Category: Commentary
-
Commentary: Vote “no” on the new city charter
As Flint residents prepare to vote on a new city charter, prepared after two years’ work by an elected nine-member charter review commission, EVM received two last perspectives, the one below advocating a “no” vote, the other a “yes” vote by Richard and Betty Ramsdell that can be found here. Two other commentaries were posted…
Written by
-
Village Life: Only slightly in mourning, my husband becomes a full-time Flintoid
By Jan Worth-Nelson If you see my husband Ted around town anytime soon, be especially kind. He is going through a trauma. He’s moving on, after four decades as a Californian, to become a fulltime Flintoid. He’s giving up his cherished “AWRDMKR” California license plate – an artifact of the awards and trophy business he…
Written by
-
Commentary: Murder a harsh dose of reality in East Village
By Paul Rozycki Some years ago, one of our favorite programs was “Murder, She Wrote,” where mystery writer Jessica Fletcher solved the latest murder in the small New England fishing village of Cabot Cove. At the time, my reaction was that for all of Flint’s crime problems, Cabot Cove must have had the highest crime…
Written by
-
Commentary: Why to vote “Yes” on the Charter: Placing the collective interests of residents first
Placing the collective interests of residents first: an interloper’s support for proposed Charter By Ashley Nickels, Ph.D. On Tuesday, Aug. 8, Flint residents will vote on whether or not to adopt revisions to their city charter for the first time since 1974. As an encouraged interloper, an outsider, a political scientist, I have followed Flint’s…
Written by
-
Commentary: Why to vote “No” on the Flint Charter revision: existing one already is “masterful”
Flint voters will be asked to vote Aug. 8 on whether to approve a new charter for the city. As Paul Rozycki explained in his July column in EVM, the current city’s charter was last revised in 1974, when Flint’s population was nearly 200,000 and there were still 80,000 well paid GM jobs in the…
Written by
-
Commentary: In Gov. Snyder’s RTAB decision on a tax lien moratorium, more than just finances are at stake
The following essay was written by Dr. Ben Pauli, Ph.D., an assistant professor of social science in the Department of Liberal Studies at Kettering University in Flint. Thanks to Chris Savage at Electablog, where this essay first appeared, for allowing us to reprint it. You can see the original here. In a special meeting on…
Written by
-
Book Review: Sing for Your Life, a Story of Race, Music, and Family
by Harold C. Ford In 1994 at the age of 12, Ryan Speedo Green was taken forcibly to Virginia’s infamous DeJarnette Center after he threatened to kill his mother and his brother. The lowest point for Green at DeJarnette may have been when his downward spiraling behavior landed him in solitary confinement, as related by…
Written by
-
Commentary: Flint’s Aug. 8 primary affects the city and your life
By Paul Rozycki In light of recent terrorist threats at Bishop Airport, criminal indictments of state water officials, continuing squabbles between the Flint City Council and the mayor over the source of Flint’s water, the hype over a $50 million election in Georgia, and endless tweets from the president, this August’s election in Flint may…
Written by
-
Commentary: Will a cool spring give us a hot summer?
By Paul Rozycki After a fairly mild winter, spring has been rather cool, gray, and rainy. However, what’s been true for the weather may not be true for this summer’s political outlook. More than a few political issues offer the prospect of being very hot. On the national level On the national scene, President Trump’s…
Written by
-
Commentary on Flint’s water: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one? … I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest… Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters… And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna…
Written by
