@gbinlansing This kinda goes back to my rant the other day about the lack of vision and drive to really get things done (although I know this project in particular depends more on the State than the City.) So much seemed to happen on the public side of things when Hollister was mayor, he's largely responsible for the opportunity the city has now. He got Olds Park built, the Lansing Center remodeled, convinced GM to stay and shepherded the turn around of Old Town, all in less than 10 years. Bernero has moved things in the right direction when it comes to private mixed-use development, but infrastructure is as bad as it has ever been, the parks are barely holding together and there's been a lack of any major public projects. Even the permanent stage for Adado was a dead proposal, that was a very modest couple million dollar project that would've been highly utilized and the city still dropped the ball.
Lansing desperately needs more significant public investment. We need a better home and expanded focus for the RE Olds and Impression 5 museums (an art museum and performing arts center would also be nice), we'll need an improved/expanded convention center at some point, we need our parks to be well maintained along with a few signature parks that see significant investment and we absolutely need our roads to be far better maintained. It's almost laughable that the city is trying to market Michigan Ave as this great place to visit/live/work/invest yet the road is a sea of potholes with poor streetscaping, but instead of doing even a minimal fix (like on E Mt Hope) they sit on their hands and wait for BRT funding that is years off and may never even come. These are things that other cities do, why not Lansing? The only thing I listed that's really out of the City's hands are the roads, even then the City needs to maintain its premier corridors better with or without state/federal funding. Improved museums and parks are well within reach and there should be concrete strategies to realize these things. There's really no excuse for the way things are and this is what frustrates me so much.
The recession killed city budgets everywhere in the state. Couple that with the government elected in 2010 which has continued to cut revenue sharing to cities, and it's really shortsighted to blame the city government. I don't think people realize what folks like Bernero are working with. Cities simply can't do what they did even just before the recession. That includes city streets. Fortunately, the roads bill got passed, so cities will start seeing more money coming in for local street repairs, but even that's just replacing what was cut due to the decrease in revenue sharing. If you guys want to blame someone, blame state government and the recession. Bernero has been cutting since he became mayor out of necessity, not because he wanted to, and only in just the past year or two have things finally started to stabilize economically. It's why Bernero had to unload the zoo and River Trail maintenance to the county, why some other parks were left to be "naturalized," etc...when budgets are this tight, public safety got prioritized. Hell, even things like the city clerk's office had to find savings, which is why we continue to see polling locations cut despite the population having stablized.
The city is not bullshitting anyone. They literally don't have the money for local roads, which is why you've seen all of the patches and minimal resurfacing work. The only major reconstructions that can get done are projects in which the state is involved, where state and federal dollars can be leveraged.
I don't think people get just how much Michigan is still just hanging on. This isn't just Lansing. Our public sector has just been gutted and demoralized. Even in the more successful cities, it's only the private sector that's doing all right. This isn't a bug, it's a feature of the state's policies for decades, but particularly since 2010. The Bridge online magazine has done quite a few articles on how the state has turned into Indiana with low taxes but low service levels (and thus really bad outcomes). Bernero has basically been in a position where all he's been able to do is to try and keep Lansing out of Snyder's hands through an EM; it's just really been that basic. The city hasn't had the luxury or being able to dream big.
Just a note, I think Bernero unloading the River Trail and the zoo to the county were a couple of the best moves he made since he gained office. The county's stewardship of the zoo has been massively beneficial as things are looking brighter there than I ever expected they would and I expect their stewardship over the trail system will be equally successful.
As for revenue sharing cuts, a quick look would show that revenue sharing cuts continued unabated through the Engler, Granholm and Snyder administrations. Under Snyder's (controversial) revised revenue sharing guidelines many cities finally saw their first year-over-year increase in years for 2014 (admittedly mostly due to the improving national economy). The corporate tax cuts were a necessary evil to remain competitive with all the other states selling their souls for jobs. This state was bleeding corporations and their jobs, all fleeing for warmer climates with more advantageous tax structures. The problem with corporations/businesses/investors whoring out our communities and state governments is going to have to be dealt with simultaneously at a federal and international level. Reigning in the power of corporations in general while keeping their beneficial aspects is imperative to this country as a whole moving forward.
