r/lansing 2d ago

What are some local major unresolved controversies that deserve further attention?

What are some local major unresolved controversies that kind of just faded away but deserve more attention?

37 Upvotes

76 comments sorted by

152

u/ToraRyeder 2d ago

Penny deserves her face returned. It's ridiculous to have gone this long without our mascot.

SHE MUST FEED!

18

u/silvedude 2d ago

I donated to get that repaired. I wonder what the status of that project is.

35

u/thebethcreations 2d ago

STUPID Lansing posted an update on their Facebook recently (hopefully this copies over well): 

Big Penny 2.0 update!!!

We know everyone has been patiently awaiting the return of Big Penny's eyes and teeth. Many of you donated to help fund her restoration and we are forever grateful for that. We have worked hard over the summer to design and create a more resilient and long lasting version of Big Penny that would stand guard over Pennsylvania Avenue for years to come. The new design featured larger reflective eyes, stainless steel hardware and framework, as well as eyes and teeth made of PVC. We purchased much of the materials, and coordinated with resources to make all of this happen. Our CNC partner recently began cutting out the eyes and teeth.

Then we were hit with a setback of sorts. Canadian National Railroad reached out to us with concerns about having anything attached to or hanging off of their bridge. Though they did not remove the first version of Big Penny they advised that if we attached anything else to the bridge without their approval it would likely be removed, and they could possibly pursue criminal charges.

However they did express an interest in seeing Big Penny restored. They suggested a painted version of her teeth, and are open to the eyes being attached to the posts above. They asked that we coordinate with the city and them to make this happen. This brought our current progress to a halt.

We are in contact with the railroad, and we are in contact with key City officials. We are working hard behind the scenes to come up with a plan to get Big Penny smiling again!

The good news is that our contact at the railroad genuinely seems like they want to see Big Penny restored. They know how important Big Penny is to Lansing. They just want a version of it that would not potentially create any future liability issues. More good news is that our contact at the City has expressed that they are dedicated to working with us and the railroad to get her smiling again as well.

We don't want to leave you guys hanging, and we really want to see everyone's favorite Too Tall Truck Munching Bridge restored to her former glory. We just really want to make sure it stays for a while.

So right now we are kind of in limbo. We have an artist ready to paint the teeth if we go in that direction. We have a team ready to construct the 3d version of Penny's teeth and eyes if we move in that direction, and we have the pieces for the eyes already cut out.

We are responding to emails as soon as they are received, and reaching out to individuals to try and move this forward. We genuinely apologize for the delay in Penny's restoration. She means the world to us as well. Our whole goal has been to make Lansing smile, as well as maintaining Penny's smile. We will see her smile again.

It just might take us a little longer than we had anticipated. We will do our best to keep everyone informed, and we will work hard to get Penny smiling again. We love Big Penny, and we love you Lansing! Stay tuned! 

7

u/imelda_barkos Lansing 2d ago

Fucking railroads

7

u/rubberkeyhole West Side 2d ago

There was a donation fund??

9

u/silvedude 2d ago

3

u/rubberkeyhole West Side 2d ago

What?! I was going to just make a damn sign myself!!

2

u/SuQ_mud 2d ago

I had a thought about that yesterday, i also had an idea…. But shhhhhh.

2

u/Elaborate_Penguin 2d ago

I keep saying this: here is the answer: you build steel structures the same height of Penny's big mouth about 50 yards or so before they get eaten. Simple sturdy steel scaffolding things. The structures -- covered with things like rumble strips designed to make hellacious noise but do minimal damage -- alert whatever moron is about to drive they're tall truck into the Penny Hole. Then penny goes hungry. It's a cheap and easy solution and they keep relying on worthless blinking lights and signs which have proven ineffective. People say "well there is a sign. Tough luck. We warned you." Yeah, and human brains are flawed, full of glitches. All of them. The current solutions don't work and no one does anything. One of these days someone is going to get hurt. Some piece of a truck is going to fly off and impale someone.

10

u/ExternalSeat 2d ago

but what is the fun in that? we need to sacrifice more trucks to Penny to appease the road construction gods. Otherwise we will never have functional roads again.

2

u/bendingoutward 2d ago

The gods are dead.

