East Lansing candidate profiles
By Tony Briscoe
Today is Election Day for city council in East Lansing with four candidates running for office: Victor Loomis, Kevin Beard, Hans Larsen and Phil Bellfy.
East Lansing is governed by five members of city council in a council-manager system of government, where city council members are elected in overlapping four-year terms, and from there, members appoint a mayor and mayor pro-tem amongst themselves.
Student voting in these elections has been deplorable in the past, and remained relatively stagnant. In 2007 (This article was updated on Nov. 4 to show the correct year. The original aricle said “Last year.” Spartanedge regrets the error.) less than one-percent of the MSU student population voted in the city council election.
However, eligible student voters who are interested in voting will not have to travel far because there are several polling locations on campus – including Butterfield Hall, East Wilson Hall, West Akers Hall, and Bailey Community Center.
In addition to convenient voting positions on campus, CATA buses are also encouraging citizens to vote by offering free rides all day to individuals who present a valid voter registration.
All voters are assigned specific polling sites as indicated on their voter registration. To confirm their location, voters may contact the East Lansing City Clerk’s Office at (517) 319-6914.
Polls open November 3 at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 8 p.m. For more information concerning registration, sample ballots and more, visit http://www.cityofeastlansing.com/Home/Departments/CityClerk/ElectionInformation/.
Who are the candidates?
Victor Loomis
Loomis has debatably the most experience of all the candidates running. As current mayor of East Lansing, he is finishing his second term on city council. He is the chairperson to the Downtown Development Authority and serves on the Comprehensive Plan Team and the Council of Neighborhood Presidents. Loomis also boasts the approval of the citizens; a community survey conducted last year showed that 94 percent of East Lansing residents were satisfied with city services while Loomis serving as mayor. Loomis is a native of East Lansing. He attended East Lansing High School, served in the military, and graduated from MSU with a degree in Business Administration.
Kevin Beard
Beard is also a council member up for reelection after coming off his term on city council. He has a reputation for being involved in the community. As a resident of East Lansing for 25 years, Beard has chaired on numerous local organizations such as the Planning Commission, the East Village Planning Team, the Comprehensive Plan team, and the Park & Recreation Commission. Two issues he would like to address in his next term are affordable and competitive housing, as well as a non-motorized transportation plan for all residents. Beard, who was a GM employee for 31 years, is also an MSU alum and current graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in Human Resources and Labor Relations.
Hans Larsen
Larsen is a political newcomer who aims to give the two incumbents a run for their money. He is an East Lansing native who graduated from East Lansing High School and returned to the city after earning a graduate degree from Columbia University in New York City. Larsen, 35, would like to bring a fresh perspective to city council because he believes that the city is spending the tax payers’ money irresponsibly. He believes Ted Staton, the city manager, is a perfect example of this is type of frivolous spending, for approving a controversial $125 million development that incumbents endorsed according to Larsen. If elected, he would like to deal with issues concerning the city’s water and sewage system, stop the funding cuts for public libraries and improve government-student relations with MSU.
Phil Bellfy
Bellfy is another political novice, setting his sights on reforming city government. He is deeply rooted in his Native American culture belonging to the White Earth Anishinaabe (also known as the Chippewa or Ojibwe), being apart of the American Indian Studies Program and teaching several classes on Native American culture and history at MSU. He is also the co-director of the Center for the Study of Indigenous Border Issues and an editor for the “Indigenous Policy Journal.” Like Larsen, he feels that the members of city council have a bad relationship with the residents and that there should be more personal dialogue between government and the community. He is officially running for city council, but his name will not be on the ballot. Therefore, he is asking voters to write his name to formally cast their vote for him.
Q&A with the candidates
Why do you want to be on City Council?
Victor Loomis: “Well, I’m on city council and I’m completing my second term. I’ve been asked by a lot of people – both internal of the city and external of the city – to run for one more term and I’m honoring that request. That’s basically because where the city is on a lot of initiatives and what I’ve been doing to participate in those initiatives: all the way from our budget initiatives to our development initiatives, our efforts with Michigan State University and other regional partners. So we’ve got a lot of things going on. The city has had momentum in a lot of areas for an extended number of years now. I believe I’ve made a contribution to that. I believe I will still be able to make a contribution. And by the encouragement of many, my own family included, I’ve decided to run one more term.”
