In Part I of our Year in Review for 2022, we looked at how the local news media (mis)reported on critical issues in Grand Rapids. In Part II, we looked back at what the Far Right in West Michigan was doing over the past year. Today, we want to look back at the actions and influence of the Grand Rapids Power Structure in 2022.
The Grand Rapids Power Structure can best be defined in the graphic above, but for our purposes today, we are going to focus on economic power, political power and state power.
Economic Power in Grand Rapids
Over the past year, those with tremendous wealth have continued to exert their influence over the general public. We know the names of these families and entities, what we often don’t know the details of how they function, primarily because they are not committed to transparency.
Part of our look at economic power dynamics when it comes to members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, always includes how they defend their own economic interests, while at the same time taking credit for “innovative projects.” In March of 2022, we saw a great example of how wealthy elites engaged in a bit of deception around a housing program they are backing. The GR Chamber of Commerce announced a new workforce housing plan, which GRIID responded to, writing:
The language from the announcement is instructive, in that it states that the goal, “was to create workforce housing for individuals and families employed in Ottawa County who were unable to afford to live there.” Now, any reasonable person would ask themselves why can’t workers afford to live in the communities that they work in? The simple answer is because these individuals and families don’t make enough to afford the cost of housing in the communities that they work in.
Another major economic-driven project GRIID has been following for a few years, is the proposed downtown outdoor amphitheater project. In late March, the City of Grand Rapids unanimously approved a land sale worth $116 Million, paving the way for the proposed amphitheater project. Then in June, it was announced that the State of Michigan would likely be providing $30 Million in public funds for the downtown amphitheater project, despite the fact that the public had no say in this. Finally, in November it was announced that the downtown amphitheater project would be run by the Kent County Convention Arena Authority, an entity which is essentially run by the GR Power Structure.
There were also a few land deals involving the DeVos family. In September, local news agencies reported that there was a new proposal to build a soccer stadium in downtown Grand Rapids, one that had a DeVos connection. GRIID did more digging and connected the dots on this project. Then in November, GRIID reported on a new land purchase by the DeVos family in the city’s 2nd Ward. What we discovered is that the land was purchased by a DeVos family member and that the developer involved int he project is also connected to the DeVos family.
GRIID also critiqued the annual 200 most powerful business leaders edition of the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
However, one of the biggest stories of 2022, was the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce push to criminalize the unhoused. In early September, the GR Chamber sent a letter to Grand Rapids City officials, complaining about how downtown businesses were being negatively impacted by the unhoused, plus their demand to increased GRPD presence. This initial letter was followed up by a second letter in early December, where the GR Chamber included a proposed ordinance that would punish the unhoused. Lastly, 120 so-called leaders, signed on to the GR Chamber’s proposed ordinance, primarily because of their economic interests.
Political Power/Influence by the GR Power Structure
2022 was an election year in Michigan, so the Grand Rapids Power Structure certainly used their economic power to influence election races. GRIID reported on campaign finance dynamics involving the GR Power Structure in February, April, and just before the August primary, which also included how much money the DeVos family contributed to the GOP Gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon.
However, even larger amounts of campaign contributions came just before the November 8th election, specifically with State Representative and State Senate races. However, the major political intrigued was all the money that was injected into Grand Rapids City Commission races, particularly money coming from the Grand Rapids Police Union and the GR Chamber of Commerce. There was also a tremendous amount of money coming from members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, particularly in the 1st and 3rd Ward City Commission races.
Grand Rapids City government power, often in service to economic power
One last area of how systems of power work together, was how the City of Grand Rapids used its own power, which is often in service to the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
For instance, in January, the process the City of Grand Rapids used during their search for a new Chief of Police, the city held public forums, despite the fact that the City Manager ultimately made the decision. In March, it was announced that the outgoing Chief of Police, Eric Payne, was stepping down. Unfortunately, the local news just used the narrative created by the City of Grand Rapids, a manufactured narrative that the local news ran with.
In April, GRIID wrote about all of the tax money the City of Grand Rapids was getting from cannabis sales. We proposed that all of that money go towards reparations for those most impacted by the War on Drugs. GRIID also wrote about the Downtown Development Authority’s decision to expand their geographical area, which means more tax dollars would be captured, specifically for the purpose of benefiting downtown businesses.