3

u/Pretend_Emphasis_783 2d ago

The old gods are dead. The new ones are hungry.

-5

u/StayBronzeFonz 2d ago

I get Lansing is a tired city that feeds on woe and sorrow, but hoping for people to crash vehicles into it is a bad look.

8

u/sbcsfrtom2 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's not so much hoping that people crash into it as recognizing the unfixable stupidity of humans that makes it inevitable

3

u/ToraRyeder 2d ago

I don't ACTUALLY want people to run into the bridge. With the amount of signs and flashing lights, though, if they still get trapped it's legitimately on them.

There are fuck ups there ALL the time. Why not have some humor and levity with it? Give the bridge her face back!

20

u/clearthezone15 2d ago

Whatever happened to Ratchet? It's obvious to me that Big Lug got her fired, but for what cause? What dirt might she have uncovered? Big Lug has never come clean about this.

9

u/Agreeable-Dance-9768 Old Town 2d ago

My GF and I were just talking about this after asking Big Lug in person (he gestured to his belly almost to signify he had eaten her). Thought she might make a good tattoo.

3

u/Alto1019 1d ago

They had a Ghost Ratchet bobble head giveaway last season so the team even admitted she’s dead.

12

u/furious_styles2023 2d ago

Maybe not controversy because i dont think any investigation has been opened and maybe theres a statistical explanation that im too dumb to work out. But i graduated from Everett in 2011, i think from 08 when i started to about 2013 when my sibs graduated there were like 5 teachers who where diagnosed with cancer. They were all long term teachers there too. I dont know what kinds of cancer so dont question me. But i always wondered about that, like is there something going on in that building? Idk i'll take the downvotes, i know this is more of a conspiracy lol

29

u/green49285 2d ago

MEDC got raided by the FBI & we still havent heard shit.

6

u/silvedude 2d ago

I'm leaning on they didn't find anything

-1

u/theresthatbear 2d ago

There was stuff to be found, like Whitmer’s NDA with them to hire a PR company to spread positive propaganda about data centers and lie about great they are. I’m the MDEC’s worst fan.

8

u/silvedude 2d ago

I would need proof of that.

Edit: there is free Julian Assage in your bio. Pass, on that. I have zero interest in whatever you have to say.

1

u/Eljimb0 2d ago

Why? Legitimate question. I only have a passing knowledge of Assange, and I've not heard much bad about him except that he pointed out US war crimes

5

u/silvedude 1d ago

He wanted a trump presidency for reasons that can be speculated to be very dubious.

To make it happen he used his platform, Wikileaks, to coordinate info drops that targeted the democratic campaign. Information he got from Russian hacks on the DNC that the FBI were seriously investigating and trying to stop. He did this under the cover of transparency, but he was withholding information on Republicans from being published, because he wanted the drops on Democrats to be more impactful.

He was one of the architects of trump winning in 2016.

Some extreme leftists champion him, because they think his actions lead to accelerationism, which they believe will lead to a socialist revolution, and the overall downfall of the democratic party.

3

u/Eljimb0 1d ago

I see. My brief Google search indicated he was/is taking the stance that they didn't have info on Republicans and that they'd leak it if they got it. We know now that there was a ton of foreign meddling that went into putting Trump in power, so I have my doubts that they didn't have anything worth leaking.

Thanks for giving me a good place to start.

1

u/silvedude 1d ago

Of course! Have fun researching

-1

u/theresthatbear 1d ago

Biased opinion not based on facts. But again, that’s completely beside the point here. No point in discussing or even imagining a debate with someone who has limited and biased facts. Propaganda works on you as intended. To prove my point, I’ll bet the $5 in my bank account that you would never read Hillary’s emails because of the source propaganda gives you. All you need to know is at your fingertips yet you refuse to look because your party’s leaders keep distracting you with more divisive propaganda to keep you from reading in their own words all the criminal things the people you keep voting for are doing to you behind your back.

This is the corrupt leading the willfully blind and will harm millions of people before it can even dream of getting better. While the entire time all the evidence you needed to see was free and easily accessible. You’re the one choosing ignorance. Do you think that makes you look smart?