Hans Larsen: “The City Council has engaged in reckless spending, irresponsible budgeting, and has become unresponsive to the voices of the citizens. As a City Council member, I will continue to expose the deceptions in City Hall–and work to reduce the tax burden on the taxpayers.”
Phil Bellfy: “There needs to be someone on the City Council who is willing to not only listen to voters, but someone who is truly committed to being their voice. ‘Listening’ doesn’t mean diddly unless you’re willing to actually consider the views of your constituents. This current Council listens very poorly, and then simply ignores what is being told to them — especially if those constituents are students. I will be your voice.”
Kevin Beard: “I’m concluding my first term and I’m seeking reelection. I firmly believe I’ve done a good job as a council member representing the citizens of East Lansing – permanent residents, students, businesses, everybody that lives in town here. We’ve accomplished quite a few things during this four-year tenure. We have more pathways through the city, more trails in our system. We have more parks; we’re making parks improvements. We have improved streets, sidewalks. We have replaced a number of street trees that have died with brand new trees. We’ve got more business investment, especially in the northern [region]. We’ve renovated parts of downtown and have plans to do even more. So, I really want to run for another four years, if I have the faith and trust of the citizens and voters, and continue pursuing these types of initiatives.”
What needs to be changed in East Lansing?
Victor Loomis: “I think there are several things we can improve upon. One of those is to continue some very fine efforts we have had in the area of communicating with our citizens. The city of East Lansing has had a Web site [and] updated that Web site extensively. We’re on Facebook now, Twitter [as well]. We’re doing a lot of things to try to get more information about the city, projects, city programs, the initiatives, trying to get that information in the hands of more citizens, in [as] timely a manner as practical. If we get it to them, that doesn’t mean they’re going to get it or read it or work with it, but I think we need to continue to improve efforts in that area and dissemination of information – a broad swath of information – in a timely manner, and conversely, be able to reverse that process, so that citizens can communicate with the city, to get information back to us in a more time[ly], concise and applicable manner than we get it right now. So, that’s an area I feel we need to be focused on. I’m coming from a meeting with a bunch of regional partners [from CATA], to look at what can be done regionally to improve our transportation quarters, to make them more user friendly to all forms of transportation … not just vehicles, but pedestrians, cyclists and we’re even looking at [the] possibility of light rail or different modes of transportation that would improve the quality of life not just in East Lansing, but regionally. So that’s something we can continue. The city has our own non-motorized transportation study that’s underway right now. So, basically I think [we need to focus on] how to grown our community, internally and externally, how do we create better density and still accommodate for the movement of people to places and things.”
Hans Larsen: “We must restore the openness and transparency in City Hall and represent the voices of the people, rather than kowtow to the private developers – not bailing them out with taxpayer money. Specifically, we need to refocus our spending on essential City services:
1. address long-deferred maintenance of our water and sewer system
2. maintain safe neighborhoods – and our parks and recreational programs
3. maintain our excellent public library and school system
4. expand curbside recycling to include more items
5. improve the relationship between East Lansing and MSU.”
Phil Bellfy: “From the campus perspective, there really needs to be someone on Council who truly understands the needs of the students and the MSU community – they’ve been totally ignored by this Council and Administration.”
Kevin Beard: “Talking to people on boards and commissions, I always ask two questions: what do you like about East Lansing and what would you like to see changed? For me, the biggest thing that I want to see changed or improved is the ability for people to get around town without an automobile. We’re trying to draft a non-motorized transportation plan right now. We’ve had a couple of public meetings on it. We’ve had quite a bit of input. We’re working with a consultant, Greenway Collaborative. They’re doing really excellent work on identifying safe routes through the town for pedestrians and bicycles. There are just lots of people in this community, who just want to get to recreation, shopping, work, schools, you name it, without having to rely on an automobile and that’s one of the main things I want to push in the next four years – that non-motorized transportation plan.
