What Lansing Council

At the Monday October 12th Lansing city council meetings the council gave a heartwarming tribute to a special olympics sports team, they witnessed two developer tax break presentations hoping to revitalize obsolete properties, and the public comments were focused on disappointment with continued use of automatic license plate reader cameras, and disappointment with the treatment of unhoused people...

At the September 28th Lansing city council meetings the council discussed their budget priorities, which will be sent to the mayor for review. Many stories were shared honoring the late Mayor David C. Hollister. An ordinance aiming to regulate cryptocurrency exchange machines in the city was introduced. Public comment focused on continuing to pressure the mayor to remove automatic license plate re...

Under a proposed ordinance change the Economic Development and Planning department would receive funds earmarked for the Human Relations and Community Services department to prioritize more “safe a secure housing”, as presented at the September 14th Lansing City Council Meeting. There were eleven comments from citizens specifically aimed at the Mayor - urging him to at least, comment, and at most,...

Over 150 people attended the August 24th Lansing city council meeting, with 60 giving public comments about a proposed letter urging the mayor to direct the police department to cancel their Flock camera contracts. The police chief made a surprise appearance to explain and defend the department’s use of the cameras. In a seven to one vote the letter was approved.  Our special guest this episode is...

At the August 10th Lansing city council meetings council heard from the CATA (Capital Area Transportation Authority) leadership about upcoming reductions in bus services. They heard from BWL (the Board of Water and Light, our municipal electric and water utility company) about increases in electric and water service rates. Two projects shepherded by the LEDC (Lansing Economic Development Corporati...

At the July 27th Lansing city council meeting. Council heard a progress update on the modular pod housing project. A team of consultants are working on the site plan but they are still searching for a construction management partner and there is no project timeline. Council had a “spirited debate” about a proposed ordinance change aiming to streamline the process for developers applying to build l...

During the July 13th Lansing City Council meeting the council voted seven to one to put a six month moratorium on issuing building permits or processing zoning amendments for data centers. This will give them time to make ordinance changes to specifically regulate these projects. They also denied a trash claim appeal and began the process to re-structure the city boards and commissions to include...

At the June 22nd Lansing City Council meeting the council hosted an effective public hearing about a proposed ordinance change to make it more favorable for developers to finance projects in the city that promise 30% of the units are “affordable housing”. There were seven “show of cause” hearings for buildings the city wishes to demolish because they are not up to building code. Some end of the fi...

At the June 8th Lansing city council meeting the council heard from a dozen folks unhappy with code compliance fees and procedures: snow and ice removal, weed cutting, make safe or demolish orders, and red-tag fees. Council honored Lansing’s Juneteenth celebration committee, and they debated a new ordinance introduced with the intention of making it more enticing for developers to build lower and...

A live show recording of a discussion of civic engagement with three Lansing super-citizens: Paul Anderson, Julie Powers, and William Lawrence! Fun interludes include the panelist's limerick challenge, friendly feud, and a fill-in-the-blank letter to Lansing City Council. Paul Anderson serves as the Executive Director of the Southwest Action Group - an organization dedicated to uplifting and e...

At the May 18th Lansing City council meetings council approved the city’s budget for the 2026/2027 fiscal year, which spans from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. They gave a tribute recognizing May 19th as Malcolm X Day in the City of Lansing; May 19th was Malcolm X’s birthday. They unanimously approved a letter calling for an immediate end to unauthorized federal military escalation and an unl...

At the May 11th city council meetings council heard from the community about the death of a citizen, who was for a time, a member of the fallen angels encampment. The Spec-Tran CATA (Capital Area Transportation Authority) service specifically for folks with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) status received additional criticism for poor service. Council passed four changes to the parking code:...

Council had a light agenda, with some heavy issues at the May the Fourth meetings. Six city departments gave budget presentations: the 54A District court, the Mayor’s office, Downtown Lansing Inc., Human Resources, Finance, and Treasury. Public comment focused on begging council to stop sending police to sweep unhoused people out of places where they congregate in the city.  Our guest this episode...

During the April 20th Lansing city council meetings the council passed ordinance changes with the intention of restricting the locations of new liquor stores - so they are not built right next to each other. They voted 6 to 1 to put the sale of the building currently operated as the Shuffle to a city wide vote, to see if the public would be interested in selling this public asset. They wrote a let...

During the March 30th Committee of the Whole meeting, the City Council heard a budget overview presentation from the city’s chief strategy officer. They heard departmental budget presentations from the Fire Department, Parks and Recreation Department, and the affiliated agencies the Lansing Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), and the Lansing Entertainment and Public Facilities Authority (LEPF...

An hour and a half before the April 6th Lansing City council meetings, word got out that the UK based data center company, Deep Green, was pulling their request for the purchase and rezoning of the city owned parking lot on East Kalamazoo and South Cedar St. Many community members shared their thoughts about the process surrounding this project. Council heard budget presentations from the informat...

At the March 23rd Lansing city council meetings council heard requests from two developers interested in purchasing city property: the operator of the Lansing Shuffle and Deep Green, the UK based data center developer. Many residents spoke in opposition of these sales and some spoke in support. Council debated the optics of taking a pay raise for their part time positions, and they set a hearing f...

At the March 9th Lansing city council meetings the council moved forward with round two of the proposed Deep Green data center property sale and rezoning - setting public hearings for these items. Council approved a new code violation tagging system for white, yellow, red, and black tags. They approved a rezone for a church to operate a shelter facility on S MLK Jr Blvd. They introduced ordinances...

**CORRECTION** In the episode we discussed how the city of Lansing offers services to help homeowners with lead testing and abatement, that program was part of the Economic, Development and Planning department, not Human Relations and Community Services and it ended in 2025 : https://www.lansingmi.gov/346/Lead-Safe-Lansing At the February 23rd Lansing city council meetings the council heard plans...

At the February 9th Lansing city council meeting attendance exceeded the chamber capacity and over sixty community members voiced their comments, mostly for-or-against construction of a new data center on the edge of downtown. The chief executive and chief technology officers from Deep Green, a Manchester, England based company, and the board of water and light general manager presented plans for...

At the January 26th, 2026 Lansing City council meeting many residents and folks from the surrounding area voiced concerns about the proposed downtown data center, trade union workers spoke in support. The city’s planning department and the Board of Water and Light (BWL)  presented and answered questions about the project. Public commenters and the council had concerns about the city's policy f...

At the January 12th Lansing city council meeting citizens encouraged the mayor and council to give unhoused folks recently re-located to a hotel on the southside more time at the hotel, and to work on a holistic plan for addressing housing needs in the city.  Council set their schedule for the sale and rezoning of the site for the Deep Green proposed data center. Residents spoke up for and against...

At the January 5th Lansing City Council meetings the council chose their new president and vice president: fourth ward representative Peter Spadafore and at-large councilmember Trini Pehlivanoglu. A failure of the accessible commenting option, disagreement about the procedure for signing up for public comment, and a racially charged comment had this council off to a rocky start. Our guest  William...

At the December 15th Lansing city council meeting the council heard from 18 passionate residents about the transitional (mod pod) housing project. People were pissed at the 13 state house republicans who created massive state funding cuts. Six Old Town shopkeepers supported expanding the business district boundary. A four to four vote stalled a noise ordinance change. Three board appointments and...

During the December 8th Lansing city council meetings the public spoke to council about the importance of finding a good place, that works for everyone, for a proposed temporary housing community. Council debated the fairness of rolling back red tag fees on houses actively being renovated. Old town business owners had mixed feelings about expanding the tax boundary for their shopping district. Loc...