Introduction.

Greetings from Lansing, the capital city of Michigan.

This is a blog about the urban habitat of greater Lansing. It is a frank discussion of the visible, tangible infrastructure that meets, greets, and assaults the eyes of Lansingites, commuters, and visitors each and every day.

It fills a vacuum of sorts. The incredible shrinking Lansing State Journal, a zombie of the Gannett corporation, subsists on newswire boilerplate and passes off corporate press releases as news. Capital Gains has a refreshing perspective but only gives us the happy stories. The Lansing City Pulse offers some substantive journalism but covers a broad array of issues.

We recognize the value of the above. (Hey, even zombies are people too!) But WTF Lansing is a little different. We zero in on the urban habitat, the physical environment of the Lansing area. We expose the bad, highlight the good, and sweeten the delivery with humor and irony.

You may ask, "Why the urban habitat?"

The answer is that the urban habitat is the nest we live in. In Lansing and most of America, that nest has been fouled. Worse, too many people have come to accept this state of affairs as normal. The despotic reign of the automobile and of suburbanization yielded short-term benefits to Lansing but, in the long run, has not been kind to this once-fair city. The quality of our urban habitat has implications for how we get around, how safe we feel in our surroundings, how long (and how well) we live, and how well we retain existing residents and attract new ones. It influences how--and whether--we grow. It dictates our fate in an energy-scarce future. And on a more subtle level, it reflects on our pride in the places we call home.

You may ask, "I'm not from Lansing. Why should I care?"

The answer is that the depressing eyesores and boneheaded planning decisions of greater Lansing are a microcosm of the problems faced by midsized cities across America. Whenever we discuss a local issue, we'll put it in a broader perspective that applies to every city that has held itself hostage to the pervasive ugliness and unacceptable compromises of our automobile age. Wherever possible, we'll offer examples of how things could be done better--a wishlist for the future. And we'll also talk about things that are being done well here. There are a lot more of them these days, although not nearly enough--yet--to make up for the losses.

Finally, we'll try to make this fun. After all, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.