Community

The leaves have changed color, stores have stocked their shelves with cider and candy and Pumpkin Spice lattes have reclaimed their place in your mug. Halloween is just around the corner, and East Lansing has plenty of activities to occupy the Spidermen and Queen Elsas of your family.

Families are invited to visit Safe Halloween from 5pm- 7pm on Thursday, Oct. 29. The event will take place on M.A.C. Avenue between Elizabeth and Burcham, and the area will be closed to traffic.

The East Lansing School Board took a major step toward reopening the shuttered Red Cedar Elementary School on Monday Night, adopting a resolution to appoint a committee charged with “initiating innovative educational programming in fall 2016 for pre-k through grade 5 at Red Cedar, as mandated by the 2012 resolution, and on or after the Fall of 2016, but no later than the Fall of 2017, at Donley.”

From left to right: Erik Altmann, Shanna Draheim, Mark Meadows, Steve Ross, Jermaine Ruffin and Nathan Triplett

It was a full house for last night’s City Council Candidate Forum at the Hannah Community Center. The event was organized by the League of Women Voters (LWV) of the Lansing Area, and moderated by LWV member Camilla Davis, of Dewitt.

There is nothing particularly exotic or spiritual about the Lake Lansing Meijer. And yet.

The doors of Red Cedar Elementary School may be reopened under some form of alternative programming, according to a proposal under discussion by the East Lansing Board of Education.

Board member Kath Edsall introduced a proposal to initiate pre-Kindergarten through 5 programming in the closed elementary school. The motion, to be brought back to the board for action Oct. 12, also included some alternative programming at Donley Elementary School.

Photo: Image of a mattress burned last weekend on Fern Street, near the City Attorney’s office

According to a press release from ELPD “Last week, after the MSU football win against Oregon, there were seven fires set in the City of East Lansing, primarily in student areas. These fires are extremely dangerous to bystanders in the area, but also to first responders that are called to extinguish them. Responding to these fires multiple times in a single night can also affect the response time to those in the community in need of medical attention.”

Above: Corey Cafagna Park

There is a new park in the Glencairn neighborhood, behind Hannah Community Center. Well, okay, the green space at the intersection of Sunset Lane and Southlawn Avenue has always been there, and some people even knew it was a city park. But now the City of East Lansing has named it the Corey Cafagna Park. The park will soon have what people expect in a neighborhood park---benches, a flower planter, and an "official" name sign.