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I didn't even realize they were doing that, but I'm happy to hear it though. I too am hoping the city starts ditching the traffic lights hung on wires, but they even put them on wires at Kalamazoo & Washington, where they just got done with the CSO.

It has everything to do with cost, putting them on supported poles is significantly more expensive than to hang them on wires... however, they look better strung around the perimeter of the intersection than criss crossing over it, which is the new state standard. I believe it increases visibility and, personally, I think its more aesthetically pleasing. Though, I agree, poles would be best.

[Lansing Photo of the Day]

"ugly" Boy, you can say that again. Unless, of course, its stands are full of cheering blue and yellow-clad Wolverine fans.

Of course wolverine "fans" and "cheering" is a relative term...

I had heard a few years ago that there were actually plans to carry on the facade around the entire stadium in phase II and phase III, but to do that would have required another 60 million or so up front.

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How long would it take to go through the approval process of a Casino?

The reason I ask is because it seems to me (and I know nothing about this) that to put a casino in an urban area would be a rather lengthy process. I'm sure the public would be pretty split on this one too, with all the religious groups coming out fiercely against it.

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You know, it really is terrible that the east lansing is letting the northern teir sprawl so much. i'm all for development, and i like to see that there is medium density being placed up that way, but this is not an excuse. the residential, OK, that could stay, as that is part of what happens when cities grow in the US, they grow outwards until there is no more space to grow. But the offices should have been at least persuaded to build in downtown east lansing. take a look at the northern teirs office parks and imagine if they would have been put in the cbd of east lansing. The Independent Bank headquarters could be a mid to high rise, considering it woulding have as large a footprint. the 5/3 bank could be a mid to high rise for the same reason. the msufcu could be a mid to high rise, also in a more reasonable location considering their audience.

downtown east lansing could have plenty more people during 9-5 if they would have persuaded the offices to come downtown.

Don't you think they want a little high-tax revenue development outside of their DDA though?

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I highly doubt that the census numbers are off, I beleive that the extimates are off quite often. The census is very in-depth, they end up going to peoples houses who don't respond by mail, the chances of it being wrong by any significant amount are slim to none.

Well it was off by at least 1 person in 2000 because I filled out a short form census while I was at school in arizona and my mom put me on her long form back in Michigan. I don't remember all the details but I figured out that I was counted twice and they never caught it, I think because she didn't know my S.S. # or something.

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Well, its a visual nightmare for the immediate area, it stinks, and its completely unnecessary. You'll see a more productive community trash disposal method replace the ugly dumpsters in the future.

And why not make downtown more aesthetically pleasing? Even our alleys can and should look presentable.

Trust me, everyone on allegan, washington, washtenaw, etc. that came in contact had an issue with that alley. "Dumpster Alley" wasn't a positive name.

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I think the budget will not be in as bad of a position next year as it is this year, because the mayor did get some of the structural cuts he wanted, what what wasn't this year will likely be an issue next year also. I think the most important thing is to close and sell the Red Cedar and Wavery golf courses, that land is very valuable they could easily get $10 million between the two, probably more.

I dunno, red cedar is mostly in the flood plain and with waverly being completely out of the city it might be best, politically, to turn it over to delta twp or something.

I don't think thats the biggest issue... i think that was reserved for the 38 jobs that were spared with the council's budget...

It'll be tough to say that revenue is going to increase in the city and that spending will go down when health care and wages/salaries are going nowhere but up.

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Does anyone else here find it unnerving that the one time the city council decides to side with the nutty city council regulars is something like the budget? I have been watching the budget news lately and the council is acting like a bunch of idiots, I'm sure a vast majority of people support closing the golf courses and keeping the zoo open and cutting city jobs. When there is a budget deficit of nearly 10% there has to be deep cuts that nobody likes. Some people simply don't understand that and insist on fighting for frivilous expenses with no forethough.

I don't get the impression its a matter of siding with the regulars but more going against the mayor. In the end they didn't get everything they wanted and he didn't get everything he wanted. The question that needs to be addressed is who's budget would have made things better on the 2007-2008 budget cycle. If the mayor is right and his cuts addressed the "structural" deficite this city is running, then it's going to come squarely on Council's shoulders if these same issues come up again next year. If they want to keep on drawing down the rainy day fund they could end up creating massive issues.

Two things that I think will be issues next year is going to be health care costs and wages.... at the same time, is revenue to the city going to go up?

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Yeah, but from a hoteliers point of view, who'd want to risk building a new hotel in such a miserable market? The Raddison, routinely, post miserable occupancy numbers.

