city council

Tuesday Night Massacre (with apologies to Richard Nixon) // Eliot Singer

Back around 2007, when I first realized there was something rotten in the City of East Lansing and started complaining about Staton’s arrogant unwillingness to deal with neighborhood problems, I had a conversation with an activist in the local Democratic Party who said, “Staton, Meadows, and McGinnty.” McGinnty was then city attorney, and Yeadon did the scut work of plea bargaining MIPs, etc. This was shortly after Meadows had left Council for State Representative (after Whitmer had moved on to Senate). The feeling was … Read more →

In-house city attorney // Eliot Singer

I’m going to write a couple of posts regarding the firing of Yeadon and resignations, from a historical perspective.

First, I want to review the financial argument for an in-house city attorney (city employee). When we did the petition drive, the primary motive was to get rid of the law firm that had had the contract for a long time, because of the many reasons that law firm had failed the public interest.

But we did also make the case that an in-house attorney would save … Read more →

Don Power Celebration of Life / Gordon Taylor

We lost Don Power on December 27, 2019.  His celebration of life will be at  the East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot Rd, on Sunday, March 15 at 10 am to 12:30 pm.  Guests are invited to share memories at 11 am.  For those who wish to donate, please consider the East Lansing Public Library or the Small Animal Emergency Clinic, MSU Veterinary Hospital,  736 Wilson Rd, East Lansing MI 48824-1314.

Always an advocate for the East Lansing Library, Don was instrumental in getting … Read more →

What Counts as Outside “The Boundaries of Normal Messing-Up”? // Alice Dreger

Historic District - Sunset Ln - Copyright Raymond Holt

As  reported at ELi today , City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday night to finally end the excruciating process of considering changes to the Oakwood Historic District boundaries. 

As was expected when this process started in 2013, the DDA’s Evergreen Avenue properties were removed to allow for redevelopment in order to deal with the looming $5.4 million debt on them. I’m happy to say the boundary was moved only two properties farther north, leaving largely intact the district I bought into in 1998 with the purchase of our … Read more →

11/5/19 City Election Results // Matt Kazmierski

Vote - East Lansing Elections Results, November 2019

If you haven’t already read / heard, here are the results from yesterday’s City election – taken from multiple sources – which included a race for three open seats on City Council, and a ballot question regarding the sale of land that the City owns at the southwest corner of West and Coleman roads.

City Council

1. Jessy Gregg – 2,944 votes

2. Lisa Babcock – 2,871 votes

3. Mark Meadows – 1,951 votes

4. Erik Altmann – 1,949 votes

5. John Revitte – 1,397 votes

6. Warren Stanfield III – … Read more →

A Letter From Mark Grebner // Matt Kazmierski

Mark Grebner Letter - front

Long-time local political activist and consultant, and Ingham County Commissioner – Mark Grebner – recently sent out a mailer regarding the upcoming City Council election in East Lansing. The snail-mail was sent to around 1,300 addresses in East Lansing. Since it had limited reach, I thought others might be interested in hearing what Mr. Grebner had to say.

Below is the text of his letter, and a PDF of the actual mailer is attached as well.

-Matt Kazmierski
Public Response administrator

———-

If you care what I think . … Read more →

Failure to Reform // Eliot Singer

I thought it might be useful to provide some insights as to what reformers hoped to accomplish at the time of the 2015 Council election.

The context that was finally conducive to reform was: City Center II, St. Anne’s Lofts, and other public-private development fiascos; “retaining-wall-gate”; neglect of neighborhoods in favor of the downtown development agenda; the growing fiscal crisis, brought on by unfunded debt for big projects, tax diversion to development authorities, and legacy costs; and lack of accountability in city hall. Getting rid … Read more →

The DDA’s Evergreen Avenue Debt: It’s Time to Think Creatively // Alice Dreger

Three of the EverGreen properties

Tomorrow night, Sept. 10, City Council will take up the question of whether to permanently rezone the DDA’s Evergreen Avenue properties (314-344 Evergreen on the east side) to B3. In a report published today at ELi, I explain what that would mean and list what are seen as the pros and cons of this rezoning: 

https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/rezone-big-redevelopment-near-park-complicated-question-coming-council

As a lot of Public Response readers know, these properties carry about $5.6 million in debt, a debt for with City taxpayers are ultimately responsible. 

That debt … Read more →

Council’s attempt to dictate lease terms // Brian Hagan

Michigan Lease Drafting and Landlord-Tenant Law clip

While we’re mindful that the general public is not always sympathetic to issues involving landlords and the city, we think it’s important to provide some perspective on Ordinance 1444; which will appear on the council’s business agenda at it’s meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, 12/4) night.  This ordinance is an example of council involving themselves in the contractual dealings of a private business.  Whether you’re business owner or not, you should be concerned that our council feels they have the right to do this.

For reference; … Read more →

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