I know the City can't do everything it'd like to in these hard times, but to stick to my example, there still no excuse for Michigan Ave to look the way that it does. It's supposed to be the focal point of rejuvenation of this entire area and they can't squeeze a few hundred thousand out of somewhere to properly patch the street to get by another five or so years? Also, my point is largely that there's not even a conversation about about making major public improvements so we can begin to grasp what it will take to get things done. Everyone in this city and state seem to have this attitude that anything better is unreachable so we should just be happy that things aren't worse, that's not an acceptable attitude. There's absolutely no excuse to not even have a conversation about these things and create a plan as to how to get them done, yet our leaders consistently play the blame game rather than tackling the problem at hand.
And if you want to outright blame the Republicans or Snyder or otherwise be openly political, just say so, no reason to dance around the subject. I don't have a problem bluntly saying I'm a civil libertarian, an independent on economic issues (the economy is far too complicated to go full-on libertarian), I despise politicians and especially the two major parties. I'll be the first to admit that I've liked Snyder (I'll hold judgement on this Flint water issue), just the facts that he's stayed away from civil issues and done some important things to get Detroit on the right track means a lot to me.
I'm not outright blaming anyone. I think I was pretty clear ("openly openly") about where I lay different portions of the blame, and it was not all on Snyder. It certainly wasn't some particularly partisan take. What I think or any one of these politicians is kind of irrelevant. I was talking pretty clearly and openly about what they've done or haven't done.
I was really trying to discuss the issues and initially didn't respond to your original post because it was so overdramatic, but you seemed to have taken it personally. I think what you just did was a bit inappropriate. Not once did I call you out personally. Interested in Michigan Avenue, go look up the Department of Public Service budget, write the head to see how much it cost to fix that street, see if its something we could conceivably do without literally cancelling every other thing that department has to do (other services, other street porjects) in a budget year. You can't just throw out an opinion as fact.
Lansing city government has spent the post-recession years being cut to the bone just to keep itself out of becoming a candidate for emergency management, and here they are getting accused of holding back. You try a massive vision on a shoe-string budget. Lansing has just gotten around to tiny surpluses for the first time in something like a decade. Talk about fiscal conservatism; that's exactly what Lansing has been doing out of sheer necessity for years, now. You want them to go back into the red bonding out for huge projects? You can't have it both ways.
What we see isn't some argument against one politician or another, because at each level, Republican or Democrat, both have played with the same ideology ruling the day, one out of belief and the other out of necessity. This isn't about a person, it's the direct result of a particular ideological view of government plus the larger economy. Every governor since the 90's has been playing "fiscal conservative" since the 90's. Hell, Granholm cut more state government employees than any other because she didn't have a choice. People who support this brand of policy position can't cry foul when it actually ends up playing itself out in real life from people who see it as desirable rather than doing it as a last resort.
You seemed like you were beating around the bush, I was simply stating that I'm totally comfortable with a more overt political debate. These are political issues, there's no way to discuss them without being political and no point in not being clear. Sorry to offend you.
I'm quite sick of the excuses made for the lack of vision and progress in Lansing by people throughout my life, if that comes off as overdramatic then so be it. There's solutions to every problem, other cities face the same issues and manage to survive and flourish, I will not make excuses for Lansing's shortcomings. This is about not even having a plan in place, not even a discussion about meaningful public improvements or how to achieve growth. If Lansing had been investing in a public project, like those mentioned, once every decade or two it wouldn't seem so daunting an issue, but no, lets continue to kick the can down the road.
Regarding Michigan Ave, I don't need to write public service to know that they could do a Mt Hope like, respectable patch job on Michigan Ave for relatively little money. Besides, I did say that roads were largely out of the city's hands, I was giving Michigan Ave as an example of a street that the city should be willing to spend its own money on to maintain if necessary, because it's crucial to future growth and investment.
If we are going to lay some blame, one could go all the way back the the Reagan era. This was the time when the federal government began the turning away from cities and states. Those years the feds. rang up huge red ink with tax cuts and military spending. The Washington money tap started to be turned off and all the structures that were built with that money were now looked at in a different way. The mantra of getting government out of our lives was elevated to an almost religious doctrine. This dream still lives in the minds of so called conservatives. Trickle down, privatization, free market, unbridled capitalism would take over and solve every problem with a private money making and finding all the solutions. Ask the people in Flint and Detroit how that worked out. The effort to sell the Board of Water and Light and WKAR could have been just another stop on that train. I am so happy we did not go that way.
