Regional Politics
This thread was started from an idea that MichMatters shared with me.
With this being an election year for Lansing's mayoral seat, it would be a good idea to have a place where people can discuss the politicians and policies that are being discussed. This is not restricted to Lansing, as I'm sure there are other communities that we'll want to discuss here.
Please keep this thread limited to local politics.
Comments
I have not been back so long that I know exactly what kind of mayor Virg. has been, it seems like he made a good move by not running again. If the way he behaved the same as during this downtown sub-station "debate" all this time, then I can understand why he is thought of as a my way or the highway kind of mayor. I think he can leave knowing he did a pretty good job for Lansing, and let someone else give it a go. I think a regional approach to the problems of our whole Greater Lansing area would give every community more money and power to solve problems and make progress. At 500,000 we would be one of the largest cities in Michigan.
Thank you for posting the update here, I hadn't seen it published elsewhere and didn't know the outcome.
Ditto. I couldn't even find the mayoral (s)election results on the EL city website.
Eli has a great article on the fallout from the failure of the EL income tax on city council's future plans:
http://eastlansinginfo.org/content/council-discusses-major-budget-cuts-following-income-tax-failure
Some highlights...
Erik Altman throws a huge, vindictive tantrum in response to the tax failure. He suggests cutting deeply across all programs, shutting down/selling off key community resources (Hannah! trash pickup! library! among others...), but paying more for roads (he uses them) and raises for city employees (cuts will mean more work for them...).
I'm really shocked at this, as I voted for him because he has always impressed me as a reasonable, fiscally responsible, fact-oriented administrator, and a reasonably nice community member. He was a key player in getting the old Bailey school rehabbed into affordable housing instead of being torn down for student apartments. I'm guessing that there is some hyperbole here on his part, but either way, if he's serious I'll never vote for him again, and if he's not, I'm still not sure I want to vote for someone who is this immature when they don't get their way.
Mayor Mark Meadows continues to deny the city's responsibility for controlling legacy costs. I understand that the city retirees are required to be paid their benefits by the state constitution, so maybe this (and his own hand in causing these problems when he was formerly on city council in the past...) is why Meadows continues to dodge questions on the city's bad historical decisions ("everyone else was doing it!") and insist these legacy costs are a "financial and moral" obligation?
And just out of curiosity, does the city TRULY have no leverage to modify/reduce these legacy costs short of bankruptcy???
Draheim, the new guy (Stephens), and Beier seem to be a lot more level headed about all of this stuff, and recognize that some taxes/fees will need to go up, and some staff/services will need to get cut. Which I'm fine with - honestly, do we need an almost free aquatic park when the city can't balance its budget??? What can the city do to harmonize essential services (fire, trash) with the university and other local municipalities to save money? Why not put a road/infrastructure tax on the ballot to ease financial pressure on other parts of the budget?
That is interesting information. Would you say that Ms. Wood has good reasons to oppose development? I just wonder why would anyone oppose development in Lansing? Maybe it was her verse Virg and she will like Andy better. Ms. Wood is always the only council member who responds to issues on seeclickfix.com. that does not mean that she always gets things done, the Holmes Street School still sits there not really boarded up and being vandalized.
I am sorry to hear Ms. Woods is a conservative, I will try not to let that diminish my view of her too much! I am hoping for a general comity to be the way these folks conduct themselves with new council members and a new major. Why have factions? Lansing should be their only concern.
I hope that this council doesn't do too much to interfere with development in the city. I'm less optimistic about Lansing's future than I was back in 2008, so much of what has been proposed in the past 10 years hasn't materialized and I don't think enough momentum has been gained to weather an anti-development city government. There's no telling how long the favorable national economy will last nor is it clear if the resurgence in cities and urban living is a fad or a longer term shift, Lansing has to capitalize on this time.
I'm going to remain in wait and see mode when it comes to this council and mayor but I'm not liking the way the city government is shaping up as of now and having a mother-son duo on the council is an ominous sign for the city's politics. I just hope that the council recognizes that the revitalization of Lansing is in a very fragile state right now, that any momentum lost could be disastrous and that growing and improving the city at large starts with a growing and vibrant downtown. Without a significantly improved and expanded downtown Lansing simply won't be a strong competitor to attract the best people or companies.
Thank you for the inside view of the new city government. I often wonder about politicians and their reasons for being. It would seem obvious for a city council person in Lansing to be pro-development. To have goals like getting marijuana out of Lansing after that Genie has been out the bottle for so long is just a stupid holier than thou attitude that will go nowhere. Why? How will this help Lansing? I am thinking that Lansing might very well be rolling along to a brighter future despite what our city government may be doing, much like our national economy is rolling along despite, not because of what our government is doing in Washington.
Not to be a storm cloud on the horizon, but we are due for a recession some time in the near future... which will undoubtedly slow momentum for local development, regardless of the desires of any city council. My major concerns at this point would be the end of the yet-to-start Red Cedar project, as well as any other large future building projects along the Michigan Ave corridor.
I wonder why you think that a recession is on the way? I could see some issues with GM figuring out how to grow in the coming years. I have seen reports of the overall world economy as continuing to grow in future as more people around the world are lifted out of poverty and become consumers, and the world spends less on fossil fuels for energy.
I do agree that it is very important to get the Red Cedar project going now in good times. I do not see anything like the Great Recession that we have just been through happening unless the repubs somehow screw it all up or get us into another war.