Proposed Aquarium in Grand Rapids is a microcosm of how power functions in this city

The first paragraph of a new MLive article states:

Grand Rapids leaders quietly met last summer under the codename “Tokyo” to craft a strategy promoting downtown as the site for John Ball Zoo’s proposed aquarium over a competing location in Walker, records show.

The headline for this article was, ‘Tokyo’ meetings: Grand Rapids leaders quietly pushed for downtown aquarium site.   What kind of sneaky, backroom bullshit is this? Well, it is exactly what we should expect to happen with Grand Rapids “leaders”, especially when Grand Action 2.0 is involved.

Grand Action 2.0 was created in the mid-1990s and every single project they have proposed has been adopted with hundreds of millions in public dollars. Here is that list:

• Van Andel Arena
• DeVos Convention Center
• Civic Theater Complex
• MSU Medical School
• Downtown Market
• Lyon Square
• Acrisure Amphitheater
• Amway Soccer Stadium

Of course there are other things that Grand Action 2.0 has pitched to the City and the County, such as the apartment complexes that will be adjacent to the new Amphitheater and the developing soccer stadium. Then there is the Hotel Tax increase, with the funds being used for the projects that Grand Action 2.0 is imposing on the rest of us. Grand Action 2.0 gave $300,000 for the ballot initiative in 2024, along with the thousands more that were contributed by their friends.

The proposal for an aquarium has not been completely secretive, since Grand Action 2.0 has been proposing this idea at least since 2020, since it is listed in some of their planning documents from 2020 and 2021.

Then there is the matter of who get’s invited to these discussions that Mayor LaGrand presided over, according to the MLive article:

Mayor David LaGrand’s office convened at least two meetings in July and September to discuss site selection, funding, outreach and political strategy, according to documents obtained by MLive through the Freedom of Information Act.

It’s unfortunate that MLive doesn’t share the FOIA documents with the public, but they are more interested in controlling the narrative as opposed to doing investigative journalism on how public money is being used to benefit the members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. Based on previous Grand Action 2.0 projects, we know who gets invited to these meetings/discussions, which doesn’t include people like you and me. Grand Action 2.0 and government officials like to refer to those invite to these private meetings as “stake holders”, which is just code for those with the most to gain from these projects. Here is an example of stake holders from one of the Grand Action 2.0 documents.

The MLive article does provide some economic information, based on the FOIA documents, both the cost of the aquarium project and the economic benefits:

The records detail behind-the-scenes efforts by city leaders to land a project with an estimated price tag of nearly $400 million and a projected $2.9 billion economic impact over 10 years, according to zoo estimates. The zoo envisions a “world-class” aquarium that would attract visitors nationwide and rival top-tier aquariums across the U.S.

Of course the MLive article doesn’t provide any information on how much of the proposed $400 million price tag for the aquarium would be coming from public taxpayer dollars, even though is would be safe to assume that at least half of the cost – $200 million – would come from the public, since that has been the pattern on every Grand Action 2.0 initiated project. And as I have stated over the years, while the public provides hundreds of millions in tax dollars for these projects, the public has no real say in how their dollars are being used.

Then there is the matter of economic impact based on projections once the aquarium is built. The $2.9 billion economic impact claim is misleading, since most of those dollars will go to the hotel, restaurant/bar, parking sectors in Grand Rapids, with very little of the money going to the thousands of families in Grand Rapids that are living from pay check to pay check. And of course, most of the hotels in downtown Grand Rapids are owned by the DeVos family.

The MLive article also says that one of the proposed locations for the aquarium would be 555 Monroe Ave. NW, just south of the 6th Street Bridge and along the riverfront. This tracks, since Grand Action 2.0 projects are exclusively downtown and cater to tourists. Having the aquarium downtown would also put more money into the pockets of those who already control downtown Grand Rapids.

However, having the aquarium downtown would further exacerbate the already contentious and nightmarish issue of parking. Seems like another great opportunity to increase parking rates for both the privately controlled parking locations and the city owned parking spaces, which Mayor LaGrand has already been promoting.

To summarize, another Grand Action 2.0 project is being proposed behind closed doors with government officials, which will mean that millions of public dollars will be spent with no public input, while millions more dollars will go to those who already own downtown GR, and create an even bigger parking nightmare. Funny how the “leaders” of this city promote this shit, but can’t get behind funding real investments that would benefit the black and brown neighborhoods throughout the city. Once again, this is how power functions in Beer City!