Rick Kibbey 
By Sarah Sparkman

Emil’s Italian Restaurant is Lansing’s oldest restaurant and one of Rick Kibbey’s favorites. The unofficial historian of the Eastside, Kibbey has seemingly seen it all - Lansing grow and change, families come and go, the economy crash and rise again. He’s come a long way from his small town West Virginia upbringing and his ‘radical student’ anti-war marches at MSU.

Rick has a passion. This passion is something he felt as a child, but was truly able to express at MSU where he studied city and community planning. His passion is for communities and their unity - the ability to better them through funding and projects and the desire to create neighborhoods that are a social place where people can come together unjudged.

Rick is an important piece to the puzzle of the Eastside. He is a member of the Potter Park Zoo board, the Parks board, and the board at the Allen Neighborhood Center. He has always loved plants, specifically trees, leading to an interest in forestry and a leading role in the rehabilitation of Hunter Park and the creation of the Hunter Park Greenhouse. He believes parkland in the Eastside is an important part of the environmental structure of our city and wants children and families to be able to travel between parks safely and conveniently year round.