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,...
Commentary: After the water crisis and the pandemic, what’s next?
By Paul Rozycki It looked like the Flint water crisis was over…and it wasn’t. It looked like the pandemic was over…and it wasn’t. The water crisis In Flint, as July ended, nearly all of the lead pipes in the city had been replaced, a court settlement was on track, lead levels were at record lows, and it seemed that the seven years of the Flint water crisis might be behind us. Then the newly installed pipes on Court Street began...
Village Life: Viral time revisited, 2021 — personal panic, wine, and the witching hour
By Teddy Robertson We were all so new at balancing mortal threat and daily life. Inept, but resourceful. That’s how it felt a year ago this May when East Village Magazine staff shared their first experiences of the COVID pandemic. That’s odder than you might think—reporters usually don’t want to be part of a story. I can hardly recall the details of Spring 2020 now; I had to look them up. Each new order blotted out memory of...
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