The business press fails to mention the upcoming public hearing on Long Road Distillers expansion plans or the current boycott against the Grand Rapids company

Last Thursday, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business posted an article entitled, Long Road bets on canned cocktails with production facility expansion.

The article discusses the production expansion plan, along with details about the company’s desire to produce more ready to drink cocktail beverages. The primary source for the Crain’s article was co-owner and former GR City Commissioner Jon O’Conner.

Having O’Connor be the spokesperson makes sense, since the other co-owner is Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand.

The production expansion plans were also part of the January 27th Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, which means that Mayor LaGrand had to remove himself from the discussion, since his being a co-owner would have been a conflict of interest.

Unfortunately, the Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article doesn’t mention that Mayor LaGrand is a co-owner of Long Road Distillers or that it was an agenda item at the Grand Rapids City Commission. Not only was the Long Road Distillers expansion on the City Commission’s agenda, there will be a public hearing on Tuesday, February 10th at 2pm to hear public input on the company’s expansion plans and whether or not the city should be providing the company with a tax abatement.

Additionally, the Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article never mentions that there has been an organized boycott of Long Road Distillers locations and products since last October, when members of Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE began the campaign with a protest in front of their Leonard St. location.

Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE initiated the boycott to pressure Mayor LaGrand to adopt 6 sanctuary policies that would guarantee that the City of Grand Rapids and the GRPD would not collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in their efforts to arrest, detain and deport immigrants.

It is instructive that the Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article fails to inform its readers that their is an upcoming public hearing on the expansion plans of Long Road Distillers along with the fact that there is an active boycott of the company as a tactic to pressure Mayor LaGrand to adopt the 6 sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE began 4 months ago.

This is a clear case where Crain’s Grand Rapids Business only seems interested in promoting business interests at the expense of community demands and community safety.