Councilperson Eric Mays fires off response to Neeley’s press release: “We’re dealing with a deceptive, trickery, lying type of mayor”
By Tom Travis Councilperson Eric Mays (1st Ward) Tuesday contacted East Village Magazine (EVM) to respond to Mayor Sheldon Neeley's press release about the council's failure to adopt a budget in Monday's meeting. Mays said he objected to Neeley calling the council as...
City Council fails to pass budget – Mayor Neeley delivers terse response
By Tom Travis Despite a nine-hour meeting, the Flint City Council failed to adopt a budget Monday night, thereby violating the city charter which calls for the budget for the next fiscal year to be approved by the first Monday in June. The meeting began at 6:30 p.m....
Flint City Council Candidates “show what it means to work together,” team up to paint Kearsley Park pavilion
By Tom Travis Five candidates running for Flint City Council met at Kearsley Park on Memorial Day to "show what it means to work together, to show the community that a city council can work together," according to 5th Ward candidate Joe Schipani. Schipani, along with...
Commentary: The right to vote — It’s not just about Democrats or Republicans. It’s about democracy.
By Paul Rozycki Guess what? There was cheating in the 2020 election. And guess what? There was so little of it, in a nation of 330 million, that it scarcely mattered. And from what we know, there were both Republicans and Democrats doing it. According to a...
Sports Beat: Flint City Bucks open defense of USL2 championship with convincing 3-1 win over Toledo
By Harold C. Ford “It’s hard defending a national championship; it’s harder winning one.” --Dan Duggan, chairman and CEO, Flint City Bucks The Flint City Bucks football [soccer] club opened the 2021 season with a convincing 3-1 win over Toledo Villa Football Club May...
$46 million in stimulus funds land in city’s coffers: online survey asks Flint residents what to do with it
By Tom Travis A check for $46 million was deposited into the City of Flint's bank account last Wednesday, according to the city's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Shelbi Frayer. It is the first payment from the federal government's American Rescue Plan stimulus money....
Redistricting, social equity and water costs among topics discussed at Flint Neighborhoods United monthly virtual session
By Coner Segren Potential Michigan redistricting losses based on Census-2020 numbers, establishment of a new urban institute dedicated to social equity at the UM - Flint, a proposal to study a flat rate for water in the City of Flint, and the Genesee County Land...
“Rivethead” author Ben Hamper, bard of 20th century blue collar life, returns to Flint June 5
By Jan Worth-Nelson Ben Hamper, author of a classic best-selling account of "shop rat" life in Flint in the 1980s, returns to his hometown June 5 for a reading and book signing from 2-5 p.m. at Totem Books, 620 W. Court St. His appearance celebrates the 30th...
Flint’s Pride Festival continues to reflect community identities and prioritize health
By Melodee Mabbitt This year, Flint’s Pride Festival will once again be shaped in response to the need for disease prevention and centered on supporting identities that are most vulnerable within Flint’s LGBTQ+ communities. In response to COVID-19 precautions,...
East Village Magazine Readership Survey – Help Shape The EVM
East Village Magazine needs your help. After 43 years, we’ve reached a crossroad. We would greatly appreciate your input and assistance as we explore the possible future forks in that road. Our crossroad is this: our staff is extremely small (volunteers and minimally...
City Council members subpoena each other and six city officials in Monday’s finance committee meeting
By Tom Travis Monday's city council finance committee meeting spiraled into a debacle ending with most of the council members, the mayor, and four administration directors being subpoenaed by various council members. The only council members not subpoenaed were...
Lapeer MCC campus hosts COVID-19 vaccination Spring Drive-Up event on Friday, May 21
Hamilton Community Health Network is partnering with the Lapeer County Senior Coalition to provide a community wide COVID-19 vaccination event. The event will be hosted at Mott Community College's Lapeer Campus by providing COVID-19 vaccines on Friday, May 21 located...
