I don't get this either, we had this plan how many months ago? The neighborhood supported it along with the brownfield and planning boards, I don't get the hold up. Hopefully this isn't a sign of EL's council becoming more anti-development.
I mean, that's exactly what it is. That was the whole campaign the anti-development folks ran, to slow down development, and now they have at least prevented the more pro-development faction on council from retaining a majority depending on how you label the council. The new council went ahead and made Ruth Baier - the most anti-development member on the council - vice mayor. Baier and Altman were elected on decidedly anti-development campaigns.
Kind of only tangentially related, but it seems weird to me that the East Lansing city council is only five-seats in size, and two of those seats are mayor and mayro pro tem (vice mayor). Most Michigan villages have six members (though they can be as small as five). An odd number prevents a tie (when all members are present), but a city the size of East Lansing could easily be a council of 7 or 9; it'd allow for the chance of more diverse representation (students, ethnic minorities, etc.), which is why I bet it's only five members. Every once in awhile you'll get one twenty or thirty-something on council or an ethnic minority, but it's usually only one. The council is routinely much older than the city actually is, and this strikes me as being by design given what I know of the history of the city, which was actually fairly small "c" conservative until fairly recent.
The LSJ is confirming the Trowbidge QD will be closing down. They give the reason of the downsizing of Spartan Village and traffic patterns making it hard to get it and out of the lot. I can believe the latter, but I can not believe the former. That QD on game days probably made more in a day than a neighborhood QD made in weeks. What seems obvious to me is that someone wants the land, and it's also obviously an underuse of the site given the transformation happening around it. QD can spin it anyway they want to to save face. lol
I was in E.L. the other day and noticed the new building. It looks huge, but seems like it will be a nice looking building. I like the curved facade on the corner.
That Trowbridge QD building is horrible. It's too small and the only time I ever saw it busy was when people would walk across from the old train station. Hopefully they will rebuild in the area.
It seems like Trowbridge needs to be reconfigured as could be easier to get from one side to the other. The new plaza is very busy and now the "T" building [western most Red Line stop} is occupied the parking lot seems really full all the time. I could see some new businesses there but not more housing right next to the tracks. There will soon be hundreds more people living a few blocks away in the new student housing that is going up very quickly. I think they will make up the people lost from Spartan Village. Also I noticed that the Muslim Center has put up a huge white fence around the playground, which seems like a sad sign of the times. I really did enjoy seeing all the little kids playing in the playground and would think that this is Lansing, were all are welcome. I hope the fence is a precaution not a reaction.
You know when our own church (which is on the outskirts of East Lansing in a neighborhood area) was considering erecting a playground (because we have a billion kids there), I remember someone saying "and we could put a fence around it so the neighborhood kids don't use it". Which I thought was a really sad comment. But I don't think it's from any animosity toward neighborhood kids, I think it was just legal protection - somebody falls, somebody sues, God bless America. It would probably never happen, but there is that fear, you can sue for anything in America. Really sad.
This has nothing to do with anti-Muslim sentiment, and everything to do with a growing congregation that doesn't want children wandering out into the streets or someone snatching their children. Most properties right here along a sidewalk have gates/fences for playgrounds. The mosque is a long-time neighbor. The neighboring church shares their parking lot with the mosque since they have different days of worship, and I believe the mosque shares its playground with the church. There has been only one incident I can remember of the mosque being targeted for anything in all my years here, and it was simple vandalism. This entire neighborhood on the west side of Harrison is a mix of immigrants and other long-timers.
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Kind of only tangentially related, but it seems weird to me that the East Lansing city council is only five-seats in size, and two of those seats are mayor and mayro pro tem (vice mayor). Most Michigan villages have six members (though they can be as small as five). An odd number prevents a tie (when all members are present), but a city the size of East Lansing could easily be a council of 7 or 9; it'd allow for the chance of more diverse representation (students, ethnic minorities, etc.), which is why I bet it's only five members. Every once in awhile you'll get one twenty or thirty-something on council or an ethnic minority, but it's usually only one. The council is routinely much older than the city actually is, and this strikes me as being by design given what I know of the history of the city, which was actually fairly small "c" conservative until fairly recent.