I’ve been asked. “Don’t you think Mayor Williamson has done anything good since he has been in office?” Well, now I can say Yes. This was, in my opinion a brilliant idea. It is actually getting done. (Well it’s in the process). I hate to be negative all the time. So when something this good came along. I couldn’t help but get excited and jump for joy.
Flint sets up vehicle impound yard
Mayor says it will be a revenue-maker for the city
By
Cathy Shafran
FLINT (WJRT) - (01/22/06)-- The city of Flint will soon be in the impound business, making money that will mean more police officers and an open city jail.
That word comes today from Flint's mayor, who says work on the impound lot is already underway.
That work has already begun on a police mini station and adjacent impound lot. It is on the property of the Oak Business Center and the old Earl Scheib store on north Saginaw.
The
mayor has been talking about this site for nearly a year. His plan to turn this
property into a city-run impound lot had stirred controversy from the former
City Council.
Some in the Oak Business Center, which is an incubator building for small start-up businesses, had also raised concerns that they would be forced out of their spaces by the move, but those businesses remain.
Mayor Williamson has said that passage of a new towing contract with the new City Council will allow him to move ahead with the plan and start reaping the financial benefits from a city-run impound lot almost immediately.
"I'm predicting the next two weeks. We're putting in all the phone lines in there. We're putting in all the computers and the fax machines. You see we're doing it different," Williamson said.
"When you owe money up there, you come to the treasurer's office. The treasurer's office will release the item we've impounded, which takes great control of the cash. The city will reap all the profit and it will enable us to hire 15 police officers and open the jail."
The mayor says he's still working on phase two of the plan, which will bring abandoned vehicles to the lot and then making money from those.
He says a proposed contract for that work has yet to go to the City Council.
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