When community activists and organizers demand justice, the response from the City of Grand Rapids is further GRPD repression
On October 11, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU) sent a letter to the Mayor of Grand Rapids, all 6 City Commissioners and City Manager Mark Washington.
The letter, which is included in its entirety below, was sent to Grand Rapids City officials because GRATU members were appalled at the ridiculous number of GRPD officers deployed because GRATU was holding a Press Conference with several tenants who live at the Grand View Place apartments.
GRATU Letter
On Wednesday, September 29, members of the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU) were invited by tenants of the Grand View Place apartments located at 936 Front Ave NW here in Grand Rapids.
GRATU had been working with tenants on issues such as safety, sanitation and threats of eviction that the property manager was using against tenants any time they made formal complaints.
GRATU was invited by tenants on September 29th to participate in a Press Conference to talk about the concerns mentioned previously.
Shortly after GRATU members arrived and met tenants outside of the building, they were approached by the property manager and a GRPD officer. GRATU members were asked to leave the property, even though we were there by invitation of the tenants. GRATU members did move to the public sidewalk, where they planned on holding the Press Conference.
Within minutes of being asked to leave the property, GRATU members witnessed 4 additional GRPD cruisers pass by, with one parking across the street next to a building, in order to observe what GRATU and the tenants were doing.
The police officer who had been with the property manager was leaving the property in his cruiser, but before leaving, pulled up and asked what we were doing. GRATU members stated clearly that they were simply holding a Press Conference with the tenants who wanted to share their grievance with the news media.
GRATU members are well aware of the ongoing discussion about GRPD funding and their claims of being short staffed. However, upon seeing 5 different GRPD cruisers show up to a GRATU/tenant press conference we have to ask why were so many police cruisers dispatched to a press conference?
If the GRPD is so short staffed, why would they dispatch 5 police cruisers to a press conference, where tenants were sharing their grievances with Grand View Place apartments to news media?
Several tenants expressed their frustration with having the police show up for something that was not only legal, but for something they had every right to participate in. Tenants from Grand View Place apartments also felt intimidated with such a heavy police presence.
GRATU members are asking for answers as to why so many GRPD cruisers were dispatched to deal with tenants who were involved in a press conference. This incident not only made tenants feel intimidated, it demonstrated that the GRPD acted on whatever message that the property manager of Grand View Place apartments without considering the concerns of some of the tenants.
Not only was the GRATU Press Conference purely an informational event, there was nothing about it that warranted police presence at all. However, as we have documented in recent years, anytime that activist groups hold meetings, press conferences or other informational events, the GRPD has been sending a significant number of cops to harass and intimidate activists. One example, is GRPD officers coming inside a church, where Movimiento Cosecha GR was holding a Press Conference in 2018.
GRATU sent the letter on October 8, some three weeks ago, and has only received one response so far. The one response, which came from Mayor Bliss’s office on October 11, was actually not much of a response. The message was from Mayor’s assistant who wrote, “I have relayed it to her directly and she has asked the City Manager to follow up with the Chief regarding this matter.”
GRATU responded immediately by saying, “We would like feedback, from the Chief and the Mayor on how they could justify sending so many cruisers to an event that was so non-threatening.”
Since the GRATU response of October 11, there has been no response from the Mayor, other City officials, not the Grand Rapids Police Chief.This lack of response has come to be the general response to City officials, when they are confronted by community-based groups that are making demands.
This kind of non-response is similar during City Commission meetings, where they have made it clear that City Commission meetings are not the time to have a dialogue about critical issues in the City of Grand Rapids. Activists are repeatedly told that this is how it has always been done. This means that the regular forum to practice participatory democracy, City Commission meetings, is not the time nor the place for dialogue.
The question then is, when is the time for City officials to really practice participatory democracy? It seems to this writer that the answer is never. Sure, there have been a few commissioners who have said that they are available to meet and discuss issues with people before commission meetings, but those discussions happen behind closed doors. Those discussions are not public and are not recorded or broadcast through the same means that regular City Commission meetings happen. Again, my answer then is that the Grand Rapids City Commission is NOT interested in practicing real democracy, since they provide no forum for this to really take place.
