CRC Interns Out on the Town: City Council Candidate Forum and Safe Halloween

This past week was a busy one for the CRC interns! Tuesday night they attended the ASMSU City Council Candidate Forum, which featured a question-and-answer session with the five candidates for the East Lansing City Council. Incumbents Diane Goddeeris, Roger Peters, and Nathan Triplett expressed their stances on a wide variety of issues alongside challengers Donald Power and Hans Larsen.  Check out the article in the State News!

Councilmember Roger Peters answers a question at the forum while fellow Councilmember Diane Goddeeris and challenger Hans Larson look on (photo credit goes to State News' Josh Radtke)

Next on the agenda was the MSU Greek community's Safe Halloween.  The CRC hosted a bean bag toss game and passed out candy to local children.  Check it out:

The interns are currently hard at work planning our upcoming International Thanksgiving Feast event, scheduled for Sunday, November 20 from 1:00-3:00 PM in the multipurpose room of Red Cedar Elementary School.  The CRC will be providing turkey and mashed potatoes, and we're asking students, residents, and groups on campus to bring a traditional ethnic dish to pass to give this Thanksgiving an international flair!  If you're interested in bringing a dish please contact Ryan Waldron, intern for the Red Cedar neighborhood, at waldronr@msu.edu.  Check out the event on Facebook for more information!

Farewell to Ted Staton

Yesterday, the City of East Lansing bid farewell to Ted Staton, who has been City Manager of EL for the past 16 years. Below is a letter from the CRC's Board of Directors expressing their appreciation for all of Ted's hard work toward better university-community relations over the years. We will be sorry to see Ted go, but look forward to working with Interim City Manager George Lahanas, and the new City Manager once he or she is selected!
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Dear Ted,

As you leave East Lansing for your home state of Ohio, we wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how much the Community Relations Coalition has appreciated your support over these many years. We truly believe that having champions like you and the City Council has allowed this fledgling organization to grow and to really make a difference in the lives of the residents of East Lansing.

Born out of riots and deteriorating relationships, the CRC has faced the tough task of breaking through stereotypes and barriers to build trusting relationships in our community. Without support from the top, demonstrated in so many ways, it is hard to imagine how we could have gained the trust of the community so quickly. We will always appreciate your presence at events, your family’s participation in the CRC’s “Adopt a Floor” program, and your enthusiastic championing of the work of the CRC interns.

The interns are the heart and soul of the CRC, and it is significant that throughout the years they all knew you by name, and felt comfortable asking you questions and for advice. We are sure that their view of city government will be forever changed by knowing that good cities are led by good people.

We want to join in with your many friends and colleagues in thanking you for all that you have done to make East Lansing a wonderful place to live, to work, and to go to school.

With best wishes always,

The board of directors of the Community Relations Coalition
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Here is a photo of the cake from Ted's Farewell Celebration yesterday - Sparty eating a buckeye!

Keeping EL Green After the Big Victory

Thanks to all of our great volunteers who came out to help clean up the community this morning after the big win over Michigan!  The CRC provided cider and donuts to a sizable crowd that included Mayor Vic Loomis, Interim City Manager George Lahanas, Mayor Pro-Tem Diane Goddeeris, and City Councilmember Roger Peters.  Check out the story covered by the State News!

A CRC intern helps clean up the streets with George Lahanas
Photo credit goes to Matt Radick, The State News

The CRC interns are hard at work planning events for the second half of the semester- stay tuned for updates!

CRC Set to Host Neighborhood Cleanup

The CRC encourages everyone in the East Lansing Community to join us on Sunday, Oct 16 for a Neighborhood Clean-Up. We will be meeting at 10:30am in the East Lansing Police Station Parking Lot (corner of Linden and Park). All MSU students who participate will be registered with the Center for Service Learning. This is also a great opportunity to meet your Neighbors and to help beautify the city.
Hope to see you there!

CRC at the Housing Fair!

The CRC participated in MSU's Housing Fair, this past Wednesday, on October 12th. We were able to successfully promote The Spartan Big List to students. We handed out pamphlets, pens, cups and even coasters to further promote our message. Lastly, we have been stenciling the side walks at MSU with the Spartan Big List logo.
Check it out:

The Spartan Big List Logo.

Our Setup!

Looking Busy!



Autumn Fest, A Huge Sucess!

The CRC would like to thank all those that participated in Autumn Fest, this past Sunday at the East Lansing Farmer’s Market. The CRC interns had a blast helping children of all ages carve pumpkins, paint pumpkins and make delicious caramel apples. The event was a huge success. In total we went through about 200 pumpkins and had about 350 visitors.

Check out some cool pictures from the event:

The Painting Carving Station was pretty busy!

Dad's helping the kids Carve Pumpkins!

Gooey, Crisp, Caramel Apple

CRC and ELFM Partner for Autumn Fest

Congrats to the Office for International Students and Scholars and the http://cvip.isp.msu.edu/ on the success of the second annual East Lansing Welcomes the World Event!  Some of our interns helped out with the event and had the opportunity to welcome international students to the community and enjoy free ethnic foods from around the world.

Coming up next- the CRC is partnering with the East Lansing Farmer's Market for Autumn Fest this Sunday, October 9 from 10:00-2:00!  Come on down to Valley Court Park (behind Biggby Coffee on Grand River Ave.) for children's activities, complimentary cider and donuts, FREE pumpkins carving and painting, and caramel apples.  Sunday's supposed to be sunny with a high of 77, so there's no excuse not to get in on this great event!