Grand Rapids City officials once again demonstrate their loyalty to business as usual at last night’s City Commission meeting

Another long line of people formed for the public comment period at the Grand Rapids City Commission. People talked about how the GRPD harassed and abused people during the Schurr trial and after the judge called for a mistrial.

You can watch of the public comments at this link, with the public comment period beginning at 31:50 into the meeting. More importantly was the responses from Grand Rapids City officials, which begins at 1:44:00 into the meeting, beginning with Commissioner Ysasi.

Commissioner Ysasi – spoke for 12 minutes, but didn’t really say much. However, she did want to promote the idea of the civilianization of the GRPD. What is that you say? It means that some jobs that were previously done by cops are now being done by civilians. This is really a misdirection by Commissioner Ysasi, since it not only fails to acknowledge that the GRPD has been adding new officers over the past 2 years, but more importantly, it diverts public outrage over the way that the GRPD has been criminalizing and repressing those who dissent.

Commissioner Perdue – spoke for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Wants to expand the OPA, even review of use of force incidents. 

Commissioner Belcak – spoke for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Also talked in circles a bit, but spent the most time promoting the 175th anniversary of the City of Grand Rapids.

Commissioner Robbins – spoke for 45 seconds with words like both sides, respect and forgiveness. Robbins received $10,000 from the GRPD union in 2022 and he was implicated in the smear campaign against his opponent in 2022, along with the campaign against another candidate in 2024.

Commissioner Knight – spoke for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Gave props to Chief Winstrom for having a conversation with her and reveal that she has a son who is a cop.

City Manager Washington – spoke for 3 minutes and primarily highlighted the upcoming Public Safety Committee meeting, where Chief Winstrom and the OPA can tells us about the exciting things they are doing.

Mayor LaGrand – spoke for just under 2 minutes. LaGrand says he spent most of his adult life making the justice system better, but provides no evidence of how he has done that. He also said as a community we can always do justice better, we can always improve our culture and our community. The Mayor’s words were another misdirection, thus avoiding talking about the City’s responsibility and the policing, both systems of power and oppression.