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The “universal good medicine” of Flint artist Pauly M. Everett
By Jeffery L Carey, Jr. In Flint artist Pauly Everett’s work, a mixed media mash-up of pop culture icons and comic book details are delivered in exuberant primary colors and a hip-hop street art flavor. He calls his signature style “city psychedelic art,” and from his crowded, bright studio, Everett, 29, has established himself not just as a maker of vivid canvases but also as a community-spirited benefactor of art for local kids and a fixture of downtown energy. In his studio at the corner of Beecher and Corunna roads,...
read moreResist “siren call of sameness,” attract internationals to help Flint thrive, experts say
By Jeffery L. Carey Jr. For Flint to thrive, the city needs to become a diverse international community, economic experts told a lively crowd of about 60 at The Ferris Wheel downtown May 7. In fact, one speaker asserted, creating an ethnically diverse team produces provably better results than just one person, and urged the audience to steer clear of “the siren call of sameness.” The event, “Going Global,” was co-sponsored by the International Center of Greater Flint(ICGF) along with the UM-Flint University Center for Community and...
read moreReview: Extraordinary NatGeo issue upends what we think we know about race
By Robert R. Thomas Marcia and Millie Biggs grace the cover of National Geographic’s April 2018 special issue titled “Black and White.” They are fraternal twin sisters, daughters of a bi-racial couple. As the subtitle indicates, “These twin sisters make us rethink everything we know about race.” The key factor, Marcia points out, is “People are made how they are.” Her mother adds, “It’s genes.” The real story in black and white is not race; it is ancestry. This issue of the magazine nails its scientific thesis debunking race and illuminating...
read moreReview: McCree Theater concludes trip down “Gospel Highway”
By Patsy Isenberg The McCree Theatre’s latest show, “Give Me That Old Time Religion,” is an original musical written by Executive Director Charles Winfrey. It’s the story of music that originated with African Americans through the ages. The cast consists of three women and eight men. All the performers bring forth impassioned and skillful singing throughout the show. Director Cathye Johnson, a former Flint resident and veteran McCree Theatre member, came back to Flint from where she currently resides in Missouri to direct the show. Lighting...
read moreEast Village Magazine – May 2018
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
read moreUM-Flint Jazz Combo performance Saturday May 12 to raise funds for Puerto Rico trip
By Harold C. Ford “Uplifting Spirits,” a benefit concert for Puerto Rico featuring the University of Michigan-Flint Jazz Combo will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Flint on Saturday, May 12, 2018 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The church is located at 2474 South Ballenger Highway, Flint, MI 48507. Vocalists Alexandra Cubero-Matos and Paige Moses, who specializes in jazz-funk stylings, will join the jazz combo. Other musical guests are also expected to perform. Admission to the concert is $15, payable at the door. ...
read moreReview: Jazz song stylist mellows crowd at Totem Books
By Patsy Isenberg Local singer Jymi Dill performed jazz and pop standards on a recent Saturday to an appreciative crowd of about 40 at Totem Books, 620 W. Court St. His refreshingly smooth and mellow voice and selection of “torch songs” and jazzy touches got some couples up and dancing. Dill, a lifelong Flint resident, has been sharing his love of music from artists ranging from Sinatra to Etta James, and even singers who aren’t jazz performers like The Beatles. Using a slideshow featuring many of his favorite performers as a...
read moreAnalysis: Fifty years later, Flint’s fair housing campaign still reverberates in nation’s racial divides
by Harold C. Ford It’s been 50 years since Flint became the first municipality in the nation to adopt an open housing ordinance. Led by then-Flint Mayor Floyd McCree, the Flint City Commission adopted the ordinance by a 5-4 vote on Oct. 30, 1967. Four months later, on Feb. 20, 1968. it survived a referendum initiative by a mere 30 votes of the 40,000+ that were cast by the Flint electorate. The dramatic events of those few months that attracted the interest of the nation included: McCree stepping down as mayor, then reassuming his...