This is one of the reasons why community activists and organizers have been engaging in a variety of tactics and strategies to confront City officials on their failure to meet the demands of the community. Activists and community organizers have confronted the City on issues related to immigration status & ICE, on the unhoused, lack of affordable housing and gentrification, and on the way that the GRPD practices policing in this city. In each of these cases the City has always had a clear response, which has been to send lots of GRPD officers to harass, intimidate, monitor, arrest and abuse those who have no other real options for which to make their demands known to City officials. The sad thing is, that this response from the City of Grand Rapids has nothing to do with democracy, it has to do with power, plain and simple.
Peter Meijer, Campaign Finances and the 2022 Election: Corporate paymasters and GR Power Structure member contributions
As of last weeks quarterly campaign finance reporting, Rep. Peter Meijer has raised $1,083,457 for the 2022 election cycle.
The Democratic Party has yet to announce a challenger to Meijer, but looking at who has already contributed to his re-election campaign, any challenger will have a difficult task in trying to unseat the son of the wealthiest family in West Michigan.
According to the Center for Responsible Politics, there are three clear campaign contribution categories for Rep. Peter Meijer, corporate contributions, wealthy individuals who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and Political Action Committees (PACs).
Here is a list of some of the major corporate contributions to Peter Meijer’s re-election campaign so far:
- Meijer Inc. – $23,500
- Edward C Levy Co. – $23,200
- Ford Motor Company – $13,700
- Bissell Inc. – $11,600
- Dempsy Ventures – $11,600
- Gordon Food Services. – $11,600
- Wolverine Oil & Gas. – $11,600
- Blue Cross/Blue Shield. – $10,850
- New York Life Insurance. – $10,000
- Gerson Lehman Group – $10,000
Political Action Committees, often referred to as PACs, are some of the most aggressive campaign contributors in recent decades. Here are a few that have contributed to Peter Meijer’s re-election bid:
- Future First Leadership PAC – $10,000
- Eye of the Tiger PAC. – $10,000
- Continuing America’s Strength & Security PAC – $7,500
- Ginger PAC. – $5,800
- Unite American. – $5,200
- Cowboy PAC. – $5,000
- New Pioneer’s PAC. – $5,000
- Making America Prosperous – $5,000
- With Honor PAC – $5,000
Lastly, there are individuals and entities that make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure, which have also contributed to Peter Meijer’s re-election campaign:
- Autocam Corp/John Kennedy – $11,600
- Van Andel Institute. – $11,600
- Amway. – $5,000
- CWD Real Estate – $4,583
- Rockford Construction. – $3,271
- Michael Jandernoa LLC. – $2,900
- RDV Corp. – $2,900
- Pamela Roland (wife of Dan DeVos). – $2,900
This is just a partial listing of major contributors so far, but we all know that millions more will pour in before the November 2022 election. In the meantime, it is always important that we follow the money and understand what really drives the US system of electoral democracy.
Ryan Kelley’s new political ad is filled with misinformation, unsubstantiated claims, and wrapped in White Supremacist rhetoric
On Friday, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley, released a new political ad for his campaign to become the next Governor of Michigan.
As we noted last week, the Whitmer campaign has raised a ton of money a full year before the November 2022 election. In the same post, we also noted that the primary Republican Gubernatorial candidate, in terms of fundraising, is James Craig. Craig is getting money from corporate sources, wealthy families and numerous influential people within the GOP.
Ryan Kelley, on the other hand, is not raking in the big money at this point, with only $80,000 raised in his campaign. When comparing his campaign fundraising totals to Craig, Craig has raised about 15 times more money and Craig entered the race months after Kelley.
While campaign contributions are central to elections in the US, it is also important to look at the platforms and messaging coming from candidates. This brings us back to Ryan Kelley’s most recent political ad and why I want to provide a deconstruction of the ad from the co-founder (or as Kelley like to call “a founding father) of the far right group known as the American Patriot Council.
The political ad is 2 minutes and 50 seconds long and is only being shared on social media, especially since he hasn’t raised the necessary funds to run ads on commercial media. I will use a mix of images from Kelley’s ad, along with a narrative for the deconstruction.
Kelley then states that the Michigan Democratic Party has attacked him and tried to discredit him. While there may have been some criticisms from Michigan Democrats, most of the criticism has come from individuals and autonomous movements that exposed Kelley for his roll in organizing the anti-lockdown protests that began in Lansing in April of 2020.
