainsworth, Beecher, Atherton, Bendle, Bentley, Davison, and Kearsley are adjacent districts based in the City of Burton, Flint Township, Mount Morris Township, and Genesee Township, and do not belong to the Flint Community Schools.

Culture

Flint hosts a large cultural center that was built with revenue from the auto industry in the 1950s. Set on a 30 acre (120,000 m²) site near downtown, it boasts:

The Flint Institute of Arts was founded in 1928 and is a member of the Flint Cultural Center. It was recently renovated and reopened with an expanded collection in September 2006.

• Flint Public Library.
• Buick Gallery & Research Center.
• Bower and Elgood Theatres, home of Flint Youth Theatre.
• Flint Institute of Arts, an art museum with an extensive collection and learning facility.
• Flint Institute of Music, home of the Flint Symphony Orchestra and Flint Youth Symphony Orchestra, among other organizations.
• Longway Planetarium, the largest and best-equipped planetarium in Michigan.
• Sloan Museum, with a large portion dedicated to rare automobiles.
• Whiting Auditorium, a 2100-seat auditorium which hosts fine arts performances, including symphonic concerts and touring theatrical performances.

Flint is also home to:

• Flint Central Academy Theatre, which puts on and promotes educational theatre within the community.
• Flint Local 432, one of the country's longest-running alcohol-free youth concert venues.
• Flint Children's Museum, a "hands-on" museum for children located on the campus of Kettering University.
• Buckham Gallery, an artist-run gallery in downtown Flint serving the arts community for over 20 years.
• Pages Independent Bookstore, a cultural crossroads in downtown Flint that provides a wide selection of books and can be used as a meeting space for the community.

Noteworthy annual events include the Flint Jazz Festival, the Michigan Storytellers Festival, the Buick Open PGA Tour golf tournament (in nearby suburb Grand Blanc), and the Crim Festival of Races.

Media

Print

The local paper is the Flint Journal, which dates back to 1876. It won the Michigan Press Association's Newspaper of the Year award (Daily Class B) in 2006. [2]

The East Village Magazine is a non-profit news magazine providing information about neighborhood issues since 1976. The monthly magazine centers on the East Village neighborhood, outside downtown Flint, but is distributed throughout the city. The Uncommon Sense is a recent publication featuring critical journalism, satirical cartoons, and articles on music and nightlife.

The University of Michigan-Flint student newspaper is The Michigan Times.

The Flint Enquirer is a small-circulation newspaper serving the African American community of Genesee County. It is distributed at local colleges and other locations.

Television

Two area stations operate from Flint; WJRT (ABC), one of ten ABC owned-and-operated stations, and WFUM (PBS), a service of the University of Michigan-Flint. Other stations serving the area include WNEM (CBS), WEYI (NBC), WSMH (Fox), and WBSF (The CW).

Radio

The Flint radio market has a rich history. WAMM-AM 1420 (started in 1955, now gospel station WFLT) on the city's eastside was one of the first stations in the country to program to the black community and was also where legendary DJ Casey Kasem had his first radio job. [3]

WTAC-AM 600 (now religious station WSNL) was a highly-rated and influential Top 40 station in the 1960s and 1970s, showcasing Michigan artists and being the first in the U.S. to play acts like The Who and AC/DC. WTAC changed its format to country music in 1980 and then became a pioneering contemporary Christian music station a few years later; the calls are now on 89.7 FM, a member of the "Smile FM" network. WTRX-AM 1330 also played Top 40 music for a time in the 1960s and '70s.

The city's very first radio station, AM 910 WFDF, first went on the air in 1922. It has since relocated south into the Detroit market, changing its city of license to Farmington Hills and increasing its power to 50,000 watts.

In 1985, WWCK-FM 105.5 became the highest-rated rock station in America. [4] The station (whose calls were derived from those of Windsor, Ontario's legendary CKLW) continued as a market leader after changing its format to CHR, which it has remained since, in 1989.