Who says size is the problem right now? Wouldn't you think that a convention saying "we'd choose you guys but you're short 250 downtown hotel rooms" pretty much means another hotel would be the kicker to get more interest in the Lansing Center?

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Just FYI, the Motor Wheel lofts have 24 units that have already been leased looking at their site. Some are even the more expensive ones, I think that puts it at 20% leased even though completion isn't until August. If units, let alone expensive ones, can lease this quickly we should be looking at more developments in the near future...

Yep, I think you're right. I think the abundant interest in lofts on washington square, prudden place and motor wheel, the stadium district, and others indicates that the perceived "risk" of putting housing downtown is bunk. We'll see how well printer's row sells considering they've got NEZ and target a much much higher target demographic than probably 95% of the other developments we've got going right now.

I hope to see some of the more stagnant properties downtown get a little action... there are always going to be the prospectors who sit on their hands and wait for development to occur around them so they can pump up the price of their buildings, however, if people are making money hand over fist even those guys might realize how much money they're missing out on by NOT developing.

I think the Coal Storage/Power Station RFP is going to be very very attractive to some big national developers because they'll be able to see that there is plenty of demand for housing downtown. I think the fact that the city can attract 85,000 + people downtown for events like Silver Bells and Common Ground display the fact that people aren't resistant to coming downtown... they just need a reason. That plays into the "entertainment" angle I have envisioned for the powerstation (maybe not on the same scale but I'd love to see something like the re-use of Baltimore's old power station for example)

On that end if we can get enough downtown hotel rooms to start attracting some major conferences (while it was contraversial at least city council got rid of that stupid non-compete clause that radisson handcuffed the city with) so we can get some downtown usership... wouldn't you enjoy coming in from out of town if you had a conference and had the option of entertainment, sports, bars, and shops all within a 2 block radius? I've been to enough out of town conferences to know that Lansing would be particularly unique in proximity to all of these things to its conference center if they could pull it off... now its just a matter of somebody stepping to the plate and making the investment.

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To get this back on something less controversial...

At the meeting, last night, the council also voted to begin taking the first steps in extending the River Trail southwards from Potter Park to Hawk Island Park. This is great to hear, as it is a quality of life issue. I hope they one day find a way to take the River Trail westward through the Moores River Drive area. That's going to be tricky, but it can be creatively done.

Personally I'd like to see paths on both sides of the river from Michigan to north of grand river ave.

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For instance, the city should have at least tried harder to get Gillespie to build the city a parking garage behind the stadium district. They did this with the Boji's, and I don't see why they didn't push harder on this one, especially seeing as how cities concede SO much in giving developers what they want (countless city abatements not to mention all of the state and federal abatements these developers already get).

Cities should start demanding more of developers in helping to rebuild the areas where these development are going, meaning helping pay for or building new sidewalks and other infastructure around the development.

And for key pieces of land (i.e. Stadium District Lot), the city should already have a stringent plan in place so as to weed out potentially bad developments. Luckily, the Stadium District is a fairly effective proposal, but the Boji Complex land, for instance, should have been held to higher standards (i.e. better architecture, nothing under 12 stories....).

As is always taught us, it never hurts to ask, so why is the city so incredibly afraid of offending developers as if they run the cities instead of the cities running them?

Lansing needs to do what Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor does, and that is demanding more bang for their buck. They should come from the prespective that developers should be thankful to the city for letting them develop these lands. That may be a little strong, but the city must come from a tougher stance if we want to get the best for Lansing.

First off, what makes you think that gillespie would have gone ahead and agreed to buy the land from the city if they'd made him build a multimillion dollar structure that he would have a tough time getting his money back from? Especially considering there is NO example downtown to look at to say "yes this is undeniably going to be a success" he's taking a massive risk and frankly i'm glad the city incented the hell out of him to get it done.

Second, are you comparing Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor to Lansing? You honestly think that we can just go out there and say "nope, we're as good as them we're going to hold you to the same standards that they are" LANSING IS NOT THERE YET. As hard as a pill as that may be to swallow we're not at the point where we can pick and chose who we give abatements to because there is such massive competition for sites locating downtown. Now someday I'm sure we'd love to be at that point where we can afford to be selective because thats the situation, but face facts... we're just not there yet. New development is a downtown lansing because its been such a depressed area for so long, proof of this is by how much banks are willing to fork over for these developments... which is what tax credits are typically used for, leveraging more money from the banks.

So to just say that council has been a doormat to the business community is just ignorant. Bioport could have just as easily moved their stuff to maryland and had the tax abatement no questions asked, we should be so lucky that they're willing to put up with the verbal abuse from the community just to create jobs and increase investment.