Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce applauds GR City Commission unanimous vote for funding cops and developers

All six Grand Rapids City Commissioners and Mayor LaGrand voted to approve the $786 million City Budget on Tuesday, despite calls to reduce funding for the GRPD from residents.

However, there are some sectors of this city that are delighted that the $786 million budget was approved. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the GR City Commission on Monday, May 18th, which you can read in the packet of information you can access here for the May 19th City Commission meeting.

The GR Chamber letter included the following comments, which reflects their priorities:

Grand Rapids has momentum. Our City continues to benefit from meaningful investment and economic activity. The Acrisure Amphitheater is opening, the Amway Soccer Stadium is taking shape, housing is being added across all price points, and investment continues in and along the Grand River. These are real wins for our community, and we will continue to advance vibrancy through public-private partnerships.

The letter specifically acknowledges their support for the GRPD by writing:

Public Safety Investment: Safety is the core component of a vibrant community and continues to be a top priority. We strongly support support the $1.3 million in public safety funding an additional 10 officers, as well as the $400,000 for crime prevention programming.

The work done by former-Chief Winstrom to strengthen the department, enhance community trust and address crime across all neighborhoods has been tremendous. We are confident that Interim Chief Trigg and his leadership team will continue to make Grand Rapids a thriving and safe place for families and businesses.

These sentiments clearly demonstrate the Chamber’s commitment to making sure the GRPD is full funded and that they desire to see more cops hired. None of this is a surprise especially since the priority of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce assist businesses in expanding their wealth and that means more cops to protect property and prevent the unhoused or political groups from disrupting business as usual in the downtown area.

The GR Chamber letter was signed by their CEO Rick Baker and the entire Local Government Committee:

• Rick Winn, AHC Hospitality
• Sam Cummings, CWD
• Rosalynn Bliss, MSU College of Human Medicine
• Chris Andrus, Mitten Brewing Co.
• Matt Biersack, Trinity Health West Michigan
• Bryan Harrison, Amway
• Tracey Hornbeck, Legacy Trust
• Doug Dozeman, Warner Norcross + Judd
• Mark Secchia, SILVA
• Dave Shaffer, West Michigan Community Bank
• Jessica Gutowski-Slaydon, Swift Printing Co.
• Monica Steimle-App, Rockford
• Aaron Van Andel, Amway
• Allie Walker, Truscott Rossman
• John Van Fossen, Meijer
• Meredith Bronk, Progressive Companies

You can clearly see from the names and the businesses they represent that public funding for private sector projects and the GRPD are a priority.

Two weeks ago I wrote the following breakdown of part of the city’s budget, specific to the GR Chamber of Commerce letter, more funding for police and development projects.

• $75.4 million for Police, including $1.3 million allocated for 10 police officers that were added in FY26 in anticipation of increased state revenue for public safety.
• $2.9 million for Oversight and Public Accountability – $1.7 million of this is for Axon contract including body cameras; $400,000 will need to be programmed for crime prevention efforts based on enhanced state revenue for public safety.
• $13.5 million for 61st District Court.
• $56.6 million for Economic Prosperity and Affordability of which $36.8 million is for corridor improvement districts and special authorities.

In the WZZM 13 story about the unanimous vote to approve the $786 million city budget, one of the commissioners said the following regarding the budget:

“Budgets are moral documents, it really reminds us that it’s not simply a spreadsheet or a collection of numbers, it really represents our values, our priorities, and ultimately what we believe residents deserve.”

Clearly the GR City Commission believes that more funding for cops and using public dollars for private sector development projects are their priorities, but to assume that this is what residents deserve demonstrates that they are out of touch with what many residents actually want.