City Council

Above: Candidates for City Council Erik Altmann, Nathan Tripeltt, and Mark Meadows.

Whether the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce’s attack ad on East Lansing City Council candidate Erik Altmann will affect the outcome of next Tuesday’s election is difficult to gauge. But what is clear is that the ad has caused a great deal of controversy.

The three candidates endorsed by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce's PAC: Shanna Draheim, Mark Meadows, and Nathan Triplett.

Above: Steve Japinga, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Director of Government Relations, and an image from the new mailer.

The Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce has launched an attack ad on City Council candidate Erik Altmann, declaring Altmann “wrong for East Lansing.”

Above: The six candidates running for East Lansing's City Council

Above: Mayor Nathan Triplett and Councilmember Ruth Beier

Running for re-election to East Lansing's City Council, Mayor Nathan Triplett has been emphasizing success at reducing the City’s debt since he joined Council. In his most recent campaign letter, Triplett says, “During my time on Council, we’ve reduced our city’s debt by nearly 30%.”

Photo: Recent groundbreaking ceremony for the project now called “300 Grand,” formerly known as “The Gateway.” In the photo, members of the DDA/BRA, which approved a $1.9 million TIF for this project, include DTN’s Colin Cronin (third from left) and Mayor Nathan Triplett (second from right).

This is an update on our report from roughly two weeks ago regarding campaign financing of the six people running for East Lansing’s City Council, because Campaign finance has become a perennial “ask” of ELi’s readers. If this work matters to you, please take a moment to donate to support our work.

What’s new in the last two weeks?

Image: photo taken at about noon today.

As we reported in this week’s Council Capsule, last night East Lansing’s City Council discussed allowing a developer to create a paved spur attaching the Northern Tier Trail to Chandler Road. City Council is due to vote on the issue next Tuesday.

Image courtesy of USDA.

With plans in place to start killing deer in East Lansing starting late next month, City Council will be voting in November to change an ordinance to support the plan. Such a legal change may not really be necessary according to City Attorney Tom Yeadon. But Yeadon told City Council on Tuesday night that prudence suggests an amendment to the current ordinance involving restriction of firearms so that it will be straightforward in the future for the City or State to cull deer as necessary in the City of East Lansing.

A key piece of publicly-owned land that most people assume is an official park soon will be one.

Above: The six candidates for City Council.

With three East Lansing City Council members’ terms ending next month, only two sitting Councilmembers are certain to remain: Ruth Beier and Susan Woods. Asked by ELi this week who they are endorsing in the City Council race, the two split, with no overlap:

Susan Woods is endorsing Shanna Draheim, Jermaine Ruffin, and Nathan Triplett.

Ruth Beier is endorsing Erik Altmann, Mark Meadows, and Steve Ross.