Group hears from Land Bank officials

The Central Park Neighborhood Association Oct. 15 was attended by members of the Genesee County Land Bank staff and discussed nominations for association officers and a crime hotline.

Genesee County Land Bank Executive Director Doug Weiland and Community Outreach Coordinator Raynetta Speed reported about the Land Bank - efforts to rehabilitate properties in and around Flint.

Weiland estimated that the Land Bank now owns nine percent of Flint through tax foreclosures and donations. He stressed that a majority of homes they receive are not habitable, leading to a reputation as the "biggest slumlord in Flint."

Weiland said that the Stimulus Act has provided them with 60 employees, but no funding for supplies to board up houses. Still, he said, the Land Bank has cleaned and cleared 9,000 properties this year. Weiland estimated there are 12,000 vacant lots and 6,000 abandoned homes in Flint out of 57,000.

Asked if the neighborhood could determine whether a Land Bank owned property would be rehabilitated or demolished, Weiland replied he "will listen."

Five Central Park properties were reviewed. The members were in favor of demolishing four of them.

Weiland and Speed encouraged the community to develop a neighborhood plan to increase chances of additional funding for their area.

President Jerry Rule said the group had requested funding from the Land Bank for a demographic study, important to a neighborhood plan, but was placed on a waiting list.

Volunteers were requested for a nomination committee to oversee candidate selection for the next year - association officers. Diane Brown, Jerry Preston and Edwin Custer volunteered to collect nominations and contact potential candidates.

A member said the police have been called repeatedly about suspected drug activity at a house on Thomson between Third and Court streets. Although some residents were believed to have been evicted from the multi-tenant building, drug sales continue, said a member.

An anonymous tip line, 237-6957, was provided.

The group will meet next at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Court Street Village Neighborhood House, 727 East St.