Council Roundup: City May Scrap Blocked Off Albert El Fresco Area, Discussion on Camping and Loitering Ordinance Continues

East Lansing could get rid of the blocked off Albert El Fresco area it has hosted the last several summers, after a couple members of City Council raised questions about if the space is needed and if it adds to public safety concerns. 

Albert El Fresco is a blocked off section of Albert Avenue created during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a sort of outdoor food court, where people can enjoy dishes from nearby restaurants, hammocks and games set up by the city. The city has continued to open a smaller version of El Fresco during summers.

At Tuesday’s discussion-only City Council meeting, the body heard presentations about three different formats of the El Fresco space the city can open next year. Each version still includes additional seating and events being offered downtown, but one option that drew some interest eliminates the street closure. 

The first option follows the model used the last couple years and would block Albert Avenue off from Grove Street to the alley just before MAC Avenue. The season would run from May 4 at the earliest to Aug. 10 at the latest. This setup would include seating in the Ann Street Plaza and near the Marriott Hotel, among other places.

The second option presented to council eliminates the street closure, but expands seating options throughout the downtown, and add new seating in Valley Court Park and Bill Sharp Park. The season for this option would expand the end date to Sept. 18, and ensure at least one downtown event is scheduled in both April and September, so Michigan State University students in the city for the school year can attend. 

The third option is a combination of the first two. It would close Albert Avenue from early May through mid-August and add the expanded seating options proposed in option two. The expanded seating would stay put until Sept. 18, and there would be at least one event in both April and September under this plan. 

Councilmember Steve Whelan said he has had discussions with a few downtown business owners who said they believe the blocked off El Fresco area has outlived its usefulness. 

“They say that the street being closed down all summer has outweighed the benefits,” Whelan said. 

Mayor Erik Altmann raised concerns about opening the El Fresco space again. He asked if the city has polled residents living in the Neumann Lofts apartment complex downtown about if they like the space and wondered if it is contributing to public safety issues downtown. 

Altmann said he’d like to hear more from Neumann Lofts residents and police employees before making a decision on the layout for the upcoming summer. 

Councilmember Mark Meadows and Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Grigsby each said they currently support bringing the space back in the form it has been in the past couple years, with Meadows noting El Fresco seems to draw visitors even on days there aren’t events. 

Councilmember Kerry Ebersole Singh said she thinks it’s important the city be intentional about offering a setting that attracts people downtown. She said she’s “forecasting” that Michigan State University will eventually add bars and restaurants on campus, which would create new competition for downtown business owners. 

Meadows shared this concern, pointing to past proposals from the university to increase development on campus.

“We have to keep an eye on that,” he said. “We have to continue this to bring people to our downtown area.” 

Council reformats proposed camping, loitering ban. 

Council asked city attorneys to rewrite current ordinances to include a ban on public camping and loitering in parking garages. For months, council had been considering a new ordinance that would implement the ban, but is now opting to reformat the action by having it written into the current city code. 

“We’re going to be dealing with two new ordinances that would modify existing segments of our code with the substance that we’ve been talking about,” Altmann said.

The ordinance changes will come back for a first reading on the consent agenda of the Feb. 3 council meeting, and then will be up for a final vote at a later meeting. Council spent little time discussing the implications if the camping and loitering ban is passed, and council members did not indicate how they plan to vote. 

The proposed camping and loitering bans have been controversial, as some residents and leaders of nonprofit organizations have said it would “criminalize homelessness,” while others believe the action would help address public safety concerns. 

More residents ask council to address pepper-spray incident. 

As has been the case for months, speakers during public comment condemned East Lansing Police Chief Jen Brown and asked city leaders to address an August incident where an ELPD officer pepper-sprayed two Black men downtown, an incident ELPD later issued a misleading press release about.

After an attorney for the two men released a video of the incident, charges were dropped and the city ordered an independent review of police policies and actions. The incident and press release are now subject of lawsuits filed in federal court. City leaders have said very little publicly about the incident.

Adam DeLay, a member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission and recent City Council candidate, compared the city’s reaction to the pepper spray incident to the federal government’s handling of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officer shooting a woman in Minneapolis last week. 

“If you believe what happened in Minnesota was injustice, then you must also believe what happened here is injustice,” DeLay said. 

“If any member of this council plans to talk about the murder in Minnesota in their comments this evening, I would ask you to consider why you feel compelled to speak about that, but not about what is happening in your own backyard, where you have actual power and agency to make change,” he continued.

Members of City Council did not address the pepper spray incident during their communications portion of the meeting. 

Meadows did allude to the ICE shooting by simply saying “Be Good,” a reference to pins Golden Globes attendees wore in honor of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman killed.