It brought to mind a conversation I’ve had far too many times. Perhaps you’ve encountered some variation of it? It goes like this:

Person 1: What can we do tonight?

Person 2: Drink?

Person 1: We did that last night. Anything else?

Person 2: Drink?

Occasionally, this ends with heading to the Meridian Mall or the movies. If one has some cash, perhaps shopping downtown is in the cards. Perhaps. In the end, if you want to do something besides hit the bars, go elsewhere.

To drive the point home, here’s an excerpt from a story about why students will choose higher East Lansing housing prices over “dirt-cheap” Lansing housing, courtesy of Doug Cron, owner of Cron Management. It’s almost as if the best thing East Lansing has going for it is its proximity to MSU.

“You’re dealing with whether students want to ride the bus to campus or if they want to have the convenience of being downtown,” Cron said. “(Houses close to campus) are the ones the majority of students want.”

East Lansing is convenient, and to some extent, offers a student-oriented nightlife. Although I spent the majority of my life in East Lansing, I moved to Lansing when I had the chance because it was cheap. It was only after that I discovered I was within walking distance of interesting things to do — things that changed, hidden gems, all that stuff.

Granted, what interests me might not appeal to everyone. For example, the last place I lived was down an alleyway behind a liquor store. And although I’m pretty sure there was a crack house across the alley, the location was within walking distance of a popcorn shop, a boxing gym, a local market, Preuss Animal House, Old Town and Cristo Rey Community Center. I saw a diverse array of people (for better or worse) each day.

But as Cron pointed out, living in East Lansing is about convenience. Once I transferred to MSU, my commute took about an hour … and that kind of sucks with an 8 a.m. class. So, I had to move back. I live just inside of East Lansing next to Frandor, but I can walk to class in 20 minutes if I need to.

This arrangement is OK as long as my life is centered around MSU. I’m either at my apartment or at work. Afterward, I can hit the bars — of which there are plenty — and eat cheap food after 2 a.m. That works fine for right now, but it doesn’t seem like a place I want to stick around after I’m done with school.

The city seems to understand this fact at least a little, but somehow has interpreted this need as a reason to build really nice apartments and condos downtown. That plan hasn’t exactly worked out. Not for lack of trying, but just because East Lansing lacks the kind of underlying structure for which young professionals are looking. Lansing, whether through a larger, more diverse population, or simple luck, is creating a city where one can live and play.

It is difficult to say whether East Lansing has fallen behind because of a reliance on a population that won’t stick around or because it hasn’t maximized its use of space. Perhaps building more cheap, affordable student housing in the middle of downtown would help open rental houses for other things, such as cheap places for community art houses or businesses.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m missing out on all the great things to do here, but when it comes down to it, I think East Lansing is just missing something, period.

David Barker is the State News opinion editor. Reach him at barkerd@msu.edu.