The conversation primarily focused on providing affordable housing for students and reliable transportation. Candidates also discussed safety concerns on campus post-mass shooting, where they split on preventative solutions. 

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

Finding housing for students

Candidate Liam Richichi stressed the importance of supporting "diverse" housing initiatives as MSU’s student population grows. Videos of students camping out for apartments downtown have become popular on Instagram and Tiktok, he said. The lack of development has made securing housing "impossible."

A solution could be improving existing zoning ordinances to be more developer-friendly, candidate Chuck Grigsby said. 

Candidate Joshua Ramirez-Roberts said the lack of development on MSU’s campus has also strained the East Lansing housing market and artificially raised prices.

Holden Hall was constructed in 1967, making it the last dorm constructed on MSU’s campus. At the time, MSU’s student population was around 20,000. Today, with no further major housing developments, MSU boasts a student population of over 50,000. 

"We need to be pushing MSU, both as a council and then also working with student groups too, to push MSU to build more housing on campus," Ramirez-Roberts said. 

When asked about the high property taxes residents pay, candidate Steve Whelan said that "pretty much everything that we're paying right now is a necessity."

Candidate Adam DeLay echoed Whelan, saying that the taxes go towards providing city services and funding public spaces. "I'm fine where they are now, but I do not support increasing them, especially through the proposed millage," he said.

Richichi said it's better to focus on the "positives" rather than the "negatives." If elected, he pledged to help the money go "further," proposing that the new city council should conduct an audit to determine where the city spends in excess. 

"We still need to look at the long term spending plan of how we are going to be more responsible with taxpayer dollars and make it affordable for many people to live here — young families, students, young professionals who want to continue their career here," Richichi said. 

Candidate Kath Edsall, DeLay and Richichi vocally opposed the proposed Parks & Recreation millage on the ballot as a means to balance the budget. 

Transportation

The primary means of transportation for students without a car is the CATA bus system, which runs throughout campus and into Lansing and parts of Okemos. 

Ramirez-Roberts advocated for expanding bus routes and eliminating “anti-homeless” architecture by building additional bus shelters at bus stops. 

DeLay referenced the now-defunct Entertainment Express, a trolley that ran along Michigan Ave during late hours when bus routes typically slow down. When it comes to addressing issues of expanding downtown, accessible transit is one of the solutions, DeLay said. 

Edsall supported increased late-night transportation. 

Safety on campus

Candidates were also asked to address increasing preventative public safety measures in response to incidents like the campus shooting on Feb. 13, 2023, which killed three students and injured five. 

Whelan had been one of the first responders at the MSU Union the night of the shooting.  Since that night, Whelan has seen many improvements to ensure public safety by the university — such as updated camera systems and increased communication — but thinks that there are still steps the university needs to take. 

Ramirez-Roberts, who was a student at the time, said one of the steps the city and university can take is to increase the presence of social workers to address the mental health crisis. 

Although mental health is a concern, Edsall said, it is not a catch-all for preventing mass shootings. "We know that the only answer to this issue is those countries that do not have the access to guns that we have, do not have the issues that we have," she said.

Richichi, who was also a student at the time, praised the efforts of the MSU students who organized at the Capitol for red flag laws, extreme risk protection orders and safe storage laws to be passed at the state level.

However, he said that MSU still needs to commit itself to improving and updating its security. 

"A lot of this happened because of this lack of security at university buildings and I think we need to have a frank conversation, because I have friends who live on campus still, and I've seen that the security that we had enhanced following the shooting is now falling through the cracks again," he said. "We are ripening the potential for this to happen again."