Lastly, it was announced that the DeVos family would no longer be running ArtPrize. However, the City of Grand Rapids agreed to step in and create another public/private partnership that would not only mean more public money and city staff time would be used for ArtPrize, those who have been economically benefiting from the annual art spectacle, would continue to reap the monetary rewards, without having to front the money to run the annual art event. GRIID wrote about what the City of Grand Rapids is calling ArtPrize 2.0, both in November and December.
In Part IV, we will look at the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya and how the City of Grand Rapids has responded to this injustice.
Unlike social spending, US Congress has no problem passing the largest US Military budget in history
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Just two days before Christmas, the US Congress passed that largest US military budget in history, The $858 Billion budget for the Pentagon/US Military was almost unanimously passed by Congress, thus continuing the long standing history of Bi-partisan support for US militarism.
According to the Director of the National Priorities Project:
This deal gives the military its highest budget since the height of the post-9/11 wars, and more than $100 billion more than the last budget under President Trump — an increase big enough to fund most of the still-unfunded priorities under President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. In a typical year, half or more of the Pentagon budget goes to corporate contractors, who have seen their stock prices soar since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Pentagon recently failed its fifth audit in a row, the only major government agency unable to account for how it spends taxpayer dollars.
Co-founder of The Intercepted, Jeremy Scahill, also wrote about the FY 2023 US Military budget, stating:
Included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023, finalized on December 6, is the establishment of a multiyear no-bid contract system through which Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and other weapons manufacturers are being empowered to expand their “industrial base” and business. Lawmakers determined that “providing multi-year procurement authority for certain munitions programs is essential,” in part because it will “provide the defense industrial base with predictable production opportunities and firm contractual commitments” to “increase and expand defense industrial capacity.”
The power of the US Military Industrial Complex cannot be understated. According to data from OpenSecrets.org, military contractors have contributed over $293 Million to Congressional candidates since 1990, when the data began to be collected. The military industry also has over 700 lobbyists, who are paid a ton of money to constantly pressure members of the US Congress to adopt military budgets, which will be good for their clients. In 2022, Military contractors spent over $92 Million in order to lobby the US Congress.
Senate Armed Serves Committee member and Michigan Senator, Gary Peters, released his own Press Release on December 23rd, touting how well he didi to secure funding for US military installations in Michigan and Michigan-based military contractors.
What Senator Peters and other members of the US Congress fail to mention are the following important contextual realities about the US Military Budget:
The US has the largest military budget in the world. In fact, the US military budget is larger than the next 9 largest military budgets in the world, combined. (See graph above, from the National Priorities Project)
The US has 750 Military bases around the world, in 80 different countries, according to data from 2021 from World Beyond War.
The US military is currently involved in numerous wars/military conflicts around the world, which includes direct military involvement, US military advisors, covert operations, training for foreign troops, US Military aid to countries and US weapons sales abroad. In fact, the US is the largest weapons dealer on the planet.
Did you know if the Pentagon were a country, its fuel use alone would make it the 47th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world? If we’re going to address the climate crisis, we need to #DivestFromWar NOW!
According to the excellent data provided by the National Priorities Project, for FY 2021 taxpayers from Grand Rapids contributed $370.66 Million to the US military budget. As a trade off, that same $370.66 Million could have been spent on 59,172 Public Housing units for a year. Imagine if that amount of money stayed in Grand Rapids and was used for critical issues like housing, education, health care etc. It’s never a question of there not being enough money, rather it is always a question of priorities.
Just last week, over 1,000 US faith leaders called for a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine, a settle that the US could be involved in if they were truly committed to disarmament and lasting peace.
The very fact that there is no real anti-imperialist/anti-war movement in the US right now, is indicative of the fact that too many people are either disinterested in fighting US imperialism or too many people, including progressives who contrite to support US militarism and the US Military Industrial Complex. Until such a movement exists in the US, the US Military Budget will continue to grow and be adopted by both Republicans and Democrats alike.
Taking a break from posting, be back next week!
Still saying NO to the Criminalization of the unhoused: Paying a visit to Mel Trotter Ministries
Last week, we reported on a group of activists that went to the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce to demand that they retract their proposed ordinance for downtown Grand Rapids and make a public apology for even suggesting such an oppressive policy be adopted by the city.
