Daniel T. Kildee

Daniel T. Kildee has been Genesee county treasurer since 1997.  Before his election as treasurer, Daniel served for 12 years as a Genesee county commissioner, including 5 years as chairman of the board of commissioners.  In1977, he became the one of the youngest people ever elected to public office when he was elected to the Flint board of education at age 18.  Daniel initiated the use of Michigan’s new tax foreclosure law as a tool for community development and neighborhood stabilization.  In addition to founding the Genesee Land Bank—Michigan’s first land bank—and serving as chairman, he is also the president of the Genesee Institute, a research and training institute focusing on Smart Growth, urban land reform, and land banking. 
Daniel was a member of the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council, which made 160 recommendations to address urban sprawl and other land use issues.  In 2005, Granholm appointed him as one of the initial directors of the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority, the nation’s first statewide land bank, which Daniel currently chairs.  In 2005, he completed a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellowship at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.  In 2008, he was named the winner of the “Excellence in Land Use Leadership” award by MSU’s Land Policy Institute, and he and the Genesee County Land Bank were named the Community Development Advocate of the Year by CEDAM.

Contact Information
Dkildee@sbcglobal.net
810-257-3024

Monday

June 30, 2008

With gasoline at over $4.00 per gallon, will policymakers finally get it?  

Michigan cannot afford to build communities that take workers farther and farther away from their work.  For years, many of us have been making the point that unless this state reinvests in our cities—large and small—Michigan will not be able to compete for the jobs of the new economy.  The drive to work will put Michigan out of business.

There were two major initiatives I promoted as a member of the Land Use Leadership Council: the creation of land bank authorities and the recognition of Michigan’s Centers of Commerce as being vital to our future.  That was in 2003, when gasoline was $1.49 per gallon.  Seriously.

Land bank legislation was enacted soon after the Land Use Council’s report was delivered to the governor and Legislature.  The results have been remarkable, with ten counties now operating land bank authorities, returning thousands of previously forgotten properties to productive use—and making them available for redevelopment much closer to the workplace.  My own Genesee County Land Bank has demolished nearly one thousand abandoned houses, created green space in the place of abandoned structures, and redeveloped historic properties into new commercial space and into market-rate and affordable housing.  Michigan’s Land Bank Act is the best of its type in the nation, earning the Genesee County initiative Harvard University’s Innovations in American Government Award in 2007.  This is sustainable development in practice.

Now we have to take the next step, and enact legislation that puts into Michigan law what more than 90 percent of Michigan residents believe: that Michigan’s cities, villages, and urbanized townships are the vital “Commerce Centers” that will drive our economy and attract the next generation of entrepreneurs.  

Is Michigan ready?

Tuesday

July 1, 2008

In yesterday’s entry, I referred to my favorite topic: land bank authorities. 

I realize that a lot of local officials have heard the term, but might not know what a land bank is—or how it might be of value in your community.   So here’s a simple explanation:

A land bank authority is a public authority—like a library board or an airport authority—formed by an agreement between the county treasurer and the state of Michigan.  A land bank is created to serve as a better pathway to take tax-foreclosed and other underutilized properties to the real estate market.  It serves as an alternative to the tax auction, a process that attracts speculative investors who may not have any connection to your community. 

Land banks allow a community to adopt policies that determine what happens to tax-foreclosed properties, rather than subject the property—and the neighbors—to the whim of some speculator who stayed up too late one night and was persuaded by some slick infomercial to “buy the tapes” and learn how to invest in tax sales.

A land bank allows your community to consider the effect a property will have on surrounding properties when finding a new owner, rather than just selling for the fastest buck.

Ten Michigan counties have formed land banks, in every type of county you can imagine.  From Wayne to Ogemaw, land banks can play an important role in developing land in your community in ways that are consistent with your local needs.

Check out our Genesee County Land Bank website at www.thelandbank.org and feel free to contact me to learn more.

Wednesday

July 2, 2008

Michigan’s future will rely largely on our ability to make our state—and especially our cities—an attractive place for young (and not so young) talented, energetic, creative people.  But we have not made the kind of investments in the kind of communities that will keep and attract the talent we will need to grow the next Michigan economy.

One missing element is the range of housing choices available to those talented people we all need.  According to Governing Magazine, Michigan is ranked 48th in the country (on a per capita basis) for its state revenue support of affordable housing.  We cannot compete with other states unless we invest in the places the knowledge workers will live.

