E.L. council elections affect student life
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No matter who students choose to vote for in the upcoming East Lansing City Council election, it’s important that students vote.
The city council and school board elections are taking place this Tuesday. Although most students are not affected by the school board election, voting in the city council election is one of the many ways students can participate in the community where they live and study.
The city council is a link from students to a government that might or might not make decisions that directly affect students. Voting allows students to control that link.
Although it’s too late to register to vote for this city council election, students who already are registered to vote in East Lansing should do so.
The city council is responsible for recent legislation that directly affects students, such as the ordinance that cracks down on lingering party litter. Identifying and voting for candidates whose views are in line with what one thinks regarding local issues is the appropriate way to express any feelings of irritation or anger with the city of East Lansing.
One of the biggest issues the new city council will face is finding a new city manager in the coming months. The city manager helps set the tone for the relationship between permanent East Lansing residents and students, which can have a large impact on the way students live.
We’d like to stress the fact that students should educate themselves about the candidates so they can make the best decision based on the criteria they see fit to apply.
With that said, a few candidates’ positions on issues attracted the editorial board’s attention because of issues their relevance to students.
Don Power, a new candidate, intrigued the editorial board because of his constructive criticism of the way the city council has handled issues in East Lansing. He was openly critical of the handling of City Center II and the original language of the medical marijuana ordinance. He’s involved in the East Lansing community as a leading member of the East Lansing Citizen’s Alliance, a group whose stated goal is to “improve citizen awareness of critical issues facing our local governments,” according to a release issued in April.
Incumbent Councilmember Nathan Triplett also is an appealing candidate because of his cognizance of issues that matter to students. His youth and the fact that Triplett is a law student at MSU’s College of Law make him the candidate who ideally would best represent a student’s mindset.
The editorial board’s final choice for city council is incumbent Councilmember Roger Peters. Peters would bring continuity and experience to a city council that could soon see a great deal of change. That familiarity with how the city operates is what endears him the most to us.
The election is an opportunity for students to help make the changes they wish to see in East Lansing. Students who are eligible to vote should make an informed vote that they think will better the East Lansing community.
Commentary
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Very compelling, persuasive arguments. . . WOW!
(11/06/11 9:58pm)Report
LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT:
1. Power is part of some fabricated alliance and claims to have spoken out against City Center II: wow!
2. Triplett is young and a full-time law student, so he has a lot of free time to read his 300-page packet, while he’s not taking money from outsiders and developers or violating basic rules of ethics, while living in his brand new city-subsidized property.
3. Peters is a good fit, because he will bring that continuity of more bullcrap, more of the same, and he—like Triplet—voted unanimously for CCII, ignored the Grand River speedtrap and ignored the long and dismal track record of failed projects by the annointed developer that he and Triplett are bailing out.
BRILLIANT!
Hans Seems a Bit Bitter
(11/06/11 10:53pm)Report
It would appear that Mr. Larsen (though too much of a coward to identify himself in his comment) is unhappy about not getting the nod from the State News. Maybe it’s because he couldn’t get his facts straight to save his life and has resorted to a campaign based on outright lies.
1) What is a “fabricated alliance”? Apparently Hans has a monopoly on criticizing CCII? I thought Larsen and Power were a team? Looks like Hans dropped Power like a bad habit.
2) Isn’t Triplett also a legislative staffer in addition to being a law student? I guess Hans has a problem with people who can do more than one thing at a time. And what exactly is Mr. Larsen’s problem with students? Shouldn’t students have their voice heard on the City Council? From what I’ve read the rest of Hans comments about Triplett are outright fabrications, so I don’t think anything more needs to be said about that.
3) Here’s Mr. Larsen’s favorite lie: that the city has “bailed someone out.” That’s the real bullcrap. Hans screams and yells about bonds for development projects, but he fails to mention that none of those bonds have ever been issued and even if they were at some point in the future they would pay for public assets not private ones. Larsen rails against Peters, Triplett and the rest of the council for something that haven’t even done.
Mr. Larsen needs to get his facts straight and have the courage to post his own name to his senseless diatribes. I don’t think voters respond well to liars. I’m not holding my breath for him to figure that out though. This is two city elections in a row we’ve all had to deal with Hans crap.
It's sounds like YOU were snubbed by him and now YOU are bitter!
(11/07/11 9:14pm)Report
As an innocent observer, it isn’t clear how one can attack someone not even mentioned in this article. If it is a State News staffer, then they would be violating their own rules. I suspect it is, because nobody actually reads this newspaper.