Today, the following stations serve Flint with an array of programming choices:

AM

• 600 WSNL - Flint (Religious, Victory 600, Christian Broadcasting System)
• 1160 WCXI - Fenton (Classic Country, Birach Broadcasting)
• 1330 WTRX - Flint (Sports, Sports Xtra 1330, Citadel Broadcasting)
• 1420 WFLT - Flint (Urban Gospel, Flint Evangelical Broadcasting Association)
• 1470 WFNT - Flint (Adult Standards/Oldies, Unforgettable 1470, Regent Broadcasting)
• 1570 WWCK - Flint (Talk, SuperTalk 1570, Cumulus Media)

FM

• 88.9 WAKL - Flint (Contemporary Christian, Educational Media Foundation; K-Love network affiliate)
• 89.7 WTAC - Burton-Flint (Contemporary Christian, Superior Communications; "Smile FM" network affiliate)
• 91.1 WFUM - Flint (Public Radio, Michigan Radio, University of Michigan; simulcast of WUOM Ann Arbor)
• 92.7 WDZZ - Flint (Urban Adult Contemporary, Z92.7, Cumulus Media)
• 93.7 WRCL - Frankenmuth (Rhythmic CHR, Club 93-7, Regent Broadcasting)
• 94.3 WKUF - Flint (Kettering University student station)
• 95.1 WFBE - Flint (Country, B95, Citadel Broadcasting)
• 98.9 WOWE - Vassar (Urban Adult Contemporary, Praestantia Broadcasting)
• 101.5 WWBN - Tuscola-Flint (Active Rock, Banana 101.5, Regent Broadcasting)
• 103.9 WRSR - Owosso-Flint (Classic Rock, 103.9 The Fox, Cumulus Media)
• 105.5 WWCK - Flint (Mainstream CHR, CK105.5, Cumulus Media)
• 107.9 WCRZ - Flint (Adult Contemporary, Cars 108, Regent Broadcasting)

Regent Broadcasting's WCRZ is consistently the top-rated station in Flint and has been near the top of the ratings consistently since changing format from beautiful music WGMZ in 1984. Sister stations WRCL and WWBN also regularly chalk up top 10 ratings in Flint. Cumulus Media's top stations are WDZZ (usually the #2 rated station 12+ in Flint, second only to WCRZ) and WWCK. Citadel Broadcasting owns popular country station WFBE (which for many years was a classical-music public radio station owned by the Flint school system), as well as sports-talker WTRX and Saginaw/Bay City's WHNN (96.1 FM, Oldies) and WIOG (102.5 FM, Top 40), which both have good signals and significant listenership in Flint.

Radio stations from Detroit, Lansing and Lapeer may also be heard in the Flint area; Detroit's WJR (760 AM) is regularly rated among the top 10 stations in Flint and often higher-rated than any local Flint-based AM station.

See Flint's Fall 2006 Arbitron 12+ ratings here.

Politics

In 2006, Flint was the 10th most liberal city in the United States, according to a nationwide study by the non-partisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research which examined the voting patterns of 237 cities with a population over 100,000. Flint placed just after San Francisco (9) and before Seattle (16) and New York (21). A full listing can be found here

Sports

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Logo
Flint Generals	Hockey	United Hockey League	Perani Arena and Event Center
Flint Fury	Football	Mid Continental Football League	Atwood Stadium
Genesee County Patriots	Football	North American Football League	Atwood Stadium
Michigan Admirals	Football	North American Football League	Russ Reynolds Field
Flint Rogues	Rugby	Independent	Longway Park
Michigan Phoenix	Soccer	Women's Premier Soccer League	Guy V. Houston Stadium

The Flint Generals professional hockey team plays at the Perani Arena and Event Center (formerly known as the IMA Sports Arena), a 4,021+ seat arena which is mostly home to hockey, but has also hosted basketball, indoor football, wrestling, boxing, and many other events. The Flint Generals are in their 13th year in the United Hockey League since the original IHL Flint Generals left Flint for 8 years. The Generals won the IHL's Turner Cup in 1984, and won the UHL's Colonial Cup in 1996 and 2000.

