Who is to blame for Flint being the "murder capital" of the United States?
May 24, 2011
I read this story from yesterday's Flint Journal about the city being named the murder capital of the country? As a person who grew up in Bay City just up the road from Flint, I'm sad to see such a great city reach the point where it appears to be ungovernable and incredibly dangerous.
The story about the annual report from last year's FBI Uniform Crime Reports states:
For 2010, Flint recorded more than 2,400 violent crimes, the most per capita of any city more than 100,000.According to the FBI, Flint had 53 murders, 92 rapes, 670 robberies and 1,597 aggrevated assaults.
The 53 murders is a different figure than the city has — 65 homicides.
Flint is the birthplace of General Motors and when I was a kid, it was a center for culture, jobs and philantrophy. It was dotted with car plants and the place that the Buick called home.
Now, it's a suffering city where the toll will leave a legacy for generations.
How'd this happen? Who's to blame? Republicans? Democrats? Churches? How can it be reversed? Is there precedent for city's making this kind of turn-around?