MSU Student Warren Stanfield Running for East Lansing City Council

With less than two months before the filing deadline, one candidate for this year’s City Council election has filed his paperwork: incumbent Erik Altmann, who is currently serving as East Lansing's Mayor Pro Tem.

A challenger's campaign is in the works, however, as Michigan State University junior and pre-law student Warren Stanfield has been canvassing around town collecting signatures for his nominating petition for City Council.

The terms of Altmann, Mark Meadows, and Shanna Draheim all end this November. Meadows and Draheim have told ELi on previous occasions that they both intend to run for re-election.

All five seats on East Lansing's City Council are at-large, and the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem are elected from among the five members of Council by those five members after each election.

ELi reached out to Stanfield to find out more about his campaign. He summarized his platform in an email response:

* Affordable housing for graduate students

* End predatory corporate rental practices

* Bridge the gap between students and the community of East Lansing

* Implement a form-based code for East Lansing's growing downtown

* Expand pedestrian zones

He also described his efforts to engage with local organizations.

“I’ve met with the EMTs, Fire Fighters and several unions in order to discuss the problems of the everyday working man in East Lansing. Moreover, I’ve met with law students, Graduate students and representatives at the state level in order to get a full perspective of what needs to be done here in East Lansing to improve our community.”

Stanfield has also attended the Council of Neighborhood Presidents meeting and was spotted by ELi outside the East Lansing Public Library gathering nominating signatures.

Candidates for City Council must collect 50 signatures from registered East Lansing voters in order to be listed on the ballot.

Because there are three positions on the Council up for re-election, said City Clerk Jennifer Shuster, voters can sign up to three nominating petitions.

Candidates must have their petitions as well as an “affidavit of identity” filed with the clerk’s office by 4 p.m. on July 23.