At 40 seconds into the ad, Kelley then claims that during the lockdown, “we didn’t back down.” This of course really means that Kelley and the American Patriot Council invited far right Michiganders to come to Lansing with assault rifles and enter the Lansing State Capitol, while Kelley was texting with Senator Majority Leader Mike Shirkey. In a blog post on the American Patriot Council, which has since been removed, Kelley wrote:
“The irony is that the American Patriot Rally was organized with one thing in mind: to encourage the senate to vote no on extending Whitmer’s emergency declaration, which they did. It was a victory. If Sean had taken the time to be a journalist, he’d have known that we got exactly what we came for.”
Kelley had then invited Sen. Shirley to speak at an American Patriot Council-organized anti-lockdown rally in Grand Rapids in May of 2020, which we reported on. It was always clear that the anti-lockdown protests were organized in conjunction with Republican elected officials, and was being co-ordinated by the Council for National Policy across the country.
At 52 seconds into the ad, Kelley then talks about how people have had enough of politicians who lie just to get elected and then never do anything to benefit the people. While I would agree with Kelley’s comment here, since most politicians don’t do much that benefits most people, he is only using these comments to the lead up beginning at 1:10 in the video. At this point Kelley turns the focus on the “failures” of the Whitmer administration, with Kelley standing right in front of Gov. Whitmer’s home.
At the 2 minute mark in the video, there is footage of Ryan Kelley with his wife and children, talking about how there are efforts to destroy the nuclear family. This is followed by more rhetoric about integrity and standing up for people’s rights. The political ad ends with Kelley saying that he and other gave people hope, saying all of this while standing in front of the Lansing State Capitol. Kelley is clearly appealing to his base, those who supported his role in the anti-lockdown protests.
Like all political ads, Kelley uses vague rhetoric and appeals to traditional conservative values. However, Kelley also uses lots of misinformation, unsubstantiated claims and a great deal of fear-mongering, all of which have become the norm with political ads. More importantly, Kelley offers no concrete plans for what he would do that would actually benefit the majority of Michigan residents, specifically around economic policy, public health, the environment and housing.
Lastly, it is clear that the only things Kelley can appeal to are the things he has personally been involved in, such as the anti-lockdown protests, the defense of the Confederate statue in Allendale, opposing COVID vaccinations and whining about the 2020 election results. All of these issues, it must be said, are wrapped in the ideology of White Supremacy, which is what Ryan Kelley has demonstrated he is committed to, since he became a public figure in April 2020.
There is a war on BIPOC people in Kalamazoo: An Interview with Monica Washington Padula
In early October, the City of Kalamazoo sent members of the Kalamazoo Police Department to a houseless encampment to evict those who were staying at the encampment. You can read some context of what took place on October 8th, from this article on the site NowKalamazoo.
The Kalamazoo Police also arrested Monica Washington Padula, an Afro-Indigenous activist who was present on October 8 in a supportive capacity for the unhoused community. Recently, we had the opportunity to hear Monica’s story about what happened that day, which not only provides even more context, but Monica’s narrative gives us a first hand accounting of how the City of Kalamazoo is waging a war against BIPOC people in that community.
We have seen this same dynamic happen in Grand Rapids, with the ongoing harassment, intimidation and arrests of groups like Justice for Black Lives, Defund the GRPD and Movimiento Cosecha GR. In addition, the City of Grand Rapids evicted a housing encampment at Heartside Park last year and has continued to harass other unhoused encampments around the city.
Our interview with Monica is roughly 36 minutes and we encourage people to watch the video, then share it.
We’re Rich and We Do What We Want: A DeVos Family Reader
In Howard Zinn’s monumental book, A People’s History of the United States, he constantly juxtaposes the amazing things that people did to fight for liberation and the people behind the systems of oppression that social movements were fighting against.
This is exactly why I have spent years monitoring, investigating and critiquing the DeVos Family. They are the most recognizable and powerful manifestation of the systems of power and oppression in West Michigan. Now, I know there are plenty of people who share the belief that without the DeVos Family, Grand Rapids wouldn’t be where it is today. I fully agree with that belief, but for reasons that are the exact opposite of those who hold the most powerful family in West Michigan in high regard.
When Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel founded the Amway corporation, they did so by embracing some of the most deeply entrenched lies about this country. Rich DeVos has written numerous books that promote his values. In his book Believe, DeVos, in talking about freedom, states, “that call of freedom went forth from a rugged wilderness, and Europe and Asia and Africa sent their sons of adventure to hew out a new society in a land of forests and savages.”
This statement from DeVos is essentially an affirmation in his belief of Manifest Destiny. For those who don’t know, the company that DeVos founded with Jay Van Andel, was originally going to be called The American Way, but was changed to Amway so as to abbreviate their take on Manifest Destiny.
In addition to believing in Manifest Destiny, Rich DeVos is also deeply committed to the values of capitalism, or what he likes to refer to as the free enterprise system. In his book Believe, DeVos states, “The free-enterprise system has outperformed, outproduced any other in the world. It is a gift of God to us, and we should understand it, embrace it, and believe in it.”
The above statement is the perfect encapsulation of what the patriarch of the family, Rich DeVos, believes and is firmly committed to. The DeVos Family is a deeply religious family, regardless of how one defines religious beliefs. The family comes out of the Calvinist tradition and are members of the Christian Reformed Church. However, the DeVos Family, in many ways embraces a form of Christian Reconstruction. Those who practice Christian Reconstruction theology believe that society should be governed by biblical values, rather than secular values. This is exactly why the family has for decades developed relationships and funded organizations that are deeply committed to homophobia, anti-reproductive rights, patriarchy, white supremacy and free market capitalism.
The DeVos Family not only supports these religiously motivated values by their support of certainly organizations, but by their deep commitment to influencing public policy. The family has been one of the largest donors to the Republican Party for several decades now, at the federal, state and local level, as is documented in this collection of articles. In addition to supporting the Republican Party and GOP candidates, they also contribute to organizations that are committed to influencing public policy. In West Michigan, the DeVos Family has been involved in the financing, planning and development of groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Acton Institute and the Right Place Inc. These groups all embrace the capitalist economic system and public policy decisions, which benefits and expands the power of those who make up these groups, including the DeVos Family.
What is ironic about the candidates and public policy that the DeVos Family endorses, is that those same policies end up negatively impacting communities of color, those who identify as LGBTQ, those experiencing poverty and immigrants. The irony is that the DeVos Family foundations end up contributing millions to West Michigan non-profits that provide services to the very same people who are negatively impacted by these neoliberal economic policies.
These are the kinds of themes that are explored in the DeVos Family Reader. In addition, we look at how the local news media has reported on the most powerful family in West Michigan, which has played a role in creating public misinformation. We also look at the strategic function of ArtPrize and what impact it has had on West Michigan. We argue that in many ways, ArtPrize functions has a great PR tool for the DeVos Family and its goals. In fact, such a belief was confirmed early on in the evolution of ArtPrize, when Sam Cummings, co-founder of CWD (of which the DeVos Family is part of) said, “Our long-term goal is really to import capital – intellectual capital, and ultimately real capital. And this (ArtPrize) is certainly an extraordinary tool.”
Lastly, we look at Betsy DeVos’ ascent to the White House as Secretary of Education in the section listed as Betsy DeVos Watch.
As I stated at the beginning of the introduction, I have spent years monitoring, investigating and critiquing the DeVos Family. This is an ongoing project and the DeVos Family Reader will continue to be updated. The contributions to the DeVos Family Reader have come from a variety of sources such as the Grand Rapids People’s History Project, an Indy newspaper from the 90s called The FUNdamentalist, Media Mouse and the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy.
Also, as stated before, I believe that in order to promote collective liberation and social justice for those most marginalized, we have to understand and resist the systems of power and oppression in this community. Looking into the history and practices of the DeVos Family, provides us with a clear example of how systems of power and oppression function in this community. I am deeply indebted to those who have been involved in this struggle and it is my hope that the DeVos Family Reader can be a useful tool in the ongoing struggle for justice.
Over 500 pages on the DeVos family are in our reader, which you can access at our Documents section, then clicking on DeVos Family Reader.
Follow the Money: Campaign Finance reports and notable West Michigan Campaign Contributors
The deadline for this quarter’s campaign finances were due on October 25th. As always, if you want to understand electoral politics you have to follow the money.
