Inside Flint's Innovative Blight Elimination Plan

Anna Clark provides in-depth coverage of Flint, Michigan's campaign to reduce blight around the city. Clark reveals more of the details of the plan that was first announced during the 2014 State of the City address by Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and then found institutional support with the release of the "Beyond Blight" framework. For instance, "Flint is committing to specific metrics in blight elimination, and it is adapting its strategy to the unique needs of different neighborhoods. This is a good-faith approach for the community, bringing transparency to an effort that is inherently radical." Community engagement efforts to back up the plan include a "Your Neighborhood Inventory"—a "collaborative on-the-ground assessment of property conditions, which created a cache of data that the planners relied upon."

Next steps of the plan, according to Clark, include the creation of "a 'Problem Property Portal' where residents can both get and give information. Each of the nine wards will also have a resident named 'Blight Elimination Captain,' who can act as a conduit of information on both ends."

Scott goes on to detail more of the innovative methods proposed by the Flint blight reduction plan as well as making two recommendations for how the plan might be improved.