Neva Lee's

06/07/2025

Hey guys!!
We miss seeing you all and hearing your plant (and life) stories. We'd love it if you shared some photo glow-ups of plants and cuttings you got from us in the comments. Where are they now style 🤣

*photo from Alex, a phenom plant pops, of his one leaf albo cutting from us. Doesn't it look super cutie?? 🖤

05/02/2025

Our sweet squishy girl, Maryjane, needs help 🖤 thank you!

Our squishy smooshy pig-pig of a dog, Maryjane (smarty, marty, meatyjane, squi… Faun Donald needs your support for Help our sweet Maryjane to overcome sarcoma

04/02/2025

my other venture if anyone loves yarn + fiber! Faunlouise https://faunlouise.square.site/

01/21/2025

When we went to city council we urged them to consider abolishing Downtown Lansing Inc. (DLI) and implementing a true Downtown Development Authority staffed by people qualified in economic development. Those who get their positions based on merit and credentials, not friendships and kickbacks. An organization that has real accountability and doesn't just blow through millions of dollars in public dollars like it's play money... with no real forced transparency on where it went and how they mismanaged it.

According to DLI's mission statement and action plan on their website you would think they were on the side of small business owners. However, as you've read in the recent city pulse articles, they take no accountability in their actions and lack of support that has failed downtown small businesses. The general sentiment at DLI appears to be if businesses weren't successful it was because they weren't putting the work in.
How unfortunate, and shameful of them.

DLI has no real legitimacy or authority. It seems like they work at the behest of the property owners within the principal shopping district and their job is to raise property values.
It's like they got into doing "business development" to create a pipeline to funnel rent payers into those properties. The logic of doing things like small businesses grants, is that grant money would ultimately end up in the pockets of the landlords. The landlords that sue tenant's for vacating their unfit, unsafe and non-code-compliant buildings. Again, how unfortunate. And sad.

Additionally, DLI are more focused on the optics of a thriving downtown because that increases the value of properties Downtown. Landlords can charge higher rent because it looks like a desirable place to have a business. DLI is doing PR for the city and the property owners. Maybe instead of caring more about the optics of their implied success, they should care more about true success of the downtown community they claim to serve?

Who actually has support and advocacy at heart for the downtown small businesses?
We know it's not Downtown Lansing Inc as we've experienced. I mean, isn't it enough that DLI helps to extract wealth from our businesses and put it in the hands of people who don't even care to maintain the properties they own, all while telling us it's our fault for listening to the advice DLI gave us?

And then when we share our experiences to bring light to the challenges we faced downtown, along with others, in hopes to promote change for the downtown - they threaten us with a lawsuit just for telling our story! How is that even comprehensible?

If you are unsatisfied with the state of the downtown, and Downtown Lansing Inc's performance, we urge you to go to city council, speak up, contact Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, contact the mayor. Make your voice heard and ask for a real Downtown Development Authority to be enacted. One in which nobody currently involved with DLI can have anything to do with it. Clean house.

 In 2022, Downtown Lansing Inc. (DLI) actively recruited us, Neva Lee’s, to expand with $25K in relocation funds. However, we never received the full funds, and the building DLI placed us in was so riddled with city code violations it interrupted us from doing business. We suffered a lawsuit and ...

01/17/2025

With the two City Pulse articles recently coming out where small business owners are speaking up about their experiences with Downtown Lansing Inc, let’s highlight a couple of statements taken from both articles as food for thought.

*The pair (Neva Lee’s) sent City Pulse a screenshot of an April 11, 2022 email from Reinhardt’s DLI email address in which Reinhardt appeared to have written the following: “I am looking into getting you $20k-$25k in grant money from DLI to make the move possible. We believe in your business and we want it on Washington Square! I will know more in the next couple of weeks on the exact amount but you can count on that range.”

(Cathleen) Edgerly said, adding that “in the history of DLI, as far as I know, there has never been a relocation assistance fund.”

-Is Cathleen even aware of the scope of conversations and actions that her staff is doing without her knowledge in the name of Downtown Lansing Inc? That highlights a lack of coordination or transparency within DLI. Either the Executive Director, Cathleen, is unaware of the commitments made by her staff, or she is attempting to obscure the mismanagement under her leadership. Or else a different very big issue, is Julie Reinhardt freelancing and making many decisions on her own without her boss Cathleen's approval?

*Edgerly expressed regret that Neva Lee’s failed downtown.

- No accountability taken by DLI in regards to all the support they say they provide. No thoughts of “we would love to hear feedback and see what we can do to make sure this does not happen again to other businesses under our leadership. Neva Lee’s, like all downtown small businesses, was a great asset to Downtown and we will work hard to make sure things like these don’t cause other small business owners to struggle or face these challenges. Let’s see what we can do to make this right for all…"

*However, she (Cathleen) said its owners’ claims “do not accurately reflect our values, our work or the lengths that we go to help support all of our downtown Lansing businesses.”

-You can read about their (DLI's) values on their website, and then you can read both City Pulse articles, go to public forums, take a drive downtown and see what work and lengths DLI goes to with help and support of downtown businesses.

In reference to another businesses issue with a loan -
*Edgerly contested Reinhardt’s alleged role in securing the loan, noting that DLI doesn’t “get involved in third-party discussions.”

- Julie Reinhardt has been involved in third-party discussions with lenders to help secure loans for businesses. She also takes part in discussions with landlords to negotiate lease terms for the businesses going into the spaces she recruits them into.
Is Julie doing more things behind Cathleen's back and without her knowledge? Or………? Either the Executive Director is unaware of the commitments made by her staff, or she is attempting to obscure the mismanagement under her leadership.