Neighborhood Engagement Hub seeking volunteers for citywide cleanup – Saturday, May 15
The Neighborhood Engagement Hub is seeking volunteers to participate in Flint for a citywide cleanup day on Saturday, May 15. During the cleanup, neighborhood groups and individual residents will be completing projects on more than 29 sites throughout the city’s nine...
Councilperson Eric Mays sanctioned by U.S. District Judge to pay back “attorney fees” totaling more than $34,000
By Tom Travis This story has been updated to include three attorneys' names and the amounts each have billed the City of Flint for attorney fees. Also, EVM has obtained responses from Eric Mays and Mayor Neeley concerning the judge's sanction, included below. This...
Mayor delivers progress report on Flint water with members of EPA, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
By Harold C. Ford “This community’s perseverance has been remarkable and your success has been remarkable." – Michael Harris “Five years ago, Flint was in the middle of one of our nation’s greatest drinking water crises in our nation’s history. Understandably, trust...
Rides to Wellness services resume May 17 after temporary COVID disruption
By Madeleine Graham Rides to Wellness will resume service May 17 after a temporary suspension of veteran rides and rides to the grocery store, pharmacy, and doctor appointments, according to Ed Benning, CEO of Mass Transportation Authority (MTA). Services for...
“Not a hand-out but a hand up,” officials say of new child tax credit announced by Rep. Kildee
By Tom Travis "This is not a hand-out, but an immediate hand-up to support families like mine. I encourage everyone, working or not, to file their taxes for 2020. Let's take advantage of the resources we voted for," said 2nd Ward Flint resident Ladel Lewis. Lewis, a...
The East Village Magazine – May 2021
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for download here: [pdfjs-viewer url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastvillagemagazine.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F05%2FEVMMay2021_web.pdf" viewer_width=100% viewer_height=800px fullscreen=true download=true...
Area teens take the jab at MCC, prepare to promote the COVID vaccine
By Tom Travis "If you want Friday nights at football games then get the vaccine," is what Jackson Langford, 16, of Grand Blanc High School plans to tell his friends about being vaccinated. "I was afraid it was going to hurt but after seeing all the other kids get it,...
All four Flint ballot measures pass with 6 percent voter turnout: police and fire, MTA, and mental health
By Paul Rozycki May elections in Michigan are typically low profile affairs, with few voters taking the time to cast a ballot. Flint’s election was no different. In Tuesday’s election, with little visibility, few items on the ballot, and little controversy, only 6.3...
A new home in the heart of the city for Flint River Watershed Coalition and Kayak Flint
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has granted $350,000 to support a Flint River revitalization project along Kearsley Street in Flint, according to a press release from the C.S. Mott Foundation issued this week. The grant will provide funding to the Foundation for...
“Transformational” federal funds to city, funeral home demo, funds for home repair, highway project topics at FNU
By Coner Segren Federal relief dollars coming to Flint will be "transformational," Mayor Sheldon Neeley predicted at the recent monthly meeting of Flint Neighborhoods United (FNU). Participants in the Zoom meeting also heard updates about expected funds for several...
Commentary: A visionary plan to revive Flint Community Schools — “Let’s make this work.”
By Paul Rozycki Are you ready for some good news for Flint and its students? We all know this has been a year of bad news that included a national pandemic, statewide infection spikes, racial division, daily mass shootings, a rash of fires in Flint, bears in our...
Book Review: “Standpipe–Delivering Water to Flint” an ode to one man’s witness of troubled times
By Jan Worth-Nelson I was prepared to dislike and resent David Hardin’s new book, Standpipe: Delivering Water in Flint. I expected to rail against it and pronounce my irritation with the tedious audacity of yet another out-of-towner carpetbagging into town and making...
Flint residents can weigh in on how to spend $99 million in federal Rescue Plan funds coming to the city
By Tom Travis As part of the federal coronavirus stimulus bill, The American Rescue Plan (ARP), the City of Flint will receive an estimated $99.33 million. The sweeping ARP $1.9-trillion measure also includes support for small businesses, schools, counties and states....
