Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids – Segment #7: DeVos on DeVos, downtown development projects and GR Chamber bedfellows

One of the 10 principles of journalism is that it must serve as an independent monitor of power.

Now, I don’t claim to be a journalist, more of a media watchdog, but I do engage in movement media. Movement media is reporting and documenting what social movements are doing, which is what I have been trying to do with GRIID since 2009.

However, since I have been monitoring what I call the Grand Rapids Power Structure for nearly two decades, it seems like a good idea to do a regular Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids segment.

The Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids segments will offer brief commentary on those who have power over others in this community. These segments will not replace my regular reporting on the Grand Rapids Power Structure, since those stories will offer more in depth writing.

As we navigate a second Trump Administration it seems like a perfect opportunity to shed some light on the rich and powerful of Grand Rapids, or to frame it the way that radical media from the 60s and 70s would do regarding the Capitalist Class, using the phrase, “up against the wall motherfucker!”

For Segment #7 I wanted to share 4 short examples of how the rich and powerful continue to wage war against the rest of Grand Rapids, while making sure they increase their own wealth and status.

First, on November 21st, the Grand Rapids Chamber hosted a forum with Consumers Energy entitled, POWERING GRAND RAPIDS’ FUTURE PRESENTED BY CONSUMERS ENERGY.

The forum was framed around the issues like energy and business growth, data centers and AI. Essentially, the GR Chamber of Commerce was providing Consumers Energy a platform, where the legitimacy of the monopoly energy company would go unchallenged. We know that Consumers Energy has jacked up the cost of electricity several times in recent years making to cost of electricity too expensive for thousands of families along in Kent County. In addition, Consumers Energy loves to influence state politicians to make sure that the energy industry is not regulated sufficiently to protect customers. According to a report by Bridge Magazine, 70% of all Michigan lawmakers are taking money from utility companies, which is exactly why there is a ballot initiative to to address this issue.

It is disgusting that the GR Chamber of Commerce has partner with Consumers Energy to promote business growth while ignoring consumer cost and political influence at the state level.

A second example is from a WOODTV8 post from November 19th, where the Amway Grand Plaza announced that the DeVos-owned coffee house known as Foxtail will be replacing the Starbucks in that hotel in the Spring of 2026. Channel 8 reporter failed to mention that the Amway Grand Plaza is also owned by the DeVos family and is part of their AHC Hospitality company that runs hotels resorts and restaurants.

A third example is from GR& Riverfront, the entity that promotes downtown development projects. In August I did a deconstruction of the awful music video this group produced, but they are back again with yet another terrible music video that not only promotes the numerous downtown development projects, it comes across like thirteen year old’s poem that is naive and self-absorbed.

Speaking of downtown development projects, a fourth example is from Crain’s Grand Rapids Business on November 13th with the headline, Grand River emerges as catalyst for new wave of downtown development, executives say.

The article feature several construction company spokespersons talk about the development projects they are involved in along the Grand River in the downtown area. The comments reflect much optimism, which tracks, considering how much money these construction companies are making from these projects, with a great deal of the funding coming from the public.

There were also several real state companies featured in the Crain’s article with the likes of Sam Cummings, a managing partner of CWD Real Estate Investment and member of the GR Power Structure. Cummings was not only talking about his 111 Lyon Street project, but a second building conversion project at the Ledyard Building, “where he’s seeking incentives for plans to turn three floors of the historic building into 36 apartments.” Sam loves it when public incentives (code for public money) are involved, since it allows him and his partners at CWD – Cummings, Wierda and DeVos – to expand their wealth so they can control more real estate in this city.

As billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”