Campaign contributors, especially those with economic power, only contribute in order to gain access and often to get politicians to adopt policies that are beneficial to their interests. For example, at the federal level, the Oil & Gas industry has contributed just over $790 Million since 1990. This industry is not contributing just for the fun of it, they are expecting easy access to politicians, but more importantly, they want politicians to propose and pass legislation which will benefit their industry.
There are other reasons for campaign contributions. People sometimes contribute to a candidate for ideological reasons, or they contribute because they just want the opposing candidate to lose. However, the dominant reasons for contributions are access and to influence policy.
Michigan Governor’s Race
MLive recently reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had raised $3.1 Million in the last quarter. The article also noted that since Whitmer is facing a recall, the amount that individuals can contributed exceeds the normal limit. The largest contributor to Whitmer’s campaign this quarter was, “William Parfet, a businessman and heir to Upjohn Co. founder W.E. Upjohn, and retired Western Michigan University Professor Timothy Light, who each gave $50,000.”
There are several Republican candidates running for Governor, with James Craig raising the most during this quarter, at $1.4 Million. Some of the notable contributors to Craig’s campaign are Timothy Schowalter (CEO of Pioneer Construction) $14,300, former Michigan Governor John Engler $7,150, Michele Engler $7,150, Mark Murray (Engler administration, former President of GVSU and the Meijer Corporation) $7,150, and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure – Sam Cummings (CWD) $2,500, John Kennedy (Autocam) $1,039, and Michael Jandernoa (42 North Partners) $1,000.
28th Senate District
The 28th Senate District is on the ballot in November, since Peter MacGregor vacated the seat to run as Kent County Treasurer. Republican Mark Huizenga is the top candidate in fundraising, with over $60,000 from the Michigan Catholic Conference and thousands of dollars from several members of the DeVos family.
According to the most recent quarterly filings, Huizenga also received $5,000 from the Grand Rapids Fire Fighters Union. I sent the union a message on Monday asking why they had contributed $5,000 to Huizenga’s campaign, but have not received an answer as of this posting.
Huizenga’s Democratic challenger is Keith Courtade, who has only raised $450. It seems that the Democrats have already conceded this race, thus allowing the GOP to continue to control the Michigan legislature,.
Other notable contributions
The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, like all Chambers, have a long history of contributing to candidates. For this quarter, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has contributed to numerous state races, mostly GOP candidates, but one Democrat. The GR Chamber also contributed twice to a Kentwood City Commission candidate, Jessica Ann Tyson, who is the sister of Kent County Commissioner Monica Sparks.
Power Over or Power With: A Power Analysis of the top 200 most powerful business leaders in West Michigan, according to the Grand Rapids Business Journal
The Grand Rapids Business Journal recently released their list of The 200 Most Powerful business Leaders in West Michigan.
The brief editorial comment about this list (page 12) states:
But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you live in Grand Rapids? It’s a big country and there are plenty of great places to live. Yet, you chose West Michigan. Why? I suspect it has a lot to do with the 200 people profiled in this magazine, even if you don’t know them personally or even by name.
There are a few more quaint comments from the editor of the Grand Rapids Business Journal (GRBJ), Tim Gortsema, but he ends his comments by saying, “I would argue that these 200 people (and countless others just like them) are the reason you chose to live in West Michigan. In the end, living in West Michigan is more about the people than it is about cool things to see and do.”
Unfortunately, the GRBJ never provides a definition of what they mean by powerful, even though it is the title of the document, The 200 Most Powerful Business Leaders in West Michigan. There are certainly a lot of people on this list who have a great deal of economic, political and social power. This kind of power can be identified as having power over people, because of their wealth, businesses, influence in politics and other social dynamics. In fact, many of the people in the GRBJ list of 200 are either part of the first or second tier in the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
The most powerful people in Tier 1 are those who are millionaires or billionaires, such as members of the DeVos, Van Andel and Meijer families. In addition to their wealth, the make a great deal of their wealth off of those who work for their companies and institutions. Then there is the dynamic of these families and individuals who contributed a great deal of money to politicians and political candidates, with the goal of influencing public policies that benefit their economic and ideological position.
