Averill Neighborhood Association Monthly Meeting

Thursday, July 22, 2010 -- 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Biggby’s South Waverly

Attendees: Officers Jillian Johnson and Kasha Lowe; City Council President A’Lynne
Robinson; City Parks Director Murdock Jemerson, Residents Gladys Thorp, Wes Thorp,
Marie Monroe, Bill Fude, Jason Wilkes, Teresa Mahaffey, Melissa Quon Huber

Action Items

Crime Q&A with Officers Jillian Johnson and Kasha Lowe (soon to be Kasha
Osborn)

• Uptake in B&E’s (breaking and entering) throughout city

o Most are B&E into cars that are unlocked
o Be on the lookout for what tends to be 13-15 year old with backpacks very
late at night or early morning looking for unlocked cars. If locked they
move on.
o The concurred that this pattern is similar with young males with
backpacks knocking on house doors to see if people are home.
o We asked if youths walking around with backpacks should be considered
suspicious. Officers said it is hard to tell, but if they have backpacks at a
time when it seems unusual (e.g. summer, when school isn’t in session, or
late at night) it could be suspicious.
o They will walk long distances to go to a neighborhood, so if someone
looks out of place contact the police.
o Keep cars locked at all times.
o Do not leave garage door or front door open while in the back yard.
o Call non-emergency number to report things that stand out even if it turns
out to be nothing. If nothing else, they will enforce the curfew violation.
• Window Peeper
o Be aware that there is a window peeper who tends to be active from 11 pm
to 1 pm in the neighborhood just to our South (e.g. Churchill Downs,
Fielding, Greenbelt streets.)
o He is a black male, early 30s, very skinny, dark completed, runs around
naked, does inappropriate acts until getting a reaction from person. He
does not live in the area and may be walking to the area.
• Drug raid on Inverary (over a month ago)
o Officers confirmed the drug raid on Inverary and assets were seized and
home was red tagged for code violations which are common in homes
where marijuana is grown (aka “grow house”).
o They indicated people cannot be at the home while red tagged unless they
are at the property between 8 and 5 and are working on the home.
o Be on the lookout for signs of a “grow house” which can be lots of traffic
while people coming and going with visits only lasting 2 to 5 minutes, lots
of empty plant containers, containers tucked in bushes.
• Updates on shootings (not our neighborhood) last night/this morning
o Wes inquired about shootings reported by news outlets and reported on his
blog this morning. Officers provided the following updates:
o Shooting on REO - 18 year old girl got hit, 5 rounds shot into the house,
she is fine, there was only one caller about the incident which was
unusual, some indication of an earlier argument about money owed to
someone but not substantiated
o 2 shootings on Baker Street and Lyons – same shooter in both incidents
which were located close by, apparent case of mistaken identity, no one
hurt
• Questions about crime environment
o Illegal guns. When asked, officers indicated that their perception is that
there are lots of illegal guns on the street and the number is increasing.
o Gangs. When asked, officers indicated that we do have “pretty decent
gangs here” but there have been no problems at this point. They get
updates whenever there are gang issues present and no such bulletins have
gone out for months.
o Crime patterns. Officers have been surprised that the overall volume of
crime has been less than in the past and less than expected given the
economic downturn. Councilmember Robinson indicated that the crime
stats provided to her by LPD show that non-violent crimes are down.
Resident Wes Thorp countered with data reported by Lansing State
Journal indicating that crime has increased over the past months.
Councilmember Robinson indicated she thought the LSJ stats were for
violent crimes and that she would work to get additional reports to discuss
at the next Second Saturday meeting (August 14th, 10 am, Fire station 6).
• Response Times since North/South Precinct Consolidation
o In response to questions about what Team 9 officers are assigned to shifts,
the issue of scheduling at shift changes was mentioned.
o Councilmember Robinson asked how shift changes were working since
