Council hopes to attract students at meeting

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The East Lansing City Council will travel to the Union for tonight’s 7:30 p.m. City Council meeting in an attempt to involve more students in the city’s operations.

The council usually has two meetings on MSU’s campus each year, generally at the beginning of each semester. All other meetings are held at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road.

“This is where (students) live eight or nine months out of the year, and it’s good to know what’s going on with City Council because those issues are most likely to affect you on a day-to-day basis,” Councilmember Kevin Beard said.

Beard said few people — even permanent residents — attend City Council meetings unless the agenda directly impacts them. He added that student attendance historically has been low even when the council tries to accommodate the students by moving meetings closer to campus.

But with such high voting turnout from college-aged students during the 2008 U.S. presidential election followed by plummeting poll numbers from that age group in November’s East Lansing City Council elections, Beard said something must be done to better incorporate students into the city’s politics.

“Folks are busy — I don’t begrudge them for that,” he said. “But when we change the venue of the meeting to make it more convenient, you would hope more people show up.”

Get your motor runnin’

The City Council also will decide whether to set a Feb. 16 public hearing regarding an ordinance amendment that would allow for the conversion of one automobile parking spot into four motorcycle spots.

The East Lansing Planning Commission, with eight members present, voted unanimously to recommend the proposal to the City Council at its meeting last week. The proposal also would accommodate motorized scooters in spaces 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

Caroline Ruddell, a planning commission member, said she noticed many scooters and motorcycles parked haphazardly near Lou & Harry’s Greek Grill and El Azteco Restaurant at the corner of M.A.C. Avenue and Ann Street during the summer. She said motorcycle parking would remedy the problem and preserve automobile parking spots for cars.

Ruddell also said the commission discussed a separate motorcycle parking area near that intersection.

Bill Hartwig, a planning commission member, said the costs of owning a car have driven more people to use motorized scooters and he anticipated they will become more popular in the near future.

“I don’t think there’s any question about that,” he said. “There’s those who are using them for recreation and those for purely transportation and I think a lot use it for a mix between the two.”

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