*Responding Tuesday to a request for comment from over a week ago, Mayor Andy Schor defended DLI and criticized Neva Lee’s criticism, which he said “presents one side of the story and does not represent the facts of the situation. It’s disappointing they have decided to respond in this fashion after receiving tens of thousands of grant funding, more than many other small businesses in our community. In fact, they got more than double the grant funds initially sought from DLI — nearly $60,000 total. Many of their complaints also center around the lease they signed, which the City, nor DLI, can legally interfere with or change.”

See our website www.downtownlansingincompetence.com for documented correspondence with Julie Reinhardt, Cathleen Edgerly, and the mayor, Andy Schor. You can decide for yourself if the story is one-sided. And did you catch that last part from the mayor, the one about leases?

 In 2022, Downtown Lansing Inc. (DLI) actively recruited us, Neva Lee’s, to expand with $25K in relocation funds. However, we never received the full funds, and the building DLI placed us in was so riddled with city code violations it interrupted us from doing business. We suffered a lawsuit and ...

01/15/2025

More businesses sharing their stories. These experiences highlight systemic issues within Downtown Lansing Inc, including misleading communications, insufficient follow-through, and inadequate advocacy and support for small businesses facing significant challenges.

Trevor, a former Downtown Lansing Inc employee and board member, makes the best statement that we whole-heartedly agree with for the betterment of the Downtown:
"City Council should abolish DLI, put in a true DDA and make sure nobody currently involved with DLI has anything to do with it" 🖤

Main Street America

Downtown Lansing Inc. recruited Sedona Wanderlust Boutique owner Ashleigh Rogers to join its Middle Village “retail accelerator program” in early 2024.

01/14/2025

We went to city council tonight with other downtown small business owners to speak about our experiences with Downtown Lansing INC, mainly Julie Reinhardt and Cathleen Edgerly. We have all encountered significant struggles, financial strain, and major setbacks to our businesses, along with very poor practices at the hands of DLI.
Each of our stories needs to be heard.

We walked in silence in fear and in heartbreak for years due to challenges we were facing. We tried getting help with DLI and our landlords. We went to city council, the mayor, senators, lawyers, and other community members starting in 2022 almost immediately upon accepting the recruitment offer and signing our lease.

The closing of our business doors has hit us hard. The challenges we faced behind the scenes were even harder. It was not the day to day of running the business, the customers, the plants, the community, social media, or our dream that failed. We LOVED it so much. It was circumstances, beyond our control, that we tried all we knew how to do to resolve that failed us.

The fact that now we're sharing and that others feel safe to stand up and share is very emotional for me.
For two reasons:
1. It was allowed to happen to others
2. We don't feel so alone anymore 🖤

01/13/2025

After sharing our story and experiences, to give insight into struggles and challenges we faced while running our business in Downtown Lansing. We are now being threatened with legal action for "libelous activity" from Downtown Lansing Inc's lawyers.

Main Street America


City of Lansing, Michigan - Government MEDC MiPlace Michigan Economic Development Corporation Lansing Downtown Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce

 In 2022, Downtown Lansing Inc. (DLI) actively recruited us, Neva Lee’s, to expand with a $25K relocation grant. However, we never received the full funds, and the building DLI placed us in was so riddled with city code violations it interrupted us from doing business. We suffered a lawsuit and h...

01/12/2025

Another aspect to our story on Washington Sq. involved dealing with landlords who avoided their lease obligations and responsibilities. Nor maintained accountability with safety and code compliance of their building. The building, with these landlords, that Julie Reinhardt of Downtown Lansing Inc, directed us into by offering and repeatedly committing to/overpromising secured funding in order to make the move. We faced repeated struggles attempting to hold our landlord to their lease obligations.

Downtown Lansing Inc's operations should not allow recruitment and use of grant funds to place businesses into defunct non-compliant buildings with troubles that can include hazardous and dangerous conditions, safety concerns, added financial strain, interruptions in the ability to do business leading to loss of income and potential business closures beyond tenant's control. This is a waste and misuse of federal/state public dollars.

Buildings should be made SAFE and VIABLE for our community members who work in them, operate a business in them, and frequent these spaces.
DLI should be on top of this major aspect of setting these businesses up for success by enforcing and owning some responsibility of ensuring these buildings are safe and compliant. Cosidering DLI is an entity in place to foster/support the growth and sustainability of downtown, shouldn't DLI be prioritizing adequate support and advocacy in favor of small business owners, instead of taking a back seat tail between their legs hands-off approach to the responsibilities of the property owners/landlords for the sake of financial benefits in favor of DLI or property owners?

Small businesses are a vital part of DLI's mission, and they deserve better!

If DLI is incapable of this, should Lansing implement a true DDA, with forced transparency and accountability in spending, staffed by those qualified in economic development and equipped with enough competent and experienced personnel to proactively tackle and follow through on what's best to create the thriving place that Downtown Lansing can be?

Despite numerous requests for repairs and attention to these matters beginning in June 2022 thru March 2024 when we vacated, there were still unmet lease obligations.

This photo is a grease trap full of years old, untouched, moldy, putrid grease left by previous tenants. The space sat vacant for years before we took it over. This is just ONE piece of proof the landlords had not inspected and maintained their plumbing in YEARS nor upheld item # 3.
Plumbing issues caused backups that expelled this grease up and out of the sink into our space multiple times.
Downtown Lansing City of Lansing, Michigan - Government Main Street America MEDC MiPlace Michigan Economic Development Corporation