Commentary: Looking back and looking ahead — Will 2022 be better than 2021?
By Paul Rozycki Looking back This past year was supposed to be the year when we put the COVID pandemic, the 2020 election, and the turmoil in the Flint city council behind us. So far only one of those three things might be true, and even that remains to be seen. The Jan. 6 insurrection and the inauguration After the 2020 election, the year began with traditional plans for the formal certification and inauguration of the new...
Commentary: “We all have to do better” when it comes to Flint and Genesee County government
By Paul Rozycki Last Monday, the new members of the Flint City Council were sworn in at City Hall, with much ceremony and celebration. Family, friends, and supporters attended and congratulated the new council members on their election victories, and their new positions. Later that evening the new council was expected to meet and choose its leaders for the year to come. Except it didn’t happen. In fact, the swearing in shouldn’t...
Incumbents Galloway, Fields, and Griggs defeated; Flint City Council to have six new members
By Paul Rozycki Flint voters turned out in low numbers but made some big changes as they elected their new city council, defeating three incumbents, and electing three new members in wards where incumbents were not running again. The turnout for Genesee County was just under 13 percent of the registered voters, but the turnout in Flint was even lower, with most wards showing a turnout below 10 percent. The new council will have six...
Village Life: Memories burned into Washington School’s demise: “This one hurts the most”
By Gary Fisher She was nearly half a century old by the time I showed up. Creaky wooden windows, stifling forced heat, so thick you could taste it, zero air conditioning, lead paint everywhere, and asbestos-covered pipes. The ancient bathrooms with the old radiators (an especially egregious artifice when some miscreant relieved himself on it), with wooden stall doors, long ago removed, meant zero privacy. Really tough kids, and...
Commentary: Secure MI Vote petition won’t secure your vote — or democracy
By Paul Rozycki A few years ago I was asked to give a presentation on the right to vote to a large number of prospective election workers at City Hall. As I looked out over the audience, I realized that almost none of those present could have voted when this nation began. The great majority of those in the council chambers that day, preparing to conduct our elections, were female and/or African-American. None could vote when this...
Commentary: Flint loses 20,000 residents. What does it mean for the city?
By Paul Rozycki With the current census, the city of Flint has lost Grand Blanc, Davison, Swartz Creek, and Montrose. I don’t mean that those places are gone. They are still here in Genesee County and doing fine. But the City of Flint has lost enough population to fill those cities, and that has powerful implications for Flint and those living here. Based on the current census data just released, Grand Blanc has 8091 residents,...
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