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The East Village Magazine – July 2024
The July issue of #EastVillageMagazine hits newsstands this weekend! If you can’t wait to get reading, click below for a digital copy now. View...
read more‘Imagine Flint’ Comprehensive Plan update is underway
By Kate Stockrahm With one month down in a roughly 18-month engagement timeline, an update to the City of Flint’s “Imagine Flint” Comprehensive Plan is now underway. The plan, which acts as a guideline for Flint’s land use and future development, was originally adopted in October 2013 following a visioning process that spanned nearly two years and included over 200 community meetings across Flint’s nine wards. And now, a little over 11 years later, the city’s Planning Commission and Business and Community Services Department says it’s time to...
read moreRegistration opens for week-long job skills training for Genesee County teens
By EVM Staff Registration is now open for TeenQuest’s summer session, which will be held from July 22 to July 25, 2024. The free pre-employment and leadership program teaches Genesee County teens the skills needed to get and keep a job. It also earns them an invite to the 2025 Summer Youth Initiative Job Fair, during which local employers will interview students for job openings next summer. “We often say that students who go through our program have the ‘TeenQuest advantage,’” said Brianna Mosier, executive director of Flint & Genesee...
read moreRiley McLincha, local ‘drubbler,’ ‘runyaker,’ dead at 73
In honor of local runner, kayaker, musician, and friend Riley McLincha’s passing, we’re republishing one of our favorite stories of his unique, adventurous spirit: “I drank water from the Flint River today” by Jan Worth-Nelson — originally published in August 2008. McLincha died in a “runyaking” (a hybrid of kayaking and running) accident on June 18, 2024. He was 73. “I drank water from the Flint River today.” When Riley McLincha of Clio wrote those words in April 2005, he was on the first leg of a kayaking saga...
read moreCity of Flint issues update on latest spill in Flint River
By EVM Staff The City of Flint has shared updated information regarding a recently reported spill of an “oily substance” in the Flint River. According to a press release on July 2, 2024, the spill was reported on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, from an outfall near the 1400 block of James P. Cole Boulevard, between Merrill Street and East Wood Street on the west side of the river. “The City of Flint Sewer Department and Michigan Spill immediately responded and contained the spill with absorbent booms,” the release notes....
read moreFlint MTA unveils two new hydrogen buses, six electric vehicles
By Madeleine Graham The Flint Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) announced an eco-friendly expansion to its fleet this week. On Thursday, June 27, 2024, CEO Ed Benning unveiled two hydrogen fuel cell buses and six electric vehicles (EVs) at the MTA’s fueling station at 5051 S. Dort Highway in Grand Blanc, Mich. The hydrogen buses were acquired through a roughly $4.335 million Federal Transit Administration grant, announced in August 2022, to support Flint MTA’s goal of emissions reduction. In addition to the two hydrogen fuel cell buses,...
read moreEducation Beat: Closing out Flint Community Schools’ 2023-2024 year by the numbers
By Harold C. Ford The final weeks of Flint Community Schools’ (FCS) 2023-2024 school year might be best understood by parsing the district’s numbers. The most important number may be five – the length, in years, of a new contract awarded to Superintendent Kevelin Jones on June 12. The agreement was called “unprecedented” by Flint Board of Education (FBOE) President Joyce Ellis-McNeal and represents a milestone for a district that has seen six superintendents in the last 10 years. Other recent and relevant FCS numbers include: Nine...
read moreAt 136 years, Garland Street Literary Club returns to its origins
By Jan Worth-Nelson In 1888, seven upper-class women, all neighbors in what was then considered one of Flint’s most elegant neighborhoods, walked along leafy streets to an early afternoon gathering at 718 Garland. It was the home of Mrs. Sarah Durand, wife of a prominent local judge, George Durand. The meeting was not just tea and crumpets. The women were intent on forming a club, and they got right down to business. That day, November 14, they handwrote a constitution. Article I read, “The organization shall be called The Garland Street...
