I was pulling weeds the other day (that Creeping Charlie drives me insane!) when I glanced over at my little pond. In the midst of all the lawn clippings floating in the water, I spotted a little green frog. He was just kind of helplessly floating there, and I thought, ‘’Poor little guy. I’m going to reach down into that green slime and help him out of there…” So, I did. At first he kind of just sat on the grass for a moment, seemingly dazed; then, he pulled his limbs into alignment and off he hopped. I just kept thinking, “Poor little guy…” and this lead me to thinking about all of us, here in Mott Park. How we are kind of ‘dazed’ by all of the changes/challenges that we have faced simply by just living here, and then overwhelmed by the work that we ALL still have facing us.
City of Flint services that normally were readily available (the parks department, the road commission, the trash collectors, our police department) are now only available to us on a very limited basis. It makes it very challenging to keep our beautiful neighborhood BEAUTIFUL and our idyllic streets ‘safe.’ Every several days, I receive phone calls from residents complaining to me about trash in someone’s yard, or a home that has been vandalized, or a lawn that needs to be cut. I receive even more phone calls about cars parked on lawns, people running car repair services out of their garages, cars speeding down our roads, vacant properties being squatted in by homeless folks, trash on the boulevard… the list is endless.
I’m certain that back in 1980, when Bob Giles, Bob Segar, Ruth Miehm, Norma Geyer, Donn Jensen and Richard Geyer were putting the Neighborhood Association together, they had not quite anticipated what might be happening in Flint 35 years later! Back then, Mott Park had a crime watch. They had started Art in the Park (in 1982). The MPNA bank account had a balance of $2,064.23. The newsletter from that time mentions several summer events including tunnel repairs, manhole covers cemented over, and increasing participation in neighborhood watch teams. Additionally, crime watch signs were installed by the City of Flint, student housing in Mott Park was on its way towards approval, and there was a concert in the park.
Fast forward to today, and a few things have shifted. We officially have 1300 homes in Mott Park, with about 10% of these properties that are either unoccupied or scheduled to be demolished. That may not seem like many, but when you walk around to see the 130 properties that are hurting it doesn’t take much for us to see that we need to help change this fact. Fortunately, for all of us, Habitat for Humanity is in the process of rolling out their new Owner Occupied Home Rehab program for Grand Traverse, Mott Park, Civic Park, and Foss Ave residents. There’s more information about this in our newsletter and on our website. Please take advantage of this help available to us.
Crime is down almost 30% in Mott Park, which is due in large part to the constant patrols we have from Kettering University, McLaren Hospital, and Hurley Hospital. However, we need to continue to be watchful as the warmer months approach, as crime tends to increase during this time.
Flint CORE gave us a temporal analysis of crime in our area. In March 2015, 41% of crime in our neighborhood happened on Sundays and Mondays, between 2 pm and 6 pm, while 23% happened between 10 pm and 3 am. Please, everyone, continue to act as eyes and ears for your neighbors! Also, please secure your side windows in your homes, as this is where most break-ins happen. If you cannot or do not know how to secure your side windows, send us an email (mottpark@gmail.com) or call the MPNA (810-233-7608) and we will find a way to help you take care of this!
Be safe, be aware, be alert. Please contact me if you’re interested in getting the neighborhood watch started again.
Lastly, I’d like to announce that we are the recipients of three grants that will benefit us greatly in Mott Park. We’ve been advanced to Park Tenders status – this is a step beyond our original Adopt-a-park status with Keep Genesee County Beautiful in 2014. We have also been selected to receive the 2015 Clean and Green grant – this grant helps residents maintain abandoned properties in Mott Park and at last count we are responsible for 35 properties. We need folks to mow and help, so please come to our June 1st meeting and let us know what you can help with. Our last grant is a smaller gardening grant from Keep Genesee County Beautiful, which will afford us to improve the amphitheater facade area in the park. We have received monies to purchase flowers and mulch, so if you have gardening tools and a little bit of time, please contact me so that we can start the project down there as well!
Thank you everyone for caring about our beautiful Mott Park. Have a great summer and see you around!
– Nada