The candidates gathered at the Hannah Community Center Wednesday for the forum, which was co-sponsored by local media outlet East Lansing Info and the League of Women Voters of the Lansing Area. Audience members were encouraged to submit questions.

The six candidates are vying for two open seats on the council in the upcoming Nov. 4 election, as councilmember Dana Watson and Mayor George Brookover have announced they're not running for re-election. After city elections in East Lansing, the five-person council votes among themselves to decide which members will be designated mayor and mayor pro temp, though those two positions remain voting members of the council. 

Managing 'wild' downtown

Candidates addressed issues of increased violence in the city’s downtown area. The discussion comes as East Lansing deliberates the extent of police oversight after videos of arrests during welcome week went viral, sparking concerns of excessive force.

Candidate Chuck Grigsby said that despite public safety budget concerns, he’d be open to expanding public safety in the downtown area to combat violence. 

“We're just not able to handle what's going on downtown,” Grigsby said. “I think it's gonna get worse and students are only going to get a little bit more wilder each year as they come in.”

Candidate Joshua Ramirez-Roberts said part of the problem is the lack of places for students to go past 8 p.m. The only options are bars and the arcade Pinball Pete’s, and “most people who go to Pinball Pete’s have already been to the bars,” Ramirez-Roberts said. 

Candidate Steve Whelan served on the East Lansing Police Department for 25 years prior to running for city council. Many of those nights were spent at MSU football games or downtown, he said. In his experience, the issues largely begin right around 2 a.m., when "everyone starts flooding out (of the bars)."

Candidate Liam Richichi suggested that MSU police officers should assist in taming downtown crowds. The issues are coming from students and MSU should start “coming up to the plate," he said. (MSU Police spokesperson Nadia Vizueta said the department can't comment because no one has contacted it about assisting law enforcement efforts downtown). 

For some, increasing police presence downtown isn’t a catch-all to solve the problem. 

“The issue is not a lack of or no enforcement,” candidate Adam DeLay said. Rather, the issue is the congregation of large crowds in the downtown area. To cut down on crowd size, DeLay proposed temporary road closures on Albert Street to stop the mix of crowds and traffic. 

Whelan proposed the construction of a park in the Ann Street Plaza to help mitigate the crowds.

Candidate Kath Edsall said many of the problems downtown can be linked to the lack of a comprehensive crowd control plan. Edsall is part of the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission (ELIPOC), a public body responsible for investigating police misconduct. Despite ELIPOC’s requests for a comprehensive crowd control plan from ELPD, a plan has yet to be provided. 

Edsal also said that of the welcome week incidents, the East Lansing Police Department was one of the only college town police forces to face allegations of inappropriate use of force, and suggested the reasons are myriad:

“There's a training issue, there's policy issues that need to be addressed downtown. There's a zoning and planning issue in regards to how many people we're compacting into that small area.” 

Division over 'sanctuary city' status

In early August, East Lansing was named on the Department of Justice’s list of cities that override national immigration laws due to its status as a sanctuary city.

Ramirez-Roberts referred to the decision to name East Lansing a sanctuary city as “purely performative” and having “put a target on the backs of the immigrants that live here.” In terms of enforcement, little has changed, he said. As a student at MSU, Ramirez-Roberts had worked with the University Student Commission to initially pass the resolution designating East Lansing a sanctuary city in 2023.

“My challenge with the sanctuary city is it really comes across as a promise that we're going to house you, we're going to protect you, we're going to offer you services,” Whelan said. “And I think there's unintended consequences with a promise we can't keep. There's not one dime of the budget designated to sanctuary cities.”

Richichi agreed, saying that up to 16% of the city’s funding comes from the government and proposed budgets would make East Lansing go “belly up in months” if the city remains a sanctuary city. 

Whelan echoed similar logic, saying that East Lansing should revert back to its former status as a "safe haven city." With that designation, Whelan said, individuals pulled over during traffic or for minor offense would not be asked for their citizenship status. 

Edsall, DeLay and Grigsby spoke in support of remaining a sanctuary city. 

“I think we have seen plenty of evidence that the current presidential administration, if you back down, nothing will change,” DeLay said. “They will keep the boot right on the neck.”

Solving budget woes

Richichi advocated for expanding the city’s tax base by promoting initiatives to build new housing, thus drawing in new residents, and said he would not support cuts to city staff as a means to remedy East Lansing's $3 million deficit. 

Edsall said the public safety budget takes up 60% of the city’s general fund and should be reviewed for potential cuts, instead of looking for smaller cuts elsewhere.

Ramirez-Roberts said that money the Downtown Development Authority recently saved in the form of new tax breaks should allow the city to recoup costs and pay for the maintenance of the downtown area — one of the primary strains of the public safety budget.

Many of the city’s problems stem from “self-inflicted wounds,” Grigsby said, referring to poor hiring decisions and costs of services going up.

The cost of contracted services poses an issue, DeLay reiterated. At a recent council meeting, the council approved $50,000 for lobbying services at the state government level, a cost that DeLay found unnecessary due to the city having a senator and two representatives. He wants to find “creative” solutions for cuts to the city’s deficit.