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...
City Council Beat: Last council meeting of 2019 a panoply of democracy
By Tom Travis It was a jam-packed evening of activity at city hall on a chilly and snowy December Monday night, the last city council meeting of a tumultuous year for the city’s legislative body. The council meetings this year have been five, six, seven, eight and...
Fifteen small businesses receive grants from MovingFlintForward program
By Jan Worth-Nelson From an espresso machine to snow plows, from drywall to parking lots, from a kayak launch to a flat top grill, from beauty supplies to fabrics, from TV marketing to landscaping, from outdoor lighting to pizza stones. All these are...
LGBTQ Choir honors John Bradford Bohl with Carriage Town caroling
By Tom Travis Celebrating one year of performances, rehearsals and making music in Flint, the John Bradford Bohl LGBTQ Choir met at Good Beans Cafe on a chilly gray December Saturday. They proceeded to observe the anniversary by doing what they do best: singing,...
Downtown Flint “Impeach Trump” rally draws spirited protesters on cold night before the vote
By Jan Worth-Nelson Though Flint is 600 miles and a ten-hour drive from Washington, D.C., about a hundred supporters of impeaching President Donald J. Trump congregated in front of City Hall on a the cold Tuesday night to shout out their arguments on the eve of the...
Russ Dotson turns abandoned wood into Flint’s “found beauty”
By Jan Worth-Nelson After 22 years in the Navy, including tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and finally, Ethiopia, in 2015 Flint native Russ Dotson came home. Casting about for things to do, he found himself watching a YouTube series called "Strangely Satisfying...
Local lawyers to serve more than 1,000 at free turkey dinner Thursday at Masonic Temple
By Jan Worth-Nelson The Genesee County Bar Association and the Genesee Bar Foundation are offering their 29th annual free turkey dinner with all the trimmings from 4-7 p.m. Thursday Dec. 19 at the Flint Masonic Temple, 755 S. Saginaw St. If the Community Holiday...
Review: Local actor, director, poet, activist reflects on recent “Passing Strange”
By Patsy Isenberg Her name’s Harvey. Just Harvey. She’s been in numerous Flint area theatre productions. She was in “The Wolves” at Flint Repertory Theatre last season and played The Orator in their recent “The Chairs” show. And she’s been studying theater arts since...
Mayor Neeley visits Flint Neighborhoods United; Mott CC presents strategic plan
By Luther Houle New Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley told residents face-to-face at this month’s Flint Neighborhoods United (FNU) meeting that he will not tolerate those who see Flint as "a garbage can" and that he is sending out a team of blight restriction enforcers to...
City Council beat: Hurley bonds, Gleason subpoena, drama and more
By Luther Houle Highlights from the Dec. 9 Flint City Council meeting included endorsement of up to $55 million in bonds for Hurley Medical Center, a vote to subpoena County Clerk John Gleason, and a response to - and a defense of - the drama witnessed at last week’s...
“SMILE” mobile dentists putting smiles on faces of Flint students and improving dental health
By Harold C. Ford A lot of kids don’t like going to the dentist. Not surprisingly, a 2013 report found that up to 20 percent of kids around the world experience dental fear and anxiety. Further, researchers report that 35 percent of school absences are dental-related...
Buckham Gallery hosts first artists member show Dec. 13 in accessible new location
By Jeffery L. Carey Jr. The first Artist Member Show opening Friday in Buckham Gallery's new locale "will cap off a milestone year,” artist member John Dempsey said about the coming event. “Our new street-level location has made the gallery accessible to everyone.”...
