Environment Health History Land Planning Transit

Mapping Flint

Flint, the Vehicle City, birthplace of the General Motors Company and the United Auto Workers, a vanishing city propelled to the spotlight by one of the largest municipal public health crises in the 21st Century, the Flint Water Crisis

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  • Mapping Flint: Out-of-State Property Owners

    Mapping Flint: Out-of-State Property Owners

    In 2016, I attended the Congress for New Urbanism event in Detroit, where data and tech startups were excitedly asking about the potential to buy up Flint real estate post-water crisis. I was surprised and appalled. I had already had family members move out of the city as quickly as they could, and there was still no clear solution or accountability. A 2023 study estimated that Flint properties lost $520 million in value as a result of the water crisis.

    The Wall Street Journal recently published a story titled: “Investors piling into Flint’s dilapidated housing market,” specifically mentioning investors from New York, California, and Florida. The Wall Street Journal reported a 28% increase in Flint home prices, while the average home price is still around $200,000. Wards 3 and 6 have the most out-of-state taxpayers. Ward 3 has the most from Florida, and Ward 6 has the most from California.

    This analysis does not dig into the ownership of LLC’s that are registered with a Flint address. A good example is the Flint Commerce Center LLC, which owns the former Buick City site and is run by Ashley Capital, the largest privately-held industrial real estate investment company in the US. Their main office is in New York City, with a Michigan office in Canton, Michigan. Overall, there are 4,547 LLCs listed as the primary property owner across Flint. Just 31% of those LLCs have a taxpayer address in Flint, and 27% have an out-of-state taxpayer address. The most common out-of-state taxpayer addresses come from Florida (701), California (637), Nevada (264), Texas (213), Georgia (187), and New York (153).

    Not everyone utilizes an LLC to do their property purchasing and tax management. The overwhelming majority of parcels have taxpayer addresses in Michigan (95%), Grand Blanc is the top city (2%) after Flint proper (91%). McLaren Health, for example, has its properties registered to a Grand Blanc taxpayer address. Many corporations have their headquarters in other states. For example, GM has a Texas taxpayer address for the Flint Truck Assembly on Van Slyke. CSX rail company owns a good chunk of land and is based out of Florida. DPH Environmental Response Trust is the holding company formed after the Delphi Corporation went bankrupt and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

    Produced for Flintside

  • Map: Flint City Boundary Misalignment with ZIP Codes

    Map: Flint City Boundary Misalignment with ZIP Codes

    Many people have heard my ZIP Code soapbox speech and I recently wrote a longer piece about ZIP Codes in Detroit. In Flint, the oddity of ZIP Codes and the reliance on ZIP Codes for health statistics and health information tracking for the misunderstood “protection” of patient data. The short soapbox speech is that ZIP Codes are squiggly lines created for mail delivery that the Census turns into shapes because everyone knows their ZIP Code.

    In Flint, ZIP Codes led to the failure to properly track disparate health impacts of lead poisoning during the Flint Water Crisis. This map and a great write-up come from Dick (Rick) Sadler, a medical geographer who worked on the blood lead analysis with Dr. Mona Hanna:

    “One-third of all homes with a Flint ZIP code lie outside the city. Thus, the state’s numbers for Flint were watered down by an additional 50 percent of addresses that weren’t in the city and weren’t using Flint water. This is referred to in geography as the modifiable areal unit problem.”

  • Map: Flint Care Facilities Water Sampling 2016 – 2018

    Map: Flint Care Facilities Water Sampling 2016 – 2018

    Throughout the Flint Water Crisis, the State of Michigan took regular water samples from childcare centers, adult foster care, and health care facilities. Water samples showed that lead levels were still elevated at three large daycare centers in December 2017. Follow-up testing in 2018 showed just one water sample at one location with 93 ppb elevated lead levels.