read moreVillage Life: in Flint, there’s always more than one story; there’s always more to come
By Jan Worth-Nelson Some time in the middle of February – by far the longest, the damnedest, the cussedest month of the year in these parts–I got a severe attack of cabin fever. I’d been sick half the winter and between stink bugs, porn stars, scabs of snow everywhere, a terminally ill friend, threats of bottled water cutoffs, several bouts of existential dread in the middle of the night—well, let me just say that my tiny fastidious doses of Xanax were no longer enough. I felt the need for a desperate measure. I knew what I wanted. I...
read moreLaShaya Darisaw launches 49th District state house campaign
By Paul Rozycki LaShaya Darisaw kicked off her campaign for 49th District state representative seat Saturday, April 28, at the Village Hall on N. Saginaw Street in Beecher, with about four dozen enthusiastic supporters. As she began her campaign, she said, “We need more people in office that truly represent us. No more career politicians seeking a job. No more legacy family names. We have done that, for years. Putting people into office that only think about their own pockets and have no idea what the average American life is like.” Darisaw,...
read morePanel tackles gender inequities, predicts “a massive year for women”
By Harold C. Ford “One woman can make a difference…We’re on the precipice of a big change.” –Donna Motsinger, Bill Cosby accuser to National Public Radio, April 27, 2018 With the backdrop of a “Me Too”movement that hints at a sea change, last week five Flint panelists tackled the tough issues of gender inequity in the workplaces and political halls of our nation. “#Us Too, Women’s Issues and the Upcoming Election” was the fourth and final public forum of the 2017-2018 program year presented by the Flint Area Public Affairs Forum. About...
read moreReview: Flint Youth Theater’s “Geranium” is superlative, runs through May 6
By Patsy Isenberg The Flint Youth Theatre (FYT) has staged a superlative premier production of “The Geranium on the Windowsill Just Died But Teacher You Went Right On.” The musical is based on the book of the same name by Albert Cullum, published in 2003 by Harlin Quist. It was adapted into a musical by Michigan playwright Michael Lluberes (also director of the production) with music by Jared M. Dembowski. The final product was a collaborative effort from them all, with musical direction by David Lindsey and Nada Radakovich. The talented...
read moreSeasonal deluges cause Thread Lake Dam breach, Hamilton Dam delays
By Jeffery L Carey Jr. A deluge of rain resulting in a February breach at Thread Lake and unusual weather in general this spring have wreaked havoc on the dams in Flint, causing lower water levels at Thread Lake and issues with the removal in process of both the Hamilton and Fabri Dams. Rebecca Fedewa, executive director of the Flint River Watershed Coalition (FRWC) explained, “During this time of high water, the dam at Thread Lake breached along its western side. The FRWC was informed that as soon as the City of Flint was aware of the...
read moreSpring in Flint: Water service line replacement resumes under $5 million AECOM contract
By Jan Worth-Nelson With the return of spring weather, work has resumed on replacing lead-tainted water lines in the city. As of April 18, the date of work resumption, 6,264 lines had been replaced, according to Kristin Moore, City of Flint communications and public information director. Existing city records indicate about 12,000 more Flint homes have lead or galvanized service lines due for replacement. Contractors began on Calumet Street in the College Cultural Neighborhood. Moore said crews from three contractors...
read moreFIA Contemporary Crafts Wing opens with blitz of thanks, hopes for a “world saved by beauty”
By Jan Worth-Nelson What does art—and a major investment in making, acquiring and exhibiting it–mean to the City of Flint? Organizers of the weekend celebration and ribbon cutting for the opening of the 20,000-square-foot, $14 million Contemporary Crafts Wing and three new studios at the Flint Institute of Arts assembled a range of local luminaries, clerics, and politicians to offer answers. Their responses to the rhetorical moment were colorful and varied, delivered in the form of chants, a sacred song, congratulations, plaudits,...
read more“Thrill-seeker’s” theater of glass, heat and light opens for FIA “Hot Shop” crowds
By Jan Worth-Nelson Brent Swanson, the Flint Institute of Arts glass programs manager, says he is a “thrill seeker,” and that’s why he makes glass art. It’s fast, it’s risky, and it’s hot. And that’s what visitors settling into their stadium seats at the new FIA glass art “hot shop” demonstration arena starting every Saturday afternoon now that the stunning new additions to the museum are open will get to see: a unique and dramatic kind of art being made on the spot. Swanson, 36, said he hopes some of the children—and adults– who...
