Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce video is filled with misinformation, crafted moments and self-serving commentary by Dick DeVos

The recent 43 second video that celebrates the ground breaking for the new soccer stadium in Grand Rapids was produced by the GR Chamber of Commerce. You can watch the 43 second video here, but what follows is a deconstruction of the video, both what it presented and what it didn’t present.

The voiceover for this video is from Dick DeVos, whom you can see in the first few seconds of the video, with his name included and the words Grand Action 2.0 below his name. However, Dick DeVos isn’t just with Grand Action 2.0 in this capacity, his family and the Van Andel family purchased the naming rights to the soccer stadium, which will now be called the Amway Soccer Stadium. In addition, the DeVos and Van Andel families will own the professional soccer team that will play in the Amway Soccer Stadium. 

The narrative for the video begins by saying:

Another new chapter opens today, as we break ground for the Amway Stadium. Another chapter opens for the westside of Grand Rapids that has been defining and redefining itself and is now adding a new definition to the westside of Grand Rapids as the home of West Michigan soccer.

The GR Chamber of Commerce video fails to mention several things in the first part of the video, which is the fact that Grand Action 2.0 got the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County to provide millions in public funds for this project, which means the video omitted the public’s role in this development project. The video also omits the fact that the GR Chamber, Grand Action 2.0 and their friends spent about $500,000 to push the hotel tax increase ballot initiative in August of 2024.

The video shows a group of white kids (these kids were probably brought in from Ada)  playing soccer on a parking lot that will be torn up for the soccer stadium. This means there will be less parking around the soccer stadium, which west-siders are up in arms about. There is already a shortage of parking in that area, plus Grand Rapids and Kent County officials are hell bent on attracting as much tourism to downtown as possible. Tourism will bring even more cars to an area where parking is difficult to find, with the added dynamic that Grand Rapids just upped the cost of parking, which also included extending the hours for parking and increasing rates for events.

The GR Chamber of Commerce video ends with these words:

You’re going to have a world class facility, that is going to be able to host world class events, in the middle of a world class city.

World Class? 

• Grand Rapids was just named the 27th worst city in the US for Air Quality/Air Pollution, according to the American Lung Association.
• Grand Rapids’ Black homeownership rate is worst among 50 largest U.S. metros.
• According to the ALICE data, 47% of Grand Rapids residents are living paycheck to paycheck.

While Dick DeVos and the GR Chamber of Commerce make a video about the soccer stadium, which will make them millions, the trial for the cop that murdered Patrick Lyoya is happening, and the GRPD continues to brutalize and over-police in Black and Brown neighborhoods. Do you think that is what Dick DeVos meant by when he said Grand Rapids was a world class city?