Last night, another group of activists did the very same thing, by going to one of the entities that endorsed the GR Chamber’s ordinance proposal, Mel Trotter Ministries. This time there were no chants or signs being held by activists, so as not to alarm or cause any unnecessary stress to the people who utilize the services of Mel Trotter’s, primarily the unhoused.
One can’t enter Mel Trotter by just opening a door, instead every door has a security camera and a buzzer you have to push in order to gain access. Once inside, people approached a reception area, where staff were sitting behind plexiglass. Activists asked to see the CEO of Mel Trotter’s, Dennis Vankampen. However, when the help desk staff called back, they were told that the CEO was not there. Instead, the Vice President of Operations, Jeff Dashner, was sent out to greet the group of activists.
Once a representative of Mel Trotter was present, activists communicated the same thing they did last Monday to the GR Chamber, they demanded that they retract their support of the proposed ordinance for downtown Grand Rapids and make a public apology for supporting said ordinance proposal. They also demanded a response by this Friday.
Jeff Dashner said that he sent an e-mail to both Vankampen and another person who is part of the Executive Team. While making the demands it appeared to several of the activists present, that the Mel Trotter staff person seemed disinterested in what was being said. One activist, who does weekly work with the unhoused – mutual aid, harm reduction, etc. – spoke up and said, “We are not just observers, we work with the unhoused and are well aware of the precarious situation they are in, which is exactly why we are appalled by your organization’s support for the ordinance proposed by the GR Chamber of Commerce. Several other activists who were present, affirmed this point and made other comments, which were acknowledged. Another activists made it clear that as of Sunday, those involved in organizing against the Chamber’s proposed ordinance, had over 12,000 people send messages to Grand Rapids City officials making it clear that there was widespread popular opposition.
For those who were unable to attend in person, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, which is collaborating with other area activists, are encouraging people to contact Mel Trotter Ministries to demand they pull their support for the proposed ordinance from the GR Chamber of Commerce. Call Mel Trotter at 616.454.8249 or 616.797.8200 (thrift store), or email at info@meltrotter.org. Please share the graphic included in this article so we can get as many people to pressure Mel Trotter Ministries to do the right thing.
GRIID Year in Review Part II – Monitoring the Far Right in West Michigan
Yesterday, we began our annual year in review series with a look at our work with monitoring local news coverage of critical issues, which was Part I in this series. Today, we will take a look at our coverage of the Far Right in West Michigan in 2022.
When we use the term Far Right, we are not simply referring to extremist groups like the Proud Boys (although they would fall under this category), we are referring to organizations and institutions that embrace and perpetuate policies and practices that push the envelope on issues like White Supremacy, heterosexism, transphobia, patriarchy, and xenophobia. Granted, some of the stories we look at below, could fall under multiple categories, but for our purposes today we are identifying them as Far Right.
Within the past year it is hard to go a week without the dominant news media reporting on the January 6th attempted insurrection. However, local news agencies haven’t reported much on that issues, except for some coverage around the 1st anniversary of January 6th.
On January 4th, GRIID posted a piece that discussed the importance of having a critical lens when it came to the one year anniversary of the attempted insurrection, which also included a critique of a Catholic TV show that interviewed Fr. Robert Sirico, founder of the Grand Rapids-based Action Institute, where he was discussing the January 6th insurrection. A few days later we wrote a piece about the PBS documentary on the January 6th attempted insurrection, which left out any critical information about the West Michigan connection to that insurrection. Lastly, this issue was reported on briefly in June, after Michigan Gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley (from Allendale) was arrested by the FBI for his role in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol.
There were also some article we posted that continued our two-decade critique of the Far Right Think Tank, the Acton Institute, based here in Grand Rapids. In January, they posted an article that once again demonized the national movement of Black Lives Matter. Then in March, the Acton Institute continued its assault against people who identify as trans, which they have consistently done for years.
There were also a couple of stand alone piece that GRIID wrote during the year, having to do with the Far Right in this area. One article had to do with the major contributions from the Van Andel family to the Far Right school in Michigan, Hillsdale College. Another article was about a church just north of Grand Rapids, which bragged about building their own armory back in April. The other stand alone article was just after the shooting in Colorado in November, where a gunman shot and killed several people, along with wounding others who were part of the LGBTQ community. One queer group spray painted a message at the compound of the group Focus on the Family, which has received millions of dollars of funding from the DeVos family and has created an anti-LGBTQ climate across the country.