Another reason why these people are part of Tier 1 of the most powerful, has to do with the fact that many of them have their own foundations, which not only works to hide some of their wealth from being taxed, the foundations allow these powerful people to engage in population management. Foundation funding generally has strings attached, so that non-profits which apply for grants will not be able to use the funding dollars for addressing the root causes of social issues, but simply to manage the individuals who access specific non-profit resources. This dynamic is what social theorist and anti-racist organizer, Paul Kivel, refers to as non-profits acting as a buffer for those in power. One last dynamic that the Tier 1 most powerful engage in, is to sit on the boards of organizations to further influence social, economic and political outcomes. Some of the entities that Tier 1 people act as board members would be the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Right Place Inc., the Acton Institute, and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce.
Tier 2 members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure often work in leadership positions of the businesses or the organizations that Tier 1 people have created. Many of these people also sit on the boards, along with often acting as participants and cheerleaders for the kinds of policies and social outcomes that Tier 1 members will champion. Tier 2 members could also be identified as part of the managerial or professional class and generally have less wealth than those in Tier 1.
Tier 2 people also consist of local politicians, police chiefs and even some of the directors of non-profit organizations that are fundamentally not committed to social justice or challenging systems of power and oppression. Some of these people are Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, the police chief, the Kent County Sheriff, and non-profit leaders like Phil Weaver with Hope Network or Bridget Clark Whitney with Kids Food Basket.
There are a handful of people who could be considered powerful people, but in this case it is power with others and not power over others. Some examples might be George Bayard, the Executive Director of the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives, or Jazz McKinney, the Executive Director of the Grand Rapids Pride Center.
Most of the people identified as part of the 200 most powerful in West Michigan, according to the Grand Rapids Business Journal, are those that practice power over others. In fact, it would be my contention that the current wealth gap in this community is in large part due to most of those on this list of 200. Most of these people have tremendous wealth, while tens of thousands are living in poverty.
Most of the people on this list are the perpetrators of systemic racism in West Michigan, along with being the beneficiaries of systemic racism. Most of the people on this list of 200 are also responsible for much of the gentrification in Grand Rapids, the tremendous amount of food insecurity, and the general maintenance of business as usual in this community. In fact, most of the top 200 most powerful on this list are the primary obstacles to the ability of grassroots groups to achieve social justice in this community. This is why, in social movement work, we name what we did in this article, as a Power Analysis.
Betsy DeVos and her husband, Dick DeVos, have been at the forefront of the anti-public education movement for more than three decades. They both embraced the Heritage Foundation’s effort to undermine the public school system, which began during the Reagan years.
In 2000, Betsy DeVos led a campaign to put the issue of school vouchers on the ballot in Michigan. That ballot initiative failed, but DeVos did not give up. Betsy made the decision to diversify the kind of tactics that the so-called School Choice movement. These tactics included financially backing candidates at the state and federal level, candidates who would push for an anti-public education platform.
A second tactic employed by Betsy DeVos, was to attack public teacher unions. This involved putting out misinformation about public school educators, but it also meant that policies would be adopted that undermined teacher unions and hurt them financially, forcing school districts to diminish public school teacher benefits.
A third tactic used by the former US Education Secretary was to work with far right think tanks like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Acton Institute, and any other think tank that was a member of the State Policy Network. This tactic was useful in that this network of think tanks would craft position papers, engage in public misinformation campaigns and work to influence state legislators on public school policies. In addition, Betsy DeVos and other members of her family would make significant financial contributions to these think tanks, along with acting as members of the Board of Directors.
One last tactic that Betsy used, a tactic that began right after her 2000 School Voucher ballot initiative was defeated, was to create her own front group in Michigan, known as the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). GLEP became a primary mechanism to influence state legislators and to attack public education and public school teachers unions.GLEP has been instrumental in weakening public school districts across Michigan, with Detroit being one of the best examples.
In 2006, Dick DeVos ran for Governor of Michigan, which included a “school choice” platform. Dick DeVos lost that election, but ten years later, Betsy DeVos would land an even bigger political position, becoming the US Secretary of Education in the Trump administration. As Secretary of Education, DeVos used her position to continue to push for education policies that would further undermine public education and promote charter and other private or religious schools. One major policy initiative that Betsy DeVos pushed was Education Freedom Scholarships, which would allow public money to be used for private and religious education. The legislation that Michigan adopted last week, is essentially what Betsy DeVos intended with her Education Freedom Scholarships, which would allow individual states to determine the use of public money for private and religious education.