There is also semi-pro football at Atwood Stadium with the Flint Fury. Atwood is an 11,000+ seat stadium in downtown Flint which has hosted many events, including baseball. When artificial turf was installed, it was no longer able to host baseball games. The Flint Fury are heading into their fourth season and second in the Mid Continental Football League. The team was founded by two of its players: Charles Lawler and Prince Goodson, who both played for the defunct Flint Falcons semi-pro team.

A second semi-pro football team in Flint is the Michigan Admirals. They play at Russ Reynolds Field, a 1,500 seat stadium with a grass surface. The stadium is also home to the Flint Beecher Buccaneers High School Football team. In 2005, the Admirals won the NAFL2 Northern Conference Championship, and were one win away from going to the Championship in Orlando. The Admirals are heading into their fifth season in the North American Football League.

The Genesee County Patriots semi-pro football team also play their home games in Flint. The Patriots were founded in 2003 and originally played at Atwood Stadium in Flint with the Flint Fury. At the time, both teams were in the Ohio Valley Football League and shared the stadium. After the 2003 season, the Patriots jumped to the North American Football League and moved to Clio's Pride Stadium. After a disagreement with the Clio athletic director, the Patriots returned to Atwood Stadium for 2006.

The Flint Rogues rugby team plays at Longway Park behind Potter Elementary. The Michigan Phoenix women's soccer team plays at Guy V. Houston Stadium behind Flint Northwestern Prepatory Academy.

Flint is twinned with Hamilton, Ontario, and its amateur athletes compete in the Canusa Games, held alternatively there and here since 1957.

The upcoming 2008 comedy, Semi-Pro, stars Will Ferrell as the owner/coach/player of a fictional American Basketball Association team called the Flint Tropics.

Former Sports Teams

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Logo
Flint Flyers	Baseball	Michigan State League
Flint Halligans	Baseball	Michigan-Ontario League
Flint Vehicles	Baseball	Michigan-Ontario League
Flint Gems	Baseball	Michigan State League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Indians	Baseball	Michigan State League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Arrows	Baseball	Central League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Fuze	Basketball	Continental Basketball Association	IMA Sports Arena
Michigan Stones	Basketball	International Basketball League
Flint Generals/Spirits	Hockey	International Hockey League	IMA Sports Arena
Flint Bulldogs	Hockey	Colonial Hockey League	IMA Sports Arena
Flint Blue Devils	Football		Atwood Stadium
Flint Pros	Football	Super Football League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Wildcats	Football	Super Football League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Sabres	Football	Super Football League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Falcons	Football	Michigan Football League, Ohio Valley Football League	Atwood Stadium
Flint Flames	Football	Indoor Football League	IMA Sports Arena

Transportation

The city of Flint is served by Bishop International Airport and various bus lines. Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail service on the Blue Water line from Chicago to Port Huron at the border to Canada. For travel within and around the city, the Flint Mass Transportation Authority provides local bus services. Greyhound Lines also runs inter-city bus services north to Bay City and south to Detroit. Indian Trails runs inter-city bus services west to Chicago.

Famous persons and groups

Flint has produced a host of local artists and musicians, many taking on a political perspective. Some examples include: Dayton Family (rap group); John Sinclair; Ben Hamper; author Edmund Love from nearby Flushing; jazz singer and actor Dee Dee Bridgewater; rock groups Terry Knight and the Pack, the Grand Funk Railroad, Chiodos, Ready for the World, Cropcircle and ? and the Mysterians, and rap outfits Me Phi Me, MC Breed, The Dayton Family (who've often collaborated with Esham), Jake the Flake, Skanbino Mob, Phlint, and Top Authority. Flint has also produced actors such as Terry Crews, Billy Brandt, Bob Bell (IV), and models Eryk Elliott and Nichole Arsenault. New York-based photographer Eric Ogden, and filmmakers Kerry Conran, who wrote and directed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Shawn Chittle, who is directing American Town: The Flint Michigan Story.

