Flint Housing: Caldwell's Out, Simmons' In

EVENT

The Flint Journal has just announced this week the abrupt "debriefing" of Flint Housing Commission Director Clyde Caldwell. Given the housing catastrophe that's played out this spring in addition to the inscrutible (at best) actions of the FHC, the action isn't surprising. Oddly, however, there has been no public statement to justify the termination. In a modest improvement, this issue has not been completely banished from the Journal this week, printing both a compelling editorial (which nevertheless plays third fiddle to a spat between two Grand Blanc Township officials and a quip against the Clio Schools) and the original article: Housing Commission fires fourth director in four years.

The best news to emerge from the mess this week, however, is that Caldwell's replacement (at least temporarily) will be former director with twelve-years experience Kenneth Simmons. If the Journal article is an accurate indicator, Simmons piloted the Commission successfully through some of Flint's most trying years, effectively improving public housing even as the city was affected by the worst fallout of GM downsizing.

Perhaps he can be persuaded to stay...