What does this have to do with child welfare?  Everything.  Just wanted to give LaWanda Flake a shout out.

Fed up with bus system, Detroit mom aims to trade her house for car

Doug Guthrie/ The Detroit News

A disabled woman who wrote a book about her experiences riding buses in Detroit is offering to trade her more than 2,000-square-foot, 3 1/2 bath, herringbone brick, neo-Tudor home in one of the city's more desirable neighborhoods for a decent vehicle so she and her children won't have to rely on the city's troubled public transit system.

LaWanda M. Flake, 36, posted an ad on Craigslist this week that reads: "Trade my home in Detroit … I'm really looking for transportation 2003 or newer."

"When people call, they ask, 'Are you serious?'" said Flake. She bought the house, which the city assessed last year at $96,000, at a tax foreclosure sale for $3,500.

"I really wanted to live in that house with my children. It's beautiful from the outside and it's pretty solid inside, too, but it's going to take more to fix it up than I can afford, and with the bus system falling apart, I need a car. We can't get to appointments on time. We don't feel safe."

The single mother of six children lives on disability income for a bad back. She also sells custom jewelry she makes from beads and polished stones, and hopes soon to publish her second book.

Her first, "The Many Faces on the Bus," is a collection of short stories about people she observed riding the bus. The book, which has sold fewer than 100 copies, includes her own experiences.

'This is what I know'

Flake got pregnant at 15, later earned her GED and has taken classes at Henry Ford Community College. She has been a victim of crime and remains a picture of Detroit survival through an entrepreneurial spirit.

She bought the home on Sturtevant Street in Russell Woods on the city's west side in November 2010.

Many of the neighborhood's stately homes were built in the 1920s. According to a city Planning Department description, Russell Woods has had many influential residents, including Motown singers Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson of the Supremes, and the late Dudley Randall, poet laureate of Detroit and founder of Broadside Press, which published the literary works of African-Americans.

While it has great curb appeal, Flake discovered major issues inside the Sturtevant home. She said the home's deceased owner had been a physician — and a hoarder. The furnace and water heater need to be replaced, and the stone-framed doors have been damaged by break-ins.

Two months ago, Flake bought another, smaller house, also on the city's west side, on a land contract for $4,000. She's back on Craigslist bartering a stainless steel electric stove and oven from her last address for trade on installation of a new water heater at her current, sparsely furnished, three-bedroom house.

"I live here because this is what I know. I grew up here. I made my mistakes here, and I am doing the best I can for myself and my children," Flake said.

"I think the city will someday come back, but we just can't count on the bus anymore. It's always late. The ones that run are so crowded, and there was a fight on one the other day where a guy dropped a knife right in front of my 7-year-old."

Selling didn't work

The financially strapped city bus services have suffered deep cuts. Mayor Dave Bing and union mechanics have feuded over the noticeable drop in the number of operable buses. Workers have said too many mechanics have been laid off. Bing has threatened to outsource the repair work if the mechanics don't get it done.

Last week, more than 100 drivers shut down the entire system for hours, citing concerns about safety following a reported assault on a driver at the downtown Rosa Parks Transit Center. Bing promised to heighten Detroit Police patrols.

Flake said she tried for months to sell the Sturtevant home, but got no serious offers for her asking price of $8,000 and later $6,000.

The best house-for-car swap offer she's gotten is a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander minivan with 85,000 miles.

"Of course, he wants to see the inside of the house and I want to take his van for a test drive," Flake said. "I'm really just taking the easy way out of this.

"I'd seen people offer property swaps online before, like Florida property for something in Michigan, but no, I can't say I've ever seen anyone offer a house for a car."

University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor Michael Bernacchi said Flake's most valuable commodity might be the rights to her own story as a holiday mini-movie next year.

"This woman's ability to get up off the ground after the disappointment of what appeared to be a beautiful deal went bad, and creatively assess her new reality, is a thing of beauty when you study models of entrepreneurism," he said.

"This is a story about Detroit and its bad times, and a story about Detroiters and how resilient they can be."

Flake has tried to promote her book, published by Author House almost two years ago, with a Facebook page called "Author Lawanda Flake." It is available through Amazon.com for $11.49.

Flake has gotten a few royalty checks from the online publishing house, but none for more than $5, she said with a laugh.

Still, she remains committed to trying again. She's thinking about a cookbook, but her work, "Little Boy Made of Fruit," will be for children. She said it will be about "how we are all the same, and how we are all different."