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Catch-up with East Lansing City Council's busy summer

August 26, 2015
<p>The East Lansing City Council members discuss issues at the August 4 meeting inside East Lansing City Hall on August 4, 2015. Joshua Abraham/The State News</p>

The East Lansing City Council members discuss issues at the August 4 meeting inside East Lansing City Hall on August 4, 2015. Joshua Abraham/The State News

Photo by Joshua Abraham | The State News

While most students were away for the summer, the East Lansing City Council was operating at full speed. Here are three things you may have missed from council over the summer. 

New development plans at the site of the old Tasty Twist building 

 At its July 7 meeting, the East Lansing City Council approved site plans and special-use permits for a six-story mixed-use building on the corner of Grand River and Spartan avenues

The mixed-use building is planned for 1301 and 1307 E. Grand River Ave. and 116-132 Spartan Ave., and its construction will require the demolition of the Tasty Treat building, Citgo gas station and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house.

According to a city staff report, the building will include 4 one-bedroom, 26 two-bedroom, 12 three-bedroom and 20 four-bedroom apartments. It will also include 149 parking spaces with 1,739 square feet of commercial space on the first floor.

Although the site plan has been approved, the project will have to appear before council and the Downtown Development Authority once again in order for its Brownfield plan to be approved before it can move forward.

East Lansing and surrounding cities and townships created the Greater Lansing Taxi Authority 

The objective when creating the Greater Lansing Taxi Authority, according to Mayor Nathan Triplett, was to set consistent regulations for cab companies and drivers in the cities of Lansing and East Lansing, on the campus of MSU and in the townships Meridian, Delhi, Delta, and Lansing.

With all parties on board, it will make the process for cab drivers in the area to get registered shorter, but also eliminate issues of inconsistency such as cab drivers having licenses to operate in the city of East Lansing or Lansing, but not the other that have occurred in the past.

“What you really need is one uniform set of rules for the whole region because that’s what the taxi market looks like. It’s regional not jurisdictional,” said Triplett.

Triplett also said this amendment will improve the quality and professionalism of cabs in the region while making them more accessible during day-time hours.

Council took on hate

East Lansing City Council took on hate at its August 4 meeting. Council teamed up with Rashida Tlaib, a former state representative, to present a resolution which states that the city supports The Campaign to Take on Hate and is committed to eliminating hate and discrimination. The resolution also says the city agrees to protect all families and citizens of East Lansing no matter religion or ethnicity.

The Campaign to Take on Hate, according to its website, opposes and stands against all forms of hate and bigotry toward any group of people. It was of launched in 2014 and challenges the growing discrimination and misconception of Arab and Muslim Americans, including refugees of Arab and Muslim descent, in the U.S. It also inspires a positive perception of Arab and Muslim Americans, creates systematic policy changes at the national and local levels and builds greater capacity for communities as a whole.

“We can’t attack people because of their faith or their ethnicity. If that happens then who do we become as a country?" said Tlaib. 

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