Village Life: City Council meeting a mess of bedlam: is this how Flint reclaims self-rule?
By Jan Worth-Nelson This week I lost my city council virginity. It wasn’t pretty. Like most losses of virginity, it wasn’t particularly enjoyable and I’m not sure I want a repeat experience. Some things get better with practice – and are especially improved by having good partners. I don’t know if I can count on any of that in the city council chambers. In my 35 years in Flint, including 26 years at the UM – Flint, going to a city...
Dismantling “structural racism” not easy but necessary, Tendaji Talk speaker asserts
By Robert R. Thomas Carlton Evans opened his presentation as the featured speaker for the recent Tendaji Talk at the Flint Public Library by posing two questions: How do we dismantle structural racism? How do we eliminate white supremacy? “The short answer is I don’t know,” he said to his questions. “The long answer is I have an opinion, but I don’t know if it’s gonna make a difference. I want to leave you with a call to action,...
MCC hosts “minor party presidential candidate” forum
By Paul Rozycki Can’t deal with Trump? Not sure if you can trust Hillary? Well, there are lots of other choices out there. That was the point of the “Off the Beaten Path to the White House Presidential Candidate Forum” held at Mott Community College Sept. 15. The event was sponsored by MCC’s political science department and broadcast as part of Tom Sumner’s radio program on WFOV 92.1 LPFM. The forum grew out of Sumner’s “Off the...
Village Life: scratch a Flintoid these days, you’ll find a chemist
By Jan Worth-Nelson One Thursday in August, as Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards was presenting his most recent findings to the cameras and lights nearby, another less glamorous group of us — me a lone reporter in the third row — were sitting restlessly in a chemistry class at City Hall. It was actually a meeting of the Flint Water Recovery Group, an ongoing consortium of social service agencies and residents closely...
City infrastructure replacement plan takes “holistic” approach, could cost $2 billion
By Nic Custer Rebuild Flint the Right Way, an ambitious plan released in August to repair, replace and upgrade the city’s infrastructure, outlines Mayor Karen Weaver’s vision for fixing the city in the wake of the water crisis. Implementing the plan might cost as much as $2 billion, the document states. The plan asserts Flint residents should not have to pay for the proposed infrastructure improvements because of citizens’ lack of...