read moreArts in Detention: program unlocks creativity from the inside for GVRC youth
By Teddy Robertson It’s a drizzly April night for Art Walk, but I’m out for just one stop: Buckham Gallery and the opening of the annual “Arts in Detention: GVRC Share Art Exhibit.” “Arts in Detention” presents the work of kids ages 10 to 17 living in the Genesee Valley Regional Detention Center (GVRC), on Pasadena Avenue in Flint. A short-term residential facility (capacity 60), GVRC currently houses 45 to 50 young people; their charges range from truancy to murder. Three nights a week, girls and boys participate in writing and spoken...
read moreReview: John P. Kee’s “Change the World Tour” wows at Harris Memorial
By Patsy Isenberg Last Friday, April 13, Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter and pastor John P. Kee and his New Life Community Choir paid a visit to a packed Burton church to perform for the congregation and many visitors. Adding to the lively music, the event also brought in donations for a new boiler for Doyle Ryder Elementary School and a truckload of water for the city. Key, 56, a Durham, N.C. native, sang lots of gospel and many of his contemporary songs while playing keyboards. The audience at Harris Memorial Church of God in Christ...
read more“Digital ghetto,” “cashless society” pose threats even beyond Orwell, journalist contends
By Jan Worth-Nelson One of the biggest threats facing the U.S. today is the “algorithm ghetto, the digital ghetto, the electronic ghetto,” Chicago journalist and Jewish historian Edwin Black told a group of Flint residents Friday while on a statewide tour as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 12. Alluding to recent studies suggesting that memories of the Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews during World War II are fading, especially among American youth, Black said the “electronic ghetto” means that facts,...
read moreFlint panel, viewers react to gritty “Flint Town” with anguish, ambivalence–and ask, who controls Flint’s story?
By Harold C. Ford “Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.” …Plato, The Republic, Book IV Nearly 100 persons gathered at the Flint Public Library April 10 as five panelists reacted to the recently released Flint Town, a Netflix original documentary series. The “Community Conversation” represented the first opportunity for Flint citizens to reflect on the series in a public forum, according to Jan Worth-Nelson, editor of East Village Magazine and...
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“Flint Town” panel, conversation — Coyne, Galloway, Oliver, Willingham — set for Tuesday April 10
By Jan Worth-Nelson A community forum aiming to open up conversation around the Netflix series “Flint Town,” a searing exploration of the Flint Police Department in 2015-2016, will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Flint Public Library. Panelists will explore what it means to create a safe community, what can be done to build trust between police and those who need them, and what it means to once again see the city portrayed as beleaguered, poverty-stricken and violent. The eight-part series, directed by Zackary...
read more“The state abandoned us long ago”: Activist Carma Lewis reacts to bottled water shutoff
By Jan Worth-Nelson The State of Michigan’s decision to stop supplying bottled water as of Friday the 13th “is crap,” community activist Carma Lewis said today, pausing at the Flint Farmers’ Market to reflect on the pending cutoff. “I’m not sure if the water is going to last till then,” she said. “They [the State] said they were not going to purchase any additional water so at this point it’s a question of how much is left in the Food Bank warehouse.” Gripping a plastic water...
read moreReview: “20/20” exhibit at downtown’s MW Gallery is remarkable
By Patsy Isenberg Someone was heard saying that the Flint Farmer’s Market is the jewel of Flint. Well, there actually are several jewels here, and one of the brightest is the MW Gallery downtown. Illustrating the point is the MW’s new exhibit, “20/20 Influential Artists of the 20th Century,” comprised of work by more than 20 notable “artists of the African diaspora and those who reflect on it.” The rotating exhibits at MW are from the 600-piece collection of Maryanne Mott, daughter of C.S. and Ruth Mott. She started procuring...
read more“Glass is light” in stunning new additions at Flint Institute of Arts opening April 21
By Jan Worth-Nelson The ribbon-cutting at 10:30 a.m. April 21 of the Flint Institute of Arts blockbuster new wing, galleries, and studios will be the climax of a story rivaling the best door-stop novel. It is about a middle-aged woman’s third marriage to a furniture baron named Glass, and how, maybe on a whim, she started collecting …glass. And it’s about how she became a respected and passionate expert. It’s about a condo in Atlanta stuffed with millions of dollars of art. It is about a famous Royal Oak art dealer who thought the...