However, the big far right story of the year was the US Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade. GRIID wrote a piece about the history of the reproductive justice movement in Grand Rapids, then followed it with a piece looking at what we called the anti-abortion cartel in West Michigan in May. After that we posted several stories focusing on people or organizations in West Michigan that have contributed to the criminalization of abortion, some for more than forty years. Each of these stories came with a Wanted Poster for the family or organization that funded and supported the criminalization of abortion, with links to each of those postings/Wanted posters below.
In Part III, we will take a look at article we did in 2022 that shinned the light on the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
https://griid.org/2022/07/07/wanted-for-funding-the-criminalization-of-abortion-the-devos-family/
https://griid.org/2022/07/21/wanted-for-funding-the-criminalization-of-abortion-the-cook-family/
https://griid.org/2022/08/18/wanted-for-funding-the-criminalization-of-abortion-the-prince-family/
https://griid.org/2022/08/26/wanted-for-funding-the-criminalization-of-abortion-john-nancy-kennedy/
It’s that time of the year again, where we offer up a review and revisit some of the most relevant posts from GRIID. We will be looking back at stories that focus on the Grand Rapids Power Structure, Social Movements in Grand Rapids, Monitoring the Far Right in West Michigan and a reposting of GRIID constructed memes. However, we kick off the year in review by looking at our ongoing critique of local news coverage.
There were a total of 42 times that we posted under the section Dissecting Local News for 2022. Not surprising, 14 of our posts were dedicated to critiquing how the local news reported on the GRPD, particularly the police murder of Patrick Lyoya.
One of the things that we noticed in the reporting on the GRPD’s murder of Patrick Lyoya have to do with how favorable the coverage has been to the now ex-cop Christopher Schurr, with the example of a May article by MLive that presented Schurr as someone devoted to serving others. Our response to that story, was entitled, MLive article on Officer Christopher Schurr normalizes White Supremacy and White Saviorism. Another issue has been how the local news has framed the police murder of Lyoya once the court process had begun, as is evidenced in our post in late September, The ongoing court case and Grand Rapids news media coverage of the ex-cop who murdered Patrick Lyoya.
There have also been stories about the GRPD, that continue to show the local news media’s bias towards the GRPD. Two separate posts that we did are worth noting here. The first was a post in early January, where were documented how the local news essentially just regurgitated the City”s Press Release about a forum for the next Police Chief, When Press Releases become news stories: City of Grand Rapids sends Press Release on forum about new GRPD Chief, local TV stations regurgitate Press Release as news.
The second example of what could be called Copaganda, comes from an April story done by WZZM 13, about the group iCI Nation. iCI Nation is essentially a pro-police organization that has been active in recent years specifically because the public has been demanding greater scrutiny of how policing is done in the US and in Grand Rapids. The GRIID post was actually an Action Alert, since the WZZM 13 story provided no context or critical backdrop on the iCI Nation group.
News Coverage regarding those with power in Grand Rapids
One of the most important roles that news agencies can play is to hold systems of power in check, whether those systems are government or private power. There were numerous postings that GRIID crafted in response to how much of a free pass the local news media gave for those in power. One example was how the local news reports on those with power was from January. The wife of Fred Meijer, Lena, passed away in January, and the local news coverage made her out to be a saint, with MLive referring to her as having “a wonderful heart.” Our response was written to reflect the fact that the Meijer family is one of the wealthiest families in the area, which the local news coverage didn’t really address. A second example looks at how MLive reported uncritically on the DeVos Family Foundation hurricane relief donation in October.
When local reporting is PR for developers
New development projects are always being announced in Grand Rapids, but unfortunately the coverage does not challenge, question or provide amble contextual information for the public. There were six times that GRIID wrote critiques of how development project were covered by the local news media.
One example GRIID looked at was an MLive story that was essentially based on a Press Release from the Right Place Inc, having to do with what they referred to as 12 Transformational projects. A second example, which is related to the 12 Transformational projects, has been coverage of the proposed soccer stadium, where the local news coverage fails to provide relevant context and issues around conflict of interest. A third example, looks at how public funds continue to be prioritized for tourism and private sector interests, over affordable housing and other urgent needs for thousands of families in Grand Rapids. Our post was entitled, It’s never a question of funding, rather priorities: Making the area around the Van Andel Arena more appealing or providing housing relief for marginalized families?