    “During the months of November and December 2017, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (DLARA) flushed the plumbing lines at each of the large Flint daycare facilities to and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sampled each facility. Follow-up samples were taken at points where lead levels exceeded 15 parts per billion (ppb) and/or copper levels exceeded 1,300 ppb.”

  • Map: Racial Blue-lining in Flint 1932

    Map: Racial Blue-lining in Flint 1932

    This map is one of 35 other cities profiled in a city market survey by the advertising department of the Curtis Publishing Company, called: “City Markets: A Study of Thirty-Five Cities.” The primary market assessment conducted here was based on circulation of newspapers and magazines, but included auto sales, consumer goods, and transportation spending.

    The report notes that the 1932 maps are improved from earlier versions as “homogeneous residential areas” have their own boundaries rather than conventional or municipal boundaries. The map also has similarities with the well-known “redlining” maps, but in this case it is “blue-lining”:

    “[…] manager was instructed to conduct circulation work in the better residential areas (colored red and yellow on the Survey map). He was forbidden to do work in areas colored blue (for the most part with foreign-speaking or colored residents).

    In 1932, Flint’s Southside neighborhood of Floral Park existed in the “blue-lined” area near the center of the city before eventually becoming home to the intersection cloverleaf of I-475 and I-69. The cloverleaf project came to be known as the “Floral Park Interchange.”

  • Mapping Flint: Roadways, Boulevards, Avenues, and Streets

    Mapping Flint: Roadways, Boulevards, Avenues, and Streets

    Flint’s roadways follow a merged historical pattern and urban grid layout. The downtown area features a high-density, traditional grid network near the Flint River and surrounding areas like Saginaw Street and Beach Street.

    Much like Detroit, early roadways were defined around the river direction before being planned by cardinal directions. Key north-south routes include Saginaw Street, Chavez Drive, and Crapo Street. Major east-west routes include Third Street, Kearsley Street, and Robert T Longway Boulevard.

    I first saw this roadway name-mapping idea in Bill Rankin’s work in Vancouver, and then Derek Watkins applied a similar approach to the Portland–Seattle area. I was finally given my last push and decided to create this map after following Bostonography — which mapped out the roadway naming in the City of Boston. This type of map has now become a commonly created map of interest for any city. There are tiny details that reveal interesting bits of history and take you down new paths.

    The patterns of roadway naming show the growth and change of Flint over the years. There are not many Boulevards which show how that road type was reserved for important places. The “Road” naming itself didn’t become more common until after U.S. control of the Michigan Territory, when standardized land surveying and urban planning instituted a recognizable grid system.

    It appears that “Street” was the top choice of early Flint development, while “Avenues” became popular later. The Avenue groupings pop up on the edges of the city. Notably, Flint’s hydrology: rivers and creeks heavily influenced the road layout, creating areas of less roadway density.

    Produced for Flintside

  • Downtown Flint Walking Maps 2011

    Downtown Flint Walking Maps 2011

    I found these “Flint by Foot” maps by The Greenway Collaborative to be interesting as a point in time image of what Downtown looked like and how opportunities were presented before the Great Recession and before the Flint Water Crisis. Walking across Downtown from Kettering to Mott Park past UM Flint campus was estimated to take 45 minutes.

  • Flint Fictional Metro Transit Map

    Flint Fictional Metro Transit Map

    What if “Vehicle City” had a metro rail system? This is a long running topic for the Detroit metro area where I organize an annual “transit fantasy” meetup where people have created over a dozen fake mass transit systems over the years.

    This transit fantasy map of Flint comes from Redditor, RikkaTheSecond:

    I was bored and decided to make a Metro Map! I randomised all the cities in the US to decide what to do and it came up with the quaint town of Flint, Michigan, north of Detroit. This was probably the most design-focused map I’ve done in a while, as halfway through making it I really started loathing the design. I did my best to try and make it look good and overall I think I did a good job. Let me know what you think of it!