If you were elected, what would you hope to accomplish?
Victor Loomis: “My number one priority is that we sustain our essential services, at our current levels, in our current cost structure. There is always a lot of pressure for cost to increase and those come in several areas. Energy costs have gone up; healthcare costs continue to be a problem. Although we haven’t had a lot of inflation recently, inflation is still something you have to be cognizant of. So, we have to plan now and we have to work now to ensure that our essential services [such as] police, fire, emergency, medical treatment … that when it snow our streets are plowed, so commerce can continue and people can get on with their lives, and students can get to classes and [we] keep our streets in good repair, our infrastructure in good repair. Those essential services, my main goal is to maintain them at the levels they are at now and to keep our cost curtailed, so we can continue to afford to sustain them.”
Hans Larsen: “We must remove City Manager Ted Staton from office, for his blatant deceptions involving the public/private partnership called City Center II – a $125 million development project. Specifically, after being fully informed of the fact that the developer appeared to be drowning in lawsuits, liens, foreclosures, and delinquent property taxes, involving multiple failed projects, the incumbents unanimously approved this project and the public financing of it.”
Phil Bellfy: “I would hope to open a truly open and responsive dialog between the community and the Council and administration. And I would try to impose a bit of integrity into Council workings — they’re much too secretive and deceptive, and horribly anti-student.”
Kevin Beard: “Well that’s one of the things I want to see through, is that non-motorized transportation plan. The other thing I want to see come to fruition is to get a solid development plan in place for East Village. I chaired East Village Planning Commission several years ago and we developed a master plan for it. We changed the zoning down there and implemented a form based code, so that the vision of the master plan could be realized. That plan, if it comes to fruition, will really change the whole nature of the E. Grand River strip, in there. It will bring about lots more housing opportunities for the undergraduates who live there now: new and better opportunities. We will add housing for young professionals, grad students, and owner occupied [like] lofts and condos for young professionals, who are looking for urban living situations.”
How are you currently involved in the community?
Victor Loomis: “As a person, as an individual, I have been involved in community service activities longer than I have been professionally employed. Community is something I started in the military. It is something I continued when I came back on campus. I had two college careers: one before the military, when I wasn’t a very good student, and one after the military, when I was a very focused student. I was involved in community service activities, in my second tenure on campus and that has been something that has stayed with me. I’ve been involved either on boards or in leadership capacities in over thirty community organizations or groups throughout my adult life and I’m still involved. I’m involved on city council. I’m in many things that don’t have anything to do with city council. I’m in my thirty-first year as volunteer for the Salvation Army, out of its main citadel here in Lansing, on North Pennsylvania Avenue. [I’m involved with] Waldumar Nature Center, Boys & Girls Clubs – a number of organizations. I’m also currently serving on the MSU Children’s Health Initiative, that looks at the level of care to the children of the community and what we can do particularly in the area of surgeries, critical care and different types of medical procedures they need. So, I would keep myself very involved if I were not to be serving East Lansing city council and I would find other organizations to plug in that time.”
Hans Larsen: “For several years, I have fought to expose the deceptions in City Hall and pressure City Council to admit their financial recklessness and irresponsible budgeting.”
Phil Bellfy: “Well, for the past 18 months I’ve been deeply involved in the opposition to the city’s crazy development schemes — every one of which is designed to destroy affordable student housing. Think FarmHouse, here.”
Kevin Beard: “The council duties really do require quite a bit of time and each of the council members, myself included, become liaisons for our various boards and commissions. I work very closely with the Planning Commission, The Zoning Board of Appeals, The Building Board of Appeals, our Seniors Commission and our Cable, Internet and Technology Commission. They meet monthly, sometimes twice a month, dealing with various views and help by advocating for them requires quite a bit of time. We’re always in contact with various neighborhood associations and individual citizens, trying to navigate though the bureaucracy and solve problems for them. In addition to that, there are a lot of community events we have to participate in and there are always things going on, on campus: student groups, fraternities, sororities, the campus administration. The life of a city council member turns out to be a lot busier than people might expect.”
