Local meeting primer: Kalamazoo City Commission
Monday’s meeting will include a public hearing to receive comments on the City of Kalamazoo’s proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year.
The Kalamazoo City Commission will hold a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, December 16. A committee of the whole meeting initially scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday has been cancelled.
Monday’s meeting will include a public hearing to receive comments on the City of Kalamazoo’s proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year.
Other action items include votes on proposed contract extensions and agreements. For example, the consolidation of outstanding interfund loans is being considered with both the Downtown Economic Growth Authority (DEGA) and Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
The agenda is available below and at the city’s website.
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Kalamazoo City Commissioner Chris Praedel said the process reflected strong community engagement.
“It’s refreshing to see these outcomes when it happens this way. It does not always turn out this way, and I am grateful that it has — but it only happens this way when everybody is willing to lean in and try something a little bit different,” Praedel said.
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Local stories hit the big screen at Kalamazoo Film Society’s fourth annual showcase
The event features mostly filmmakers from Kalamazoo and the surrounding region, with films shot in — and in some cases about — the city itself.
One of the featured filmmakers, Jerod Kauffman, created a documentary about the final days of the longtime dive bar Harvey’s on the Mall, which closed after a buyout. Kauffman said he wanted to capture the story of a place that helped define Kalamazoo’s nightlife culture.
“The closure was sudden to everyone — the community and staff — so I wanted to immortalize a place that was loved by so many,” Kauffman wrote to Watershed Voice. “I saw a fence and bulldozer outside the building today on the way to work. I think it’s going to be torn down, so I am happy I was able to capture a piece of Kalamazoo history and the bar that stood and served the community for 40+ years.”
Rapid fire film festival Kazoo 48 returns for its seventh year
Designed to introduce people to filmmaking while also challenging experienced creators, Kazoo 48 gives teams 48 hours to complete a short film between one and six minutes long. Each team must incorporate an assigned genre, line of dialogue, character, location, and prop into their film.
Once completed, the films are judged by a panel of local talent. Awards include prizes for best use of an assigned item and the festival’s signature award — a gold engraved kazoo — presented to the best films in both the amateur and professional categories.
