MLive omits the most substantial organized effort to oppose the DeVos/Van Andel development project, which received $565 million in tax breaks from GR City officials

On Tuesday morning, MLive posted an article by journalist Brian McVicar, entitled, With billions in assets, should DeVos and Van Andel families qualify for big tax incentive?

The article was deeply problematic from the get go, providing lots of space to GR City Officials and the development spokesperson hired to manage the DeVos/Van Andel development project, which will build 3 towers on the Fulton & Market lot on the south end of downtown Grand Rapids.

The article does provide some local oppositional voices, like Kent County Commissioner Ivan Diaz and the group Together West Michigan. Diaz was questioning then logic in providing the DeVos/Vandel project with such a large amount of tax breaks, while Together West Michigan wanted to see the billionaire families give more money to the City’s Affordable Housing Fund.

When the article first appeared on MLive at 8:31am on Tuesday, December 3rd, the journalist had failed to mention the most substantial opposition effort, which was led by the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU). I sent Brian McVicar a message that said, “Brian, regarding your 12/3 article, you did not include the Grand Rapids Area Tenent Union opposition to this project, which has been the primary group involved. GRATU has generated over 1000 letters to GR City officials opposing the $565 million in tax incentives and other issues related to the project, which you can find here.”

The link I included was a GRATU Action Alert, which had sent over 1,000 letters to Grand Rapids City officials, with the following three demands:

• No to the $565 million in tax breaks to two billionaire families.
• Truly affordable rental fees for the nearly 600 apartments there were part of the 3 tower plan.
• Instead of the DeVos/Van Andel families providing a mere $425,000 annually to the GR Affordable Housing Fund over a 20 year period, should give $5 million a year for the next 20 years.

The MLive journalist Brian McVicar wrote back in the morning saying, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Jeff. My apologies for failing to include this. I will update the story and let readers know that the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union has also opposed the project’s subsidy request.”

Apparently, McVicar didn’t read the GRATU Action Alert, since it didn’t just mention the “subsidy request.”

I checked the MLive piece several times and at 3:17pm on Tuesday, I send another message to McVicar saying, “Brian, I just checked the article and did not see any updates referencing the GRATU opposition letters. Am I missing something?” McVicar’s responded back at 4:38pm by saying, “Nope, you’re definitely not missing anything. I’m tied up right now with the story on today’s commission meeting but will update my story as soon as I’m able.”

McVicars did finally update the article at 5:37pm, but only included this sentence: “The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union had also spoken out against the project.” This weak update, just 90 minutes before the City voted to approve the massive tax breaks and other aspects of the project, was not only unacceptable, it was insulting. 

Imagine if local news agencies had reported on the three GRATU demands that were included in their Action Alert. Imagine if they reported that over 1,000 letters were sent to GR City officials from community members expressing their opposition. It is my belief that if they larger public knew there was a more organized effort that addressed several facets of the DeVos/Van Andel development project, even more people would have decided to oppose the project.

This example is reason #83 for why we need independent media in this city and why we need to develop Movement Media (media that comes out of the movements for systemic change) in Grand Rapids. Clearly, we cannot rely on the commercial news agencies in this city, as they simply parrot the dominant narratives from those in power.