Michigan Legislators passes bills to further the DeVos education agenda
On Tuesday, MLive reported:
Senate Bills 687 and 688 and House Bill 5405 passed Tuesday morning through House and Senate education committees and were approved by the Senate 20-16 shortly after. The House voted 55-48 Tuesday afternoon on a separate, similar package.
Republican sponsors of the legislation say it would offer more flexibility and choices in education and would address disparities in educational options available to students.
These bills will allow for public money to be used for private and religious education. In laying out the tactics used by Betsy DeVos above, you can see how those tactics were utilized in the passage of these new bills last week.
First, the DeVos family and their friends have contributed millions to state legislators to make sure they will introduce and vote for legislation that undermines public education.
Second, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, was one of the main proponents of the education bills passed last week.
Third, the DeVos-created Great Lakes Education Project, on the same day as the anti-public education bills passed, posted a statement in support of these same bills.
Last year, after the November Election, we posted an article talking about why it is important to continue to monitor the activities of Betsy DeVos, even after she stepped down as Secretary of Education.
What happened in Lansing last week, with the adoption of these set of bills that will further erode public education, clearly demonstrates that the influence of Betsy DeVos and her vast network are just as effective as having her in the Trump cabinet. The question for all of us is, how do we further prevent this type of attack on public education in the future?
The Devil is in the Details: The Business of Grand Rapids is Business and Business Development……as long as the public pays for it
This is our latest installment of The Devil is in the Details, which takes a critical look at Grand Rapids politics and policies, based primarily on the public record, such as committee agendas and minutes.
In this installment we look at The Right Place Inc. and their push to get the City to provide more funding for development projects and Rockford Construction’s growing influence in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids;
As we have reported in the past, the Right Place Inc. is a major player in supporting the private sector, they have convinced City officials for years to turn over public dollars to support more and more business growth. The Right Place agenda to push for more business development with public money should come as no surprise, given the fact that the Right Place Inc’s Board of Directors is made up of members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
The presentation that the Right Place Inc made to the Economic Development Team on October 12 is a great example of how they are selling public/private development, ie. using public money for private benefit. On pages 6 – 12 of the Economic Development Agenda Packet, you can read all the rhetoric they use to win over public officials.
They use place-based vision and place-based strategy, especially since these are highly popular terms within the Neo-Liberal economic world. However, one should not be fooled by this kind of rhetoric, since it is fundamentally just another austerity measure imposed on the public, while the private sector reaps all the benefits.
Here is a sampling of this neoliberal word play from the Right Place Inc.:
1. Transformational Sites and Projects
- Provide comprehensive development support for projects and sites that have potential to be a positive catalyst for the local community.
- Real Estate Development Support: Solving real estate challenges related to: “revisioning” legacy sites and properties, financing, brownfield development, catalytic uses, community engagement, housing needs, partnerships, planning, etc.
District/Corridor Development Assistance: Drive the development and enhancement of traditional downtown districts and commercial corridors. - Public Art and Commercial/Industrial Design: Assist communities in the development enhancement of creative arts and public art projects.
2. Infrastructure
a. Support communities, businesses, and developers with innovative & collaborative project-based solutions related to: water, sewer, broadband, roads, rail, air, mobility, and trails.
3. Smart Sustainable Communities
a. Convene efforts to take on smart city-based initiatives such as: community based ai, sensors, green tech, smart mobility, etc., including possible collaborations with The Right Place Tech Council.
4. Community Growth Aspirational Strategies
a. Provide aspirational growth and planning assistance to communities such as: community visioning/planning, commercial/industrial development, infrastructure planning, leadership & capacity development, etc.
Now, this sort of language might seem inspiring, but what the Right Place Inc is essentially doing is to get the City of Grand Rapids to give up more public money for their little pet projects, projects which primarily benefit those who are already wealthy. Some of those pet projects that the Right Place Inc. has included in their presentation to the City are, the Kent County Sustainable Business Park, Grand River/Whitewater engagement, and Developer Day.
Our second example further demonstrates how Rockford Construction is leveraging their influence in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids, after they partnered with the DeVos family to buy up dozens of parcels of land.
The Grand Rapids Planning Commission Agenda Packet for October 14 (Pages 97 – 120) has information about Rockford Construction’s latest endeavor for having longterm control over development planning for the Madison Square area. The Planning Commission document refers to Rockford Construction as a “non-profit lending, real estate consulting, research, and community development firm.” Rockford Construction wants to re-develop space on Madison Avenue SE for a ground floor office.