I may be boring everyone with my Lansing in the past stories, in the 60's it wasn't perfect, but Lansing was almost socialist. Every neighborhood had a park, every park had flowers, and gardens. In tiny Quentin Park there were rock gardens, a sledding hill, a natural ramble, a big playground. tennis and basketball courts and softball fields. PeeWee football in the fall, ice skating in the winter, and activity counselors who lead games and arts and crafts activities in the summer. Every neighborhood had an elementary school that children could walk to. In school we were provided with everything right down to pencils and paper. Sports music the arts and civics were include at every level, there were no extra fees to be on a team or in the band.Every school had a nurse, the county would bring in dentist to give fluoride treatments. I could be wrong but I think the city had the capacity to rebuild roads itself, and I honestly don't remember the streets ever looking like Michigan Ave and many others look today. Many people had union jobs which provided many benefits such as health care and pensions that allowed people to spend their money elsewhere. Working in the public sector was honored and a good paying job. People who just worked on the line owned their homes drove nice cars had a cottage up north with boats and snowmobiles. In other words it all functioned quite well the people were happy and the city was taken care of. All of this was vilified, even hated by the conservative movement. Corporations like GM were badly mismanaged and their salutation was to move production to ever cheaper labor markets. Leaving behind the skilled laborers who were some of GM's best costumers. How did that work out? I still don't understand why the plan seems to be the opposite of their "image" as defenders of the family and country. Poverty and low wages mean people have to work more, be away from home and not raising their children. They can not participate in civic or community life and decisions. If you want to blame something I think the conservative movement is right up there with corporate greed as reasons we find ourselves in our current state. The fact that Lansing is doing pretty well despite all the winds blowing against us is a testament to the fact that in Lansing many people still have good jobs and have belief that community is important and that Lansing is a nice place to live. I would however wish that Lansing would give up the mindset that we have to beg for any development and be grateful for what ever we get. If we were to say beautify the whole city I mean really go for it with flowers trees, nice paved streets, clean rivers and streams, an elegant modern looking transit fleet and system. That alone would could create a frame for much more tourism, which leads to more businesses, more people with good jobs, more taxes being paid. How capitalist! The private sector is never going to pave our streets or beautify our parks, people with money to pay taxes will. It seems to me putting money in peoples hands means more profits for business.The conservative austerity policies are proven failures yet they keep trying to sell that same old horse. Well I guess that was my rant on the subject, if we want change we have to be involved, and I am grateful that this forum is one place to do that.
Hood - I agree with you on Snyder. Though, I personally think the world is too complex for libertarianism.
And to both of you - I don't think that Lansing is on as bad a track as this discussion suggests. The City might not be paying directly for projects but they are doing a good job of working with the County and private entities. Here are a few things I've been impressed with over the past ten years:
-Improvements and extensions to the River Trail make this hands-down the best paved trail network in the entire State....and probably best in the Midwest. It's totally underrated.
-Hawk Island Park - this place is amazing!
-Great improvements to the Zoo (though I miss the old rock structures)
-Streetscaping and stormwater management on Michigan (Pennsylvania to the Capital) and on Washington Square
-Tollgate drain park north of Oakland - this is so cool
-Hunter Park improvements
-Old town has blown up the way no one would have expected 15 years ago
-REO town now exists in people's minds and in general, neighborhoods seems to have more definition than they ever did before
These are mostly landscape/public space projects but they have a much greater impact on quality of life for residents than the convention center or even the stadium. These are all pragmatic, intelligent projects that took a lot of planning and vision and conversations. On that note, the City's master plan update and BRT work are two major planning initiatives that have produced meaningful discussion and vision for the area.
In terms of private development:
-Accident Trust Fund is one of the most impressive renovation projects this country has seen (it would stand out in NY or Chicago)
-Knapps and Arbough, amazing that these two building have been reborn. Knapps particularly may be the most unique building in MI
-The Capital looks gorgeous
-Washington Sq has more life than I've ever seen
-LCC's doing amazing things
-Prudden
-BWL Coogeneration plant
-Marshall Street Armory (i'm shocked Lansing hasn't gotten a lot more cred for historic preservation)
-Major expansion of Sparrow
-Major renovations to stadium
-5 or 6 Gillespie projects that fill a necessary niche for urban living
-There must be 7-10 four-story apartment buildings in the works (these are the lifeblood of viable cities)
-EL is still ten years behind the successful college towns, but MSU has done a pretty good job developing
-We've got an f'ing Zaha Hadid museum here!
Still plenty of room for improvement (and I totally agree about the need for an art/performance center in Lansing) but 15 years ago this region was a sprawling shit-show. Let's please not ever go back to that.
