Moores Park and General Motors Lansing Grand River Assembly plant call themselves neighbors. But what happens when your neighbor starts to smell?

"It's something like Grandma's basement full of newspapers kind of odor," said Paul Johns, Director of Moores Park Neighborhood Organization. "The first time I smelled it, I said 'Wow! What's that smell?' You know, you just wonder what it is. You wonder if you're breathing in something bad or something good. So, we're going to find out."

When Johns called GM, he said he got an immediate response. He invited them to Moores Park's regularly scheduled neighborhood meeting, and they agreed to attend. Johns said he wants to meet the neighbors and have a friendly conversation.

GM spokesperson Erin Davis said they have an environmental engineer addressing the odor right now.

"We're neighbors. We want to be good neighbors," Davis said. "We're happy to give them a progress report."

Davis said they have received just a few complaints in the past year regarding the smell. Some Moores Park residents say they've never even smelled it.

"It's irregular, sometimes you smell it, sometimes you don't," Johns said. "It doesn't actually smell on my street, but if you're on Washington, that's where it gets bad."

Others says it's almost unbearable. 73-year-old Robert Wright's best fishing spot is Moores Park, but the smell makes his favorite past time less appealing.

"We come down here to enjoy ourselves and pray to Lord the smell won't be so terrible," Wright said. "I'd be willing to pay more taxes to clean up that area, you know. Something's got to be did."

Johns wants to keep the focus of the meeting clear.

"If you're angry, don't come with your angry face," Johns said. "Come with your happy face. And we'll talk to GM and get to the bottom of the odor, but mostly we're just going to meet GM."

The meeting is scheduled for May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Shabazz Academy.