vlahakis Archives - Public Response

High rises… (re: Development Updates around East Lansing) // Thomas Greer

July 25, 2019May 23, 2019

Park Place Development - Proposed - East Lansing, Michigan

I was born and raised in East Lansing… Walking to dinner in downtown the other night,

6:45 to 7:00 PM bright sun in the west… not a sliver of it on any part of Albert Ave.. Dreary cold shadows… Is this Progress PEOPLE??? no sunlight making it to our streets during How many months each year??? Do we really need this new development and especially these 12 story buildings How is this going to help the people of E.L. The TAX paying citizens of … Read more →

Exclusive Contract on Public Land for Park Place Development?

October 22, 2018

The redevelopment concept known as Park Place has headed in a direction we’ve never seen before – with a complex and exclusive Purchase & Sale Agreement being negotiated before the project has even been formally proposed. What’s going on? East Lansing Info has the scoop at:

https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/extraordinary-process-developers-may-obtain-exclusive-contract-public-land

More on serial tax delinquencies // Eliot Singer

August 20, 2018

Because it sounds like this Dublin Square thing is another hurry-up, no-scrutiny deal, I thought I’d better get the facts out faster than ELi can do a story.

For those who have forgotten or missed earlier episodes: No, not everybody does it. In my many years of perusing records, I am only aware of three would-be developers who use tax delinquencies as a cash flow strategy. One in Lansing, exposed by MLive if I remember correctly, admitted he used not paying taxes on time … Read more →

Another Developer with Persistent History of Tax Delinquencies Is Seeking a Major East Lansing Project // Eliot Singer

August 17, 2018

At the top of the list of reforms to make public-private development credible is preventing anyone with a history of fraud, tax delinquencies, mortgage defaults and foreclosures, etc. from receiving tax incentives or otherwise engaging in partnerships or dealings with government. This not only limits moral risk—remember East Lansing has done brownfield projects with developers who have committed fraud and had terrible tax payment records, a major reason for the city’s reputation for corruption and cronyism—business people with these factors in their profile are … Read more →