the consolidation.
o Officers indicated that shift change is always going to be an issue no
matter where they are located, but that it can be more difficult when
something happens on the Southside during shift change.
o Day shift officers are not sent to any major calls near the end of their shift
(to prevent overtime pay). This is especially true if it the call is on the
Southside and will make them late in returning to North precinct to end
their shift given the distance and possible traffic during “rush hour.”
o Instead, the call goes to the few officers working the “overlap” period
between shift A and shift B start times and all other calls are on hold until
the full night shift is done with roll call and on the ride.
o [Note from Melissa – Officers moved to a 12 hour shift a few months ago
to prevent layoffs. Shifts are from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm and 5:30 pm to
5:30 am. As I understand it, each shift has a group that staggers their
start time so that not everyone is in shift-check in at the same time. It is
 during this staggered period where there are fewer officers on the road
while the majority are in check-in/roll call at the precinct.]
o So from 5:15 pm to 5:45 pm response time may be slower especially if a
major call comes in from the Southside because there are only a few
officers on duty during shift change and residents should be aware of this
potential.
o Otherwise the consolidation has not changed much. Officers write their
reports at the South precinct since there are computers located there. Only
shift check-in happens at North precinct.
o It sounds like we have another 3-year lease at South precinct so officers
anticipate having computers still remain at South Precinct for the
foreseeable future.
• Problems at Pleasant Grove and Holmes
o Councilmember Robinson asked LPD officers to patrol this area since
there are increased problems in the evenings
o She also indicated that the Taco Truck (presently located at Drakes) has
no permit to stay in one place and would like LPD to remind the vendors
of this. Furthermore, she indicated that the Taco Truck does not have a
dedicated water line and is concerned about the safety of food being
served there. She stated that she has talked to code compliance about this
and has told the vendors repeatedly they cannot be there and she is
concerned about food safety. [Note: We need to ask if the health
department needs to be notified or has been contacted.]
• Overnight Street Parking
o Councilmember Robinson indicated that overnight street parking has
become a larger problem again and asked officers to issue tickets.
o Officers indicated that they do write the tickets but that they just pay the
($7?) fines and don’t stop parking on the street. People just consider it the
price of parking.
o LPD cannot tow the cars so there are no real incentives to change
behaviors. Officer suggested that incremental fines or other enforcement
options could help serve as a deterrent.
o Councilmember Robinson indicated she would look into those options of
ordinances to change the fee structure for violations.
• Drug problems
o Residents noted the prevalence of open-air drug dealing going on in very
public places without much attempt to hide it.
o Residents had questions about how LPD addresses drug deals.
o Officers indicated that the LPD Special Operations unit (483-1820)
addressing drug deals has not been affected by budget cuts.
o Officers indicated that LPD’s best source of information regarding drug
dealing comes from working off tips from residents. [see below]
• Reporting tips and non-emergency problems.
o Officers indicated the best way to provide information to them is via email
which they check daily at the precinct (though they cannot access email
 from patrol cars). The LPD phone system has been changed and there are
still problems accessing voice mail.
o Send emails to the following people and cc Melissa at
hubermel@msu.edu:
o Day shift:
 Jason Bock - jbock@lansingmi.gov
 D. Person - dperson@lansingmi.gov
 J. Lindeman - llindeman@lansingmi.gov
o Night shift
 Jillian Johnson - jijohnson@lansingmi.gov
 Kasha Lowe - klowe@lansingmi.gov
 A. Taylor - ataylor@lansingmi.gov
o Command Officers (if you wish to cc them as well)
 Chief Teresa Szymanski - tszymanski@lansingmi.gov
 Captain Mike Yankowski - myankowski@lansingmi.gov

