City Council Candidates Explain their Visions for Development, Affordable Housing
By Lucas Day
To help voters learn more about the eight candidates vying for the three open seats on the East Lansing City Council in the Nov. 7 election, Eli asked each candidate to respond to the same three short-answer questions. This is the third in the series. Order of candidate responses was determined by a random drawing of names.
Additionally, ELi asked each candidate if they would be voting “yes” or “no” on each of the three ballot initiatives. Their responses will be included as a separate story. Here is ELi’s story explaining the ballot initiatives.
The first question posed to candidates was, “Do you support moving city elections from odd years to even? Why?” Here are their responses.
The second question posted to candidates was, “What do you plan to do to help retain city staff?” Here are their responses.
In other pre-Nov. 7 coverage, ELi provided profiles of each candidate along with coverage of the Oct. 1 League of Women Voters of Lansing Area candidates forum . The eight candidates are: Erik Altmann, Dan Bollman, Noel Garcia, Rebecca Kasen, Mark Meadows, Joshua Ramirez-Roberts, Kerry Ebersole Singh and Christopher Wardell. More voter information is available in the ELi 2023 voter’s guide.
Noel Garcia Jr
“Parking lot on Albert/Bailey: I am not in favor of this project simply because of the location. I am in favor of finding affordable housing in East Lansing and will continue advocating for it. However, I am concerned with having it in this location will simply create attractive student housing in a prime downtown location. I want our citizens to be able to park on a surface location and frequent our downtown and not be forced to park in a parking garage that is troublesome to some of our more senior citizens. I believe we need to preserve our last surface lot downtown because we will not be able to bring surface parking back if we get this wrong now.”
Erik Altmann
“I am opposed to the project proposed for the parking lot at 530 Albert Ave. We should keep that parking lot as a parking lot, and there is a way to do so, using eminent domain to force a sale of that property to the city. I would support this approach if the community is comfortable with it.
We need to pay off the debt on the Evergreen properties. It’s been 15 years and we haven’t made sufficient progress. I would support leaving that area as greenspace, which is at a premium in our downtown, but wouldn’t rule out development.
I do not support additional student housing in the downtown north of Grand River Ave. I might support an additional office building if it would bring additional daytime foot traffic to the downtown. I would also support growing the downtown one block to the north into areas that are now student rentals, with a stepdown in height.
Kerry Ebersole Singh
“We have every asset to build a best in class university town where people will say East Lansing really got it right in creating a multigenerational community where people choose to live, work and play. To do this we need to pause current projects in consideration for 3 months to build a comprehensive plan for downtown property (city owned and privately owned prop that are considering selling for redevelopment). During the ‘pause’ run a robust community engagement plan to inform the amenities we would like to see in our community, including affordable housing, transportation but also types of businesses that would be attractive to the multitude of generations that live in our community. Then run a RFP process for city owned property to implement the shared desire of residents that was collected during the community engagement process. Currently there are state programs we do not participate in that would position us for grant dollars, like the Mainstreet Program for small business. City Council can also take an active role in recruiting entrepreneurs from programs at Michigan State University, whether that may be in the Hospitality program or high tech startups, the members of council can be a part of the recruitment squad to build exciting new amenities for our community! There are also new programs, like the ability to use tax increment financing for affordable housing that can be a useful tool to meet our housing demands. We can get to work on this path soon after the election!”
Dan Bollman
“East Lansing’s Downtown is everyone’s neighborhood. To support further development, including housing options, we should consider mixed land uses to create a range of varied housing opportunities. To conserve limited resources and finances, we should encourage compact design that incorporates existing infrastructure, from roads and utilities to parks and schools. Finally, any development proposal should involve broad public input, guided by the city’s Comprehensive Plan.”
Mark Meadows
“I am on the Board of Directors for the Capital Area Housing Authority and was the proponent of the requirement that a percentage of housing proposed for the DDA district be low to moderate income housing, condominiums, senior or some other type of unique housing. I believe that the downtown area will continue to redevelop over many years. The current zoning and building requirements are subject to review and I would like to see more architectural control in the controlling ordinances. The City does not own much land in the downtown so any redevelopment will be generated by the private property owners in the district.”
Rebecca Kasen
“My vision is to ensure that downtown businesses have the tools they need for the new – post covid – economy. I encourage the DDA to spend some of their budgets to help business owners with expenses needed to adapt, as well as consultants to help the businesses pivot. I want to work with MSU, credit unions, and other stakeholders to encourage incubator retail businesses in the area. This will help grow the economy, reduce crime, and provide opportunities for residents.
Affordable housing is not a monolith. There are designations for low income, workforce, missing middle, supervised living, community land trusts, and (depending on the state legislature) rent control, among others. We need to utilize our experts at MSU in creating a sustainable plan. I am not a planner, economist, or an overall expert on the topic. The best thing a leader can do is know their limitations and bring in experts.
Joshua Ramirez-Roberts
“In recent years we have seen immense and rapid changes in our downtown landscape with multiple high rises taking over the skyline with the goal of creating a high-density urban core. It is my position that this development is proceeding at a rate which has outpaced the advancement of our transportation infrastructure and emergency service personnel recruitment. The city should begin discussions with CATA about creative new ways to create transportation links between our downtown and our neighborhoods so as to reduce reliance upon car centric infrastructure and get around the potential loss of parking that could be experienced if the Albert Ave redevelopment gets approved as planned. With all of the new construction that we have seen I believe it important to reincorporate greenspace back into our downtown through requiring green-roofing on all applicable structures within the downtown area to provide habitat for birds and insects while simultaneously diminishing the impact of the heat island effect. I have heard repeatedly from residents there is a desperate need to work towards policies that will help to diversify the restaurant and retail offerings in the downtown. Although we cannot directly control who occupies these spaces we can begin entering into discussions with local business owners to understand what factors are preventing small businesses from being a competitive economic force in our community. Not only is this a necessity from an economic perspective but also from the angle of public safety, as a method of reducing the stress that a drinking centric puts upon our emergency services.
In regards to affordable housing I believe that taking a rental driven approach will only worsen outcomes for future generations as we starve them of opportunities to work their way up the economic ladder through obtaining means of ownership. Of course affordable rentals are a necessary part of the equation but we should not be demolishing existing house stock to accomplish this goal as has been discussed. We need to be creating opportunities for ownership, not destroying them. Long term rent poverty is an abusive cycle damaging the economic power of millions of Americans. Given the lack of room for new single-family detached homes, the council should be pursuing advocacy of moderate priced mixed-use condos in order to build up that base of ownership for the people of my generation and beyond.”
Chris Wardell
“We must look at more affordable housing in the area. My wife is a professor at MSU, and many new colleagues are looking to move to East Lansing, but they cannot find a home. They end up moving to Lansing, Okemos, DeWitt, Williamston, Mason…Projects like the Bailey parking lot housing are not what we need. Many of the businesses around this project will certainly suffer.
We need more diverse businesses. Small businesses or “mom and pop” businesses. We don’t need another chicken wing place. I would like to see more black and brown owned businesses. More boutique/unique places like Curious Book Shop, Flat, Black, and Circular, Campbell’s Market, Mitten Raised, Sews, Saper Gallery. Also, why are businesses like Blue Owl and Goodfellas moving out of the downtown area? We must vet, vet, vet new proposals while looking at why businesses are moving to different places.”