After garnering 53% of the vote and winning a second term in the recent general election, Mayor Sheldon Neeley is promising a new effort to rebrand the city, using a not yet developed marketing department as a means for spreading the “good news” about Flint ‘to the world, intending to attract home buyers and investors in the process.
“The whole concept of ‘one Flint’ will be perfected through the way we market our community,” Neeley said from his office in City Hall. “The first one hundred (days) … you build that department.
You start a (marketing) department you never had before (and) we have all the ingredients here to make this a powerful city once again.
“We can be there again. We are on that trajectory right now.”
Mayor Neeley points out a drop in violent crime and homicides in 2022, the envisioned $300-million redevelopment of Buick City, the development of a new state park and a home demolition program as part of the evidence that things are changing for the better and that City Hall should be in the business of promoting it.
Coupling these recent developments with the city’s institutional strengths — its network of colleges and universities, hospitals, and transportation network — there is a story that the mayor said City Hall needs to share.
Mayor Neeley is expected to take the oath of office for his second term on the Monday following the certification of the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election. That should have occurred by the time you read this.. (After this paper had gone to print)
He is tentatively planning to deliver his State of the City address on Dec. 8 during a special meeting of the City Council.
Neeley’s second term comes after he defeated former Mayor Karen Weaver in the Nov. 8 general election, a repeat of the 2019 election except that Neeley extended his margin of victory.
Neeley was born in the city of Flint and has lived here his entire life. He has served as a member of the Flint City Council and as a state representative before his election as mayor in 2019.