read moreEast Village Magazine – April 2018
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
read moreReview: City’s crime, race, politics all in the lens of compelling, humanizing “Flint Town”
Ed Note: A community conversation about the eight-part Netflix series “Flint Town,” co-sponsored by East Village Magazine and the Flint Area Public Affairs Forum, is set for 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10 at the Flint Public Library. Thanks to Ed Bradley for reviewing the series in advance of that event. The series, directed by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper, was released March 2. Flyer for the April 10 event reproduced below. By Ed Bradley Lew Morrissey, my first city editor at the Flint Journal, liked to encourage...
read moreCommentary: How to get out the vote? GCD may have the answer–make it hard
By Paul Rozycki It must be a Flint thing. If you want people to do something, tell them you can’t do it. Make it difficult. Make it too easy and they will ignore you. Consider some recent elections in Flint. On one hand, in the last few years, an election to choose the members of the city council and the mayor, was held on the usual Tuesday, when we expect elections to be held. Polls were open from 7 a.m. ‘till 8 p.m. and there were places to vote in each of 62 precincts in the city, all fully staffed and ready to go. Absentee ballots were...
read moreReview: “All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire”
Review by Robert R. Thomas Aptly titled, Jonathan Abrams’ book demonstrates his premise via an oral history that focuses on the creation of The Wire, a critically acclaimed HBO television series that ran from 2002 to 2008. Abrams’ book is an engaging dialogue script. But this script is a well-edited transcription of recorded interviews rather than a script written by writers to be performed by actors. The author supplies concise, connective narrative tissue as the conversation rolls through the five seasons of The Wire, including the before...
read moreResidents voice concerns on pot dispensary zoning; council decision deferred to April 4
By Meghan Christian Approximately 46 Flint residents, mostly from the College Cultural Neighborhood (CCN), stood before Flint City Council on Monday, March 26 and again on Wednesday, March 28 to voice their opinions on the creation of a new marijuana dispensary in the old Family Video located at E. Court Street and Franklin Avenue. The discussion focused around possible changes to a zoning ordinance which would allow marijuana distribution centers within 500 feet of a church or playground, instead of the current 1,000 feet. These possible...
read more“Enough is enough” Flint protestors declare in “March for our Lives” rally against gun violence
By Jan Worth-Nelson Under the watchful eye of the statue of nonviolence guru Mahatma Gandhi at Willson Park Saturday, participants at a rally organized by twin 17-year-old Powers High School students brandished protest signs and chanted “Enough is enough” in solidarity with the Washington, D.C. rally and an estimated 800 other rallies around the country calling for an end to gun violence. Deven and Nikhil Mukkamala organized the noon event, which drew about 300 people across the age spectrum and featured speeches by Mayor Karen...
read more“Surviving and into Thriving” focus of Resilience and Environmental Justice Summits
By Darlene C. Carey “This is really very apropos in terms of timing,” said Kris Johns, the Flint ReCAST program coordinator, describing the second annual Resiliency Summit, which will also include the second annual Environmental Justice Summit, on Monday, March 26, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at the Mott Community College Event Center. The event, co-hosted by city officials and the Flint Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) program, is meant to address issues pertaining to the Flint Water Crisis, but also critical factors...
read moreAnalysis: GCD administrator, CCNA leaders reflect on record-breaking “tree” election
By Jan Worth-Nelson Advocates for Flint’s urban forest — both in the Genesee Conservation District (GCD) and the “grassroots” of a contentiously active neighborhood association — are taking a deep breath today after the election of three new directors for the GCD board that produced the largest turnout of voters for a usually sleepy plebiscite since 2004. The election, hyperlocal and idiosyncratic from the start, was held at the Eastside’s Asbury United Methodist Church for only three hours over a weekday...
read moreThree new board members to join Conservation District board
The vote tally from Thursday’s Genesee Conservation District election, posted on the GCD website today, are as follows: Final tally, Four-year term: Erin Caudell, 272 votes Caroline Kellogg, 242 votes Andy Everman, 239 votes Dave Lossing, 236 votes Final tally for the partial term ending March 22, 2019: Kristen Miner, 266 votes Candice C. Mushatt, 176 votes Lauri Elbing, 53 votes As reported on the GCD website, a total of 511 ballots were cast.
