The East Village Magazine – October 2020 – Special Edition
A special edition, covering the Flint Community Schools Board Election Candidates and their views, is available for download here: https://www.eastvillagemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/10-23-20_EVM_special_section_web.pdf
Mixed signals from state lead to multi-pronged plan for reopening Flint schools
By Harold C. Ford “If we have to go back to school next week, we’ll be ready.” —Anita Steward, superintendent, Flint Community Schools, Oct. 13, 2020 Anita Steward, superintendent of Flint Community Schools (FCS), presented a multi-pronged plan for the possible...
Future of I-475 through downtown Flint topic of Mayor’s online community discussion tonight
A community visioning and input session regarding the future of I-475 at 6:30 p.m. tonight will be hosted by Mayor Sheldon Neeley and Chief of Staff Brian Larkin. With new available state funds, the city expects to resurface a portion of I-475 going through downtown....
Second St. Paul’s concert Oct. 25 cancelled due to COVID concerns
The Sunday, Oct. 25 concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church has been cancelled due to COVID concerns, Director of Music Holly Richardson announced today. The concert, second of the 2020-2021 "Music in the Heart of the City" series, was to have featured "Soprano and...
New absentee ballot drop boxes donated by L.A. Lakers forward Flint native Kyle Kuzma
By Tom Travis Four additional ballot drop boxes for Flint have been donated by Los Angeles Lakers basketball forward and Flint native, Kyle Kuzma, according to a press release from the City Clerk's office. The newest drop boxes are located at four Flint fire...
Flint Board of Education election: twelve candidates for three six-year positions
By Harold Ford Assisted by EVM Editorial staff Tom Travis, Jan Worth-Nelson and Ted Nelson SCROLL DOWN FOR CANDIDATE PROFILES AT THE END OF THIS STORY “When parents are looking at where to send their kids (to school), there’s an awful lot of faith involved in the...
GOP leaders’ words “fan the flames” of domestic terrorism in Michigan, Kildee says
By Tom Travis "Self-indulgent" Michigan GOP leaders try to "twist" the Whitmer kidnapping into a story about themselves, and by their words "fan the flames" of domestic terrorism, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (5th District) said in comments made while visiting the Flint...
Kildee visits Flint Public Library to discuss $2 billion Library Stabilization Act and announces grant money for local libraries
By Tom Travis Federal grants totalling $28,914 will help Michigan libraries address operational challenges during the pandemic. U.S. Representative Dan Kildee (D) announced the new grants during a visit to the Flint Public Library (FPL) on Friday, where he received an...
Local surgeon’s car collection revs up donations for area programming at Sloan and Flint Institute of Music
By Tom Travis Car collector and local surgeon Bobby Mukkamala says every one of the 75 classic cars in his collection has a story explaining why he was attracted to it--and those stories are entertaining. In an upcoming fundraising event for the Sloan Museum...
Cash prizes offered in Step Up, Pick Up program; blight, environmental clean-up and distracted driving discussed at Flint Neighborhoods Meeting
By Coner Segren The Step Up, Pick Up program will combine fitness with community litter pickup, offering cash prizes of $1000 (1st prize), $500 (2nd prize) and $250 (3rd prize). The program will offer cash prizes to community groups that pick up the most trash and...
Public electronic meetings nixed by Supreme Court action; City Council, EAB cancel.
By Tom Travis Moments before the Flint City Council was to hold their bi-monthly Monday evening meeting a public notice was sent out from the City Clerk's staff notifying the public that the meeting was cancelled. The notice was signed by Council President Monica...
Blessing of the Animals honors “creatures who know nothing of the madness of the world”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Today's annual Blessing of the Animals at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, affected and re-arranged by the coronavirus, was something special--even though it went to the dogs. Thirteen of them, to be exact, in noisy canine COVID-compliance on the...
Pandemic Alters Halloween Plans for Flint; Four Neighborhoods offer Community Buildings for Trick-or-Treaters
Community groups for four neighborhood-based options will offer an alternative to the traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating method this Halloween. The community events will be held, with all standard safety precautions, at the following four locations on...
Pride Fest activities begin Friday with Free Community BBQ; virtual activities continue through the weekend
By Tom Travis A free community BBQ will be offered Friday, Oct. 9 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the parking lot behind Wellness Services, Inc. located at 311 E. Court St. as part of a weekend of activities for Flint Pride Fest 2020. According to Rachel Strickland,...
City of Flint being sued by conservative group; source of grant money in question
By Tom Travis This article has been updated on Oct 8, 2020 to include the motion filed in Federal Court. A conservative group called Election Integrity Fund is suing the City of Flint over a $475,000 grant for the City Clerk's office to use in the Fall election...
Flint School Board to close Northwestern except for Central Kitchen
By Harold C. Ford “The big question: What to do with Northwestern?” … Carrie Sekelsky, FCS executive director of finance, Sept. 9, 2020 “N-Dub” is the nickname proud graduates of Flint’s Northwestern High School often use to reference their alma mater, including a...
Today is “Count Day” for Flint Schools; “We want to make sure that all of our scholars are online, engaged, and connected.”…Anita Steward, Flint Community Schools superintendent
By Harold C. Ford "Wednesday, October 7 - Count Day": That’s the message that greets visitors to the website of Flint Community Schools (FCS) as the number of students present and accounted for on this day will determine the initial amount of state aid received by...
$2.5 million in grants available for “communities of color” with Friday deadline
A fund of $2.5 million is being made available to Genesee County nonprofit organizations identified as addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on African American and Latinx residents, according to a Wednesday press release from The Community Foundation of...
Commentary: Beyond Biden and Trump, who else and what else is there in Election 2020?
By Paul Rozycki Who’s your choice — Trump or Biden? Sometimes it seems like the only thing on the ballot this year is Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. It’s hard to turn on the TV without seeing an ad for either candidate. We’ve all felt...
Mayor Neeley responds to Michigan Supreme Court ruling against Gov Whitmer
By Tom Travis Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley Monday urged residents and businesses "to continue following all recommended precautions against the spread of COVID-19," following a ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court to overturn Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's actions to attempt...
Flint city clerk reports 15,000 absentee ballots mailed out; extended and weekend hours offered for voters
By Tom Travis Over fifteen thousand absentee ballot applications have been processed and ballots have been mailed out so far from the Flint City Clerk's office, and extended weekly hours and Saturday and Sunday hours continue to be made available for voting,...
Hundreds of area small businesses and non-profits awarded $2.34 million in grants
Today, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) announced that 236 small businesses and nonprofits in Flint and Genesee County were awarded grants totaling more than $2.34 million through the Michigan Small Business Restart Program. The grantees were among the...
East Village Magazine – October 2020
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here: https://www.eastvillagemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/EVM-10.20_web.pdf
City Council beat: City collected $31 million in property taxes and $2.9 million in income taxes in first months of fiscal year
By Tom Travis The City of Flint has collected $2.9 million in income taxes and $31 million in property taxes only a few months into the FY 2021 budget year, according to Amanda Trujillo, City Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, in a report to the Flint City Council...
Mayor Neeley speaks about Breonna Taylor ruling; the community protests
By Tom Travis In a statement issued Friday, Mayor Sheldon Neeley denounced the outcome of the Breonna Taylor case, in which a grand jury ruled to not indict any of the officers involved in the shooting death of Taylor, 26, in her home in Louisville, Kentucky March 13....
