Amidst all the gloom and doom of recession and bailout talks, our community is so fortunate to be able to point to two stellar achievements that will surely enhance the economic recovery of our region. For the second consecutive year, East Lansing High School has earned the Silver Medal designation by the U.S. News & World Report. This ranking places ELHS in the top 2.9% of 21,000 public schools surveyed... Read More »
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Earlier this month the City received exciting news from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Among a handful of other communities in the state, East Lansing was awarded three Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) grants to be used for park land acquisition and improvements. The grants, totaling $757,300, will be used to improve outdoor recreation offerings for our community members,... Read More »
Earlier this week East Lansing residents received the City’s Annual Report or, as many of us think of it, the City Calendar. The intent of the Annual Report, in addition to serving its obvious purpose, is to provide you the taxpayers, with a city report card of sorts. In fact, the report includes fiscal information, economic development updates, significant advances and highlights from each of the... Read More »
During the City Council meeting of December 2, 2008, Plante Moran, the firm retained by the City to conduct the annual audit required by law, affirmed the City’s fiscal prudence and sound accounting practices. One of the purposes of the annual audit is to test the City’s internal control mechanisms – our system of “checks and balances.” The Plante Moran representatives proposed only minimal changes... Read More »
This past October, the City of East Lansing received two “Keep Michigan Beautiful” Awards, one of which was given to interns serving on the joint City/Student/University Community Relations Coalition (CRC). Under the leadership of Ali Barlow, the CRC interns earned an Award of Merit for their post home-game anti-littering efforts and were honored for their achievements during the City Council meeting... Read More »
On Thursday, November 13, 18 community leaders graduated from the City’s ten-week course in civic engagement. Participants were exposed to local government in the areas of history and structure, economic development, partnerships, regionalism, municipal finance and conflict resolution. Read More »
On Thursday, November 13, 18 community leaders graduated from the City’s ten-week course in civic engagement. Participants were exposed to local government in the areas of history and structure, economic development, partnerships, regionalism, municipal finance and conflict resolution.
The results of this survey are encouraging to say the least! The survey results, which were presented to the City Council during the meeting of October 28, 2008 showed that an unprecedented 97 percent of respondents agree that the city is a good place in which to live, up from a very respectable 95 percent in 2003. An outstanding 90 percent of respondents think that their neighborhood is an excellent... Read More »
During the Tuesday, October 21st City Council Meeting, the City’s distinguished bond counsel, William Danhof of Miller Canfield, provided a “primer” on the concept of bond issuance. As you may know, the City has published its Intent to Bond to fund the public components of City Center II. Read More »
There is an emerging school of thought that successful job growth should be measured and celebrated with the creation of, believe it or not, one and two jobs. The days of attracting thousands of manufacturing jobs have all but disappeared and in order for Michigan communities to thrive in the 21st century, we need to offer the type of setting that will attract knowledge-based jobs that typically emerge... Read More »
Earlier this week, I had the privilege of addressing East Lansing’s fine educators during a teacher’s assembly. During my comments I shared that I am frequently asked about the importance of schools to the community - a question to which I respond in several ways. Read More »