Meet the Candidates: Gregory Ahejew

FLINT, Michigan — In the last 100 years of Flint’s history, a great deal has changed. The city has seen the rise and fall of an automotive empire, a water crisis, and multiple emergency management situations. Despite all of the changes and setbacks, two things have remained consistent: arts and community.

To understand the heart and soul of Flint, you have to understand the artists and culture the city produces. Gregory Ahejew has helped organize arts events across Flint for over a decade. Now he hopes to be elected to represent the 6th Ward on the Flint City Council.

“I think there’s been a shift. We’re no longer an automotive city; we’re an arts and cultural city. Seeing all the universities that have moved downtown — U of M and Michigan State came in recently — they’re expanding all the time. That speaks volumes on how much the arts have brought to this city, and they’re especially important to me.”

Ahejew worked as an events coordinator for the Sloan Museum for 5 years. Between 2010 and 2015, he coordinated parties at the Sloan Museum, and at the time, parties were held in the same spaces as the exhibits. This proved challenging, for obvious reasons: keeping the party separate from the displays.

Ahejew continued to organize parties and community events for venues across the city after his tenure at Sloan, but his career stalled with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When your job is to plan mass gatherings, and you can’t plan mass gatherings, things don’t work out so well. I was supposed to be off for two weeks, then it turned into like two years, so I just ended up getting another job working retail just to get out of the house.”

As of 2024, Ahejew works for the Flint Institute of Music (FIM) and oversees food and beverage operations across all FIM buildings, including Capitol Theatre, The Whiting, and Elgood Theatre. His responsibilities range from preparing green rooms for performers to organizing parties and events for FIM patrons.

Politics has always interested Ahejew in passing and as a constituent, but he decided to run for office in this upcoming election when it became clear he could lead by example.

Ahejew only decided to run for office in July, putting him past the deadline to be featured on the official ballots. As such, he’s running as a write-in.

“When I found out we only have one person running for election, I thought that was kind of an embarrassment to our ward. Lack of representation in our ward is a huge issue. I said I’d like to work with the city council and other council members to make everything cohesive. I’m tired of it being such a mess and never getting the answers done because [city council] just don’t get along. I understand not everybody’s going to get along, but at least it helps if you got a core of people willing to try.”

Two of the main issues that Ahejew feels need to be addressed most immediately are shared by many residents across Flint: accountability and efficiency in government.

“Transparency is one of the major things. It seems there’s a lot of questions on where certain money is going, in particular [American Rescue Plan Act] money. I think that has a lot to do with the battles between the nine council members, where things aren’t getting done [properly]. I think transparency comes from working together with the other council members,” Ahejew said.

He also emphasized the need to keep Flint City Council meetings to a reasonable time frame to make political engagement as accessible as possible.

“We’re not having eight-hour council meetings running until two in the morning. I’m not saying those are always able to be avoided, but we could get a new city council with new faces and new representation that would be able to keep things cordial.”

Among the operational issues Ahejew would like to address is attendance. He feels that integral to a functional government requires city council members who make participation in official government business a priority. That includes council meetings.

“As a member of city council, I’d be serving the community. I should actually be present. But when you see things how they are right now, and [there are] only four council members out of nine present, that doesn’t say a lot for how serious they take their position,” Ahejew said. “This is where I want to be. I will take the position seriously and actually represent the ward to the best of my abilities. That way I can have things to bring back to the neighborhood.”

On more specific topics residents value, such as law enforcement, Ahejew envisions an approach rooted in community education and engagement. Having a presence matters, and spreading the police force equitably across the city is a priority, but that also includes making law enforcement felt in ways that extend beyond just police presence.

“I think just allowing new programs to allow kids to learn about gun violence a little bit and do more family-friendly educational events. The more we have, it’ll [make] that bond a little better. I mean, police presence…yes, that sounds easy, but we do need to educate [the youth] and [provide] more engaging activities around town to prevent things like loitering.”

One way Ahejew hopes to bring people together is through expanding events already happening in the 6th Ward. Every Tuesday in Mott Park from May through August, there is a kids’ night event, and Ahejew hopes the event’s success will encourage other wards throughout Flint to host similar events to engage families.

“We just had activities down [at the park], and it’s been popular. It’s super nice to see. Then we got the Bucks involved; they do soccer events at night, and we have hundreds of kids with their families just down there, having a good time, you know. So, we need more things like that. We have a lot of division in the neighborhood as well. We need to start at home. Start with the core. People doing things together.”

Ahejew knows the odds are against him in this campaign. Still, he wants to give his all to engage his community and connect with the people who make living in Flint special.

“I know one thing: I do have a long road ahead of me being a write-in as opposed to on the ballot. So that’s why I’m willing to listen to what I’m hearing out there as I’m walking the streets, introducing myself. I’ll take a lot of that into consideration. I will listen to everybody.”

Eligible voters can vote for Ahejew only if they write him in as a choice on their ballot by Nov. 3.