read moreFive years later, Flint’s Every Nation Church remains committed to ‘racial reconciliation’
By Harold C. Ford Five years after the merger of two Flint congregations – one predominantly white and located in the center of Flint, the other a Black congregation that left its church home near Flint’s north side – the co-pastors of Every Nation Assembly of God Church remain committed to the union. “We never look back,” said Every Nation Co-Pastor Michael Stone, who led his congregation’s departure from its former Beecher, Mich. house of worship, Power of God Ministries, to their new home at Every Nation. “Racial reconciliation has been...
read moreNominating petitions for Flint’s Third Ward City Councilmember now open
By EVM Staff Nominating petitions for the 3rd Ward Flint City Council Member Recall Election are now available in the Flint City Clerk’s Office. According to a press release June 13, 2o24, the deadline for filing nominating petitions with the Clerk’s Office will be Saturday, June 22, by 4 p.m. and the subsequent recall election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The recall election was announced on Wednesday, when Genesee County Clerk-Register Domonique Clemons confirmed that his office had validated 533 signatures for Third Ward...
read moreCommentary: A primer for the August primary
By Paul Rozycki While so much attention has been on the November election between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Michigan’s August primary may be just as critical to determining who will govern us in the next few years. Because our primary takes place in August — when many are thinking of SPF rather than GDP — the turnout for primary elections is usually much lower than for fall’s general election. That’s unfortunate because in many areas of the state where one party is dominant, the winners of the primary election...
read moreFlint Public Art Project is ready to put paint to paper with new mural book series
By Madeleine Graham The Flint Public Art Project (FPAP) is launching a book series to showcase the hundreds of murals artists have painted on structures across the city since its founding over a decade ago. “People have been requesting books of the murals,” Joe Schipani, former FPAP executive director, told East Village Magazine of why the nonprofit is pursuing the series. While Schipani stepped down from his executive director role last year, he continues to be active on the FPAP board and works on some special projects, like the upcoming...
read moreVillage Life: It’s Hard to be Blue at Bluebell
By Kate Stockrahm With construction happening nearly everywhere one can walk downtown this summer, I decided to spend a recent afternoon break at a place that always feels light-years away from the noise and dust of the city: Bluebell Beach. Google describes Bluebell as a “lakeside park along the Flint River Bike Path featuring a sandy beach, a splash pad & shade kites,” but as I was walking past a couple on the way from the park’s mostly-empty car lot, the gentleman turned to his companion and said “I bet there’s a ton of seagull shit in...
read moreThe East Village Magazine – June 2024
The June issue of #EastVillageMagazine is hitting newsstands soon! Can’t wait for your issue? Click below for a digital copy now. Happy reading! View...
read moreCity of Flint to update Imagine Flint Comprehensive Plan, asks for resident feedback
EVM Staff During the month of June, the City of Flint Department of Business and Community Services will host community meetings in each ward to kick off the Imagine Flint Comprehensive Plan Update. The plan, formerly known as the “Imagine Flint Master Plan,” helps determine land use and other planning policy throughout the city, and the goal is adoption of an updated plan by December 2025. The City of Flint’s former plan was adopted more than 10 years ago, before the Flint Water Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the end of...
read morePetitions for Flint Board of Education seat now open
By EVM Staff Petitions to become a member of Flint’s Board of Education are now available through the Flint City Clerk’s Office. According to a Clerk’s Office press release on May 31, 2024, one seat will be open for the upcoming Nov. 5 election: that of current Flint Community Schools Board of Education President Michael Clack. Clack’s term term expires on Dec. 31 of this year, and he is currently competing against incumbent Representative Cynthia R. Neeley for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 70th...
read moreHere’s where you can celebrate Juneteenth 2024 in Flint
By Canisha Bell The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863 with the intent to free enslaved African Americans. However, not all enslaved African Americans were freed, nor even informed of their freedom, that day. In fact, over two years later on June 19, 1865 — when 2,000 Union troops arrived announcing the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas — there were still over 250,000 enslaved African Americans in the state. Freedom for those still enslaved came by executive decree delivered by general order No. 3: “The people are...
