Meet the candidate: John Cherry, 49th District state representative
By Jan Worth-Nelson A contest for a seat in the state House of Representatives is shaping up in the 49th district, with three well-known Democrats having filed papers so far: Charter Review Commission member John Cherry, water crisis activist Lashaya Darisaw, and former Flint mayor Dayne Walling. The election is set for Nov. 6. East Village Magazine is inviting candidates running for the seat to answer a series of five questions...
Flint’s most vulnerable deeply mistrust tap water, are unclear on filters and lead testing, survey reveals
By Jan Worth-Nelson Note: This story was amended on Feb. 21 to add additional response from Tiffany Brown, public information officer of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality –Ed. The city of Flint is far from assuring adequate coverage and information of the water crisis recovery needs of its most vulnerable citizens, many of whom remain deeply distrustful of tap water, have not tested their water for lead, are not...
Legionnaire’s outbreak officially linked to Flint water crisis, nationally-touted research affirms
By Jan Worth-Nelson A fatal chain of events simultaneous with the Flint water crisis — an outbreak of Legionella’s disease which killed 12 and sickened scores of others during a 2014-15 outbreak—has now been scientifically correlated to low levels of residual chlorine during the crisis. The outbreak can be associated with the change in the City of Flint’s drinking water supply to the Flint River beginning in 2014, according to...
John Cherry makes 49th District State House run official; kicks off campaign
By Paul Rozycki Saying “We need leaders that show a genuine dedication to the public, whether or not it is easy or convenient for them,” John Cherry became the third Democrat to declare his candidacy to replace term-limited Phil Phelps in Michigan’s 49th state House district. On a snowy Saturday morning, he greeted a crowd of several dozen supporters at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 370 with his formal announcement. Though he...
42 percent vacant: Forum explores Flint’s “everyday remaking of place” after abandonments
By Jan Worth-Nelson Forty-two percent of Flint’s properties are vacant — 24,000 of them –and their presence, appearing to some like tombstones, to others like hopeful patches of gardens or clover, to others annoyances swamped by unmowed grass or decaying trash–has become one of the uneasy visual realities of a city in transition. A panel of experts grappling literally at the grassroots level talked about those...