There were other issues, like the 2022 election coverage, but we will provide more on that in another part in the series. In tomorrow’s post we will look at articles we posted looking at the far right in West Michigan.
Grand Rapids is considering spending between $3 and $15 Million on an indoor golf driving range
“I’ve got just the place for low-cost housing. I have solved this problem. I know where we can build housing for the homeless: golf courses! It’s perfect! Just what we need. Plenty of good land, in nice neighborhoods, land that is currently being wasted on a meaningless, mindless activity engaged in primarily by white, well-to-do male businessmen who use the game to get together to make deals to carve this country up a little finer amongst themselves.” George Carlin
Grand Rapids City officials never cease to amaze me when it comes to how they spend money. On Tuesday, only a few local news agencies reported that the City of Grand Rapids is considering spending between $3 and $15 million on an indoor driving range, according to a story on WOODTV8.
The source for this news is David Marquardt, the director of Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation. Marquardt is quoted as saying:
“Topgolf is the one brand that comes to people’s mind. It is in most of the major cities across the country, like Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. That company looks for a big population base and other things that attract people to their cities like major league football. Grand Rapids does not have that.”
Again, it’s all about entertainment stuff when it comes to attracting people to live or visit here. How about instead of making the City of Grand Rapids primarily a destination for tourism or attracting “talent”, how about we attract people based on the notion the principle that every person who lives in the city is valued? And when I say valued, I mean that everyone has all of their basic needs met – earning a living wage ($25 an hour minimum), health care, good public education, great sustainable transportation, and yes, truly affordable housing.
The director of Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation says that Topgolf is probably not in the cards, but a smaller version of what they do. The discussion so far is to build an indoor golf driving range using land at the City operated Indian Trails golf course. (Of course this is what the City would call a golf course.)
Marquardt then goes on to say:
“The Indian Trails golf course is what we call an ‘enterprise fund’. And so essentially it needs to be self-sustaining like any business. It would not necessarily be taxpayer funded, but rather funded by user participation. We would be looking at some partner funding from other sources. I don’t know how many or whom.”
Do other people find it curious (and enraging) that this is even a conversation happening in city government circles? The timing is also pretty incredible, especially considering we are only beginning to come out of a major pandemic, with massive inflation, making thing even more economically stressful for thousands of families in Grand Rapids, along with increased pressure from residents to re-direct funding away from policing and into housing, health care and other basic needs.
In addition, I have no doubt that Grand Rapids City officials will be able to find partners – ie rich people – who will contribute to the cost. However, as we continue to see with other public/private partnerships, more often than not the public pays (with little or no input), while the private sector makes money and lobbies to use federal, state and local public dollars, all in the name of attracting people to Grand Rapids.
Missed opportunity by the Grand Rapids City Commission to reject the GR Chamber’s ordinance proposal to criminalize the unhoused
Ever since the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce went public with their proposal for the City of Grand Rapids, a proposal that would criminalize the unhoused, it has become the main local news topic.
GRIID wrote a response to the GR Chamber’s unjust and insensitive ordinance proposal on December 6th. That same night, during last week’s City Commission meeting, numerous downtown business owners and members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure showed up to show support for the Chamber’s ordinance proposal.
We then followed up with a post that critiqued the local news coverage of the Chamber’s proposal, making it clear that the coverage primarily centered the voices of the business community.
On Monday, we posted an article that took a critical look at another letter send to the Grand Rapids City Commission, this time from 120 business people, which included several members of the most powerful families in the city. In that post we made the point that many of those who signed the letter have financed politicians and pushed economic policies that have in many ways created the housing crisis we are currently facing in Grand Rapids. This dynamic is also true of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, which has a long track record of lobbying on behalf of the richest people in the community, while pushing policies that impacted thousands of individuals and families that are one paycheck away from being unhoused.
Several local organizers and autonomous groups have resounded to the outlandish GR Chamber proposal. On Monday, about 25 people showed up at the GR Chamber office, demanding that they rescind the letter and make a public apology for putting forth said ordinance proposal. In addition to the protest, people have been calling the Chamber CEO, along with several members of the business community that signed on to the Chamber’s proposal to let them know that if the Chamber doesn’t meet the demands presented to them on Monday, that there would be a call for a boycott of all downtown businesses. Lastly, those involved in resisting the Chamber’s ordinance proposal, created an online letter that is being sent to Grand Rapids City officials, which has been signed by over 10,000 people. I know that most of the 10,000 are not self-designated “community leaders”, but 120 compared to 10,000 should tell you something.
