East Lansing
An East Lansing resident reviews the city council agenda.

EL residents voice homelessness solutions after City Council vetoes one camping ordinance, passes another

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After the six-hour council meeting that ended at nearly 1 a.m., East Lansing City Council reached a decision on ordinances designed to address public camping after postponing the vote for nearly three months. The council voted down Ordinance 1566—which would have introduced jail time for temporarily living in a public space—but approved Ordinance 1565, making the use of parking structures for shelter a civil infraction with up to $100 in fines.

East Lansing

East Lansing City Council postpones vote on public camping ban for second time

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On Feb. 17, council members voted to postpone the consideration of ordinance 1565 and 1566 — amending East Lansing’s disorderly conduct ordinance to add restrictions for “camping” and redefine the term “public space” to include city-owned facilities like parking lots. The vote was postponed until March 17 as the council decided they needed more time to consider alternate wording and amendments after a divisive public comment period.

East Lansing

East Lansing City Council Approves Proposal for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training for the East Lansing Police Department

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EAST LANSING – The East Lansing City Council recently held an open meeting at the Hannah Community Center and voted unanimously to approve a new proposal for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training for the East Lansing Police Department. It was passed with hopes of making East Lansing a more inclusive place to live. Elaine Hardy, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, consulted with a preferred vendor to determine the best strategy. According to the proposal, the goal of further DEI training is to assess the current level of DEI knowledge, create specific goals for the coming year and offer multiple learning sessions to deepen the overall understanding of DEI concepts. East Lansing Interim Police Chief Chad Pride spoke in favor of the proposal.

Government

Fenton City Council discusses mobile vendor ordinance

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Citizens and officials gathered on June 12 to discuss and work to approve or deny the ordinance that discusses food truck licensing and regulation in the city. Regulation is speculated for whether or not food trucks and vendors should be required to be licensed to operate in the city or for special occasions. The ordinance, which is labeled as No. 714 mobile vendor ordinance, and states it will “secure public health safety and general welfare of the residents and property owners of the City of Fenton…by regulating Mobile Vendors within the City and to repeal all ordinances or parts thereof in conflict within.” 

The process, if approved, will have the steps of verifying the relevant code pertaining to the operating mobile vendor, determining if a certification is required, if required then payment of fees and application and then adhering to vending requirements and finally verifying the zoning compliance. 

City council members have not come to a conclusion. 

Fenton city attorney Chris Patterson said in a city council meeting: “We’re going to create an application form and I think the application form will also help and then have to set a checkbox that will say, ‘are you doing this?’ If not, you don’t need to do this and ‘are you doing this?’, proceed to complete this section. They’re designed to sort of make this licensing system work easier because we are asking individuals to potentially, in a certain scenario, complete a license.” 

Patterson advised the city council on the overall process of the food truck ordinance and the process on how to achieve its licensing and approval to operate in the city of Fenton. 

“Consistent as a peddler and a solicitor’s license, they also have to coordinate with the property owner to get a special event zoning permit,” said Patterson. 

Food truck ordinances come into place because of various reasons. 

“We did have complaints about the generators and the trash,” Fenton Mayor Sue Osborn said at the meeting.

News

Torrance City Council meeting draws vocal citizen comment

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The Torrance City Council meeting held on June 20 drew a crowd, half of the citizens carrying signs demanding environmental change with the others decked out in patriotic attire. Demands for the Torrance Refinery to be more transparent were made along with groups fighting to stop a decision that would allow flags other than that of the country or state on street lamps and poles. 

A proposed discussion was on the agenda to help the city council members decide whether the city should allow banners or flags, other than that of the city or state, to be put on city street lamps and poles. Three business owners discussed wanting to put banners with company logos or decorate the city for events. 

Despite there being no mention of specific events or kinds of flags that would be acceptable, there were rows of citizens adorned in American flag attire at the meeting that had come to try to stop the city councilors from allowing this. Seven members from that group who came up to speak targeted their comments toward pride month

 “A month dedicated to the sexual preference of one group has become overwhelming and unnecessary,” said one member of the group. 

All comments that were not in favor of allowing more kinds of flags and banners focused on pride month, despite pride flags being only one example given by community members. 

City council members and the mayor said they are dedicated to bettering their community and local government is all about the seemingly small issues. 

“Local government participation is where the public gets to truly interact with their elected officials in a very transparent forum,” said Mayor George Chen. “We encourage everyone to come and let their voice be heard.” 

Another group of citizens were present at this meeting, but for an entirely different cause.

City Council

Harbor Springs skate park project is ready to kickflip in to action

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City staff and members of the Harbor Springs community announced the Ted Swarthout Memorial Skatepark Project during the city council meeting on August 2, 2021. 

The fundraising project, which was brought to the city by Sunny Wagner, aims to revamp the Harbor Springs SK8 Park to honor the vision of Swarthout, Sunny’s brother, who passed away earlier this year while awaiting an organ transplant. 

Parks Director Rachel Roon and Harbor Springs SK8 Park coordinator Nate Jacques led the presentation outlining Swarthout’s vision for the new park and the issues with the current park. 

Among other issues, Jacques said he believes the current state of the park is unsafe and financially challenging to maintain over time. 

The park, which is largely made up of wooden skate structures, has to be moved and reorganized every season and Jacques says that only contributes more to its wear and tear and lack of safety. “It is the biggest jigsaw puzzle of my life,” said Jacques. 

Not only are the structures difficult to maintain, but the asphalt surface they sit on can lead to even more challenges.  “Over time the surface has deteriorated so much that massive cracks, gaps, bumps and weathering issues have made safe skating next to impossible,” said Jacques. 

According to the presentation at the meeting, fixing the surface and replacing the wooden structures would require approximately $150,000, but the same issues would eventually come back. 

“Skatepark usage has increased over the years,” said Roon. “The locals are using it, the visitors are using it, so it’s something we really need to look at.” 

The solution, according to the project, is to transform the park to be made entirely from concrete. This will cut costs in staffing, maintenance and equipment while also eliminating many of the current safety issues. 

Evergreen Skateparks is a skatepark company from Portland, Oregon, who have made several parks across the country as well as several already in Michigan.