A time-out is needed in East Lansing over this whole East Village property dispute. Frustrations are leading to rhetoric that’s less than constructive.
The latest round in this dust up started in the Feb. 13 LSJ. Russ Harding of the Mackinac Center was critiquing the city’s use of environmental reviews. He suggested that the city’s motivation might not be the environment, but its own development plans.
And, finally, he wrote, “City officials apparently believe things would be better if MSU were not in East Lansing ...”
Ouch. Hyperbole is part of punditry, but I seriously doubt Harding thinks the city of East Lansing wants MSU to evacuate to Ionia or anywhere else.
In today’s LSJ (Feb. 19), East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton responded. He noted that the city has joint ventures with MSU. He detailed a number of environmental policy points.
And he attributed the motive of the people who believe as Harding does to “doing the bidding for commercial property owners and student landlords looking to extort higher prices from government for their properties.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Staton’s entitled to his opinion on motive, but the form of his message overwhelmed the message itself.
After all, what private property owner is looking to ever sell property at a discount? What private property owner is going to rely on others to protect his interests?
Staton’s job is to efficiently lead East Lansing’s day-to-day operations. But efficient government is not a responsibility of a private property owner. Getting more money for your property isn’t a sign of nefarious action, but of financial acumen.
I know several of the principals in this dispute to varying degrees professionally. I find them all to be earnest, able people who take their jobs seriously.
I have my own opinions on the East Village area and its use. I guarantee some of them would displease Harding and some would displease Staton. But I’m confident that all involved are merely pursuing their agendas with all due diligence. That’s how human society works ... the pursuit of self-interest and the myriad negotiations, big and little, we have with each other when self-interests diverge or collide.
Let’s rein in the rhetoric, folks. I speak from the experience of making similar mistakes ... the cutting-edge rhetoric usually cuts the author more than the intended target.
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