Dismissing the fact that there are two positions available, what makes you more qualified for a job on city council than the other three candidates running?
Victor Loomis: Well, I’m going to submit – it’s my experience. I have eight years on city council. That means eight budgets, but before that I was in my ninth year in the city’s Downtown Development Authority, I was in my eighth year chairing it. I was one of two people who really brought the [downtown] budget forward: myself and Jim Van Ravensway. I grew up here. I know this city. I know its history; I know how it has grown up and built itself out. I’m a graduate of East Lansing High School. I’m a graduate of Michigan State University. I am very deeply steeped in this community and that’s a perspective that I believe is a very unique perspective. I think my professional background is a strength that I bring. Plus, my community service credentials, like I said: I bring over thirty organizations that I’ve been involved in and my history with the city itself. That’s almost two decades of community service and serving in an elected capacity with the city. Qualifications matter. Experience does matter and a track record does matter. And I would submit I bring all three of those to the table.”
Hans Larsen: “We cannot afford to let the incumbents continue to cut funding for the library, while throwing tens of millions of dollars at an insolvent private developer. My vote cannot be bought; I cannot be bribed. The current City Council’s actions suggest that they have sold out to the developers–to the detriment of the taxpayers. These projects only worsen the tax burden and worsen the need for affordable student housing near campus!”
Phil Bellfy: “Well, I’m running against the two incumbents who have operated this city like it was AIG — the situation is similar for this election in this way: AIG has to give their executives multi-million dollar bonuses because they’re the people who drove the world’s economy into a ditch, so they’re the only ones who know how to get us out, or so they say. The incumbent Council members have created the mess we’re in, so they’re going around saying “re-elect us because we know haw to fix the problems we’ve created.” I don’t think the voters will fall for it. I’ve been up-front and vocal, and I’ve spent the past 18 months trying to make some sense out of this mess we’re in, and fashion some reasonable solutions. I could have better effect on City ‘policy’ if I could work from the inside.”
Kevin Beard: “I have served at the neighborhood level, in a neighborhood association. I served eight years on the planning commission, six of those as chair. I’ve served two years on the [Parks and Recreation Commission], both of those years as chair. I chaired the city’s Comprehensive Plan Team and that was a five-year effort to re-write our master plan. I chaired the East Village planning team. I’ve been involved in a number of community initiatives, a lot of volunteer projects. I know every neighborhood like the back of my hand. I am well qualified to perform the duties of council having just come off of four years on council and having the enthusiastic endorsement of dozens of people in this reelection bid. I am confident that I am the best person for this position, at this point in time.”
If you were to be elected what type of influence would you have on the university?
Victor Loomis: “I will continue doing as I have done for the past two years. As mayor I have worked with a significant number of student groups, student organizations. In my time here as mayor, I have been to every single event a student group or student organization has invited me to. I’ve spoken at every event I’ve been asked to speak at. I’ve received a couple awards in the past two years from student groups. So, I will continue my efforts to work very closely with those student organizations: the Resident Hall Association, the Council of Graduate Students, ASMSU, the greek system, etc. Plus, we meet regularly with MSU administration. We’ve talked about mutual areas of interest between the community and Michigan State. I’ve also worked with a community relations coalition that has a significant number of students involved in it. So, I’ll continue doing what I have been doing and continue to push the momentum we’ve created. And I think that’s pretty substantial.”
Hans Larsen: “The current City Council views the students as an annoyance. East Lansing is nothing without the energy and vibrancy that the students and staff of MSU bring to our community. I will work with them to achieve mutually beneficial goals. A happy MSU means a happy East Lansing. The current City Council, most recently, is considering fining renters for not raking their landlords’ leaves. Their voting record is blatantly anti-student.”
Phil Bellfy: “I think the question should be rephrased. The city has virtually no control of what goes on south of Grand River, so there’s very little ‘influence’ any Council member can inject into the workings of the university. A better question might have to do with the type of influence an MSU professor might have on the Council – and I think that my influence on town-gown issues would be huge.”