read moreState Senator Cherry to host next ‘Community Conversation’ event in Flint
Michigan State Senator John Cherry will host a “Community Conversation” event in Flint from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, June 3, 2024. According to a press release sent by the senator’s office on May 24, Cherry plans to host the June conversation at The New McCree Theatre, located at 4601 Clio Road, where guests will have “an opportunity to ask questions and hear updates from Lansing.” Cherry’s district director, Qiana Towns Williams, encouraged interested Flint residents to call her office at 810-233-9788...
read moreMott Community College calls for interim president applications
By EVM Staff Mott Community College (MCC) has opened the application for its Interim President position. In a press release on May 22, 2024, the college states that “the person selected for this position will serve as the Interim President of Mott Community College until the position of the President is filled as otherwise determined by the Board of Trustees.” The release also notes that the college’s search for a permanent president will likely begin “in the summer of 2024.” As East Village Magazine previously...
read moreMichigan Dental Association Foundation to offer free dental services in Flint over 2-day event
By Canisha Bell The Michigan Dental Association Foundation (MDA) plans to bring hundreds of dentists and dental staff volunteers together on June 14 and 15 to provide free services to thousands of patients at Flint’s Dort Financial Center. The program, known as Mission of Mercy, is a collaborative effort to offer free dental care to all, regardless of income or residency status, and organizers are expecting to provide an estimated $1.8 million in services to as many as 2,000 people at the coming event. Dr. Denise Polk, the local chair...
read moreCommittee to bring recommended timeline, process for selecting MCC’s next president before Board
By Kate Stockrahm Mott Community College’s presidential search is on, with an ad hoc committee set to make timeline and process recommendations to the college’s full Board of Trustees this week. Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, who has helmed the college for a decade, is stepping down on May 24, 2024, and the race has begun to find both an interim president as well as her permanent replacement. During an ad hoc committee meeting to discuss that process on May 16, 2024, MCC Board president Andy Everman, Treasurer Jeffrey Swanson, and Trustee John...
read moreEducation Beat: Could-be Flint students take $100+ million in state aid to other school options each year
By Harold C. Ford Flint Community Schools (FCS) enrolls just 20 percent of the school-age students that reside within the district’s boundaries, resulting in a loss of $100 million annually as the other 80 percent of its possible students take state funding elsewhere. Other educational options for those students include: Schools of Choice, wherein public-school students can attend other public schools outside of the district they live in; nonprofit and for-profit charter schools; private schools, such as those offered by the Roman Catholic...
read moreAn update on downtown Flint’s ‘LiveWell’ development
By Kate Stockrahm At the one year mark since its groundbreaking, “LiveWell on Harrison,” a mixed-use development that will relocate the YMCA and Crim Fitness Foundation and boast 50 new apartments, is taking shape amid the downtown Flint skyline. The development is helmed by HWD Harrison, Inc. which Joe Martin, Director of Development at Uptown Reinvestment Corporation (URC), described as “an affiliate” of URC that “also includes membership from the YMCA.” The housing component of the building is five stories tall and includes studio,...
read moreFlint Book Review: Phil’s Siren Song
By Jan Worth-Nelson Just to get it on the table right up front, I’m pretty crazy about Flint native Tim Lane’s new novel, “Phil’s Siren Song.” I know, I know: another book about a tribe of 20-something blue-collar Flint underachievers — this time in the 80s — straggling from one beloved downtown hangout to another, coming and going from attempted romances and the halls of academe, getting drunk and sometimes drugged up on Flint’s east side? No thanks. Regardless of what resistance you might have toward another Flint quasi-memoir, you...
read moreFlint City Bucks receive warm welcome from organization, community at downtown reception
By Kate Stockrahm Though the Flint City Bucks’ season opener isn’t until May 25, the semi-professional soccer team’s founder, Dan Duggan, is already predicting a winning season ahead. “Moving this team to Flint was an absolute home run,” Duggan said from the podium at a Bucks welcome reception on May 13, 2024. “We’ll have our own conversations about what we’re going to do on the field, [but] I can tell you one thing ladies and gentlemen: we’re going to win.” The Bucks have been around for nearly 30 years, starting out in...
read moreWill third parties and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decide the 2024 election?
