Understanding the GR Power Structure – Part IV: Private Sector Organizations

In Part I of this series I began an updated version of a Grand Rapids Power Analysis, which lays out the ground work for what the Grand Rapids Power Structure looks like and what it means for this community.

When I use the phrase, the Grand Rapids Power Structure and who has power, it is important to note that I mean power over. A local power analysis is designed to investigate who has power over – who oppresses, exploits and engages in policy that benefits them to the exclusion of everyone else – the majority of people living in Grand Rapids.

In Part II of this series on the Grand Rapids Power Structure, I looked at the DeVos family, which I argue is the most powerful family in this city, in terms of economics, politics, social and cultural dynamics.

In Part III of this series I looked at some of the other families and individuals that also wield tremendous power in this city, economically, politically and socially. In today’s post I will focus on the private sector organizations that also have tremendous power and influence on daily life in Grand Rapids.

In Part III, I used a graphic showing how the Grand Rapids Power structure people are connected to private sector organizations, what I named as Interlocking Systems of Power. Many of the groups that were included in the graphic I used in Part III, are the groups that wield tremendous power and influence on daily life in Grand Rapids.

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce likes to present themselves as promoting economic policies that benefit everyone in this city. The Chamber uses this claim in their promotional material, but they consistently act in such a way that results in the majority of Grand Rapidians to experience economic hardship.

As GRIID has documented over the years the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce they have opposed any substantial increase to the minimum wage in Michigan, they opposed organized labor and worker efforts to democratize the work place. In addition, the GR Chamber doesn’t shy away from supporting projects that are or will be owned by the private sector, yet they lobby for public dollars to make these projects happen.

Since I wrote the 2018 Grand Rapids Power Structure analysis, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has continued to promote economic projects that rely heavily on public funding, but will be owned and controlled by private sector entities, such as the outdoor Amphitheater, the Soccer Stadium and the yet to be formalized Aquarium. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce also created the group Housing Next, which takes a market-based approach to the current housing crisis.

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce also uses their Political Action Committee, known as Friends of West Michigan Business, to channel thousands of dollars to candidates run for Grand Rapids City positions, Kent County positions and those running for the State Legislature. Here are some examples from 2022 and so far in 2024. 

Lastly, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce pushed for the City of Grand Rapids to adopt ordinances that would criminalize the unhoused, which they proposed in 2022, and were later adopted by the City in 2023.

The West Michigan Policy Forum

The West Michigan Policy Forum was actually a creation of the GR Chamber of Commerce back in 2008, with the intention of creating an organization that would influence state policy in ways that would primarily benefit the Capitalist Class in the Grand Rapids area. 

In recent years GRIID has documented how the West Michigan Policy Forum has supported policies which hurt working class families, such as: 

Opposing any regulation of rental property units in Michigan

Oppose Stay at Home orders during the Covid pandemic, putting public health at risk.

Ongoing efforts to undermine public education in Michigan

Opposing paid family and medical leave

In addition, the West Michigan Policy Forum holds major policy conferences every two years. GRIID used to cover those conferences, but in recent years they would not allow GRIID to attend as media, especially since we have been critical of their role in state policy since 2008. They have told me repeatedly that I can attend if I pay the registration fee, which is cost prohibitive for working class people like myself.

Grand Action 2.0

Grand Action 2.0 was formed in the mid-1990s as a way for the Grand Rapids Power Structure to get the public to pay for projects that would expand their wealth. The first such project was the promotion of the Van Andel Arena. 

Since then Grand Action 2.0 has promoted the Downtown Market, the creation of the convention center, and more recently the Amphitheater, the Soccer Stadium and the Aquarium. Dick DeVos has always been the primary chairperson of Grand Action 2.0, which makes tremendous sense, considering how many downtown GR hotels they own and other places of business that benefits from people coming downtown to events or tourists visiting GR. Grand Action 2.0 was also instrumental in getting the City of Grand Rapids to approve $318 million subsidy for the expensive apartment buildings that will be erected next to the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium.

In 2021, I wrote an article that asked the question, How is it that we allow groups like Grand Action 2.0 to get away with the shit they do?  What I was attempting to do is to point out how groups like Grand Action 2.0 manipulate the system for their own benefit, while too many of us either buy into what they are selling or are oblivious to what they are up to, especially when it comes to how they use public money for private interests. 

The Right Place Inc. 

The function of the Right Place Inc. is to recruit businesses to West Michigan, businesses that will then lobby to get tax breaks for moving here and making profits. 

There are some recent examples of The Right Place Inc working to bring companies to the Grand Rapids area, such as 1) their attempt to bring Amazon to the area, which included massive public subsidies , and 2) The Right Place Inc’s role in attracting Israeli military companies to the area, using taxpayer subsidies. On top of that, The Right Place Inc is also a member of the Michigan/Israeli Business Bridge, an entity which develops and encourages trade and business interaction between Michigan-based companies and Israeli companies.

The Board of Directors at the Right Place Inc. is also a who’s who of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, both tier 1 and tier 2. Not surprising, many of these people signed on the letter that supported the GR Chamber of Commerce proposed ordinance that would criminalize the unhoused, a list you can read here.

There are some additional private sector organizations that play a significant role around economic, political, social and cultural dynamics in Grand Rapids, but on a slightly lesser degree than the four groups named above. These group include:

Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., which essentially manages downtown GR and is zealously in support of increasing tourism, which is why they also endorsed the city ordinances that criminalized the unhoused. 

The Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority, which operates many of the entertainment venues in downtown GR and has mostly business people on its Board of Directors that are either part of or connected to the GR Power Structure.

The Econ Club of Grand Rapids, which is primarily an organization that provides opportunities for the local power structure to meet and discuss ways to carve up more of the city for themselves and host speakers that affirm their goals to expand wealth and maintain power in Grand Rapids. 

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which hosts events and influences public policy through discourse, speakers and conferences. Of all these groups they have less of a direct impact on Grand Rapids, but they shouldn’t be ignored since they have national and international connections that make them very dangerous for BIPOC and working class communities. GRIID has written extensively about them for more than 2 decades.

In Part V, I will write about the Grand Rapids City Government and the role they play in working with the private sector members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.