As a bicycle owner in East Lansing, Emmett Dacey knows the wear-and-tear that a college campus causes on his ride. “My bike has flat tires and the handle bar pads fall off, and it has a little rust from the rain,” said Dacey, a finance freshman. “It makes it a little difficult to ride around campus.”
East Lansing’s bike-taxi service, Spar-Thai, put the brakes on its operation last December after city officials nearly tripled the cost of licensing fees.
Area residents could have two new places to charge their electric vehicles if a plan to install two new charging stations at the East Lansing Public Library and in downtown Lansing is approved.
While some students used this weekend to relax with their time away from classes, students and members of the East Lansing community were working nonstop for 48 hours in the East Lansing Film Festival’s 48/5 Film Competition.
This spring, a new taste of Tex-Mex food is expected to make its way downtown. A new branch of Moe’s Southwest Grill, a national fast-casual southwestern restaurant, is expected to open later this spring inside the former site of OZ Gallery and Hand-Blown Glass, 551 E. Grand River Ave. The location is just down the street from Panchero’s, 125 E. Grand River Ave., and Chipotle, 539 E. Grand River Ave.
As many people throughout the nation prepare to purchase gifts and fancy dinners for their sweethearts this Valentine’s Day, a different kind of sweetheart might be giving away those gifts for free. Sweethearting is a term used to describe the act of a company employee giving food products, retail items or other services to friends and family at a reduced cost or at no charge.
Two recent studies showed likely Republican voters in Michigan currently favor presidential candidate Rick Santorum more than Michigan-native Mitt Romney. A poll by the American Research Group showed out of 600 likely Republican votes, 33 percent supported Santorum as opposed to 27 percent of residents supporting Romney.
Michigan’s upcoming Republican primary could heat up if a recent poll putting presidential candidate Rick Santorum ahead of competitor Mitt Romney reflects the state’s overall voting population.
When Valentine’s Day rolls around on Tuesday, flowers won’t be in short supply at B/A Florist, 1424 E. Grand River Ave. The business is planning to sell as many as 10,000 roses for the popular holiday as other East Lansing retailers prepare to offer special deals to celebrate the day.
In a room filled with computer monitors, video game controllers and white boards covered with numbers and other programming jargon, William Jeffery sat at a small table with his headphones in on Thursday afternoon. Jeffery, a media arts and technology senior in the game design specialization, works in the MSU Games for Entertainment and Learning, or GEL, Lab.
About 100 community members attended an informational session Thursday evening to discuss a $53 million bond proposal that would close an East Lansing elementary school, among other things. The proposal is scheduled to be on the ballot Feb. 28 and would renovate and reconfigure five of the six other elementary schools as well as close Red Cedar Elementary School, 1110 Narcissus Drive.
Food safety and security will be the topics at the third annual “Everybody Eats: Cultivating Food Democracy” conference, held this weekend in Lansing.
Even as people prepare to send Valentine’s Day cards and presents, the United States Postal Service, or USPS, continues to sustain losses, according to its first-quarter report.
East Lansing officials are projecting about a $35 million total drop in the taxable value of the city’s residential homes for the 2012-13 fiscal year, a loss equating to about a 6.3 percent drop in overall value, according to city budget documents. The documents estimate the overall taxable value of homes in the city will drop from about $555.5 million in fiscal year 2011-12 to about $520.5 million in fiscal year 2012-13.
City dwellers might have the potential to track police reports on their own if a proposal to implement an online crime mapping system for East Lansing comes to fruition.
Starting with the 2012-13 fiscal year, the city of East Lansing is planning to stop funding some sidewalk repairs to address a budget shortfall.
The East Lansing City Council gave approval to the city’s finance director to analyze and examine financing options for a portion of the controversial City Center II development project during its Tuesday night work session, extending the debate regarding the project’s future. East Lansing Finance Director Mary Haskell now has the authority to determine the method the city will use to refinance four parcels of property related to the project and can authorize the final financing of the parcels without approval from city council, Haskell said.
Facing an almost $1 million projected budget deficit for the upcoming 2012-13 fiscal year, the city of East Lansing is moving forward with plans to consolidate the city’s emergency dispatch center into one shared facility in south Lansing for all of Ingham County. East Lansing officials laid out their plans for the move — including addressing a $944,645 projected budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year — during a meeting last weekend.
As smart phones and portable technology become more of a norm among younger populations, new distractions for drivers are on the rise.
The East Lansing City Council is scheduled to discuss financing for a portion of the long-running City Center II project during its Tuesday meeting. Public discussion on refinancing four parcels of property on Evergreen Avenue related to the $97 million redevelopment project is on the council’s business agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road.