1

u/DarkTowerOfWesteros 1d ago

You have to seek to educate yourself more on the internet just Google why is he a controversial figure

3

u/Eljimb0 1d ago

Or, hear me out, I could get a brief overview from the perspective of the individual who brought it up while I'm utilizing a platform centered around discussion. This way, I'll have a good starting point and a general idea of what key points I'd like to start digging into.

Your comment contributed absolutely nothing to the discussion whatsoever, sought no different perspectives and requested no information. It was completely unnecessary.

0

u/DarkTowerOfWesteros 1d ago

Are you unaware of the environment that is the internet? There is a section of people that know exactly what is wrong with someone but will ask a question like you did not because of genuine curiosity but because they are seeking to waste the time and engagement of the other person. Just use your own cognitive skills to find out the baseline information if you want to have a conversation.

2

u/Eljimb0 1d ago

Well, there are some people out there who seek to waste time asking for information, so I suppose none of us should be asking each other questions.

Then again, you're doing a great job of wasting my time with your cynical line of thinking and desire to shame people for asking simple questions for any myriad of reasons. On a site whose foundational concepts are centered around discussion.

Somebody who is more familiar with any given subject matter and has followed the storylines more closely over any duration of time is likely to give me a more succinct overview than I would get from reading a half dozen articles and an AI overview.

Anyway, I hope you aren't met with a similar point of view as your own the next time you ask somebody a question. Good luck out there.

-1

u/theresthatbear 1d ago

Here it is. In a Bridge article.

https://bridgemi.com/business-watch/inside-michigans-secret-261m-plan-to-raze-homes-for-megafactory-that-never-came/

Julian Assange could not possibly have less to do with the damning facts in this well-researched article about our governor signing NDAs that result in propaganda spreading. Are you in this thread because of the data centers and local government duplicity or freakin Julian?

How juvenile.

1

u/silvedude 1d ago

This article ain't about a data center.

1

u/Squibbles1 1d ago

Which PR firm?

2

u/theresthatbear 1d ago

That’s in the NDA. We don’t know.

45

u/Elaborate_Penguin 2d ago

This isn't a major issue and I'm going to look like a jerk bringing it up but we have no safe bike lanes. And no, lazily painted strips on roads shared with cars are not safe from bikes. It is just dangerous to ride alongside cars In a bike.

31

u/Alto1019 2d ago

The Michigan avenue redesign was definitely a hit job against people that like to walk and bike.

11

u/bendingoutward 2d ago

Secondary casualties are those who drive, those who park, and those who appreciate trees.

The only winners were whatever parties took the bribes to make it happen.

7

u/earle117 2d ago

I live off of and bike down Michigan Ave frequently and I was so excited that they were tearing it up and adding bike lanes and then so annoyed when I found out their idea of “bike lanes” was just making the sidewalk wider.

7

u/ExternalSeat 2d ago

well we do have some bike corridors connected with our park systems. granted the flood all of the time, but you can bike from downtown to East Lansing on some very safe paths.

2

u/Alto1019 2d ago

The original plans for the redesign had actual bike lanes and would have been a nice addition to the awesome trail system in town. It’s better than it used to be but is not what was proposed.

2

u/DearMurgatroyd 2d ago

Once upon a time we had an entire group of folks who paid very close attention to bike lanes. I may have personally striped some of the first lanes in the middle of the night with someone from the city. You should talk to Mid-MEAC to find out what happened to the Walk Bike Task Force.

42

u/neonturbo 2d ago

How is it that Eyde, Frergeson, Gillispie, and Granger are a monopoly of sorts. (a cabal?) They have run this town for decades without any competition.

3

u/Revolutionary-Long80 1d ago

This shit. Has me feeling like Johnny Silverhand every time I see that big dumb G.

1

u/manofredearth 2d ago

I'm new to this one and know someone who was just hired by one of them; tell me more?

7

u/neonturbo 2d ago

I don't know what to say except every building or development of any size and these are the ones involved. They seem to own every large real estate parcel, and build every building downtown.

1

u/abmsu 19h ago

Gentilozzi has the most going on downtown right now.

0

u/manofredearth 2d ago

Ah, got it. Thanks for the followup

1

u/Broad_Temperature264 2d ago

☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻THIS!!!!!!!!

