Senita Lenear announces candidacy for Mayor: Assessing the former Commissioner’s voting record through the lens of social movement organizing in Grand Rapids

Just before the Thanksgiving break, former 2nd Ward Grand Rapids City Commissioner Senita Lenear announced that she was enter the race to be Mayor of Grand Rapids in the 2024 Election.

This means that there are now two candidates running to become the next Mayor of Grand Rapids, with David LaGrand being the first to announce earlier this summer. GRIID has posted 2 articles on LaGrand’s mayoral candidacy, one in July, which looked at his campaign finances, and a second post more recently, also regarding those who are contributing to his candidacy. In today’s post, I want to look at Senitar Lenear’s candidacy.

The local news coverage of Lenear’s announcement that she is running for Mayor of Grand Rapids did little to inform people, despite the fact that Lenear served as a 3rd ward Commissioner for 8 years. As an example, the WZZM 13 story used some of the talking points that the Lenear campaign sent out, talking points that are highlighted on her campaign website.

The soundbite from Lenear that channel 13 ran, has the former City Commissioner talking in vague pleasnatries, but with no real concrete policy ideas or issues that are critical to most working class and BIPOC residents. The story did mention that Lenear already has the endorsement of current 2nd Ward City Commissioner Ysasi, but failed to tell viewers that Ysasi is also the treasurer for Lenear’s campaign for mayor, based on her recent campaign finances filing.

The campaign website for Lenear is also full of platitudes about violence reduction and investment in the City’s 3rd Ward. There is even a heading for Grand Action 2.0, the private DeVos-run entity that has used millions in public funding for private projects like the Downtown Market, and the forthcoming outdoor amphitheater. 

As someone who pays attention to social movements in Grand Rapids, my assessment of Lenear would be more critical than what the commercial news media is and will likely offer between now and the November 2024 Election. For instance, in 2019, MLive ran a series of articles on the lack of investment in the 3rd Ward, which Lenear represented from 2014 – 2022. In response to the MLive coverage, GRIID wrote:

Sadly, the reporters who wrote the pieces last week about the lack of equity in the city’s 3rd Ward, did not hold elected leaders accountable, instead they provided them with an uncritical forum to say what they wanted. 

But what would accountability from the news media look like? First, MLive could have looked at all of the City Budget discussions since Senita Lenear was elected in the fall of 2014, to see what the 3rd Ward Commissioner did to fight for more equitable funding for the ward she represents. Second, MLive could have looked at the commissioner’s voting record as it related to funding issues or development projects. Lastly, MLive could have looked at who have been the major campaign funders backing Lenear as she has run for the 3rd Ward seat. There are campaign finance records that are easily accessed from the County Clerk’s office. One section of Commissioner Lenear’s 2014 campaign finance reports tells an interesting story about who back her first campaign. 

What follows are some important points as it relates to social movements during Lenear’s tenure on the City Commission 2014 – 2022.

• Commissioner Lenear did not come out in support of the bus driver’s fight over their contract.
• Commissioner Lenear did not speak up about gentrification in the City, especially the southeast part of Grand Rapids, nor the sky rocking cost of housing and rent increases that have displaced people who have been unable to afford those costs.
• When the immigrant justice movement was calling for the City to fire Captain VanderKooi, who profiled Jilmar Ramos-Gomez and turned him in to ICE, Commissioner Lenear was silent.
• When the City Commission had the opportunity to propose a reduction in the GRPD budget in 2020, a month after the George Floyd protests, Senita Lenear did not support this demand.
• After the GRPD murdered Patrick Lyoya, with constant calls to defund the GRPD, Commissioner Lenear once told those who were opposed to the GRPD, that they should join the GRPD to make the changes they wanted.
• Commissioner Lenear, towards the end of her tenure, did not oppose an ordinance proposal from the GR Chamber of Commerce, which was eventually adopted, but after Lenear was no longer on the commission. 
• Commissioner Lenear was also a major supporter of the Amphitheater proposal and other downtown investments that required massive public funding. The amount of money that the City, County, and State government that is going to the Amphitheater is millions, so imagine if Commissioner Lenear would have champion that kind of investment into the 3rd Ward while she was representing that area specifically.

As has been the case in the past, GRIID will monitor and track the platforms and campaign financing of the candidates running for Mayor of Grand Rapids over the next 11 months until the 2024 Election.