At the October 26th Lansing city council meeting the council passed an ordinance requiring cryptocurrency ATM kiosks to register with the city and clearly display warnings about the nature of digital currency.  They also passed an ordinance for “supportive housing services” to allocate more city budget to an existing program to help qualifying homeowners make emergency repairs to their homes. There was a thorough presentation by local property management company Simtob requesting tax break payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) programs to continue renovations of over 400 units across four properties around the city. In automatic license plate readers (ALPR) updates, the continued funding for Flock cameras was removed from a police grant.

Our guest this episode is Dr. Deyanira Nevarez Martinez. She is the Ward 2 representative on the Lansing City Council and an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University, where her research focuses on housing insecurity, homelessness, and the criminalization of poverty. The daughter and granddaughter of migrant farmworkers, she brings both lived experience and academic expertise to her work advancing housing justice, equitable development, and opportunities for working families. Before joining City Council in January 2026, she served on the Lansing School District Board of Education.

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Dr. Nevarez Martinez’s next constituent contact meeting is October 29th from 6-8pm at fire station 44 –  1435 E. miller Rd.

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