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Buick City is gone, but Leith Street is still closed at the vacant site. It should be reopened:
quote:
Residents: Why is Leith Street still closed?
by Joe Lawlor | The Flint Journal
Wednesday January 30, 2008, 2:56 PM
Jane Hale | The Flint JournalThe western blockade at the Leith Street entrance to Buick City remains closed, though the factory complex is gone, leaving people to take long detours and wondering why it's not open again.
FLINT -- Nearly 10 years after Buick City shut down, the sprawling industrial complex continues to be a roadblock for residents.
Leith Street cuts through the middle of Buick City, the sentimental heart of Genesee County's manufacturing roots. The street closed in the mid-1980s and the city vacated the property -- turning ownership over to General Motors.
"I've always wondered why it's still closed," said neighborhood resident Valerie Johnston. "That would be fantastic if it were opened again."
City and GM officials might strike up talks to do just that.
Buick City sits, now padlocked and mostly vacant, just north of downtown Flint. It closed in 1999 although as recently as the 1990s, 3,000 workers trucked to and from there every day.
Johnston said she rarely sees anyone or anything go there now.
Still, residents who live east and west of where Leith Street is closed have to drive either north to Stewart Avenue or south to Hamilton Avenue to get to the other side of the city.
If Leith Street were open, Johnston said it would cut several minutes off her trips to bingo and downtown.
City Administrator Darryl Buchanan said he's interested in talking with General Motors officials to see if they would be willing to open it back up.
"Leith was a major (through) street for us," Buchanan said.
GM spokeswoman Sharon Morton said the company does not immediately object to the idea of opening the road.
"If that's an issue the city wants to pursue, we will review it and discuss it with the city," Morton said.
And, actually, she said the road is still used by some employees, including those at nearby Flint Powertrain North.
"I think it would be better for everyone all around," said Angela Wolford, whose trips to visit family would be made easier if the street were opened.
Resident Laura Messenger said she didn't even realize there used to be a street running through the area.
She liked the idea of opening Leith back up, saying bus routes would be better if they didn't have to circle around the old Buick City and could instead cut through.
"That would be perfect," Messenger said.
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