Author E. Lynn Harris was born in Flint, but raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. His first novel was Invisible Life.

Actor Tony Burton, best known for playing Duke in all six Rocky movies, was born in Flint. A Northern High School graduate, he was a Michigan Golden Gloves heavyweight champion and two-time all-state football player. In 1993, Burton was inducted into the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame.

Bryan McCree - Comedian : Bryan McCree Bryan, who jokes he's "Irish on my master's side," is the nephew of the late Floyd McCree, a local civil rights pioneer who was elected Flint mayor in 1966, making him Flint's first black mayor and the first black mayor of an American city its size. McCree, who is also an actor, played his uncle in a living history project at Sloan Museum four years ago.

Historian Ryan M. Eashoo was born in Flint and resides in the famous Kratz Manor. He is known for chairing the Flint Historic District Commission and gained world wide notariety for trying to get Michael Moore into the Davison High School Hall of Fame.

Television game show host Bob Eubanks was born in Flint. He is best known for hosting The Newlywed Game.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Magee is also a Flint native.

Sandra Bernhard played a lesbian friend of the title protagonist on Roseanne

Filmmaker Michael Moore is from Davison, a city just outside Flint.

Legendary Photographers Barry Edmonds and William M. Gallagher were from Flint.

Flint claims not one but two New York-based celebrity makeup artists: Lori Hamlin and Tracy Murphy (from nearby Grand Blanc).

Notable athletes from Flint include: former professional baseball players Bobby Reed, Merv Rettenmund, Scott Aldred, Steve Boros, Jeff Hamilton, Joe Mays, Larry Mitchell, Leroy Powell, Ron Pruitt, Mickey Weston, Rick Leach, Herb Washington, and Jim Abbott, a one armed left handed pitcher; basketball players Demetrius Calip, Butch Feher, Terry Furlow, Jeff Grayer, Darryl Johnson, Roy Marble, Eddie Robinson, Trent Tucker, Keith Smith, Barry Stevens, Cory Hightower, Glen Rice, Desmon Farmer, Antonio Smith, Morris Peterson, Mateen Cleaves, and Charlie Bell, (Smith, Peterson, Cleaves, and Bell were known as the Flintstones during their tenure at Michigan State University); football players Leroy Bolden, Ricky Patton, Clarence Peaks, Lynn Chandnois, Don Coleman, Terry Crews, Andre Rison, Andre Weathers, Robaire Smith, Todd Lyght, Booker Moore, Carl Banks, Mark Ingram and Jon Runyan; hockey players Brian Rolston and Bobby Reynolds; boxers Chris Byrd and Andre Dirrell; tennis player MaliVai Washington; motorcycle national champion Jay Springsteen; and cyclist David Stanley.

Stephen Smale is a mathematician from Flint.

Filmmaker and Disability Rights activist Correy Lennox was born in Cape Town, South Africa, but grew up in Flint.

Flint is the subject of a Sufjan Stevens song, from his album Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State. Coincidentally, his followup album, Illinois, was recorded at the Buddy Project Studio in Astoria, Queens, New York City, which is owned by former Flint resident Kieran Kelly.

Nearby Mount Morris Township was the home of the World's most obese person, Carol Yager.

Daryl Turner is a Flint Native who attended Southwestern High School, Michigan State University, and played with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks from 1984-1987, he scored 5 touchdowns in a game against the San Diego Chargers (9/15/1984) and holds the Seahawks rookie WR touchdown record (10).

