Windy work day yields hopeful results at Pierce Creative Arts Elementary
By Jan Worth-Nelson The Pierce hoop house is back. First a sign of hope, then a source of despair after vandalism, the structure was rescued back to its hopeful role at Pierce Creative Arts Elementary School Saturday. A work day drew neighbors, community volunteers and representatives from charitable organizations in blustery but sunny weather to resuscitate the structure and its associated gardening projects. Volunteers from the...
Central Park Neighborhood residents still waiting to meet with Flint schools chief
by Harold C. Ford Residents of Flint’s Central Park Neighborhood Association (CPNA) are seeking to meet with Flint Schools Superintendent Bilal Tawwab about the district’s plan to open a new Flint high school at the location of the now-abandoned Flint Central High School campus on Crapo Street. In an interview in March with East Village Magazine, Tawwab indicated 2020 is the target date for opening a new school that would consolidate...
Uptown plans $17 million residential-business complex, “The Marketplace,” at site of old YWCA
by Harold C. Ford A new, $17 million, residential-commercial project is being planned at the site of the old YWCA in downtown Flint according to Kyle McCree, director of Core Initiatives for the Flint and Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. The project is spearheaded by the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation (URC), a nonprofit organization focused on the redevelopment and revitalization of downtown Flint. PK Housing and Management...
Village Life: If it’s Tuesday, that means jazz at Soggy Bottom Bar
By Teddy Robertson Tuesday night in downtown Flint and that means jazz at Soggy Bottom. On this cool April evening a gust of wind propels people through the front door just as the smiling drummer John Hill grabs the mic and announces, “We’re going to do some spring songs!” Together with Pat Cronley on keyboard and Jack McDonald on the bass, Hill opens the first set. The sticks go down and Hill looks radiantly happy. I think he is the...
Commentary on Flint’s water: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one? … I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest… Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters… And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall. -Bob Dylan By Paul Rozycki It may be an omen that the most recent town hall meeting on Flint’s water crisis, held at the House of Prayer...
Three poems
Editor’s note: Here is something a bit different from EVM — a sampling of thoughtful poems from one of our young neighbors. By Ruby Spademan Pretty Girls Eat Flowers She’s standing behind me. My neck in her hands and her mouth to my ear she whispers to me. She says I should only eat flowers. Pretty girls eat flowers. But counting calories means that flowers are not acceptable things and yet she tells me that...