The East Village Magazine – June 2021
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Commentary: For the Aug, 3 city council primary, take the time to learn about your candidates, and vote!
By Paul Rozycki They typically have eight- or ten-hour meetings that often last until dawn. They spend hours bickering and attacking each other personally. They failed to approve the current city budget on time, a violation of the city charter. Only after the city faced the prospect of a shutdown was the budget finalized. Some have faced personal threats. They have become the poster child of dysfunctional local government in Genesee...
Flint’s Poet Laureate, Semaj Brown, receives $50,000 award from the American Academy of Poets for civic project
By Tom Travis The American Academy of Poets has chosen Flint’s Poet Laureate, Semaj Brown, as one of 2021 Poet Laureate Fellows. Brown was chosen along with 22 other Poets Laureate from across the country. Each of the winners will receive $50,000 for their literary work as well as a project of their choosing with a “civic focus.” “I thank you all. Also thank you to the Academy of American Poets. To the...
Profile: 30 years later, Ben Hamper remembers Rivethead, his legacy of “that one story, that one guy”
By Jan Worth-Nelson At a back corner table at Churchhill’s, escaping to AC on a muggy Tuesday afternoon in Flint, Ben Hamper takes a swig of his signature Jim Beam and Diet Coke and reflects on the 30 years since the country came to know him as an exuberantly profane, honest and hilariously irreverent blue collar bard. He was The Rivethead. His 1991 book Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line, is a raucous, scathing and sometimes...
Flint City Council fails to adopt budget second time: City’s ability to spend money ends June 30.
By Tom Travis This article has been updated to include a press release from Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley warning of a potential city government shutdown due to the city council’s failure to pass a budget. – EVM Editor For a second time in one week the city council failed to adopt a budget. At this time there is no other special council meeting scheduled. The resolution to adopt the budget was presented first through a...
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