Stories to Look Forward to in 2025
We're expecting a busy year!
By Lucas Day
Happy New Year!
After an eventful 2024, we start a new year with new storylines to monitor. As we kick off the year, here are five developments to monitor in 2025.
Who will lead the police department going forward?
Way back in April 2024, former Police Chief Kim Johnson was placed on leave following an internal complaint. The next month, Johnson resigned.
For the next several months, Chad Pride served as interim police chief before stepping down late in the year, giving way to Jen Brown to lead the department in the interim. While Brown has said she would like to remain chief long term, the city paid a consultant nearly $30,000 to conduct a nationwide search for candidates.
With the new chief slated to be selected in the opening months of 2025, will East Lansing find a qualified candidate when City Manager Robert Belleman recently said the city is struggling to attract talent? Once a new chief is picked, what approach will they take to public safety?
Monitoring the new chief’s relationship with the city’s independent police oversight commission will also be important, as ELPD leadership has sometimes been at odds with the commission.
Evergreen Avenue properties and other downtown development.
East Lansing looks a lot different downtown than it did a decade ago, with the addition of high rise buildings to the downtown area.
What will the coming year hold for development downtown? The city and Downtown Development Authority certainly hope they will finally be able to offload the long-held Evergreen Avenue Properties near Valley Court Park.
The DDA has owned the properties since 2009, and racks up hefty interest payments on the bond used to purchase them each year. In late 2024, the DDA listed the properties again, hoping to find a buyer proposing a project aligned with the city’s goals that is also willing to help the DDA recoup some of its investment.
The upside of the property is clear–it’s one of the few large, vacant properties available in the busy downtown area. But the last developer to try its hand at a project in the area ran into several challenges in the process.
Beyond the Evergreen Avenue properties, there are some interesting underlying questions about development in the city as a whole.
Concerns that developments are adding to the city’s flooding problem led City Council to briefly consider a moratorium on developments last year. While the city opted against putting a moratorium in place, it is currently reviewing the stormwater mitigation standards put on developers.
Two City Council seats will be up for grabs.
2025 will see another important local election cycle.
This year, Mayor George Brookover and Councilmember Dana Watson’s seats on City Council will be up for election. It’s unclear if the incumbents will seek to retain their seats but based on other recent city elections, it figures to be a competitive election.
In 2023, there were eight candidates for three council seats. In 2021, there were seven candidates. Who will run this year?
Leading up to the election, we look forward to getting to know the candidates and their stances, reviewing how campaigns spent their money and breaking down other items on the ballot.
What will come out of the Charter Review Committee?
In August, the committee appointed by City Council to do a thorough review of the city charter held its first meeting. In 2025, we will hear recommendations the committee crafted during the year-long review.
After a charter amendment was approved by voters in November’s general election, and voters considered three different charter amendments in 2023, what recommendations will come out of the committee?
After the committee presents its findings to council, the body will vote on which charter amendments will be put on the ballot for voters to decide on. The last time the city took on a similar review, more than 40 amendments were voted on across two different elections.
Even before the committee presents to council, we’ll report on the discussions taking place, and give readers the information they need to give feedback and their own suggestions to the committee.
Is Folk Festival coming back? And other cultural events.
After the popular East Lansing Folk Festival was discontinued after the 2017 event, many residents mourned the loss of a popular community celebration. However, the city recently formed a committee to explore bringing the Folk Festival back.
While hurdles like establishing a funding source still need to be addressed, city officials were optimistic that the return of Folk Fest could happen soon.
Beyond Folk Fest, we look forward to covering the East Lansing Art Festival, Great Lakes Film Festival, and other important local events.
On Monday we’ll be back to business as usual.
Our holiday break is over! We’re looking forward to getting back to our regular reporting when city business picks back up on Monday, Jan. 6.
The storylines mentioned above are just a few of the things we will be tracking in 2025, as we look forward to covering the schools, local disputes and everything else that impacts our community.
We want to thank you, our readers, for the support that makes our reporting possible. We look forward to all that 2025 may bring!