Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington might be leaving for Dallas, so what would his legacy look like in this city?

On Monday, MLive reported that Grand Rapids City Manager, Mark Washington, might be leaving to take a job in Dallas, Texas.

The MLive article talked about the possible move, the fact that there is no new contract for Washington, and that Washington turned down a request to be interviewed. GRIID though this would be the perfect time to provide a rundown of Washington’s legacy as the Grand Rapids City Manager, since 2018 when he was hired. 

Much of my critique is in rooted in the various issues that community groups and movements have been working on during Washington’s tenure. It is also worth mentioning the non-governmental groups that Washington is part of, which is a partial  indication of who he really represents. Some of those groups are – the Econ Club of Grand Rapids, the Right Place Inc., and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. 

• In May of 2018, Movimiento Cosecha once again had a large march from Roosevelt Park to downtown Grand Rapids. Again, Mark Washington did not participate and the GRPD had a massive show of force that again tried to dictate the direction of the march route.
• In late 2018, a GRPD cop who was off duty, saw a story on TV about a man – Jilmar Romos Gomez, who was suffering PTSD and started a fire at Spectrum Health. The GRPD cop called ICE and said that this man was an undocumented immigrant, when he fact he was a former Marine. Under Mark Washington’s leadership Captain VanderKooi was never held accountable for this incident over a two year period. 
• In February of 2019, immigrant justice activists disrupted the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, because the City Commission and Mark Washington would not allow the same amount of time to community members that the Chief of Police was given to defend Captain VanderKooi.
• In March of 2019, a coalition of groups held a press conference with a list of demands around the GRPD and the lack of accountability regarding their actions against Black and Latinx communities.
• May 2019 march by Cosecha, was once again not attended by Mark Washington, plus the GRPD were now threatening people if they marched in the streets.
• GRIID obtained FOIA documents regarding the GRPD’s monitoring, spying, harassment and intimidation leading up to the 2019 May Day march.
• In May of 2020, Grand Rapids also had a George Floyd protest that erupted with thousands of people in the streets and the response from the GRPD was repressive. Grand Rapids leadership called for a State of Emergency, brought in the Michigan National Guard and instituted a curfew for downtown Grand Rapids. There was an effort to Defund the GRPD in late June/early July, which the Mayor and Mark Washington derailed and numerous other repressive tactics used by the GRPD to target activists. You can check out our visual timeline of all this.
• In November of 2020, the community organized a campaign to defeat the GRPD from obtaining Shot Spotter technology. Mark Washington supported it.
• In late December of 2020, Mayor Bliss gave the GRPD the green light to evict unhoused people who set up an encampment at Heartside Park.
• In April of 2021, the City of Grand Rapids sent out a Press Release saying that anyone protesting the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial would be arrested.
• In May, the group Defund the GRPD was organizing to pressure the City of Grand Rapids to not only reduce funding for the GRPD, but to allow more public input on how public money would be used in the City Budget for 2022. In early May, the City held a one hour virtual town hall meeting on the 2022 Budget, which was an insult to those who have been organizing around how public money would be used.  Defund the GRPD had posted their own demands on what they wanted to see happen with the funds, as well as the process for determining the 2022 City Budget. Defund the GRPD also organized people to call in during the City Commission meeting later in May, right before they voted on the 2022 Budget.
• Throughout much of 2021, the group Justice for Black Lives were targeted for demanding Police accountability in Grand Rapids.
• In November, at a protest following a not guilty verdict for Kyle Rittenhouse, several JFBL activists were arrested again, after the protest had finished. Once again, JFBL held a press conference to respond to the arrests and to counter the claims made by the GRPD. 
• On April 4, 2022, the GRPD shot and killed Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, execution style. Grand Rapids leadership has done nothing to further justice for the family of Patrick Lyoya, but has repeatedly allowed the GRPD to target activists who are demanding justice.
• In May of 2022, City Manager Mark Washington said No interruptions to normal operations will be tolerated in the City of Grand Rapids. 
• In late December 2022, the Chamber of Commerce wanted to impose ordinances that would essentially criminalize the unhoused. During the last Grand Rapids City Commission meeting for 2022, Mayo Bliss and the other commissioners refused to denounce the Chamber’s proposal, as did City Manager Mark Washington.
• Throughout 2023, Mayor Bliss fully supported the GRPD’s desire to purchase and use drones, plus she fully endorsed the Grand Rapids ordinances that has criminalized the unhoused in this city. Mark Washington also endorsed this policy.
• After the brutal Israeli assault in Gaza, GR residents tried to get the City of Grand Rapids to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and to call on members of Congress from Michigan to not use federal tax money that does to Israel but to use those funds to benefit our community. City Manager Mark Washington, Mayor Bliss and the other commissioners said calling for a resolution is not what they do.
• Grand Rapids Leadership condoned the repression action by the GRPD during a non-violent protest on the 2nd anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s murder by the GRPD.
• Grand Rapids City leadership approve massive public tax incentives for the proposed apartment complexes that will be adjacent to the downtown Amphitheater and Soccer Stadium. 
• Grand Rapids City Leadership gave the GRPD the green light to target activists working on a range of issues, from GRPD repression, immigrant justice or the opposition to the US supported Israeli genocidal campaign against Palestinians. 
• Grand Rapids City Leadership partnered with the GR Chamber of Commerce on a so-called housing project for the unhoused, which GRIID identified as a false solution. 
• In June of 2024, Grand Rapids City officials approved the decision to borrow up to $30.5 million to build a multistory parking deck on site at 201 Market Ave. SE near US-131. 
• Grand Rapids City officials talked down to the overwhelming opposition to the $565 million in tax incentives for the DeVos/Van Andel development project. 

This is just a partial list of the ways in which Grand Rapids City Manager has opposed efforts to promote justice, especially efforts that were led by BIPOC organizers. The legacy of Mark Washington is fundamentally rooted in servitude to the Grand Rapids Power Structure and in opposition to movements demanding social justice amidst systemic racism in Grand Rapids, the ongoing housing crisis and the lack of accountability with the GRPD.