Analysis: Citizens speak up and votes are swayed, as City Council turns down tax abatement in Carriage Town
By Tom Travis On Monday, Feb. 24, Flint City Council voted 5 to 4 against a proposed tax abatement for a property development in the neighborhood that birthed General Motors. The decision may mean the end of the project, which has been vigorously protested by a group of its neighbors. The property, formerly a Hamady grocery store and owned by the Farah family with Troy Farah as a trustee, is at the corner of University Avenue and...
“Hair on fire!” FPL Director Kay Schwartz, staff synchronizing complex library moves, “working our hearts out”
By Zach Neithercut “Is my hair on fire?” That’s what Flint Public Library Director Kay Schwartz says she blurts out these days to anybody asking how things are going. Schwartz is at the helm of a complicated–and extremely rewarding–set of maneuvers as the 60-year-old library on Kearsley Street begins preparations for its massive makeover — a $27.6 million project to transform the aging facility from...
Education Beat: Flint Community Schools move toward March 10 millage renewal, no closures in sight
By Harold C. Ford Editor’s note: This story was updated March 1 to include a statement from Supt. Derick Lopez (see below) regarding school closures. At the Feb. 19 meeting of the Flint Community Schools’ (FCS) Board of Education, Superintendent Derrick Lopez announced a public information campaign that seeks voter approval for a March 10 millage restructuring proposal. Lopez emphasized that the proposal is not a millage...
New report highlights progress and perils facing Flint kids: nutrition, literacy enhanced; poverty still high
By Coner Segren The story of Flint in the past decade has largely been a tale of two cities. While the unemployment rate has fallen by more than half since 2010, 69 percent of Flint children under the age of 5 are living in poverty. And that is just one of the many challenges facing families in Genesee County in the wake of the Flint water crisis per a report presented by the Greater Flint Health Coalition at the first “State of Flint...
When legends come to life: from zombies to vampires with the Goblin King Players
By Jerry Bradshaw A taste for zombies and a love of amusingly scaring people nurtured in a Flint coffee shop have hatched into a performing troupe that after just four years is selling out multiple shows in historic theaters around Michigan and even touring out of state. Kristina Lakey, a resident Flint artist and founder of the Flint Zombie Walk, formed her Flint-based company, the Goblin King Players, in 2016. “The impetus started...
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