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East Lansing City Council members are moving forward with a request from Police Chief Jen Brown to hire two additional officers for traffic enforcement and give officers greater power to address loud vehicle exhausts.
The unanimous vote to consider the items read for a first time came near the end of a nearly five-hour meeting Tuesday night.
East Lansing resident James Dearing says loud vehicles ruin his evenings during most of the year.
“A great benefit of icy weather here in East Lansing is not having to listen to the nightly loud racing of illegally modified vehicles,” Dearing said.
City Manager Robert Belleman says the officers enforcing traffic would generate enough revenue to offset the cost of hiring them.
But Brown says education is also part of the job and the department cannot set a quota for the number of tickets officers have to write.
Council members also gave initial approval for proposals to increase lighting and cameras downtown and to prohibit camping in public places and loitering in parking structures and parking lots.
The proposals will come up for a final vote at a future meeting.
