Demolition crews began tear down of Clark School in Flint

FLINT (WJRT) - (07/02/14) - Demolition crews began to tear down the former Clark School, in Flint, Wednesday morning.

It will be two days before it's all complete.

The building couldn't come down soon enough for those working to clean up this city, but for some, the old Flint school is a piece of their past and a place that still holds memories.

"It was a great school...good times...a lot of friends," said Lloyd Thomas, of Flint.

Recalling memories, decades old, pulled from the back of his mind. Thomas still knows the school like the back of his hand. He attended kindergarten here in 1954.

"Hard to see it go," he said.

But even he knows it was time. State funding to clean up blight in Genesee County made the demolition of this building and around 20 other commercial properties possible.

"It needs to come down, it will be safer for the neighborhood," said Deb Cherry, Genesee County Treasurer.

The old Flint school has sat vacant for five years, harboring crime, while the walls literally cave in.

The school will cost more than $400,000 to tear down over two days, making way for green space and future development. It's just a small chunk of the Michigan Blight Elimination Grant funds that the land bank is putting to good use this year.

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Demolition crews began tear down of Clark School in Flint