News coverage of new downtown benches omits important information, critique of hostile architecture

On Friday, WOODTV8 ran a story about the new benches being installed in downtown Grand Rapids.

The headline for the online post on channel 8 reads, Grand Rapids’ new benches: ‘Beautiful’ or ‘aggressive’? The story interviews the director of Communications for Downtown Grand Rapids Inc, Bill Kirk. The channel 8 story claims that the new benches are being installed because of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., which they identify as a non-profit.

Additionally, WOODTV8 interviewed Kelly Roper, the owner of SHOW Salon, who also supports the new benches, along with Anthony Cargill, who is experiencing homelessness, according to the reporter. Cargill doesn’t support the new benches, because they don’t allow people to lay down on them. The new benches have dividers, which Kirk says will assist people when standing up.

While I appreciate the fact that someone who is part of the unhoused community was interviewed, channel 8 didn’t interview community groups that were part of the effort to oppose the ordinances that the City of Grand Rapids adopted, ordinances that some community groups said would further criminalize the unhoused. In fact, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union was the primary group involved in the organized opposition, which started in late 2022, when the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce put forth their own proposed ordinance, with the city adopting their own version – although similar – in July of 2023.

These new benches that Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. has initiated are part of a strategy being used by municipalities in the past few decades that is a direct response to city officials and businesses communities trying to keep the unhoused away from downtown areas. Some refer to this as anti-homeless architecture, while others call it hostile architecture. Here are some examples of what hostile architecture looks like, with number 2 being similar to the benches that Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. has initiated in Grand Rapids.

Another major omission in the WOODTV8 story is their failure to see the connection to those who signed on to the GR Chamber of Commerce ordinance proposal and its connection to those who are Board Members of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI). In screen shot below is that of the current DGRI Board, with a star next to the names of people who were signatories to the GR Chamber of Commerce proposed ordinance and the two Grand Rapids City officials who endorsed the criminalize the unhoused ordinances adopted in July. Groups like Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. will also have people on their boards who reflect either centers of political power or economic power. I’m guessing that channel 8 didn’t even consider these connections, as for-profit news agencies don’t often consider how systems of power function, and rarely do they even shine a light on those same systems.