By Paul Rozycki Unhappy with the Republican and Democratic candidates for president this year? You have many third party options, but making those choices could have consequences you don’t like. Third parties have never elected a president of the United States. We’ve had Democrats, Republicans, Whigs, and Federalists as presidents, but we’ve never elected a Libertarian, Socialist, Green Party, Prohibitionist, or Communist party member to the White House. But that doesn’t mean that third parties haven’t played a major role in who gets elected...
read moreThe East Village Magazine – May, 2024
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for download and viewing here: View...
read moreFlint Farmers’ Market pavilion to open this Saturday
By EVM Staff The Flint Farmers’ Market is ready to celebrate spring with the opening of its outdoor pavilion this weekend. Market Manager Karianne Martus said the pavilion’s opening day on Saturday, May 11, promises over a dozen vendors offering flowers, vintage clothing, baked goods, and produce, with additional vendors joining the outdoor ranks as spring turns to summer. “More will be coming by mid-June,” she explained, citing growing seasons and vendor availability for the pavilion’s ramp-up period. Martus added that the pavilion will be...
read moreFlint’s 9th Ward residents elect Jonathan Jarrett to City Council
By Kate Stockrahm Jonathan Jarrett will soon take his seat as the new 9th Ward Flint City Councilperson, according to early election results from the Genesee County Clerk’s Office. Jarrett received 247 votes, nearly 52% of votes cast, in a recall election on May 7, 2024. His opponents, Page Brousseau and Kathryn Irwin, received roughly 30% and 18% of the remaining votes, respectively. “I’m certainly thankful to God and to all of those that supported me — family, friends, voters alike — particularly the voters that have...
read moreThe New McCree Theatre does doo-wop for its May musical
By Kate Stockrahm The New McCree Theatre is reprising its signature musical, “Sincerely: the Musical Odyssey of an Original Moonglow,” from May 9 to May 25, 2024. The show originally opened to sell-out audiences nearly two decades ago in 2006, which its writer, the theatre’s executive director Charles Winfrey, told East Village Magazine he hopes to see again. “Actually, it was one of our most well received productions,” Winfrey said. “In our 20 year history, we haven’t done anything yet to surpass the audience response to ‘Sincerely.’”...
read moreJames Avery named new executive director of Berston Field House
By EVM Staff James Avery, a Flint native and current Genesee County Commissioner, has been selected as the new executive director of Berston Field House. He will start on May 13, 2024. Avery will be succeeding Valorie Horton, who has served as Berston’s interim executive director since the unexpected passing of Bryant “BB” Nolden in December 2022. He is joining Berston after six years with the Flint and Genesee Group, most recently as Director of Education and Talent. According to a May 1 press release from Berston, Avery “brings...
read moreCity of Flint Service Center to host free estate planning event
By EVM Staff The City of Flint will host a free informational presentation for residents on estate planning, wills, and end-of-life planning at the city’s new service center at 2 p.m. on May 1, 2024. The free three-hour presentation, happening in partnership with the Mallory, VanDyne & Scott (MVS) Bar Association, will cover topics such as selecting beneficiaries and a personal representative, powers of attorney, selecting guardians for minors, important documents to keep safe, burial wishes, and the differences between a will and a...
read moreUM-Flint welcomes new tenure-track faculty union
By Paul Rozycki It was a cool, breezy day for an outdoor rally, but the gathered University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint) faculty had the wind at their backs as they welcomed a new tenure-track faculty union on April 23, 2024. The faculty had gathered at McKinnon Plaza to announce the University of Michigan-Flint American Federation of Teachers-American Association of University Professors Local 5671, their newly formed union. The union is made up of over 150 tenure-track faculty at UM-Flint, and many organizers, other union leaders and...
read moreDigital Divide: The Michigan Times is a local news site. Or is it?