read moreResidents turn out by the hundreds for Genesee Conservation District “green wave” election
By Jan Worth-Nelson By 11:30 a.m., just a half hour into voting for three open seats on the board of the Genesee Conservation District, more than 400 ballots had been cast at the polling place, Asbury United Methodist Church, according to GCD election workers. The turnout amazed Andy Everman, an incumbent board member running for a new four-year term. He stood in the church parking lot passing out small slips recommending a slate of three: himself plus Caroline Kellogg and Kristen Miner–both residents of the College Cultural...
read moreConfluence of efforts on “the spine of the city” changing the Flint River reality, narrative
By Jeffery L Carey Jr and Jan Worth-Nelson Demolition of the crumbling Hamilton Dam on the Flint River downtown, now underway, has brought together numerous community, scientific, and engineering efforts in a process affected and propelled by the water crisis and part of a longer-term dramatic change in the narrative of the waterway that some have called “the city’s spine.” The removal of the 98-year-old structure is part of a multi-faceted riverfront restoration project estimated by some sources at $38 million–work supported by the...
read moreFate of city trees, water pipeline restoration, Gilkey Creek bridge highlight CCNA meeting
By Patsy Isenberg Residents at the College Cultural Neighborhood Association (CCNA) meeting March 15 hashed out several issues with CCNA President Mike Keeler and others, including City of Flint Department of Public Works Director Robert Bincsik, ranging from pipe replacement to neighborhood trees. One primary item of discussion focused on the Genesee Conservation District (GCD) board member election set for March 22. Overview of the March 22 Conservation District election According to Keeler, the election is important to the CCNA because...
read moreFlint City Riveters, women’s full-tackle football team, open season April 7
By Dylan Doherty Yes, women can play football, Louise Ogadinma declares. And not only can they play–a number of women in Flint want to play. That hardy corps of athletes have found an outlet in the Flint City Riveters (FCR), a full-tackle women’s football team playing its 2018 season opener April 7 against the Columbus Vanguards at Columbus. The first home game will be April 14 against the Toledo Reign at Kearsley High School, 4302 Underhill Dr. in Flint, where the team regularly plays. Full schedule information is available at...
read moreTrial policy to aid restoration of service for water shutoffs, council and mayor announce
By Jan Worth-Nelson Flint residents whose water has been shut off can get service restored by paying part of their balance due during the next 60 days, thanks to a “trial policy” approved by the Flint City Council this week. Terms for the reconnections are as follows: — If the shutoff is the first, the consumer would pay the current bill plus 10 percent of the outstanding balance plus the reconnect fees. — If shut off for the second time, the consumer would pay the current bill plus 25 percent of the outstanding...
read moreCCNA seeking “green wave” in little-noticed Genesee Conservation District election
By Jan Worth-Nelson Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to indicate that an email request for a ballot is not one of the options for voting. While much of the nation obsesses about a speculated coming “blue wave” in primaries and midterms, one Flint neighborhood association is focusing its activism on a much more local contest—and angling for what its members hope will be a consequent “green wave” affecting the city’s landscape. Volunteers from the College Cultural Neighborhood Association (CCNA) have been posting on...
read moreGrayce Scholt, iconic writer, teacher, artist and poet of East Village Magazine, dead at 92
By Jan Worth-Nelson It is with a heavy heart that we announce that Grayce Scholt, our beloved longtime poet of East Village Magazine, died this morning at the Mission Point rehab center in Holly. Grayce was 92. As we attempt to absorb this great loss for EVM and for the community, here is a column I wrote just after I started writing for East Village Magazine ten years ago. One of the first people the late Gary Custer wanted me to interview was Grayce. We knew of each other’s work from years before, when we both wrote art reviews...
read moreCommentary Part One: Is Baker College delivering “college in a can?” Why one Baker faculty member quit
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part commentary considering how college classes are designed and offered — and the teacher’s role — beginning with retired psychologist and former Baker College instructor James Woolcock’s rumination on why he left teaching at the Flint campus. A complementary second perspective is offered by retired teacher and EVM staff writer Harold C. Ford, found here. Background: Baker-Flint is one of 11 Baker College campuses throughout Michigan. According to its profile on...