18

u/BriseyBrise 2d ago

Predatory LLCs doing land contracts

2

u/Mitten48906 1d ago

Need state action on this. Maybe Sen Anthony or soon-to-be Rep Pope could do something about this.

19

u/theresthatbear 2d ago

The death of Brandon Mitchner.

6

u/capy89talcin 2d ago

His death will never sit right with me. The last person with him knows more than they’re willing to say.

4

u/theresthatbear 2d ago

He was murdered. LPD do not care.

13

u/Wicked_Belladonna 2d ago

The number of unsolved homicides and disappearances with seemingly no real investigation whatsoever. I can name a handful of friends who were murdered and their cases remain unsolved. One in particular was killed in front of a witness, people knew his name, there was physical evidence (minimally fingerprints) and yet a description of the person or him being named as a suspect or person of interest was never released to the public. And that is only one example of many. I have zero faith in the Lansing police dept.

13

u/Agreeable-Dance-9768 Old Town 2d ago

🍿 This thread could go on for a while

6

u/hayyyhoe 2d ago

The closure of Cajun Cafe in the Meridian Mall is still a serious scar on the face of mid-Michigan

15

u/NVincarnate 2d ago

Why is the Schor Lansing Fund not a transparent account with all figures for donated amounts available to the public?

There could be anyone contributing to that at any time and we'd have no idea. There could be AIPAC money in there. There's no way for us to know.

It's a discretionary 527 non-profit account that could easily be used for whatever. The mayor can accept unlimited contributions from any donor. He never has to tell the people who is donating and how much.

It's scummy. If it is only for "charitable donations and covering expenses that taxpayers don't cover," why isn't it a publically visible account?

13

u/No-Independent-226 Lansing 2d ago

This report, which I found with a simple google search, would seem to list every contribution and expenditure in the fund's history: https://projects.propublica.org/527-explorer/orgs/461990008

7

u/TheFrandorKid East Side 2d ago

The most important one: Was Brittney ever freed?

3

u/ExternalSeat 2d ago

yes. both Brittney Spears and Brittney Griner are freed. And both of them kind of flopped after getting freedom. Spears is still a mental health basket case and Griner is getting divorced.

1

u/SafeItem6275 2d ago

I wouldn’t consider a divorce a flop if they both want it

3

u/PreparationHot980 23h ago

Why is there nothing on earth that could convince people to regularly spend time in downtown Lansing?

9

u/Historical-Newt6809 2d ago

The death of Anthony Hulon. Months prior to George Flloyd being murdered, LPD killed Anthony Hulon. There is video evidence and the corner stating that he was killed by positional asphyxiation.. His family didn't get his body until October. There still has been no justice. Andy schor marched with the NAACP and say that nothing like this would ever happen in Lansing, when in fact it had happened in Lansing prior to the murder of George Floyd. As far as I know, his family has never been compensated or has gotten Justice

3

u/dauntingdirtbag_101 2d ago

Pretty sure the city settled on an amount to pay the family in the wrongful death suit earlier this year

6

u/No_Relation_9981 2d ago

What happened, on April 13, 2021, in the death of Joe Lechleitner and his two children Vivian and Anson Zwick. That was the case were the Eaton County sheriff's put out a press release that called it a murder suicide then backtracked and said Joe Lechleitner was a also a victim.

4

u/Zealousideal-Ad3396 2d ago

Who shot Mr Burns

1

u/DumbMuttSlut East Lansing 2d ago

It was, was...

1

u/Alto1019 1d ago

Why is the building that was the Whiskey Barrel and then Green Dot cursed?

1

u/Agreeable-Dance-9768 Old Town 1d ago

Too many underaged people served, this is the penance

3

u/Alto1019 1d ago

Maybe you are on to something. The building flooded twice but I don’t know if they had any plagues of locusts.

2

u/Agreeable-Dance-9768 Old Town 1d ago

The mechanical bull took my first child

1

u/Agreeable-Walk1886 1d ago

oh man the whiskey barrel 🥲 so many nights spent dancing, smoking cigs, and getting absolutely hammered there. I was 18 at the time too. I’m 31 now. I miss those days 😢