again, you see our slogan:
''Flint: Our New Spark Will Surprise You.''
Capturing a lot of enthusiasm.
Letting people know there are some
new and surprising things in the Flint area.
This is our visitors' log book.
l see West Germany here, Australia.
Jackie, what are some of the things
that visitors ask us?
First off, ''Where is the bathroom?''
That's the question l get asked most.
Then, ''What is there to do in Flint?''
The city had a hard time attracting
major conventions to the Hyatt.
It settIed for groups Iike the Michigan
Ready Mix Concrete Association...
and the statewide organization
of ScrabbIe pIayers.
On this last game,
l made a seven-letter word, ''partier.''
P-A-R-T-l-E-R.
So we looked in the Scrabble bible,
which is this dictionary...
and it isn't allowed there.
They allow ''partied,'' P-A-R-T-l-E-D...
and ''parties,'' P-A-R-T-l-E-S...
but no ''partier.''
So don't claim you are one ever.
FIint's Ieaders needed more tourists.
They hired the company that buiIt
New York's South Street Seaport...
to come to FIint
and create Water Street PaviIion.
We took a four-square-block area,
tore it down...
and built this new facility...
which is a lot of glass and steel,
as well as plants...
and different colors
to make it festive, fun and exciting.
Also, a major parking ramp...
and some other facilities
connected with the building.
It's more than just another buiIding
in downtown FIint.
I Iike the coIor and the excitement of it.
It's very good for tourism in our area.
A major stop for the bus tours
that come to our area.
They puII up, park the bus,
and unIoad 40 senior citizens or so.
Water Street brings a fun atmosphere
that comes with a festival marketplace...
much like other festival marketplaces
around the country.
But the crowning jeweI in FIint's pIan
to attract tourists was AutoWorId...
haiIed by city officiaIs
as the worId's Iargest indoor theme park.
Today is the first day...
of the rebirth...
of the great city of Flint.
The governor had reason to be excited.
Donny and Marie had come
to ceIebrate the opening of AutoWorId...
constructed at a cost
of over $100 miIIion...
and dedicated to the beIief
that the automobiIe made America great.
I paid my $8.95 and saw something
I hadn't seen in a Iong time...
downtown FIint, rebuiIt exactIy to scaIe...
under the gIass-encIosed dome
of AutoWorId...
to Iook Iike it used to
before the factory cIosings.
They predicted
a miIIion tourists wouId come...
to ride the worId's onIy
indoor Ferris wheeI...
to gaze at the worId's Iargest car engine...
and to meet the officiaI sponsors
of the American dream.
My favorite was the exhibit sponsored
by GeneraI Motors.
A puppet auto worker...
singing a Iove song to the robot
repIacing him on the assembIy Iine.
The song was caIIed Me and My Buddy.
AutoWorld will make
a major contribution...
to our important
tourism and travel industry.
lt's not only a contribution to that,
but as the mayor said:
''To jobs for our people,
our children, our neighbors.''
The miIIion tourists never came to FIint.
The Hyatt went bankrupt
and was put up for saIe.
Water Street PaviIion saw
most of its stores go out of business.
And, onIy six months after opening...
AutoWorId cIosed due to a Iack of visitors.
I guess it was Iike
expecting a miIIion peopIe a year...
to go to New Jersey to ChemicaIWorId,
or to VaIdez, AIaska, to ExxonWorId.
Some peopIe just don't Iike to ceIebrate
human tragedy whiIe on vacation.
It started to get Iooking Iike Toronto...
upper middIe-cIass
bIack and white peopIe...
and everybody was dressed nice.
We thought it would be
the entertainment center of the county...
in all truth.
That may be naive, but that was my goal.
Let's make it the entertainment center...
so that everybody wants to be
in downtown Flint.
We're going to have
entertainment and art.
lt's going to be very cultural,
it's going to be very upbeat.
Somebody said