read moreCommentary Part Two: In teaching and course design, “not everyone can cook”
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part commentary considering how college classes are designed and offered. Part One, available here, details retired psychologist and former Baker College instructor James Woolcock’s rumination, “Grandma’s Homemade Soup,” on why he left teaching at the Flint campus. We requested a response from Baker College, but since our request was never acknowledged or answered, we turned to EVM education writer Harold C. Ford, retired from 44 years in teaching, for a second...
read moreBook review: “The Impossible Presidency” and its sobering path to an “impossible president”
By Robert R. Thomas In 2008 American mythology got a sobering lesson delivered by profligate banksters who caused a near-collapse of the global economy. They then explained to the political class the economic alt-reality of BIG. How big? Too big to fail. Even bigger than our government and the rule of law. No banksters went to jail. Instead we taxpayers bailed them out. Too big to get it right was rewarded. So much for the rule of law in an alt-reality of too big to fail. In this age where lies are gospel and alt-realities supersede the...
read moreSierra Club Nepessing presents “Politics of the Environment” March 14
: “Politics of the Environment” Find out what the Michigan Legislature has been up to in regard to environmental issues, how your lawmakers voted on those issues, what the 2018 election is going to look like, how the political races in your area are shaping up, and how it will impact the environment. The event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 14 at the Prahl Center, Mott Community College, 1401 E. Court St. There will be time for Q&A with the Sierra Club Michigan’s Political Director Mike Berkowitz and...
read moreAtherton East replacement project moving forward with $1.5 million state tax credit
By Meghan Christian State aid enabling a first phase of relocation of the often-troubled Atherton East housing complex was announced March 2 by Mayor Karen Weaver. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has approved a nine percent housing tax credit, translating to $1.5 million, for the relocation of the complex, currently located at 3123 Chambers St. Weaver announced the windfall, alongside other city and state officials, at a press conference. The relocation project is Phase I of Clark Commons, a four-phase project aiming...
read moreHamilton Dam coming down as “rewilding” of Flint River flows forward
By Jeffery L Carey Jr. The crumbling 98-year-old Hamilton Dam on the Flint River is coming down. Currently under demolition, the deteriorated old structure finally is being removed from its position just north of the University of Michigan-Flint campus, with the Fabri Dam further west slated for removal as well. The Hamilton Dam has been a safety concern for many years as the integrity of the dam has been failing. The removal of the dam is part of a larger overall project, the Flint River Corridor Remediation Project, an estimated $38 million...
read moreThis month in the Village: space school, free films, music, theater, environment and more
Compiled by Meghan Christian Space School Explore how astronauts prepare for space in their underwater training habitat. All Month Mon. – Thurs. 4 p.m. Thurs. – Sat. 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sun. 4 p.m. Longway Planetarium, 1310 E. Kearsley St. 237 – 3400 Admission: $4-$6 Queen Light Show: “From Mercury with Love” A dazzling light show featuring 10 of Queen’s greatest hits. March 1 – 3, 8 – 10, 15 – 17, 22 – 24, 29 – 31 8 p.m. Longway Planetarium, 1310 E. Kearsley St. 237 – 3400 Admission: $4-$6...
read moreVillage Life: Encountering a “child of God” in resurgent Civic Park
By Harold C. Ford Well I came upon a child of God… And I asked him, Tell me where are you going This he told me… We are stardust, we are golden “Woodstock” by Crosby, Stills & Nash Returning from an East Village Magazine assignment, I came upon a “child of God” in the personage of Cardine Humes painting an outdoor wall mural in cold winter weather. His modest collection of paint supplies were contained in a brown paper sack; his ladder was a well-used folding chair. Humes, 47, is an aspiring artist...
read moreCommentary: Time to jump-start the new city charter
By Paul Rozycki Last August Flint voters set the city on a new course when they approved the city’s new charter—the first since 1974. In the turmoil over the Flint water crisis, successive emergency managers, and recall elections, the charter sometimes seemed lost in the shuffle. Yet, the Charter Commission produced a significant and important document. Over a period of many months the Commission met with community groups on at least eight separate occasions, gathering citizen responses and incorporating them into the final document....
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