Just a few days ago, Grand Rapids City officials held their usual meetings, but there were two that were of particular interest as it relates to the GR Chamber’s proposed ordinance.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Public Safety Committee met, with the Chief of Police and other GRPD staff presenting all of the things that they are doing to address “safety issues” in downtown Grand Rapids. You can watch this meeting, but what seemed clear was that the GRPD was using both the Chamber’s call that the City do more around public safety and their own list of responses, as an opportunity to push for an increase in cops and an increase in funding for the GRPD.
Writer and activist Naomi Murakaw identifies this tactic as one of the three traps of police reform. In this case, the GRPD wants to make themselves relevant through programs like the HOT Team, in order to justify ongoing or increased funding. The ongoing push by police to justify their existence almost always happens when there is significant push back from the community.( See Elizabeth Hinton’s book, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s) Ever since the May 2020 uprising, the GRPD has been working hard to control the narrative and to push city officials to increase their budget and add more cops to the department. During Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, Chief Winstrom continued that narrative.
Towards the end of the Public Safety Committee meeting, one of the committee members, Ed Kettle, who has been a longtime support and apologist for the GRPD, offered to run another millage campaign to increase funding tor the GRPD. It should be noted that Kettle was involved in the campaign in 1995 to change the City Charter to institutionalize the no less than 32% of the budget going to the GRPD and to add more cops to the force.
On Tuesday evening, during the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, there were more than a dozen people who spoke on the GR Chamber of Commerce proposed ordinance and all of them were in opposition to it. In addition to the public comment opposition, there were already over 10,000 letters from the public condemning the Chamber ordinance proposal that Commissioners would have seen, but despite all of this opposition, the City Commissioners failed to address or reject what the Chamber of Commerce had submitted. In my mind, this was a missed opportunity to demonstrate to the public that City officials don’t give in to the Grand Rapids business class.
Not only did the City Commissioners miss an opportunity to say no to the criminalization of the unhoused, they spent the last hour of their meeting congratulating each other, since three Commissioners were leaving due to being term limited or voted out. While I can appreciate the comments that many of them made, they could have done that in a more private setting with each other, instead of using the public’s time. This was the last City Commission meeting of 2022 and who knows how long it will be before the GR Chamber’s proposed ordinance will get voted on by the commission. We do know that one of the new Commissioners, Drew Robbins, was endorsed by the police union and bankrolled by the Chamber of Commerce, which means he will likely support their ordinance proposal. The other two commissioners come from the non-profit world and are often seen as progressives, but without either of them holding political office it would be naive to assume that they would reject the Chamber’s proposal.
ArtPrize 2.0: More public money to be used means more profits for downtown Grand Rapids businesses
More information has come out regarding the future of ArtPrize in Grand Rapids.
As we noted in a November 20th post, where Mayor Bliss was interviewed by WOODTV8, the future of ArtPrize will be a partnership between the City of Grand Rapids, Kendall College of Art & Design, and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.
In the Agenda Packet (pages 2 – 4) for the Grand Rapids Committee of the Whole for December 6th, we now have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the future of ArtPrize. Grand Rapids City officials adopted the proposed resolution regarding the future of ArtPrize, stating:
ArtPrize has had an immense impact on our community. It has created a unique conversation about arts, culture, and self-expression. This distinctively Grand Rapids approach to innovation captured the imagination of the arts world. The past work of the founders, sponsors, artists, and donors has built a strong foundation that provides a tremendous opportunity for the future of this next phase of ArtPrize.
Such commentary seems a little self-congratulatory, which is consistent with how those who run this city often responds. Besides adopting the resolution, we now have a partial list of the nine-member Leadership Board of Directors for ArtPrize:
- Tara McCrackin – President of Kendall College
- Richard Winn – AHC Hospitality (DeVos owned)
- Natalie Stewart – Switch (https://www.switch.com/about/)
- Mark Washington – City Manager Grand Rapids
- Mayor Bliss – Mayor Grand Rapids
According to the December 6th document, the Leadership Board will be responsible for selecting the remaining members of the board. Can’t wait to see who else gets selected to manage/control the future of the art spectacle.