Noticed the old warehouse building painted black at the southwest corner Kalamzoo and Hosmer I mentioned a few weeks back had workers going in and out with boards. Looks like it's actually under renovation. Into what, I have no idea as they haven't gone public with it. Up Hosmer at Michigan, the renovation of the old liquor store storefront is coming along quickly. It's a nice renovation. The Gillespie logo is plastered all over the windows. lol
@gbinlansing I don't want to go too much further down the political rabbit hole than I already have, so I'll just say that liberalism and conservatism are two sides of the same coin and both ideologies would be capable of destroying this country if implemented in their entirety. Getting away from the idea that we only have two choices in government is crucial to improving politics and government, especially at the federal level.
As for stories about the Lansing of old, I always enjoy learning some local history whether it's you or a family member telling it. I does make me a little depressed to know what once was though, especially regarding the parks and city services.
@MJ I'd agree that the world is too complex for libertarianism as a whole, that's why I always specify 'civil' libertarian (even that may be too broad a brush to paint myself with). Obviously our society is nowhere near mature enough to handle total freedom (aka anarchy), but I do think it should be a (very, very) long term goal. One thing's for certain, the federal government and politics in general are completely broken in this country and I haven't heard a reasonable solution from anyone, I can't think of one and it's something I think about quite a bit.
All of your positive points on Lansing are very much valid, I admittedly focus too much on the negative side of everything, I'm a critic at heart. I still stand by all my negative points though, this city is positioned to do much better than it has been and I still think this area needs to be far more ambitious if we're ever going to capitalize on all those positive things you mentioned.
@MichMatters I'm interested in how far they go with their renovation of that building at Kalamazoo & Hosmer. I wonder if they'll keep that vinyl-clad wall as is and I especially wonder if there's any chance at all of exposing the original brick facade.
Comments
Lansing desperately needs more significant public investment. We need a better home and expanded focus for the RE Olds and Impression 5 museums (an art museum and performing arts center would also be nice), we'll need an improved/expanded convention center at some point, we need our parks to be well maintained along with a few signature parks that see significant investment and we absolutely need our roads to be far better maintained. It's almost laughable that the city is trying to market Michigan Ave as this great place to visit/live/work/invest yet the road is a sea of potholes with poor streetscaping, but instead of doing even a minimal fix (like on E Mt Hope) they sit on their hands and wait for BRT funding that is years off and may never even come. These are things that other cities do, why not Lansing? The only thing I listed that's really out of the City's hands are the roads, even then the City needs to maintain its premier corridors better with or without state/federal funding. Improved museums and parks are well within reach and there should be concrete strategies to realize these things. There's really no excuse for the way things are and this is what frustrates me so much.
The city is not bullshitting anyone. They literally don't have the money for local roads, which is why you've seen all of the patches and minimal resurfacing work. The only major reconstructions that can get done are projects in which the state is involved, where state and federal dollars can be leveraged.
I don't think people get just how much Michigan is still just hanging on. This isn't just Lansing. Our public sector has just been gutted and demoralized. Even in the more successful cities, it's only the private sector that's doing all right. This isn't a bug, it's a feature of the state's policies for decades, but particularly since 2010. The Bridge online magazine has done quite a few articles on how the state has turned into Indiana with low taxes but low service levels (and thus really bad outcomes). Bernero has basically been in a position where all he's been able to do is to try and keep Lansing out of Snyder's hands through an EM; it's just really been that basic. The city hasn't had the luxury or being able to dream big.
As for revenue sharing cuts, a quick look would show that revenue sharing cuts continued unabated through the Engler, Granholm and Snyder administrations. Under Snyder's (controversial) revised revenue sharing guidelines many cities finally saw their first year-over-year increase in years for 2014 (admittedly mostly due to the improving national economy). The corporate tax cuts were a necessary evil to remain competitive with all the other states selling their souls for jobs. This state was bleeding corporations and their jobs, all fleeing for warmer climates with more advantageous tax structures. The problem with corporations/businesses/investors whoring out our communities and state governments is going to have to be dealt with simultaneously at a federal and international level. Reigning in the power of corporations in general while keeping their beneficial aspects is imperative to this country as a whole moving forward.
