The Aftermath of Flint Michigan After the Shut Down of General Motors Plant

In the 1980’s, General Motors plants in Flint Michigan shut down and as a result about 50,000 staff were laid-off. The Company was struggling, sales were down and there was need to restructure and rebalance the Company’s finances. This had a devastating effect in the economy of the city of Flint Michigan. Poverty rate increased, crime rate increased and city revenue reduced because General Motors plant was the major economic driver of the city.

With about 50,000 families out of job, people could not pay their rent, they could no longer patronize local businesses in the city like the stores, movie theaters, etc. Thereby closing down. With more people unable to pay their rents, landlords evicted them. A lot of people became homeless. Others found ways to make a living by selling rabbits. Some moved to other cities like Houston, Texas to make a better living thereby causing a decrease in the population in the city of Flint Michigan. As should be expected, crime rate increased as well as domestic violence. There was increase in reported cases of theft, murder and street fighting. Most of these were linked to former employees of General Motors. In a particular incidence a former employee of General Motors who was affected by the lay-off made away with ‘’Nightline’’ truck and was subsequently arrested by the police. With increase in crime and arrest, the prison in the city became inadequate to contain increasing number of inmates and as a result the city had to use its scarce resources to build a new prison facility.

This development also affected the city’s revenue and the ability to carry out its District responsibilities such as evacuating wastes and providing clean water. Thus, the city became filthy and littered with refuse and rats. This resulted in air pollution and increase in diseases among residents. They also had to lay-off workers because of their dwindling resources.

To address this situation, city leaders met to discuss ways to create more jobs. One of the decisions reached was to build new hotels, malls and amusement parks worth about $160 million. The idea being to create more jobs and increase revenue through tourism. However, the plan was not successful; the hotels, malls and amusement parks closed down within six months. This was due to low patronage because the city of Flint Michigan did not appeal to tourists probably due to the weather condition because it is always cold all year round.

The story of Flint Michigan is a sad one and shows the problem lots of cities face today in the United States. To prevent such problems measures should be put in place by authorities so that cities can excel; like not relying on a particular source of revenue for the city. Cities should learn to diversify their economy an example is the city of Houston which is famous in terms of Medicals, Schools, Technology and Industries, etc. Cities should also invest in cheap labor so as to increase the domestic workforce and improve the economy.