  • Mapping Flint: Flint River Watersheds

    Mapping Flint: Flint River Watersheds

    The Flint River Watershed is a vital, 1,363-square-mile drainage basin across seven southeastern Michigan counties, ultimately feeding into the Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. Originating in Columbiaville, the river flows northwest through diverse landscapes, including agriculture, forests, and the urban center of Flint.

    Historically central to regional development and mill power, the watershed now faces significant environmental stress from industrialization and urban runoff. Persistent issues such as nutrient runoff, bacterial contamination, and legacy pollutants threaten aquatic life and recreational use, making cleanup essential for the region’s ecological and economic health.

    Numerous organizations are actively dedicated to the conservation and restoration of the Flint River Watershed. Leading the local charge is the Flint River Watershed Coalition (FRWC), a non-profit group that focuses on monitoring water quality, restoring natural habitats, and educating the public. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) provides regulatory oversight, funding, and technical assistance. This multi-faceted, collaborative approach is essential for addressing contamination.

    Larger regional and national organizations, such as the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network (WIN), support the health of the Flint River by addressing broader ecosystem connections and non-point source pollution. Various environmental groups and universities also contribute by conducting research on pollution sources, developing innovative restoration techniques, and advocating for stronger environmental policies.

    This network of dedicated organizations is crucial to the ongoing work of protecting, restoring, and ensuring the long-term vitality of the Flint River and its surrounding lands.

    Produced for Flintside

  • Flint Pipe Map: Mapping Water Service Lines 2022

    Flint Pipe Map: Mapping Water Service Lines 2022

    The “Flint Pipe Map” was created in October 2020 and last updated in June 2022. The map is based off of a mathematical model that predicts water service line material based on multiple factors like building age, existing water line inspection data, and other factors.

    More from the FAQ:

    This map provides information about the known or likely material of the water service lines at different addresses in Flint, Michigan. It is intended to share up-to-date water service line information with the citizens of Flint. The map includes information gathered by the City of Flint during water line inspections and/or replacements. At residential addresses where the City has not yet inspected the water service lines, the map indicates the likelihood of lead or galvanized steel service lines based on mathematical modeling by Dr. Jacob Abernethy and Dr. Eric Schwartz. The map website was built and is maintained by Jared Webb. Dr. Stacy Woods of the Natural Resources Defense Council collaborated on the map and site design.

    Dr. Jacob Abernethy and Dr. Eric Schwartz and their affiliates do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in the Flint Water Service Line Materials Map or otherwise represent that the map is accurate. The Flint Water Service Line Materials Map shall be used for the sole purpose of providing Flint residents with the best available data regarding their water service lines, and not for any commercial, legal, or other use. Dr. Jacob Abernethy and Dr. Eric Schwartz reserve the right to alter, amend, or terminate at any time the display of the Flint Water Service Line Materials Map.

  • Mapping Flint: Vacant Land

    Mapping Flint: Vacant Land

    Flint is home to “The” Land Bank, or at least the first modern implementation of a public authority tasked with managing vacant properties. Today there are 353 land banks at the city, county, or state level. Most land banks take advantage of state level laws that enable them to exist and in Michigan that law was passed in 2004. In Michigan, a new interpretation of brownfields, or any property that has been developed, opened the door for innovation in managing vacant and abandoned properties to bring them back to productive use for cities. 

    The Genesee County Land Bank Authority (GCLBA) has tracked its work since 2004 and boasts over 9,000 structures, sales of over 10,000 vacant lots, and 5,000 lots back to community uses. The GCLBA has taken control over over 14,000 properties in its time, but still has an inventory of 13,626 properties. The GCLBA’s property inventory is 80% vacant land. Across the City of Flint there are over 17,000 vacant lots and not all of them are publicly owned or managed by the GCLBA. 

    The distribution of ownership across vacant land in Flint shows how difficult it can be to manage land in a city experiencing economic stress. The majority of GCLBA vacant land is residential while most of the privately held vacant land is commercial and industrial.

    Produced for Flintside

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