I know the City can't do everything it'd like to in these hard times, but to stick to my example, there still no excuse for Michigan Ave to look the way that it does. It's supposed to be the focal point of rejuvenation of this entire area and they can't squeeze a few hundred thousand out of somewhere to properly patch the street to get by another five or so years? Also, my point is largely that there's not even a conversation about about making major public improvements so we can begin to grasp what it will take to get things done. Everyone in this city and state seem to have this attitude that anything better is unreachable so we should just be happy that things aren't worse, that's not an acceptable attitude. There's absolutely no excuse to not even have a conversation about these things and create a plan as to how to get them done, yet our leaders consistently play the blame game rather than tackling the problem at hand.
And if you want to outright blame the Republicans or Snyder or otherwise be openly political, just say so, no reason to dance around the subject. I don't have a problem bluntly saying I'm a civil libertarian, an independent on economic issues (the economy is far too complicated to go full-on libertarian), I despise politicians and especially the two major parties. I'll be the first to admit that I've liked Snyder (I'll hold judgement on this Flint water issue), just the facts that he's stayed away from civil issues and done some important things to get Detroit on the right track means a lot to me.
I was really trying to discuss the issues and initially didn't respond to your original post because it was so overdramatic, but you seemed to have taken it personally. I think what you just did was a bit inappropriate. Not once did I call you out personally. Interested in Michigan Avenue, go look up the Department of Public Service budget, write the head to see how much it cost to fix that street, see if its something we could conceivably do without literally cancelling every other thing that department has to do (other services, other street porjects) in a budget year. You can't just throw out an opinion as fact.
Lansing city government has spent the post-recession years being cut to the bone just to keep itself out of becoming a candidate for emergency management, and here they are getting accused of holding back. You try a massive vision on a shoe-string budget. Lansing has just gotten around to tiny surpluses for the first time in something like a decade. Talk about fiscal conservatism; that's exactly what Lansing has been doing out of sheer necessity for years, now. You want them to go back into the red bonding out for huge projects? You can't have it both ways.
What we see isn't some argument against one politician or another, because at each level, Republican or Democrat, both have played with the same ideology ruling the day, one out of belief and the other out of necessity. This isn't about a person, it's the direct result of a particular ideological view of government plus the larger economy. Every governor since the 90's has been playing "fiscal conservative" since the 90's. Hell, Granholm cut more state government employees than any other because she didn't have a choice. People who support this brand of policy position can't cry foul when it actually ends up playing itself out in real life from people who see it as desirable rather than doing it as a last resort.
I'm quite sick of the excuses made for the lack of vision and progress in Lansing by people throughout my life, if that comes off as overdramatic then so be it. There's solutions to every problem, other cities face the same issues and manage to survive and flourish, I will not make excuses for Lansing's shortcomings. This is about not even having a plan in place, not even a discussion about meaningful public improvements or how to achieve growth. If Lansing had been investing in a public project, like those mentioned, once every decade or two it wouldn't seem so daunting an issue, but no, lets continue to kick the can down the road.
Regarding Michigan Ave, I don't need to write public service to know that they could do a Mt Hope like, respectable patch job on Michigan Ave for relatively little money. Besides, I did say that roads were largely out of the city's hands, I was giving Michigan Ave as an example of a street that the city should be willing to spend its own money on to maintain if necessary, because it's crucial to future growth and investment.
I may be boring everyone with my Lansing in the past stories, in the 60's it wasn't perfect, but Lansing was almost socialist. Every neighborhood had a park, every park had flowers, and gardens. In tiny Quentin Park there were rock gardens, a sledding hill, a natural ramble, a big playground. tennis and basketball courts and softball fields. PeeWee football in the fall, ice skating in the winter, and activity counselors who lead games and arts and crafts activities in the summer. Every neighborhood had an elementary school that children could walk to. In school we were provided with everything right down to pencils and paper. Sports music the arts and civics were include at every level, there were no extra fees to be on a team or in the band.Every school had a nurse, the county would bring in dentist to give fluoride treatments. I could be wrong but I think the city had the capacity to rebuild roads itself, and I honestly don't remember the streets ever looking like Michigan Ave and many others look today. Many people had union jobs which provided many benefits such as health care and pensions that allowed people to spend their money elsewhere. Working in the public sector was honored and a good paying job. People who just worked on the line owned their homes drove nice cars had a cottage up north with boats and snowmobiles. In other words it all functioned quite well the people were happy and the city was taken care of. All of this was vilified, even hated by the conservative movement. Corporations like GM were badly mismanaged and their salutation was to move production to ever cheaper labor markets. Leaving behind the skilled laborers who were some of GM's best costumers. How did that work out? I still don't understand why the plan seems to be the opposite of their "image" as defenders of the family and country. Poverty and low wages mean people have to work more, be away from home and not raising their children. They can not participate in civic or community life and decisions. If you want to blame something I think the conservative movement is right up there with corporate greed as reasons we find ourselves in our current state. The fact that Lansing is doing pretty well despite all the winds blowing against us is a testament to the fact that in Lansing many people still have good jobs and have belief that community is important and that Lansing is a nice place to live. I would however wish that Lansing would give up the mindset that we have to beg for any development and be grateful for what ever we get. If we were to say beautify the whole city I mean really go for it with flowers trees, nice paved streets, clean rivers and streams, an elegant modern looking transit fleet and system. That alone would could create a frame for much more tourism, which leads to more businesses, more people with good jobs, more taxes being paid. How capitalist! The private sector is never going to pave our streets or beautify our parks, people with money to pay taxes will. It seems to me putting money in peoples hands means more profits for business.The conservative austerity policies are proven failures yet they keep trying to sell that same old horse. Well I guess that was my rant on the subject, if we want change we have to be involved, and I am grateful that this forum is one place to do that.
