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Public commenters urge entheogen resolution, raise downtown business and corridor concerns
Summary
Speakers at the Jan. 27 Lansing council meeting urged the council to adopt an entheogen resolution, raised concerns about downtown business treatment and called for action on Michigan Avenue and the public service board vacancy.
LANSING, Mich. — Public commenters at the Lansing City Council meeting on Jan. 27 raised several community issues, including a request that the council consider a local resolution on entheogens, concerns about downtown business treatment, and a call to fill a public service board vacancy.
Nicholas Zane, president of the Old Denver Neighborhood Association, spoke during registration for public comment regarding a proposed right-of-way easement for the Ovation Center tied to downtown work. Zane said downtown businesses have been "just really horribly treated" by the city and expressed concern about the treatment of local businesses in the right-of-way and redevelopment process.
Nate Ford, identifying himself as a co-founder of the Lansing Entheogens and Psychedelic Society, urged the council to adopt a resolution similar to one passed in Ann Arbor four years earlier. "Lansing City Council adopting a resolution similar to what was adopted 4 years ago in the city of Ann Arbor is the the best move to help as many people as possible," Ford said, adding that ongoing research — including Veterans Affairs studies — could bring study funding and therapeutic options to Lansing. Ford said he provided the council offices with the Ann Arbor resolution text and invited council members to a society meeting on Feb. 15.
Nancy Malo urged the mayor to appoint a representative from Peckham or Disability Network to fill an at-large vacancy on the public service board and called attention to Michigan Avenue, saying there are "approximately, could be, give or take, 25 empty buildings along the Avenue." She said the Michigan Avenue Corridor Authority appears to have little communication with businesses and urged the city to address the situation because Michigan Avenue is a primary approach to the Capitol.
Other public notices included an announcement from Nicholas Zane that the Old Denver Neighborhood Association will not meet in February and will resume meetings in March.
Comments were delivered during the meeting’s public-comment periods; the council did not take immediate action on the requests made by speakers during the Jan. 27 meeting.
