Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids – Segment #8: Corporate Welfare, AI apologists, false housing solutions and another really bad video promoting riverfront developments

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 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 #8 I wanted to share 4 short examples of how the rich and powerful continue to wage class war against the rest of Grand Rapids.

In the first example Grand Rapids Power Structure member John Kennedy recently a piece for Crain’s Grand Rapids Business entitled, Rejecting corporate welfare makes Michigan better. Kennedy is critical of some corporate welfare and singles out the auto industry, but he and the West MI Policy Forum celebrate and rely on all the other forms of corporate welfare that the State of Michigan and municipal governments provide to developers, corporations that relocate to this community and in other so-called public private partnerships where the public pays while the private sectors profits.

My second example is from recent comments by the CEO of The Right Place Inc., Randy Thelen. The Right Place Inc., has been a member of the GR Power Structure for years, which I have written about. Thelen was quoted in MLive saying, “We need AI to be part of our portfolio here. So when we talk about data centers it’s not a solution or silver bullet in any way, but it’s another addition to the diversification of our economy.” This should not surprise us, as the Right Place Inc. not on recruits businesses to come to West Michigan, they have consistently supported corporate interests, like their involvement to get Amazon to establish a major distribution center in Grand Rapids years ago. Also, Thelen demonstrates his class allegiance, since the public is overwhelmingly opposed to data centers throughout the country and in Michigan.

My third example is from Housing Next, which is a Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce front group which has been pushing the expansion of housing for several years now. Housing Next even acknowledges the ridiculous rent costs in Grand Rapids, but their solution, which is a false solution, is “Zoning, financing, and public-private partnerships.” What Housing Next does not say and will not say is for people to be paid a living wage to everyone can afford the cost of housing in Grand Rapids. The National Low Income Housing Coalition says that in Grand Rapids, for a 2 bedroom apartment, people would have to make $27.75 an hour to afford the rent.

The last example is the latest really awful video that comes from GR& Riverfront, where they continue to celebrate all things development related in downtown GR, especially things that the public has disproportionately paid for, but the private sector profits from. The video celebrates Amway and uses lyrics like, “more green grass where crowds will cheer.” Sure there is some grass that will be part of the soon to be opened Amphitheater, but you will have to pay if you want to sit on that green grass. Arrogant pricks!!!