Government

Above: East Lansing’s new City Council: Mayor Mark Meadows, Shanna Draheim, Susan Woods, Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier, and Erik Altmann

Public debate on how (and whether) to manage deer in East Lansing heated up last night at City Council’s meeting, with the new Council deciding not to take any formal action on the matter until at least February. The plan had been to have the culls in the two East Lansing parks start this month, but Council elected last night to put off the cull. Their interest is in part to try to see, from results of the legal hunt this year, how many deer around the area are actually shown to have chronic wasting disease. (Hunted deer are supposed to be tested before people eat them.)

Image: Some of the blighted buildings downtown that may be demolished if a new "dangerous buildings" ordinance passes.

The new East Lansing City Council meets for the first time this evening, and their first agenda indicates this Council intends to move quickly on a number of politically hot issues, including blighted vacant buildings downtown, the ethics of campaign contributions, and a question of whether the City or the State should have say over whether landlords can make certain changes to nonconforming rental houses.

Above: Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and Erik Altmann, who will be sworn in to serve on the East Lansing City Council tomorrow

If, like me, you consider The East Lansing Public Library (ELPL) a second home, here’s the bad news: the Library will be closed from December 7 through January 10.

Above: Artist's rendition of the plan for the Grove Street Alley

The East Lansing Artist Alleys crowdfunding campaign, which officially ends at 11:59 PM tonight, has reached its $45,000 fundraising goal.

The goal was met Tuesday, November 10, two days ahead of schedule. As of this writing, $46,785 has been raised from 118 supporters. Donations came from local individuals, organizations, and businesses.

Above: Nathan Triplett and Mark Meadows

ELi has learned—and has confirmed with multiple sources—that East Lansing’s Mayor Nathan Triplett has been pushing a landlord-friendly bill at the State level for many months and that now, since being voted out of office on Tuesday, Triplett has been working with East Lansing landlords to push the bill through quickly.

Members of Michigan’s Senate may decide as early as this week whether or not to let concealed weapons into Michigan’s “gun-free zones,” such as schools and universities. In mid-October, educators, alongside members of the public and state law-makers, discussed the proposed legislation at the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in which Senators voted 4-1 in favor of the Senate Bill 442.

Image above: Erik Altmann, Shanna Draheim, and Mark Meadows, the winners of the East Lansing City Council race

Mark Meadows, Shanna Draheim, and Erik Altmann have won the election for East Lansing City Council. They will join sitting Councilmembers Ruth Beier and Susan Woods on November 17, 2015. (There is no meeting of City Council before then.)

At that meeting, the new members of Council will be sworn in, and the first order of business will be for the five to elect the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among the five.

NOTE: The signage above is from City Clerk Marie Wicks and contains the CORRECT information.

Image crop of the email complaint made on Thursday evening

Above: County Clerk Barb Byrum and City Council Candidate Erik Altmann

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.