Representatives from electric scooter companies Bird and LimeBike were in attendance at City Hall Tuesday night to make a case for the scooters on MSU’s campus, and by extension, East Lansing.
An example of the scooters available from both companies were brought to the meeting.
Senior manager of Government Relations at Bird, Ted Fetters, presented the council with data on usage and safety.
“Safety means staying off the sidewalks and not blocking the right of way,” Fetters said.
He also said East Lansing has had one of the strongest market responses to the scooters.
The council was more interested in why Bird had given East Lansing no prior notice when they brought their scooters to the city.
“I woke up one morning as a councilmember to about ten different Facebook messages and a few emails about scooters parked random places. I had no idea," Councilmember Aaron Stephens said.
Fetters said his company often does not provide prior notice before implementing a product. He also said the sudden implementation of the scooters in East Lansing was to gather data on the councilmembers' reactions to them.
"As a business practice, often notice is not given," Fetter said. "This particular exercise was a pop-up to gather some data, for us to be able to show city council members and others the benefits that are there, and the demand that is out there."
Other cities that were not given prior notice to Bird’s arrival are Ann Arbor and Detroit. MLive reported earlier this week that some of the scooters in Ann Arbor have been impounded.
The council said that should the scooters be parked improperly in East Lansing, they will be impounded as well. This means impeding pedestrian traffic, parked in bike lanes or blocking any means of accessibility for disabled persons.
When Mayor Pro Tem Erik Altmann asked if Bird would pay impound fees for the scooters left in violation, Fetters said Bird would do so, though the company would prefer their field employees be informed of the situation and retrieve the scooters instead.
"We'd like the opportunity to work with the city … to get a reasonable time frame where we could receive notice, and one of our field staff would be able to come remove that (Bird) very quickly, so that it's out of the right of way," Fetter said.
According to city code, electric scooters can only be driven on the street, as they are not allowed on sidewalks or bike lanes.
A major issue for the city council that was raised to both company representatives was safety and legal procedures for both riders and employees in the city.
“I have a couple questions about liability," Altmann said. "If a user injures themselves using one of their scooters, who do they sue? Or have they given up their rights when they download the app?”
Fetters said he did not know.
“That’s sort of out of my bailiwick in terms of who sues who,” he said.
LimeBike's Director of Northeast Expansion, Scott Mullen, presented on behalf of the company. LimeBike has previously been on contact with East Lansing about bringing their scooters to the city, though they have not yet launched in the area.
Both company representatives said the scooters are unlikely to operate during the winter months.
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Around 8 p.m. councilmember Ruth Beier joined the meeting. She is on leave of absence until the end of December, but she may be able to attend some meetings. Mayor Mark Meadows will not be present for regular meetings until Oct. 16.
The second half of the city council meeting was devoted largely to Park District, an ongoing development project slated for the Evergreen and Grand River intersection.
Park District has been in the planning stages since 2016 when the land and property was purchased for redevelopment.
At the Aug. 14 council meeting the city council conditionally approved the site plan for Park District. The plan includes a proposal to construct a full service hotel, an eleven story mixed use retail and apartment building and a four story building for “income-qualified tenants.”
Communications and Economic Development Administrator for East Lansing, Thomas Fehrenbach, presented on the current state of the project. One concern from Stephens was how more housing (including the Center City Development) would complicate parking for businesses in downtown East Lansing.
“We’re around 2,600 (parking spaces) right now and so we’re adding another 600 so we’ll be over 3,200 downtown,” Planning, Building and Development Director Tim Dempsey said.
After a discussion of the parking and development process, the motion carried to accept the development agreement between the City of East Lansing, the Downtown Development Board of East Lansing, the East Lansing Brownfield Authority and 100 Grand River LLC and 341 Evergreen LLC. Since the development agreement was accepted, developers can move forward in financing the project and eventually constructing it.
