Commentary: Mott Park dog rescue puts focus on animal welfare needs
By Jessie Wilkie As a Flint resident, full-time employee, homeowner, taxpayer and animal lover, I am compelled to write about a recent event in the Mott Park neighborhood which relates back to the greater state of animal welfare in the city. On Sunday, Jan. 5, at...
Analysis: Anti-Defamation League spokeswoman responds to “Nazi salute” flap
By Tom Travis Two weeks after Flint City Councilperson Eric Mays (1st Ward) gave a Nazi salute, clicked his heels in Nazi soldier style and called Council President Monica Galloway (7th Ward) Hitler, the community continues to try to make sense of what happened in...
Census “Mayoral Complete Count” effort kicks off — with $1,800 per person per year at stake
By Jan Worth-Nelson $1,800 per person per year. That is the key number in why the upcoming national census matters. As Flint city officials explained in a kickoff press conference Friday at City Hall, the census determines how $675 billion in federal dollars is...
Hearing difficulties give young Flint artist a vision of inclusion
By Paul Rozycki Art historians say that Pablo Picasso began drawing at age seven, and produced his first painting at age nine. But Picasso may have nothing on Flint’s Karina Brown. The energetic, self-taught, fifteen- year-old artist who displayed her work at the...
City Council beat: Mays offers “Nazi salute” statement after Davis calls him out; pot ordinance moving into hearings
By Tom Travis Five hours into a six-and-a-half-hour Flint City Council Committee meeting Jan. 22, Councilperson Eric Mays (1st Ward) made a statement to the community. It came following a week of upheaval over a Nazi salute he made in a public council meeting directed...
“Voice of the River” celebration Jan. 30 to honor Ridgway White, volunteers
The annual "Voice of the River" celebration of the Flint River Watershed Coalition (FRWC) will this year honor Ridgway White, president and CEO of the C. S. Mott Foundation, "for his personal and professional dedication to ensuring safe, easy, and ample access to the...
“Social media and children” topic of Flint Area Public Affairs Forum Tuesday Jan. 28
A panel of local experts on news, social media, psychology and children convene at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 28 at the Flint Public Library for a discussion titled "I Saw It On Snapchat: Social Media and Children." The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored...
Review: Third “New Works Festival” offers variety, magic, music and stripped-down drama at The Rep
By Patsy Isenberg Bowhunting, autism, the Flint water crisis, and a love story triggered by a celestial event all made dramatic appearances in four plays-in-process offered to Flint theatre goers Jan. 17-19 when for the third year in a row. the Flint Repertory Theatre...
Commentary: An open letter to my Republican friends
By Paul Rozycki To my Republican friends: While we may disagree on many things, there is no doubt that the Republican Party has a long and honorable history. It led the nation through a brutal civil war, ending slavery. It was an early advocate for civil rights and...
Galloway issues statement on Eric Mays’ behavior: “unacceptable”
By Jan Worth-Nelson In the wake of an uproar created by Flint City Councilman Eric Mays repeatedly displaying the Nazi salute at two council meetings this week and allusions to Council President Monica Galloway as Hitler, Galloway (Ward 7) released the...
Review: “Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan” probed in Ashley Nickels’ enlightening new book
By Robert Thomas An abiding iconic Flint visual for me is the news photo of a child holding a protest sign stating the case for what happened in Flint: “I’ve been POISONED by Policy.” The photo quickly leads to the question: “How does that happen?” Ashley E....
Flint councilperson Eric Mays repeatedly makes Nazi salutes at consecutive meetings; Jewish Federation responds
By Tom Travis and Melodee Mabbitt Flint City Councilperson Eric Mays repeatedly made Nazi salutes towards Council President Monica Galloway during and after two recent council meetings. The Jan. 15 special meeting of Flint City Council began with calls for apologies...
Flint City Council meeting marked by failed attempt to remove Mays, postponed business, racial accusations
By Melodee Mabbitt and Tom Travis Rather than working on agenda items, Flint’s City Council instead fought amongst themselves at all of the committee meetings leading up to Monday's regular council meeting. What resulted was a seven-hour long city council meeting...
Flint City Council kicks off 2020 with chaos, yelling, members stalking out early, no work done
By Tom Travis and Melodee Mabbitt Returning from the season of “Peace On Earth and Good Will To All” the City of Flint’s legislative body disintegrated into chaos and utter dysfunction at its first meeting of 2020. The City Council’s meeting Wednesday was a finance...
Education Beat: New president Casey Lester to FCS board: “I’m going to need your help”
By Harold C. Ford The newest member of the Flint Board of Education, Casey Lester, will preside over the board in 2020. At its annual organizational meeting Jan. 8, Lester was the unanimous and uncontested choice of all seven members of the board, which governs the...
Cynthia Neeley wins nomination over nine Dems in 34th District primary; turnout 6.7 percent
By Paul Rozycki The last two months have been very good for the Neeley family. In November Sheldon Neeley was elected mayor of Flint. And in a short campaign, conducted during the holiday season, Cynthia Neeley outpolled nine other candidates in the primary election...
Psychological effects of water crisis, blight, meter replacement among FNU January topics
By Tammy Beckett Flint Neighborhoods United (FNU) kicked off the new year at their monthly meeting Jan. 4 with a presentation about the psychological effects of the Flint water crisis, admonitions to get water meters replaced, and facilitated discussion from FNU...
Eight of ten Democrats in 34th district primary race face off in forum
By Paul Rozycki Eight of the ten Democrats competing to fill Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley’s seat in the State House for the 34th district faced each other in a forum at Joy Tabernacle Church in Civic Park on Jan. 3, only four days before the Democratic primary. On the...
East Village Magazine – January 2020
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
This Month in the Village: January Features
Flint city government year ends noisily amidst council v. mayoral counterattacks as audit rolls in on time
By Tom Travis The last week of the year in Flint city government, normally a quiet time at City Hall, included a flurry of contentious events, including a special city council meeting called two days after Christmas, a statement from the Mayor Sheldon Neeley's...
Education Beat: Flint schools to put up millage request, proposed closures considered
Highlights: Flint Schools bringing millage to voters Paraprofessionals ink new contract, attrition slows Wright to step down as board president Distraught stakeholders plead with board District to decide on proposed closures ...
AG Nessel rolls out legal team at new Flint office: now what?
By Harold C. Ford “The Flint water crisis is not over.” --Fadwa Hammoud, Michigan Solicitor General, Dec. 19, 2019 In front of several dozen citizens and a scrum of media, and with a panoramic view of the Flint River some five...
Unitarian Universalist ministers choose Flint as new spiritual home
By Harold C. Ford In the summer of 2019, Jerry and Lynn Kerr tearfully saw their only child, Rowan, off to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. They quit their jobs, sold their Ohio home, and moved to Michigan to take positions as co-ministers at the Unitarian...
A tai chi chronicle: From marathon to moving meditation and 13 classes
By Teddy Robertson It all began with a New York City police officer. Michigan-native Gloria Kramer was an accomplished 5K, 10K, and half-marathon runner when she realized she wanted something more than what she got from a good run. Living in Florida where she worked...
