More thoughts on Flint and how to fix it

Imagine, if you will, a family. Two working parents, each making $40,000 a year. They have three children, one in college, one about to go away to college, one who will go away to college in two years. They own a modest but well-kept home and two cars, neither flashy. They are making it. They are comfortable.

Then one of the parents dies.

For the purposes of this exercise, there is no life insurance. There is no safety net. The heartache of loss is compounded by a halving of income, with no commensurate reduction in expenses. What happens to the family?

It implodes.

The surviving parent could, indeed, take the kid out of college. They could tell the younger kids that they can't go to college on their dime. They could sell one of the cars. But in the end, the house must be maintained and heated, food must be purchased, and on and on.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the story of the City of Flint. Since 1960 Flint has seen its population (and tax base) halved. Meanwhile, the city is as big as ever and has the same (or greater, even) maintenance needs. This is what you call a "structural problem." Now, the family in our example could sell their house and move into an apartment (and they probably would). They could, indeed, use borrowing to pay for college (because college is not optional), the could sell a car. The surviving parent could get a second job, the kids could get summer jobs.

Flint has none of these options (though moving to an apartment is roughly analogous to the "Shrinking Cities" concept, the costs and benefits don't scale in any way, shape or form). All Flint can do, at least in the near-term, is make the best of it, which is not much.

But I do have some thoughts on a possible way forward. Herewith, short summary:

A New City Charter
Flint is going to be smaller (I'd suppose it will stabilize somewhere between 75 and 100,000 people), and if it's lucky will wind up something like a college town. The charter was written in heady days when Flint was feeling particularly metropolitan, hence the oh-so-Big-City Strong Mayor form of government. Strong Mayor has been a cross for Flint to bear almost since Day One, and it's time to get rid of it and replace it with the much more modern, much more manageable Council-Manager form of government.

Some specifics of my proposed new charter:

1. The Council will be redesigned. The nine seats will be apportioned as such: Five wards, roughly one each for the North, South, East and West Sides, and one for the Downtown area. The other four seats will be elected At-Large.
2. The nine member Council will be presided over by an elected Mayor, who will serve as a sort of ambassador for the city, and a liaison and point-of-contact for potential investors and agents of the State and Federal governments.
3. The new Council will undertake a nationwide search for a professional City Manager. Knowing what I know about people in public management, they love a challenge, and Flint would be seen as an opportunity to make a legacy.
4. Once the new City Manager is in place, a comprehensive Master Planning process will be conducted.

In the meantime, it might be time for the city to take its lumps and declare bankruptcy. While the city goes through the process of restructuring its debt and union contracts, the new charter could be drafted and sent to voters. This may be the only practical way forward at this point.