Author: East Village Magazine

  • Village Life: There’s no avoiding family life this season

    ,

    Column by Jan Worth-Nelson The trouble with holidays, really, is families. The trouble with holidays is how society arm-wrestles us into facing who begat us. Sitting around various dining room tables, the menu rife with clichéd dishes and family histories – and so often histrionics – every year we play out, once again, what we’re…

  • ISIS: What it is–and what it isn’t

    By Paul Rozycki Editor’s Note:  Paul Rozycyki offered EVM this “bonus” column as a local response to the Paris attacks.  In light of what happened in San Bernardino and the President’s remarks in his Sunday night address to the nation, Rozycki’s comments take on even more relevance. After the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris a…

  • The 12 (or 13) Days of Christmas: a wish list for Mayor Weaver

    ,

      By Paul Rozycki As Mayor Karen Weaver begins her first 100 days in office with a list of ambitious plans for the city, she and the citizens of Flint have a long list of hopes for the upcoming holiday season and beyond. In that light, here’s a proposed wish list for Flint’s new mayor.…

  • Crews, supporters determined to save, restore Whaley Historic House

    ,

      By Jan Worth-Nelson Cleanup crews, conservators, restoration experts and numerous volunteers and supporters of the Whaley Historic House Museum have been busy almost around the clock since the beloved Kearsley Street mansion accidentally caught fire and partially burned Nov. 30. Whaley board member David White, president of the Genesee County Historical Society and until recently director of the…

  • After 10 years of Land Bank efforts, Flint’s a demolition “rock star”

    By Nic Custer More than 890 Genesee County Land Bank-owned homes in Flint will be demolished over the next two years thanks to $11.45 million recently authorized from a final round of Michigan State Housing and Development Authority’s Hardest Hit Fund. This will bring Flint’s total amount of Hardest Hit funds up to $34.15 million…

  • Transformed by water and politics, Walters fights on

    Interview by Ashley O’Brien LeeAnne Walters was once a stay-at-home mother of four. But she was transformed into an advocate for water safety in Flint and across the country after her four-year-old son Gavin got sick—the numbers on his blood tests clearly in the “action” range for lead poisoning. Walters, 37, and her whole family…

  • Library millage win means modernization, “new service focus”

    By Nic Custer The Central Park Neighborhood Association October meeting covered a Flint Public Library millage ballot proposal, neighborhood blight, the Investor’s Committee, and upcoming elections. Director Kay Schwartz, Flint Public Library, shared information about a library millage on the November ballot. [Editor’s note: the millage passed by a wide margin in the Nov. 3…

  • Welcome To Our Village!

    Thank you for joining us here at the exciting opening of our new website.  We are so grateful to be back online after months of repairs and redesign.  It has been a tumultuous year for us, beginning with the death of our founder, Gary Custer, in January, and the crash of our old site last…

  • Local news still matters, even as the “how” changes

    ,

    By Jan Worth-Nelson I just lost my temper.  The trigger was an early morning solicitation to subscribe to the Flint Journal — our hometown paper, right?  I asked the young voice with a Southern accent where she was calling from.  Missouri, she said.   Missouri? “Missouri?” I shouted, “I want nothing to do with a…

  • Is restoring trust as easy as turning a faucet?

    ,

    By Paul Rozycki Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships -Stephen Covey Success has a thousand fathers. Failure is always an orphan. -attributed to Tacitus and Count Galezzo Ciano [Editor’s Note:  While these are Paul Rozycki’s personal views, they are…