City and Neighborhood Updates from Council president A’Lynne Robinson

• Resident meeting with A’Lynne
o The next “Second Saturday meeting” for residents to discuss concerns and
information with A’Lynne will be held at Saturday, August 14th, at 10 a.m.
at Fire station 6 at the corner of Pleasant Grove and Jolly.
• “Good Stuff” (business development) happening in the 4th Ward
o “On the Boulevard” business association group is self-sufficient and
showing staying power as more businesses become involved and take
leadership roles.
o “BBQ on the Boulevard” was held at Logan square and was very
successful. It had the most ever vendors. It is now a mainstay event and
will continue to grow.
o “Boogie on the Boulevard” is the next event being planned by the
business association which will bring music events to Logan Square.
o Holmes & Pleasant Grove Businesses.
 The next goal is to work with businesses on the Holmes and
Pleasant Grove corridor.
 A’Lynne will report back with updates from her meeting next
Friday morning with all the businesses in the Holmes/Pleasant
Grover area including QD, New City Academy, BW’s, Drakes,
Vons, 1910 Meat Market, etc.
 (We’re not sure if New City Academy is staying there, they are
recruiting but there is a for sale sign. A’Lynne will find out more
at this meeting)
 She has a few volunteers to help with clean-up and spruce up these
businesses and to stop negative activity but they will need more.
A’Lynne will let the area neighborhoods know how they can be
involved.
• Problem Coyotes.
 o Yes, you heard me right. Wild Coyotes. In Lansing.
o We have a pack of coyotes. They had babies this spring.
o They roam the Colonial Village area, from Holly Park to Friendship
Woods, and the home where Christmas trees and pumpkins are sold.
o Many neighborhood cats have been killed by the coyotes.
o Critter Control came out to set up humane traps but problem exists.
o The state Department of Natural Resources and Environment won’t do
anything to help address the problem so we are on our own.
o The population has been reduced some by armed citizens.
o One thing that would help is for residents to stop feeding them.
• Liquor License for MLK/Holmes business
o In response to Wes’s concerns about council’s action on a liquor license
A’Lynne indicated that council did not recommend granting a liquor
license to the new business on MLK and Holmes.
o On the contrary, she indicated that council presented letters from residents
in opposition to the liquor license and they attended the meeting to
advocate for this opposition.
o The business presented itself to the liquor control board as having cheese,
wine, and food to serve an upscale clientele.
o The liquor control commission granted the liquor license indicating we
should be happy to have more businesses in Lansing, even though it went
against neighborhood and city council’s opinion.
o It now appears the business will be a flat out liquor store, not upscale as
promised to commission. Additional “discount vendors” are joining that
corner including Little Caesars and LA insurance.
o All four corners of that intersection have liquor licenses.
o The liquor license was not granted on any conditions of the business being
upscale as promised.
o Liquor control commission is made of appointments made by the
Governor so Wes asked for the names of these people. A’Lynne will
provide names and our neighborhoods may wish to have some contact
with those commissioners.
o A’Lynne said they have contacted Joan Bauer and will also bring
Gretchen Whitmer and Barb Byrum on to help transform this process.
• GM & Grand River Plant personal property tax exemption request.
o A’Lynne will be providing additional information about GM and Grand
River Plant requesting a personal property tax exemption.
o The “Old GM” owes us money but is in bankruptcy court so that cannot be
factored in here. This request is being made by the “new GM.”
o A’Lynne says, “I don’t want to sell the farm for 600 jobs. But it is 600
jobs.” She has already heard from residents angry as how GM has
abandoned the city.
o She and the council members are looking for public input on this matter.
There will be a public hearing on this topic on Monday, July 26th at the
City Council Meeting.
 o Jason asked about accountability for determining if they meet that 600 job
promise. He expressed concerns about Lansing’s Economic Development
Corporation (EDC) refusal to do any real audits of jobs created by past
recipients of the tax abatements. A’Lynne indicated that at council’s
request EDC finally did do the fuller report on jobs created. A’Lynne will
get a copy of those EDC job reports as well as trying to get a copy of the
Bridgewater contract with the city as Jason’s request.
• Co-generator plant in REO town.
o City making plans to remove the former “Deluxe Inn” at the other end of
the street and replace it with another “positive anchor” for that strip with
the Co-generator plant at the other end.
o In creating the co-generator we are trying to be ahead of the game. Our
coal stacks won’t meet regulations when they go into effect in 2014.
o [Note from Melissa: Articles about this plant were featured in the Lansing
State Journal and the City Pulse.
• Coal Ash Removal
o Wes asked A’Lynne about her thoughts on the coal ash removal after
having attended Councilmember Wood’s meeting on the topic last night.
Wes reported that in that meeting there were concerns raised about
cadmium, arsenic and other chemicals that have been problems with
removal in other parts of the state. [Wes blogged about this meeting and
various news reports about the concerns.]
o A’Lynne said she doesn’t buy into “conspiracy type theories” about
potential problems. However she does agree that we need to be asking
serious questions and doing our due diligence about the coal ash removal.
“When something looks or smells fishy I see it, but I don’t assume they
are doing something that is off.” She doesn’t believe we have the technical
capacity to evaluate the situation and would need outside assistance.
• Holmes Road Construction
o A’Lynne inquired as to whether the city had followed up on
communications about construction changes on Holmes Road.
o Melissa replied that the city followed up once at A’ Lynne’s request and
we have not received any additional notices of changes.
o Apparently there is some divergence in what different neighborhoods were
told about the construction plans.
o Melissa reported that there had been several different plans discussed and
that we had 4 different accounts between what had been presented at our
meeting, what had been presented to councilmember Wood in committee
meetings, what had been told to other neighborhoods, and what was
emailed to us from the city transportation office.
o A’Lynne will follow-up on the latest plans for Holmes road construction.

