E.L. resident Hans Larsen bids for seat

So let me get this straight. We now have two visionless cranks running for city council on negative platforms against the incumbents. Get a life, guys. You’ve got to show the public a lot more foresight and leadership than that to vote FOR you.

And, what’s with “Larsen declined to be photographed and said he told friends and family to not respond to interview requests from The State News.”

People who make ignorant, inarticulate snide comments without the guts to identify themselves should be ignored.

City Center II is only one of several bad development projects pushed through City Council, but it’s the easy one to understand. And, don’t forget that as a self-described “former” developer and bond salesman, Loomis has a conflict of interest.

There was community opposition to City Center II from the beginning—it was never some great project that just happened to get into trouble because of a surprising downturn in the economy. Not only were critics ignored, the City Manager, who is supposed to work for the taxpayers, went out of his way to insult them (they were correct).

Incumbents need to be held responsible for voters when they make bad decisions, especially when they refuse to take responsibility and continue to pursue the same agenda of more and more development projects at a time when large numbers of homes are going unsold and retail space is left empty. The city is facing a budget crisis, and the last thing taxpayers need is to be paying off bonds for bad projects.

Hans Larsen is young and not a professional politician. This is a good thing. Sam Singh, who was one of the few outstanding members of City Council during my 25 years here, was young and inexperienced. Nathan Triplett, the most responsive and responsible current member of City Council is young and just getting experience. Almost the entire student body at MSU is young and inexperienced, but that doesn’t make most MSU students incapable of being thoughtful.

This election is about the incumbents and whether they have done a good job and whether there are conflicts of interest. If the reform candidates win and do a bad job, hold it against them next election.

It would be nice to have a candidate who didn’t want to see every Spartan moved out of the city. East Lansing political races are full of candidates who promise to be an advocate for the MSU student community, and then expand law enforcement and figure out ways to revoke the ability of students to live like human beings in houses inside the city. I wanted to raise my family here; I wanted them to grow up with all of the wonderful things the students bring. Today, however, that place just isn’t the same. There now exists an entire generation of Spartans that will not recall the city of East Lansing fondly. It is a sad, sad shame and I can only hope that the Alumni out there with the means to make a change return to East Lansing and save it before everything they once loved about it is gone forever.
Dead.

Dude, just look at the sidebar on the upper left of the article: “opposes, opposes, opposes,” but, wants to improve the relationship between the city & MSU community. BIG DEAL. Things have been better in that category under the current council than they have been in years.

As for Larsen being young, from what he’s written in the past, I had thought he was about 108 and “agin’ all that gov-ment stuff.” I don’t care how old he is or isn’t, he’s a one-trick, negative pony, with whom you happen to agree. Negative, by the way, is something that neither Sam nor Nathan ever were or are.

Final word, in my opinion, you’re both negative cranks and I wouldn’t be surprised to see you attend future council meeting with tiaras on, like they do in Lansing.

…what kind of platform is this dude running on? He opposes all major developments. I can understand how he feels about CCII and EV, these two projects have been a tough run, but is he going to stand in the way of future economic development opportunities? This seems like something he should expand on if he wants to be taken seriously.

And bridging relations between students and year-round residents is important, but let’s be serious; that is not the foremost priority a competitive city in Michigan is facing.

I too was born in East Lansing and graduated from East Lansing High School. My first home was in Spartan Village.
Currently I live in another similar college town in Oregon. I “own” a home of similar price, quality, and location to Hans Larsen IV. My property tax bill is $3,000 per year, less than half of that of Hans Larsen IV. I would have to work full time, rather than part time, in addition to my husband’s full-time job to be able to afford to live in East Lansing, which is located in a state that also has a regressive sales tax.
This would compromise my ability to parent my children in the way I feel is most appropriate.
Perhaps lessening the extreme tax burden on Spartan families would enable them actually remain in a vital college town, rather than purchase homes in surrounding less tax-burdened areas, as has been the history and pattern in East Lansing for the last 30 years.
What does the East Lansing resident get for their 500$ per month property tax bill?
Do they get to provide the infrastructure monies to build condos and large rental properties and fancy retail spaces and the requisite increased road and utility costs? Do residents of East Lansing get to essentially subsidize the the high concentration of residents who don’t have to pay the high single-family home tax burden?
And who ultimately benefits from this subsidy? Follow the money, it tends to lead to the truth. If you are willing and able to acknowledge it.
As for Hans Larsen IV telling his family not to talk to the press, I am sure this is a gross misrepresentation of what he actually stated. I am sure of this for several reasons: He never said it me, he wouldn’t say it to anyone, no one actually attempted to contact me (Therefore, I didn’t even have the opportunity to decline comment- or perhaps decline the opportunity to be misrepresented!), and finally; and more to the point, you don’t TELL a Larsen to do or not to do anything.
I encourage the people of East Lansing to embrace the opportunity to elect a highly moral, courageous, intelligent, and hard working man that is Hans Larsen IV. He is in no one’s back pocket. And carries the people of East Lansing in his breast pocket.
Ann Larsen