Friday, May 17 — Instead of charging city Board of Water and Light customers fees for streetlights and fire hydrants, the Lansing City Council wants to increase the publicly owned utility’s payment in lieu of taxes to balance next fiscal year’s budget.

Tuesday, May 21 — The Lansing City Council approved a fiscal year 2014 budget at Monday’s meeting, but it was ugly. The process, that is.

Thursday, May 16 — Lansing City Attorney Janene McIntyre issued a formal legal opinion today saying the city could move forward with charging Lansing Board of Water and Light customers fees for fire hydrants as part of Mayor Virg Bernero’s proposed budget. However, the City Council would need to amend an ordinance to allow for a special assessment to pay for streetlights.

Thursday, May 16 — A procession of nearly 200 bicyclists traveled from Michigan State University to the Capitol Wednesday night. As a police escort stopped traffic along Michigan Avenue throughout the ride, it felt as if the cyclists were making the statement to idle cars watching: “These are our roads, too.”

With less than a week to go before the Lansing City Council must adopt a new budget, the single biggest issue has yet to be resolved. The question is whether Mayor Virg Bernero's proposed charge for hydrants and streetlights is a fee or a tax. The Council can increase fees, but a tax would require a vote of the people.

Tension between the Capital Region Airport Authority and Michigan Flyer has been rekindled in recent weeks as the private bus service seeks local approval for a $595,680 federal grant to expand its service between East Lansing and Ann Arbor.

Monday, May 15 — The city’s Office of Community Media had a strong year at its temporary home in a former National Guard armory. Within the next year it expects to be operating from the newly renovated Holmes Street School alongside a technology empowerment center.

As the local media drank up good jobs news last week like an alcoholic at a Christmas party, there's been no mention of the fact that less than three years ago, Jackson National Life Insurance Co. fought the city for hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes.

For over three hours inside the Lansing Center last week, politicians worked alongside concerned citizens, engineers and planners alongside transportation advocates to visualize the future of Grand River and Michigan avenues between the Capitol and Webberville.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero has introduced 33 new fees and proposes increasing 86 existing fees for various city services as part of his budget that would start July 1. The changes are projected to raise about $500,000 in new revenue for city coffers.