Murdock Jemerson Q&A on Renewal of Parks Millage

• Millage Vote August 3rd.

 o Residents will be asked to vote yes or no to keep the existing millage rate
in effect. It will not increase any taxes.
o The vote on the millage will take place August 3rd. Note that this item will
appear on the back of the ballot.
• Examples of Millage-funded Projects
o Murdock showed poster-size pictures of improvements done in the past 5
years based on park millage funds, including our own Averill Park.
o The $600,000 of millage funds was used to leveraged over 2 million
dollars in additional matching dollars from state funds and other sources.
o Every $1 of millage dollars spent on capital improvements yielded $2.5 to
3 dollars in state matching dollars.
o Millage funds have been used to renovate 25 playgrounds in the past 5
years.
o The main focus of the millage is to match state dollars, keep our
playgrounds in good shape
• Funding Maintenance of Park System
o Half of millage has been used for maintenance, half for capital
improvements.
o There is also a new line item in the general fund just for park maintenance
which will be useful for unexpected big ticket items such as the recently
discovered broken seawall along the river trail along Elm Street by
Moores River.
• Quality Parks and Utilization Rates
o Residents Wes and Gladys Thorp have been on a mission to visit all 114
parks before the millage [see part 1 and part 2 of their adventure]. They
remarked now nice every one of the parks was. Each was nicely mowed
and with playground equipment in great shape. Wes did note that they
didn’t see anyone actually using the parks. Gladys indicated they go in the
mornings or afternoons which may have different usage patterns.
o Murdock indicated that the parks don’t have to be busy to be appreciated
for their green space and that some people appreciate having a place to go
that is not full of people.
• Number of Parks
o Wes asked Murdock “Do we have more parks than we can afford?” Wes
asked how much it costs to mow each park.
o Murdock estimated it was about $100 to $150 to mow a general size park
based on the following: Seasonal $12/hour on work crew which consists
of 2 mowers and 1 person with weed whip & picking up trash = $36/hour
labor. It takes about 1-2 hours to mow. Plus there is the charge for rental
of equipment through city motor pool
• Cooperation with County Park System
o Teresa asked if Hawk Island was a city park. Murdock indicated that
Hawk Island is a county park but we cooperate with them and work with
them. Murdock works closely with Willis Bennett who is director of
county park system. We jointly operate Soldan Dog Park.
 o Wes asked about plans to start charge to use Soldan dog park. Murdock
said they need to charge users so they can enforce the rules better than
when it was voluntary. Users will be able to purchase an entry card for
$40 after proving their dog(s) has been vaccinated and licensed. This will
probably occur in October.
• Implications if Millage Fails
o Murdock was asked what happens if the millage doesn’t pass.
o His answer was that we can’t go after state and local grants. And we have
$1.2 million tied up in maintenance and staff through the millage so
without it the parks won’t get mowed. They’ll look like our golf courses.
Sections of the river trail need maintenance every year and that won’t
happen.
• Questioning Wisdom of Parks Expansion
o Murdock was queried about why we keep spending money to expand
parks when that only creates more parks to maintain.
 Only Funds New. Murdock explained that the State Department of
Natural Resources Trust fund (which matches our millage dollars)
only funds new development or new land acquisition for natural
resource-based recreation. These funds cannot be used to maintain
or refurbish parks like the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery
Act (UPARR) was authorized to do. But that federal UPARR act
has not been funded since 2002.
 Matching dollars belong to us. Those Trust Fund dollars are paid
for by state taxpayers. So if we do not apply for those funds they
will go to some other city and most administrations do not see that
as a positive option.
o Jason questioned the wisdom of using millage funds for things like the
proposed Crego Park project which seems to add to the large number of
existing parks.
 Murdock explained that he tries to find projects that will allow us
to enhance our park system without adding more maintenance
costs.
 Crego is our largest park and was only closed because of
contamination. It is a perfect match for the DNR trust fund grant.
 It can be restored for “quiet water activities” and other activities
but does not need regular maintenance so it is a low-cost project to
bring a park back online.
o Melissa questioned whether all the costs were being considered, such as
public safety costs, by bringing this type of park back into the system.
Since it is a secluded area with low-visibility it could have problems
similar to Fenner Park where negative recreation has occurred.
• Citizens can have input into how millage funds are spent
o The decision-making process begins in October of each year.
o Murdock meets with parks and recreation staff to identify and prioritize
needs in the park system.
 o Those items are then taken to the Park Board where citizens can be
involved in the public hearings to voice their opinions.
o Park board meetings are the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7 pm. The
locations change by quarter. The meetings for this quarter are occurring at
the Southside Community Center. The July 2010-June 2011 schedule is
online.
• Residents wanting yard signs in support of the millage can contact Melissa or
Murdock.
• [Note from Melissa: Averill Woods Board members approved a support letter for
the parks millage earlier in the week and it will be submitted as a letter to the
editor of print and electronic media outlets.]