Power Dynamics, community engagement and the Grand Action Soccer Stadium proposal

On Friday, February 2nd, MLive posted a story that essentially presents the proposed soccer stadium in Grand Rapids as a tremendous community asset. The article included this paragraph:

“The stadium would generate a $408 million economic impact in Grand Rapids over the next 30 years, host 17 professional matches a year with 56 “other” events, and draw 164,350 visitors per season, their presentation showed.” 

The presentation that the MLive article was referring to, was done by Grand Action 2.0, a presentation that was for the Grand Rapids Westside Corridor Improvement Authority. The members of the Grand Rapids Westside Corridor Improvement Authority who were quoted in the article seemed rather pleased with the Grand Action 2.0 proposal, which is not surprising, considering who their members are.

• Dave Shaffer – Chair – former 1st Ward Grand Rapids City Commissioner that supported development projects like the soccer stadium while he was a Commission. Shaffer is now the CEO of Interphase Interiors and purchased the company with Johnny Brann Jr.. Interphase Interiors was a Haworth dealership.
• Lisa Haynes – who currently works for GVSU as the Associate Vice President Facility Services Grand Rapids Campuses and Regional Centers. Prior to working for GVSU, Haynes worked from the Amway Grand Plaza
• Johnny Brann – There is no clear indication that this is Jr. or Sr. but both are businessmen who benefit tremendously from projects like the Soccer Stadium, plus they both have a history of being supported by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
• Daniel Grinwis – is a founding member of the DCC church on Walker NW. The DCC church embraces a rather conservative/reactionary interpretation of Christianity.
• Commissioner Jon O’Connor – Makes his living from selling over-priced booze and has a long history of supporting development projects that use public money, but are run privately. O’Connor was a big supporter of the criminalization of the unhoused policies adopted last year and a huge supporter of opposing any reduction in funding for the GRPD.
• Brent Gibson – President of Construction Simplified

You can see why the members of the Grand Rapids Westside Corridor Improvement Authority were enthusiastic about the proposed soccer stadium, given the fact that they essentially support both an ideological and economic framework that mimics that of Grand Action. 

Community Engagement?

Beginning last week, Grand Action 2.0 was conducted controlled meetings in the community, in order to fulfill the appearance of community engagement. However, when you have an entity like Grand Action 2.0, we need to think seriously about what this so-called community engagement means.

• Grand Action 2.0 has all the power. They proposed the soccer stadium using the tired notion that it will have a positive economic benefit in the community. Of course, money will be spent because of the soccer stadium, but we all know that the majority of the money will go to the larger businesses in downtown GR that are owned and operated by members and friends of Grand Action 2.0.
• One of the leaders of Grand Action 2.0, Dick DeVos, is the brother of Dan DeVos. Dan DeVos, who own DP Fox Ventures LLC, purchased the land that the Big Boy restaurant sits on. The general consensus is that the soccer stadium will be placed in that area just west of US 131 in downtown Grand Rapids. Dan DeVos also owns the Grand Rapids Griffins and I will bet that he will likely own the professional soccer team that will play their games at the new soccer stadium.
• Grand Action 2.0 will ask the city of Grand Rapids, and mostly likely the State of Michigan, to provide public funds for the new soccer stadium, which will mean that millions in public dollars will once again go to a project that primarily benefits members of the Capitalist Class. Plus the public will have NO SAY in how public money will be spent on the hallowed soccer stadium.
• During these so-called community engaged sessions, none of what I stated so far will be part of the narrative for these community meetings. Grand Action 2.0 doesn’t want people to think about these issues, they just want them to think about how exciting it will be to have a professional soccer team in Grand Rapids. 
• Another important point is that Grand Action 2.0 only decided to host these so-called community engagement session after the had secured some of the land necessary for the soccer stadium, after they got the City and the County to provide a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and after they were able to convince political leaders that having a soccer stadium would be economically beneficial to the area. These community engagement meetings didn’t happen before any decisions were made, so that people could ask important questions about such a proposal. However, this is what those in power do, they host community engagement sessions only after they hold all the power in the so-called public/private partnership.

Lastly, it is worth noting that the construction of the soccer stadium will take place, with millions of public dollars while there are thousands of families in Grand Rapids that are experiencing housing insecurity, primarily because they can’t afford to purchase a home, and they can’t afford the ridiculously high rental costs in Grand Rapids. There is something fundamentally unjust and immoral about the fact that we collectively allow entities like Grand Action 2.0 to get away with this shit, while so many people in this city are struggling to survive.