Remembering Viola Liuzzo, murdered 58 years ago in the cause of voting rights: a personal reflection
By Harold C. Ford Viola, Viola you laid your young life down, From Selma to heaven, 3 Ks took you out, Colorblind angel battled bigotry, Viola, Viola lives on in history. --"Color Blind Angel,” Robin Rodgers, 2008 [Author’s note: I was moved to write this personal...
The East Village Magazine – April 2023
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for download and viewing here: [pdfjs-viewer url="https://www.eastvillagemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/EVM_Apr_2023.pdf" attachment_id="36684" viewer_width=100% viewer_height=800px fullscreen=true...
Village Life: A comfy leather couch, a wide bay window and spilling my guts
By Tom Travis Twice a month I drive 20 minutes to sit on a long leather couch, long enough for about five people. From that couch I look out a big bay window and I spill my guts. Or, as my therapist says, to get "psychoanalyzed." I tend to be very private and have...
Education Beat: Glimpses of possible paths forward for Flint’s public schools include “6 Month Focus” and images of new high school campus
By Harold C. Ford Amid the din of Flint’s newly-assembled school panel searching for productive equilibrium, two glimpses of possible paths forward have recently emerged: Prior to its March 15 meeting ending in considerable chaos, the Flint Board of Education (FBOE)...
Yard waste collection begins in Flint April 3
Yard waste collection begins April 3 in Flint Yard waste collection begins Monday, April 3 for Flint residents. Yard waste is picked up weekly on residents’ normal trash collection days through Dec, 1, 2023. A separate truck collects yard waste on the same day as...
“This budget offers a level of stability” Mayor Neeley – an increase of $13 million from previous year
By Tom Travis Update: This article has been updated on March 27, 2023 to reflect more information from the Mayor and the city's 2024 budget. Please note that entire city budget is available at the end of the article. And also, here. "This budget offers a level of...
Education Beat Analysis: Flint’s public schools tipping into arguable freefall
By Harold C. Ford As the newly-constituted Flint Board of Education is beginning to look a lot like the old board, with chaos repeatedly breaking out, a multitude of sobering realities about the school district are undeniable. Arguably, Flint’s public schools are in...
Education Beat Analysis: March 15 Flint School Board meeting collapses into chaos
By Harold C. Ford “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” –The Who’s Peter Townshend, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” 1971 After a few months of fragile collegiality sprinkled with polite platitudes, the newest iteration of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) has...
Book Bans: What’s the real motive?
By Paul Rozycki "Controversial LGBTQ+ memoir the subject of heated Lapeer library meeting" (MLive, March 17, 2023) That was the headline of a story about a recent Lapeer District Library Board meeting where a crowded room of local residents attacked and denounced...
Mindful Civic Leadership Program brings community and police together – a model for the nation
By Canisha Bell The Mindful Civic Leadership Program, designed to bring Black community members and police officers together to build mindfulness skills, launched a second run March 27. The next session will begin April 10. The program is part of the Mindful Flint...
Council approves new rules, adds support for repealing Emergency Manager law; Mays is ousted, again
By Tom Travis This article has been updated to include a link to view and/or download the Rules Governing City Council meetings. - Editor Flint City Councilperson Eric Mays (Ward 1) was removed again for "disorderly conduct" from Monday's council meeting. Council...
The East Village Magazine – March 2023
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for download and viewing here: [pdfjs-viewer url="https://www.eastvillagemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/EVM-Mar-23.pdf" attachment_id="35915" viewer_width=100% viewer_height=800px fullscreen=true...
UM-Flint announces voluntary faculty buyout options with year’s pay, $10K bonus
By Jan Worth-Nelson In one of the first publicly visible moves to address its fiscal woes since the campus-wide "Strategic Transformation" process began last fall, the University of Michigan - Flint has rolled out a faculty buyout incentives plan paying up to a...
Village Life: “Where am I from?” or “Who are my people?” are questions worth exploring
By Tom Travis I'm writing this on the first anniversary of Russia's invasion into Ukraine. Soon after Putin's unprovoked invasion last year I reached out to some local Ukrainians for their reactions. I soon found out they all wanted to talk. They all wanted to share...
Education Beat: Flint Ed Board badly divided on two “safety” issues — clear backpacks, legal reimbursement
By Harold C. Ford “Enhancing safety measures, such as a clear backpack policy, should not need debate, nor should it take months to implement.” – Bruce Jordan, Michigan Education Association UniServ Director, reacting to a Flint Board of Education vote rejecting a...
Commentary: MSU, Mass shootings, and guns. Will anything change? What’s next?
By Paul Rozycki Two days. That’s all it took for the horrific shooting at Michigan State University to become old news and be replaced by the newest shootings. In the two days following the Feb. 13 shooting that killed three MSU students, sent five to the hospital,...
Promise of a “bold, strategic, transformative” future laid out by deans at UM – Flint town hall
By Jan Worth-Nelson "Here at the University of Michigan - Flint, we dare to dream big. With market analyses, stakeholder engagement, and program economics, we have envisioned a bold, strategic and transformative future that is like nothing this university has ever...
Sen. John Cherry hopeful about legislative agenda: “We can get that done”
By Jan Worth-Nelson and Tom Travis When somebody texted John Cherry at home early in the morning after election night Nov. 8 to tell him the Democrats had taken the majority in the Michigan Legislature, he says he "literally started crying." The next morning, he...
Education Beat: Flint School Board votes unanimously to reopen talks with Mott Foundation about new building(s)
By Harold C. Ford “That door to work with our partners in the community is open … I need partners to build a new building,” –Kevelin Jones, superintendent, Flint Community Schools, at a Feb. 9, 2023 community forum At its Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting on Feb....
UMF Chancellor mum on Strategic Transformation at Regents meeting; professor, student critique process
By Jan Worth-Nelson University of Michigan - Flint Chancellor Deba Dutta offered no news or comments about the downtown Flint campus's "Strategic Transformation" process in his 3:50 minute presentation to the University of Michigan Regents at their regular monthly...
Effort to repeal State’s emergency manager law gains steam but is delayed by Flint City Council bickering
By Tom Travis An effort by Michigan Democrats to repeal Michigan's much-contested emergency manager law hopes to gain strength through a resolution from Flint City Council (FCC). On Feb. 1, 2023, House Bill 4065 (H.B 4065) was introduced in the Michigan House of...
UM – Flint offers public Town Hall on “Strategic Transformation” updates as decisions approach
By Jan Worth-Nelson A town hall offering updates on the progress of the University of Michigan - Flint's "Strategic Transformation" process has been scheduled for 10-11:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17 at the Riverfront Conference Center, Chancellor Deba Dutta has announced....
Education Beat: Flint Ed Board committee signals readiness to move on vacant properties and Mott Foundation partnership
By Harold Ford “We haven’t been able to move; that’s been an issue for us.” –Kevelin Jones, superintendent, Flint Community Schools, citing the unwillingness of the previous Flint Board of Education to move on vacant properties, Jan. 30, 2023 The Finance and...
Village Life – Blissfully single in community
By Tom Travis It's called "cuffing season." I quite hate that term. The term "cuffing" refers to the restrictive and restraining purpose of handcuffs. If you don't know about cuffing season it begins sometime in October and culminates up to the egregiously capitalized...
Sports Beat: Steve Schmidt surpasses 1000 games in his 32nd season as Mott CC’s men’s basketball coach
By Harold C. Ford If successful sports coaches are measured by longevity, wins, and winning percentage, then Steve Schmidt, men’s basketball coach at Mott Community College (MCC), is, at present, one of the most successful coaches in America at any level in any era. ...