Hood - I agree with you on Snyder. Though, I personally think the world is too complex for libertarianism.
And to both of you - I don't think that Lansing is on as bad a track as this discussion suggests. The City might not be paying directly for projects but they are doing a good job of working with the County and private entities. Here are a few things I've been impressed with over the past ten years:
-Improvements and extensions to the River Trail make this hands-down the best paved trail network in the entire State....and probably best in the Midwest. It's totally underrated.
-Hawk Island Park - this place is amazing!
-Great improvements to the Zoo (though I miss the old rock structures)
-Streetscaping and stormwater management on Michigan (Pennsylvania to the Capital) and on Washington Square
-Tollgate drain park north of Oakland - this is so cool
-Hunter Park improvements
-Old town has blown up the way no one would have expected 15 years ago
-REO town now exists in people's minds and in general, neighborhoods seems to have more definition than they ever did before
These are mostly landscape/public space projects but they have a much greater impact on quality of life for residents than the convention center or even the stadium. These are all pragmatic, intelligent projects that took a lot of planning and vision and conversations. On that note, the City's master plan update and BRT work are two major planning initiatives that have produced meaningful discussion and vision for the area.
In terms of private development:
-Accident Trust Fund is one of the most impressive renovation projects this country has seen (it would stand out in NY or Chicago)
-Knapps and Arbough, amazing that these two building have been reborn. Knapps particularly may be the most unique building in MI
-The Capital looks gorgeous
-Washington Sq has more life than I've ever seen
-LCC's doing amazing things
-Prudden
-BWL Coogeneration plant
-Marshall Street Armory (i'm shocked Lansing hasn't gotten a lot more cred for historic preservation)
-Major expansion of Sparrow
-Major renovations to stadium
-5 or 6 Gillespie projects that fill a necessary niche for urban living
-There must be 7-10 four-story apartment buildings in the works (these are the lifeblood of viable cities)
-EL is still ten years behind the successful college towns, but MSU has done a pretty good job developing
-We've got an f'ing Zaha Hadid museum here!
Still plenty of room for improvement (and I totally agree about the need for an art/performance center in Lansing) but 15 years ago this region was a sprawling shit-show. Let's please not ever go back to that.
As for stories about the Lansing of old, I always enjoy learning some local history whether it's you or a family member telling it. I does make me a little depressed to know what once was though, especially regarding the parks and city services.
@MJ I'd agree that the world is too complex for libertarianism as a whole, that's why I always specify 'civil' libertarian (even that may be too broad a brush to paint myself with). Obviously our society is nowhere near mature enough to handle total freedom (aka anarchy), but I do think it should be a (very, very) long term goal. One thing's for certain, the federal government and politics in general are completely broken in this country and I haven't heard a reasonable solution from anyone, I can't think of one and it's something I think about quite a bit.
All of your positive points on Lansing are very much valid, I admittedly focus too much on the negative side of everything, I'm a critic at heart. I still stand by all my negative points though, this city is positioned to do much better than it has been and I still think this area needs to be far more ambitious if we're ever going to capitalize on all those positive things you mentioned.
@MichMatters I'm interested in how far they go with their renovation of that building at Kalamazoo & Hosmer. I wonder if they'll keep that vinyl-clad wall as is and I especially wonder if there's any chance at all of exposing the original brick facade.