City's e - Town Hall Open for Business

The City of East Lansing has unveiled e-Town Hall, a new way to interact with citizens and to collect opinions on specific issues. At press time, the site was soliciting citizen opinions on two topics: “What would you like to see done with the Bailey Community Center building?” and “Downtown Visions” which focuses on matters of use and density for future downtown development.

The Town Hall site, located here, requires users to register with an e-mail address, after which they are able to participate. Contributors may choose to identify themselves or to participate anonymously.

Clicking on a topic leads first to an introduction, after which it’s possible to view the statements and positions of other users. A user may then express her own opinion simply by choosing among a set of options or by going on to write a longer statement. The site makes it possible for a user to include documents and/or photographs to a posted opinion. The final step in the process is in “Outcome” page, which will be completed “when public input is complete and we have finished reviewing all feedback.”

Both of the current topics have deadlines, after which they are “closed.” Input on Downtown Visions will be accepted until 11:59 on February 20, 2015, and input on the Bailey Community Center is open until 11:59 on March 20, 2015.