Sister cities

Flint has three sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

• Changchun, Jilin, China
• Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• Tolyatti, Samara Oblast, Russia

Partnership Cities

• Kielce

Trivia

• Flint is the largest city in the United States with a one-syllable name.
• The book Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 took place in Flint and its author, Christopher Paul Curtis, was also born there.

• Flint is referenced in a 1994 episode of The Simpsons, "Bart Gets Famous," as Bart Simpson's class visits a box factory. When asked if they will get to see a finished box, the tour guide replies, "Well, we don't assemble them here -- that's done in Flint, Michigan." [5] There are, in fact, "box factories" in Flint. For example, Genesee Packaging has three facilities in the area.
• Michael Moore's 1989 documentary film Roger & Me deals with the impact that the closure of several General Motors manufacturing plants had on Flint's people.
• Flint is featured in the computer game SimCity 2000.

Movies and TV

The following Movies and TV shows have taken place or were filmed in Flint.

Television

• The Fitzpatricks (1978-1979) was a short-lived CBS TV drama about an Irish Catholic working class family living in Flint.

• TV Nation (1994-1995) was the debut TV series by Michael Moore. Numerous segments were filmed in and around Flint, including one where Moore uses declassified information to find the exact impact point from the nuclear ICBM that targeted the city (ground zero was Chevrolet Assembly, one of the General Motors plants at Bluff & Cadillac Streets. The plant is now destroyed anyway, by GM). Moore then went to Russia (actually Kazakhstan) to try and redirect the ICBM away from Flint, such as "the stars' homes" (Beverly Hills). Watch at FlintHistory.com

• The Awful Truth (1999-2000) was Michael Moore's second TV show. It featured segments from Flint.

Movies

• To Touch a Child (1962) A look into Community Schools.

• With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade (1979) Documentary about the women of the Flint Sit-Down Strike.

• Roger & Me (1989) Documentary about the downturn in Flint because of GM closing various plants. The premise of the movie was Moore's attempt to find GM Chairman Roger Smith for an interview.

• Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint (1992) Follow-up of Roger & Me.

• Bowling for Columbine (2002) Moore's take on the gun industry and profiles the shooting of Kayla Rolland.

• The Real Blair Witch (2003) Documentary about group of Flint teenagers kidnapping and terrorizing a fellow student.

• Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Moore takes on the George W. Bush administration. Moore filmed students from Flint Southwestern Academy. Filmed Marine recruiters at Courtland Center and referred to Genesee Valley Center as "The rich mall in the suburbs."

• Flintown Kids (2005) Documentary film about violence in Flint.

• Semi-Pro (2008) Will Farrell movie which centers around a fictious ABA basketball team in the 1970s from Flint.

External links

• Official site
• City of Flint state website
• FlintHistory.com: Movies, Maps, Stories & More
• 30+ Photos of Flint's 3rd Ave Neighborhood
• Flint Area Convention and Visitors' Bureau
• Flint Local 432 Alcohol free youth arts center
• The Uncommon Sense alternative newspaper
• East Village Magazine
• Flint's Online Community
• Flint Cultural Center
• Flint Public Library
• Carriage Town Historic Neighborhood Association
• Political Graveyard: Mayors of Flint
• Flint MTA Busline
• Flint Michigan and the Cowboy Economy: Deconstructing Flint
• Flint Talk - Where people can read / post messages about political personalities, events and the local news
• The Laundry Room - Larry and John two opinionated guys living in Flint Michigan talking amongst themselves and sharing it with the world.
• A collection of photographs showcasing the decline of Flint
• TheFlintSkinny - Satirical ezine
• US city crime list/Yahoo news
• TV Nation on IMDB
• [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190171/ The Awful Truth on IMDB
• Roger & Me on IMDB
• Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint on IMDB
• Bowling for Columbine on IMDB
• Fahrenheit 9/11 on IMDB
• Semi-Pro on IMDB
• Flintown Kids on IMDB
• To Touch a Child on IMDB
• The Real Blair Witch on IMDB
• With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade on IMDB.