Hometown Housing creates opportunities

This year, East Lansing’s housing assistance department went independent.

East Lansing Housing and Neighborhood Services, formerly a part of the City of East Lansing, is now Hometown Housing, a non-profit organization for homeownership assistance.

Executive Director Michelle Reardon said that Hometown Housing’s goal is to bridge the gap between what people can afford and what homes actually cost in East Lansing.

They do this through several programs, all featured on their Web site. Among these programs is the Homeownership Opportunity Assistance Program, which provides money to help with down payments and rehabilitation of homes. Another program, called the Employer Homeownership Opportunity Program, provides funds for employees of MSU and the City of East Lansing who want to live in the neighborhoods outlined in this map.

Hometown Housing also constructs affordable new housing. The 1,600 square-foot house at 1237 Wolf Court is a recent project, completed in March 2009.

photo courtesy of hometownhousing.org

Hometown Housing plans to build two more homes on Wolf Court. In addition, the Avondale Square project is a series of condominiums and single-family homes located at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Burcham in East Lansing.

Julie Mianecki

Michigan cities create video ‘TourBooks’

Cities in southeast Michigan are taking advantage of technology and featuring video tours on their Web sites.

Auburn Hills, South Lyon, Troy and Ypsilanti all have these “TourBooks” on their home pages. The TourBooks consist of several videos advertising different aspects of each city. Common video themes are education, business and industry, downtown and arts and entertainment. Take a look at Ypsilanti’s video.

This may be a step forward in terms of technology for some city governments, but someone needs to hire a younger member of the team to work on the editing; the music sounds like something out of a driver’s education video from the ’80s.

The City of Rochester, Mich., also plans to include a TourBook in a summer 2009 update of its Web site. The Rochester City Council approved the idea at a March meeting.

“I think this is a fantastic idea,” Rochester Councilwoman Kim Russell said. “I think it is really something that could benefit the city as a whole.”

Here’s a map of cities in Michigan with the TourBooks:

Julie Mianecki

Students gather to watch inauguration

Students gathered around Michigan State University’s campus this morning to observe the inauguration of the 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama. Some watched on TV in their dorms or apartments, some watched via the Internet, and others met in hall lounges or the MSU Union to share the experience with their peers. An available classroom in Erickson Hall was packed with enthusiastic people as the ceremony was projected onto a screen. A sense of excitement filled the room as those present clapped, cheered, and shouted along with the crowd at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Particularly popular meeting places were the Sparty’s cafés that were showing the ceremony. Asia Watkins, an MSU sophomore studying interdisciplinary studies in health, works at the Sparty’s located in the Engineering Building and was present during the inauguration. The café was so packed that the only part of the proceedings she was able to observe was the swearing-in of the new president. Still, she was excited to observe an event that she said felt almost “surreal” to her.

“I remember my grandmother called me crying on the day Obama was elected,” she said. “I’m glad that it finally happened.”