| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
I don't believe Kurtz will allow this meeting!
Sit Down City Hall event scheduled for Monday's Flint City Council meeting
Published: Sunday, August 26, 2012, 5:14 PM Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2012, 5:33 PM
By Roberto Acosta | racosta1@mlive.com
F
FLINT, MI -- A Sit Down City Hall event has been planned for Monday evening's Flint City Council meeting in protest of actions by Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz and City Administrator Michael Brown.
The event is set to take place during the 5:30 p.m. meeting at Flint City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw Street.
"A lot of our members are going to be there in support of the council in the fight for democracy," said 30-year-old Flint resident Brian Morrissey, a member of the Occupy Flint group who said they are not hosting the event.
"From there, we'll see where it goes," he said. "I believe there will be a good showing. I think some of the pastor groups are going to be out there. I'm not sure past that."
Morrissey said he was turning out Monday to support "our council that is finally taking a step forward and asking for democracy back in Flint. It's something we've been fighting for as a group for a while now."
He pointed to the support of council members for an investigative hearing of actions taken by Brown, the former emergency manager, including the transfer of Genesee Towers for demolition.
Kurtz recently blocked a move by council members to use city dollars, resources, facilities or staff to conduct investigations or issue subpoenas.
A protest during the Crim Festival of Races Saturday morning by Pastor Reginald Flynn against the transfer of the structure to a developer for $1 drew around 100 people. |
|
|
Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:29 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint City Council to investigate, file lawsuit against emergency financial manager
Published: Monday, August 27, 2012, 8:15 PM Updated: Monday, August 27, 2012, 9:45 PM
By Kristin Longley | klongley1@mlive.com
Kristin Longley | MLive.comFlint police officers tell protester Phillip Jacks they have orders to ask him to leave his sleeping bag and pillow outside the council's chambers at City Hall. Jacks refused and eventually was allowed to keep his items with him at the meeting.
FLINT, MI -- The Flint City Council has announced its intent to file a lawsuit against the emergency financial manager, with council members saying Public Act 72 doesn't exist and the manager was wrongly appointed over city operations.
The council voted tonight to seek injunctive relief in the appropriate court against the state of Michigan's appointment of Ed Kurtz as Flint's emergency financial manager.
The announcement sparked applause from many in the packed audience at Flint City Hall, some of whom were there with pillows and sleeping bags symbolic of a "sleep-in protest" of one of Kurtz's orders. Kurtz on Friday banned the council from holding investigative hearings at Flint City Hall with public resources after council members said they wanted to look into the former emergency manager's actions.
Kurtz eventually amended the order Monday afternoon to allow council to use the public building, but not before word of the protest spread.
More than 40 people were scheduled to speak out during the public comment portion of the meeting. Some held signs saying "Democracy Yes, Dictatorship No."
"The people are really mad, enough to bring in sleeping bags and pillows and lock themselves in the building," Flint resident Phillip Jacks said. "Please do this investigation."
Kurtz said tonight that the council is "free to file a lawsuit" if they vote to do so.
"From my standpoint, until a judge somewhere says I can't be there... I'm there," Kurtz said.
The council also voted to hold an investigative hearing on Sept. 10 into the final actions of former emergency manager Michael Brown, who passed more than 60 resolutions in his last few days in office before Public Act 4 was suspended and he became ineligible for office.
Among the actions to be examined are the intended transfer of Genesee Towers for $1 to a development group to be demolished; increased water rates and the Smith Village housing development, Councilman Bernard Lawler said.
The Rev. Latrelle Holmes, pastor of Greater Galilee Baptist Church, said the council made the right decision to file a lawsuit against the appointment of the emergency financial manager.
Holmes and several other residents pointed out that the emergency financial manager law, Public Act 72, was repealed when Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature passed a new version of the law, Public Act 4, that gave emergency managers expanded powers.
Public Act 4 was suspended pending a November voter referendum that's been put on the ballot.
Holmes and others said that doesn't mean state officials can revive the former law and appoint a new manager.
"Any law on the books that's dead and repealed should not be reenacted," Holmes said.
Holmes said the city should be working with state officials on an increased income tax to generate more revenue.
"The city of Flint has had enough," he said. |
|
|
|
Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:24 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint needs more citizens to become active. Standing back as an observer will not stop the abuses that are being heaped upon the residents by Snyder and Dillon under the Emergency manager Act.
Flint needs to stop electing politicians because we like them or because of their skin color. We need officials that don't participate in the culture of corruption and work to improve Flint. |
|
|
|
Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:22 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Pastor Flynn and Pastor Threkheld spoke on this issue during their 8 am radio show on WFLT. flynn stated that both he and Inez Brown resigned from the board of the Uptown Development nonprofit corporation after the deal that gave away the Genesee Towers for one dollar.
Expect to hear more from this group.
Does anyone know who the man was who confronted Threkheld at the rally as Threkheld isn't telling. |
|
|
|
Sat Sep 01, 2012 4:01 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
