Members of East Lansing’s City Council are warning that a rowdy downtown area is harming the city’s reputation.
City Council members heard testimony Tuesday from business owners who say a brawl during Michigan State University’s welcome week is just one example of the type of behavior they see every weekend.
Johnny Vlahakis is a manager at El Azteco. He said he was just a few feet away when someone pulled out a knife and was tased by police.
He says he has a heightened awareness of his surroundings when he goes into work on Fridays and Saturdays because large crowds frequently gather in the Ann Street Plaza when bars close for the night.
“It’s not just that there’s crowds out front,” Vlahakis said. “It’s the crowds are… they’re out there actively looking for violence, it seems like, after you get to that 2 a.m. mark.”
Ali Haider owns the 7-Eleven on Albert Avenue. He said he has had employees quit due to safety concerns and customer traffic decline as people avoid the area.
“I don’t think the downtown is safe or secure for families or children,” Haider said.
City Council members expressed concern about the downtown area’s reputation and suggested holding a discussion-only meeting to weigh their options.
Councilmember Erik Altmann said it not only makes downtown less attractive to visit, but risks scaring people away from living in the area.
“I am concerned that East Lansing has become a place where people come to cause trouble. That’s a hard reputation to shake,” Altmann said. “I’m not quite sure how it happened, but it looks to me like it’s happened, and we have to figure out how to break out of that.”
The welcome week incidents spurred complaints of excessive use of police force.
Footage shared with WKAR News by Okemos nonprofit Honey Bear Project shows police officers appearing to use pepper spray to disperse a crowd after several people began fighting.
Nadia Sellers leads the nonprofit, which was among the first to highlight the incident and accuse officers with the East Lansing Police Department of using excessive force.
“A badge and a gun, they’re not symbols of unchecked power,” Sellers said at the City Council meeting Tuesday night. “They’re tools for public service. When an officer takes the oath, nowhere does it say intimidate, arrest unfairly or use excessive force.”
Paul Vlahakis owns El Azteco and Dublin Square. He said he was impressed with how the police handled both the brawl and a man wielding a knife earlier in the evening, who he said they used a taser on.
“In that moment, I personally wasn’t sure if that individual had a gun in the back of his waistband. The officer had no other option,” he said. “It was the safest option, and I commend the swift, decisive action that ultimately prevented tragedy that night.”
The East Lansing Police Department denied a Freedom of Information Act request from WKAR News seeking footage from officer-worn body cameras.
Councilmember Dana Watson said the footage should be released rather than allowing speculation to run rampant as the narrative is controlled by videos shared on social media.
“Either you did something wrong, or you did something right,” Watson said. “Then we hopefully can keep moving forward as a community from there.”
City Council is considering changes to the city’s independent police oversight commission that some groups have warned would severely limit its ability to investigate or weigh in on discipline until after internal investigations are complete.
Matthew Boughton is an East Lansing resident who serves on the East Lansing Human Rights Commission. He said the proposed changes would allow the police department to police themselves.
“This violates a very basic tenet of democracy, that those with power must be subject to scrutiny by the public so that the strong do not prey upon the weak,” Boughton said. “Police hold the power of life and death over other citizens, and therefore must be held to a high standard, which includes independent oversight with teeth.”
The proposal is currently set to come up at the next City Council meeting on Sept. 23. But some City Council members expressed concern that wouldn’t give members of the oversight commission enough time to weigh in on the changes proposed in contract negotiations with the city’s police union.
A proposal to delay the discussion to October failed in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night because an amendment to the agenda would require unanimous consent.
But Councilman Mark Meadows says the motion could be made again at the next meeting.
Boughton said the proposed changes could exacerbate issues downtown by making people hesitate to call law enforcement.
“The proposed changes will not make East Lansing safer,” Boughton said. “In fact, they may make it less safe, as it could prevent vulnerable populations from seeking out help in a time of need due to the fear that they will not have just and meaningful recourse if things go wrong.”