By Gordon Young Technically, the Michigan Times still exists, but it’s probably not what you think it is. When the University of Michigan – Flint student newspaper let its domain name lapse last year, it was a clear sign that the Michigan Times was in trouble. The publication that covered the downtown campus for more than 60 years is now officially “sunsetting” and will shut down completely at the end of the academic year, a victim of declining student interest and, some argue, university budget cuts. The domain...
read moreDr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, President of Mott Community College, to retire in May
By EVM Staff Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, President of Mott Community College (MCC), is set to retire at semester’s end, as confirmed during a MCC Board of Trustees meeting on April 22, 2024. At the conclusion of that meeting, Trustee Michael Freeman read aloud the following statement: MCC Employees, Students, and Friends: This evening the Board of Trustees has been presented with an agreement for the retirement of our seventh Mott Community College president, Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea. We appreciate her ten years of service to the...
read moreFIM Flint Repertory Theatre to host free New Works Festival
By EVM Staff The FIM Flint Repertory Theatre will put on its 2024 New Works Festival from April 26-28, 2024. The Rep’s annual New Works Festival is a three-day event presenting staged readings of new plays, during which audience members get a chance to experience new work before anyone else and “meet the artists working to bring the future of American theatre to life,” according to an April 18 press release. This year’s lineup includes new plays by Lilly Camp, Bernardo Cubría, Elise Kibler and a musical by Michael Koomand and...
read moreCommentary: Recall the Flint City Council? But at what cost?
By Paul Rozycki Within the last year, all but one elected Flint City Council member has faced the possibility of a recall. The late Councilman Eric Mays (Ward 1) saw two recall petitions approved for circulation before he died in February, Council President Ladel Lewis (Ward 2) is currently navigating a fourth recall attempt in a little over six months, and Councilmembers Quincy Murphy (Ward 3), Judy Priestley (Ward 4), Jerri Winfrey-Carter (Ward 5), former Council President Allie Herkenroder (Ward 7), Dennis Pfeiffer (Ward 8) and Eva...
read moreEducation Beat: Details of Flint schools-teacher union settlement revealed
By Harold C. Ford Details of a sweeping settlement of grievances and other issues that divided Flint Community Schools (FCS) and the United Teachers of Flint (UTF) in recent months are now public. The specifics were revealed in April 11, 2024 press statements and posts to the district’s website, in which the two sides pledged “to amicably resolve grievances and other litigation” as well as “rectify, restore, and make whole teachers in the Flint Community Schools for all past concessions made.” At the heart of the settlement agreement...
read moreLooking to create an underground broadband system, Genesee County asks for residents’ help
By Kate Stockrahm Genesee County officials aim to expand broadband access across the county through federal funding, but first they need residents’ and business owners’ help. “It’s kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity where bipartisanship has worked in Washington,” said Dr. Beverly Brown, Genesee County Commissioner for District 4, of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Funding for BEAD passed as part of President Joe Biden’s massive 2021 infrastructure bill, which allotted $42 billion to make...
read moreMeet the candidates running for the 9th Ward Flint City Council seat
By EVM Staff A recall election for Flint’s 9th Ward City Council seat will be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. With incumbent Councilwoman Eva Worthing electing not to run in the recall, three candidates are vying for 9th Ward residents’ votes next month: Page Brousseau, Kathryn Irwin, and Jonathan Jarrett. To get to know each candidate a bit better, East Village Magazine (EVM) asked all three the same five questions. Here’s what they had to say about the needs of the ward they call home and why they’re the best person for the council job. What...
read moreThe East Village Magazine – April 2024
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available fore download and viewing here: View...
read moreMott Community College to host Flint, Genesee County housing crisis summit
By EVM Staff Mott Community College (MCC) will host a day of discussion on Flint and Genesee County’s housing crisis with a “Housing Summit 2.0” event Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The summit will take place in college’s event center on its main campus in Flint, Mich. The conference comes at a time when Genesee County is 7,000 units short of its needed affordable housing, or housing available to residents making zero to 30% of area median income (AMI). According to MCC’s April 9 press...