And now, we have a chance to do something about it.  The Michigan Housing and Community Develop Fund can help boost Michigan’s affordable housing market.  Just last year, the governor and Legislature made the first step in putting Michigan “in the game” by funding this effort with just over $2 million, and this year there’s hope that commitment will double.  We have a long way to go, but it is a very important start.

Below are some examples of how the Michigan Housing and Community Develop Fund can help boost Michigan’s affordable housing market.

Financing Affordable and Market Rate Housing:

    * Individual development accounts
    * Mortgage down payment assistance for college graduates and people with moderate incomes
    * Employer-assisted housing
    * Land trusts
    * Foreclosure prevention
    * Predatory lending education
    * Rental housing for families, the elderly, and people with disabilities
    * Assisted living for the elderly
    * Workforce housing
    * Preservation of existing affordable rental housing

Please join the effort to build the next Michigan by building the place where the next generation will live.  Join the effort—start by checking it out at: www.livinginmichigan.org

Thursday

July 3, 2008

The story of this building is the story of our city.  And maybe our state.

On New Year’s Eve in 1920, Michigan Governor Albert Sleeper went to Flint to celebrate the opening of Michigan’s newest “skyscraper.”  The just completed eight-story Durant Hotel, standing tall on the north bank of the Flint River with a large American flag waving from the rooftop, is a beautiful sight.  The latest symbol of Flint’s ascendancy stares south down Saginaw Street–our main street.  It is an imposing sight.

With a grand lobby two stories high, an ornate ballroom, a dozen shops and restaurants and guest rooms built for travelers visiting the birthplace of General Motors, it is the best building north of Detroit.

The Durant, named for one of GM’s founders, was the symbol of the success of General Motors and of Flint itself.  Just like the city, the hotel thrived as we exported cars and imported cash from around the world.  Those dignitaries who joined Governor Sleeper at the grand opening were unanimous in their certainty that Flint had arrived, and that the good times were here to stay.

Spring of 1973.  Things have changed.  While General Motors employment in Flint is still at its peak of 79,000, the city is beginning to lose population to any of a dozen communities that surround Flint, communities that grew as Flint began to decline.  Suburbs are springing up all over.  A new indoor shopping mall attracts a few more shops away from downtown.  The signs are not good.

And the Durant Hotel, after 53 years as the center of Flint’s social scene—where weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, and retirement parties took place weekly—closed its doors.  It was to be temporary, as surely a new investor would soon reopen this stately property.

It is now July 3, 2008, and the Durant Hotel has stood empty and alone for 35 years.  It never did reopen. No longer the symbol of achievement, it is now the very symbol of our decline.  GM employment in Flint is less than 10,000, and Flint has lost 40 percent of its population.  But somehow, the Durant still stands.  It has almost been forgotten, which is both strange and sad—how do you forget an eight-story building that is visible from nearly every point for blocks?  Though forgotten and neglected, it is still a strong building—with “good bones” as they say. 

So wait, this is the story of our city?  Success turned to abandonment?  Well, no.

The story is not over yet.  Not for Flint and not for this building either.  Because in a few weeks—with the final pieces almost in place—the Genesee County Land Bank and our private investor partners will start redevelopment of this building.  After 35 years of emptiness and deterioration, we are bringing this building back to life.  Using the unique combination of Michigan’s brownfield financing tools, the Land Bank Act, state and federal tax credits, and other private and public sources, this building will have a third life.  No longer the symbol of the manufacturing era, no longer the reminder of our failure, this building will soon be home to 111 new apartments, aimed primarily at students, staff, and graduate students from the University of Michigan-Flint (which now is right across the street from the Durant), empty nesters looking for an urban lifestyle and downtown workers looking to save time and precious gasoline as they live within walking distance of the workplace.

In its third life, the Durant will become a symbol of the “knowledge economy” as it serves as home to young talented “creative” people looking for the affordable urban lifestyle they did not think they would ever find in a place like Flint.

Like Flint, this building was built on the old economy.  And like Flint, the building has been adrift, abandoned, and deteriorating.  And now this building—and the city—will rebuild itself by investing in our old buildings—in our built environment.  Literally.

And the focus will now be on a creative class of people drawn to downtown Flint by the University and the knowledge economy.  Using the existing assets of the community we have already built, where there are already streets and parks and water and sewer lines, and even an existing eight-story building.  Get it? Rebuilding for the knowledge economy using our existing assets. 

State Capitol?  Are you listening?