Kevin Beard: “The city and the university, even though they are two separate, governmental entities – [the] university decides what happens on campus and the council controls what happens off campus within our jurisdiction – we still deal with the same population base. My citizens are students, faculty and staff that cross Grand River Avenue to work and recreate on campus. Students live on campus, but they come off to entertain, shop and recreate, so we intermingle all the time. I think about 15,000 students live on campus in the housing. That means there’s another 15,000 – 30,000 living off campus, either in East Lansing or in the surrounding communities. We deal with a lot of community traffic, coming through the community to get to campus for their jobs. We’re just so intertwined here with everything that goes on. We have worked very hard for the last six to eight years to develop a report with administration. We have regular meetings with the president and administrators to discuss issues that concern both the university and the city. We have put into place a number of sub-committees that work with responsible celebration. Our police department, fire department and our whole public safety is involved with students – student organizations, the fraternities and sororities – to make sure people celebrate safely and are careful when they are recreating in the community. We have whole new lines of communication. We have a very good rapport now with the university’s administration – faculty and staff. I look forward to continuing that. The other thing is, for me, I’m really hoping in the next few year here we can put some effort into identifying part of the city that we can redevelop, with an eye to develop new, apartment-style, quality, market-competitive housing. The city has always provided a great deal of student housing and that’s going to continue. The trouble is that it’s not easy for a developer to assemble enough land, to get a parcel big enough, to make it worth their while. So we have a lot of old housing stock that struggles with parking. The tenants of those units often struggle with yard care, snow removal, trash and a lot of other things that make it difficult. And developers know that there’s a market for new student housing. We have seen it develop, up in Bath Township, on Abbot and Chandler road. We have seen it develop on the corner of Jolly and Dunkel. Meridian Township, out east, has approved another seven-hundred beds for student renters. So, we know the market is there. The challenge we have is to take what is a built-out, developed, urban core and redevelop it with new, quality, market-rate housing targeted at the students. It really isn’t everyone’s best interest to keep the students as close to campus as possible and I think that is going to be one of the many challenges we face in the next four years: to be able to compete as a community for that student rental market and not let it drift away to the outlying townships.”
Is there anything you specifically want to say to voters on your behalf?
Victor Loomis: “I would first off, always encourage them to vote. I mean you have to get out and vote, that’s the first step. Then, do your homework, understand who the candidates are, understand what they bring to the table. I would submit that I bring a very broad perspective. I’m not a single issue candidate. I’m not doing this because something happened in the city or something is happening in the city that I don’t particularly agree with. I think discussion and constructive debate is good – it’s health for the process – but candidates and people who serve office need to have a very broad focus. They need to know this issue’s area and they need to have positions on the issues. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me 100 percent and I don’t agree with others 100 percent. To have good constructive dialogue and discourse is healthy for the process and I would just recommend that people do their homework, they understand who the candidates are, they learn as much as they can on the candidates and most importantly, turn out on election day and vote.”
Hans Larsen: “The people need to understand that the increases in the property taxes from these fancy, unneeded development projects do not go to the general fund, but instead are earmarked to pay off the bonds – the public debt – that was used to build the private projects in the first place. Meanwhile, City Council cuts library funding. I will fight against these actions and represent the people.”
Phil Bellfy: “If the students get out and write in my name – Phil Bellfy – and vote for Hans Larsen, we will get more than enough votes to oust both incumbents — but you have to vote. And tell everyone within all of your social networks to do the same. Both Hans and I will be your voice on Council — and that’s a promise. Go to PublicResponse.com and click on ‘candidates’ — you’ll find more stuff there than you’ll care to read about all kinds of city issues – but take a look. And vote on Tuesday.”
Kevin Beard: “I have enjoyed the support and confidence of the citizens of this community for four years and I think I have worked hard enough to earn their trust and confidence for the next four years. And I hope that voters will agree with that and vote for me on November 3.”