If or when East Lansing city officials form plans to raze buildings on 36 acres of land adjacent to the Red Cedar River, students might actually pay attention this time. They should. Cedar Village could be next on the East Lansing chopping block.

The buildings proposed for renovation would include 22 rental houses, 691 apartment units, six fraternities and the Atlantis cooperative house. Tweaking and improving the housing in Cedar Village has been on the city's agenda ever since the 1999 and 2003 riots. The area was officially designated in poor condition in 2000 by the city. A makeover for the area has been one of East Lansing's worst kept secrets since 1999.

East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said he wanted to see the location enjoy a more "vibrant, mixed use" of condominiums, lofts and retail space over a 10-year development plan.

This looks like progress; surely, the area is run down. A funky, stale odor lingers in the hallways of the apartments. Walls are kicked in, and signs announcing the presence of fraternities are sometimes missing and other times abused. Landlords tend to put as little money in to get the most money out. The architecture hails from an era long gone. The area could be put to much, much better use - even by student standards.

But the city needs to keep in mind the 2,000-plus students who will be displaced if the plan is put into motion. Right now, the city has a big chance to fulfill its own goals of cleaning up while at the same time reducing the antagonism some students feel for the city they're convinced is trying to push them north.

The city needs to make sure that most students can actually afford rent in the new housing, not just the super rich. East Lansing should be a place that students still want to claim as their own.

At its worst, the proposed plan could be taken as just another strategic chess move to build the city's tax base at the expense of renters. Build rental properties in the space where rental property could be razed, but keep in mind who is being displaced. This is not one block of one avenue. Enacting this measure is lopping a leg out from off-campus living.

This would also be the only riverfront property not on the university to which city developers have access. Development along the river has been a key focus of the plan so far. This focus on the location has potential to intimidate students with less available funds. Hopefully, city planners can work with students to help give them what they want.

Cedar Village, for however run down and icky it may seem to the city, is a part of our life. Alumni remember and talk nostalgically of it. While most would agree this part of the city could look better, it has a vibe and personality few can forget. To effectively lose the student dynamic of the area would forever change and close a chapter of East Lansing's history.

But if the city really wants to get the vibrant, mixed use out of the area, students must be an integral part. Leveling one of the facilitators to riots in 1999 and 2003 does not affect the permanence those disturbances had on East Lansing, nor diminish their existence. Cedar Village is history in East Lansing, for better or for worse.