read moreCrossover Outreach reopens in new building in Flint’s Grand Traverse District
By Canisha Bell After eight years of planning and four months of construction, Crossover Outreach opened the doors to its new building on April 8, 2024. The day’s open house event kicked off at 414 W. Court St. with speeches from Crossover’s board president Lionel Wernette and executive director Denise Diller. “Most of you know we work with other agencies in the community who refer their clients to us,” Diller said from the new building’s large warehouse area, filled with shelves of kitchenware, children’s toys, and plastic tubs of...
read moreFlint City Council now has ‘official’ YouTube channel
By Kate Stockrahm Flint City Clerk Davina Donahue has shared a new way to watch Flint City Council meetings: an official YouTube channel. “I am happy to announce the formal launch of the Flint City Council’s YouTube Channel: Official Flint City Council,” Donahue said in a press release on April 3, 2024. “All meetings of the City Council will be broadcast live on this channel.” When reached for further comment, Donahue told East Village Magazine that she decided to launch the channel after learning of public “confusion” following the end of a...
read moreCity of Flint, EGLE respond to spill on the Flint River
By EVM Staff The Genesee County Health Department is recommending no contact with the Flint River, including fishing and recreational activities, from Dort Highway to Riverbank Park, after a spill was reported around 10 p.m. on April 3, 2024. According to a City of Flint press release on April 4, the city’s sewer department was notified of an “oil spill” into the Flint River at Whaley Park and Dort Highway, with outfalls on the east side of the river. The city said it “immediately responded,” and Michigan Spill...
read moreEducation Beat: Ratification, relief, reflection follow Flint Schools teacher union settlement
By Harold C. Ford After months of labor unrest, Flint Community Schools (FCS) and the United Teachers of Flint (UTF) have arrived at a settlement of issues, though details of the new agreement have not yet been made public. The agreement follows a “sick-out” and near-unanimous strike vote by teachers last month, and it was arrived at, according to Flint Superintendent Kevelin Jones, after 16 hours of bargaining during the district’s spring break, March 25 to 29, 2024. The issues that divided the two sides – negotiated during...
read moreMarriage On the Rocks at The Rep: A Review of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’
By Patsy Isenberg Two couples engage in a late night drinking fest — all the while dangerously dissecting their marriages — in Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” now playing at the Flint Repertory Theatre. The play opens on the hosts of the evening’s festivities, George and Martha, who have just returned home from a faculty party given by the president of the university where George teaches history. Already pretty boozed up, the doorbell rings and a younger couple that Martha invited over for (even more!) drinks saunters in....
read moreJohn Sinclair, Flint ‘poet/pot activist,’ dead at 82
In honor of Flint-born marijuana activist, poet, and music producer John Sinclair’s passing, we’re republishing one of our favorite stories on the incredibly storied man: ‘Poet/pot activist John Sinclair comes briefly home, still paying dues in ‘Trumpville,” by Jan Worth-Nelson — originally published on April 3, 2017. Sinclair died of congestive heart failure on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, in Detroit, Mich. He was 82. Of course, the reading at Totem Books was scheduled to start at 4:20, cannabis lovers’...
read moreTough Times: The Death of a Student Newspaper in Flint
By Gordon Young The Michigan Times, the student newspaper at UM-Flint, is officially “sunsetting.” That’s the sort of euphemism a good editor would slash and replace with something more clearcut. It’s a nice way of saying the publication that has been covering the downtown campus since 1959 is all but dead. The Times hasn’t published a print edition this year. Its website and online archive have disappeared. All of its social media feeds are dormant. Confusingly, another publication calling itself The Michigan...
read moreNominating petitions now available for 1st Ward Flint City Council seat
By EVM Staff Nominating petitions for the 1st Ward Flint City Council election are now available, Flint City Clerk Davina Donahue announced in a press release on March 27, 2024. The petitions can be picked up from the City Clerk’s Office from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the exception of March 29, when City Hall will be closed from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in observance of Easter. Petitions are due back to the clerk by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23. “Per the Flint City Charter, candidates for this position are required to...
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