Yesterday, included in the Grand Rapids City Commission Fiscal Committee Agenda Packet (pages 11 – 13), we now know that City officials want to use public funds to continue to subsidize ArtPrize. I say continue to subsidize, since Grand Rapids has been using public money to support ArtPrize, such as the $50,000 they approve in August for the the 2022 integration of the monied spectacle. However, the amount that the City of Grand Rapids approved yesterday is definitely an increase from previous years. The Fiscal Committee document states:
Your Committee of the Whole recommends adoption of a $50,000 Mobile GR sponsorship and $100,000 Special Events sponsorship and $50,000 of in-kind services from Mobile GR for the ArtPrize 2023 event.
This means that a $200,000 value of public money will be used to subsidize ArtPrize for 2023. Do you think that the City will finally decide to pay artists for their time/labor for participating in ArtPrize? I’m not holding my breathe.
In the end, the only real difference that I can see with Rick DeVos no longer running ArtPrize, is that he got the City of Grand Rapids to take it over. Ultimately, this means City funds, City resources and City staff time will be spent on an event that will primarily benefit the private sector. It’s sort of like a reverse austerity measure, where instead of privatizing a public service, the private sector gets the public sector to underwrite and promote ArtPrize, yet the private sector is the primary beneficiary of the monied art spectacle. Another example of the economic shell game that Capitalism plays on the public.
We say NO to the criminalization of the unhoused protest confronts GR Chamber of Commerce staff with demands
Last night, roughly 25 activists gathered in front of 250 Monroe NW, the building that is home to the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. The gathering was from a call by the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, working with a coalition of autonomous groups, to protest the GR Chamber’s proposed ordinance that would criminalize those who are unhoused, those who are subjected to poverty, and those who are struggling with mental health issues.
After a brief gathering outside, the group decided to go inside the building and directly confront members of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. This is the first time this writer had been in the new office space, which is way more upscale than their office was when it was housed on Pearl St. in downtown Grand Rapids.
Upon entering the glass doors of the GR Chamber office, one staff member pleaded with the group to leave, since the office was “private property.” While we understand that the GR Chamber and other members of the Capitalist Class view private property as sacrosanct, those who came to communicate their anger over the proposed ordinance were in no way intimidated by the hollow plea to vacate the Chamber’s office.
A clear demand was presented by someone, which included that the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce rescind their letter proposing the criminalization of the unhoused and make a public apology for doing so. From that point on, several other activists verbalized their rage over the proposed ordinance, with some asking the Chamber staff directly if they “hated” those who were unhoused. By this time a second GR Chamber staff member had appeared and was clearly on the phone to the GRPD. The other GR Chamber staff member tried to speak softly to the person who made the demands, asking them if they would get people to leave. Clearly, the GR Chamber staff isn’t familiar with the fact that groups like this organize horizontally, therefore individuals are not “in charge” and everyone participating is allowed to make up their own damn minds.
Eventually, the group left GR Chamber office, only to gather just outside the door, where they continued to chant and direct comments towards the staff still inside. The confrontation seemed to energize people, and their chants echoed throughout the building, so much so that people from other offices poked their heads out to see what all the ruckus was.
By this time, there were four separate GRPD cruisers that had arrived, so most members of the group exited out the Ottawa-side of the building, with a few people going out to see what the GRPD were up to. The cops saw that some people were exiting out the Monroe-side of the building, so they waited until people came out. The cops said nothing to the activists who came out, and immediately went inside the building to assure the GR Chamber staff that their “private property” was safe.
It is rather instructive that the GR Chamber of Commerce staff called the GRPD on those who were there to make demands that the organization rescind the letter and make a public apology. The irony is that if the GR Chamber proposed ordinance is adopted by the City of Grand Rapids, it will result in the Chamber, or any of their business members, casually calling the GRPD to remove or arrest those who are unhoused, those who are subjected to poverty, and those who are struggling with mental health issues. The fact that the GRPD were called, fully demonstrates that members of the Business Class will always resort to using state-sponsored intimidation and violence, especially when their financial interests are being threatened.
The group eventually went back outside and marched around downtown Grand Rapids for about 30 minutes, letting other businesses and residents know that some people will not tolerate the actions of organizations like the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, especially when they prioritize profits over people.
Below are other actions that people can take if they object to the criminalization of the unhoused.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 