The information included with Rockford Construction’s proposal has to do with the larger strategic plan for the Madison Square area, which is why the westside company wants a more permanent presence in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids. How much this decision to create an office on the Madison Square area and Rockford Construction’s role in the AmplifyGR projects, has yet to be determined, but people would be foolish to not pay attention to these developments. As we have noted previously, Rockford Construction has been working to insert themselves in the development of the part of town with the largest Black population since at least 2014. However, Rockford Construction, along with the DeVos family, only revealed that they had purchased dozens of parcels of land in the Southeast part of GR in 2017. What this new office satellite will mean is hard to determine at this point, but people would be wise to pay close attention to how this will impact that part of the City’s 3rd Ward.
The opportunity for the public to have input in who will be the next Chief of Police in Grand Rapids is about to close. In many ways, it was never really open.
The City of Grand Rapids has promoted four virtual meetings, with the last one happening tonight, October 19. I participated in one of these meetings, the one that the City hosted on Saturday, October 16, from 3 – 4:30pm.
There were 4 residents of Grand Rapids, one City staffer and the meeting was hosted by Gary Peterson. Peterson and his firm were hired to formalize the search for the next Grand Rapids Chief of Police. The firm that was hired to find the next Chief of Police, Public Sector Search & Consulting, is a California-based firm that specializes exclusively on “recruiting police executives.”
The meeting I listened in on was run by someone who is not from Grand Rapids, but was paid to do the search. The questions that were asked were basically, “what kind of qualities should the next Chief of Police Possess” and “what should the be the priorities of the next Chief of Police.”
However, the paid consultant began by telling those of us on the zoom call that his firm had conducted several stakeholder meetings, which included business, faith, mental health professionals, etc. These meetings were not publicly announced, so either the paid consulting firm, city staff, or both, made determinations about who would be invited to those meetings. In addition, the public will probably never know what was said during those meetings, nor the parameters of the conversation.
If you couldn’t make the virtual meetings, you could take an online survey as well. The online survey is brief and managed as well, with questions like what qualities are most important for the next Chief of Police, or a ranking of the top 5 areas of career experience. There were a few questions asked that allowed people to write responses, but even those questions are vague, and more importantly, to providing any real opportunities for people to have a much larger conversation about the function of policing in this community and how Black and Brown people have been the primary targets of GRPD harassment, intimidation and arrests.
Equally important is how the paid consulting firm is presenting what Grand Rapids is like, based on their own police chief search application. The 14 page document paints Grand Rapids as the ideal city, with great public/private partnerships and a great place to raise a family. The page on the GRPD has no language that is critical of the department nor any reference to recent examples of how the police target Black and Brown communities. Oh, and the document also presents Grand Rapids as a city that is vibrant and rich in culture.
So, it appears that Public Sector Search & Consulting is not only selling Grand Rapids to police chief candidates, they have done a fabulous job of managing how the public provides any input on the matter.
Radical democracy and real community engagement
As one can see, the whole process of looking for the next Chief of Police is really being done by people who are being paid to find the next top cop. The Who community engagement process was just another box to check off, so that it can be said that they provided many opportunities for public input, despite the input being highly managed.
It is sort of like voting in this county. You have no real choices, yet if you refuse to participate in the charade, you are belittled for not participating and often told that you have no right to complain or critique. In fact, Mr. Peterson, from Public Sector Search & Consulting, said pretty much the same thing in his opening comments of the virtual meeting I sat in on, in regards to the Police Chief search.
The larger problem is that those who have power do not really want the rest of us to have any say in the future. Those in power create the choices and the process, despite the fact they they are highly managed and do not allow for much larger and broader public engagement.
On the matter of the search for the next Chief of Police, the public is not afforded an opportunity to have ongoing, robust, unmanaged conversation about the history and function of policing in Grand Rapids. This has especially been the case since the 2020 uprising in Grand Rapids, where city officials and those with real power in this community have made it known that criticism of the GRPD is only mildly tolerated, but discussion about police funding, particularly defunding of the GRPD is completely unacceptable.
What would it even look like if the public demanded there be ongoing conversation and dialogue that not only encouraged a healthy critique of the GRPD, but allowed for and encouraged people to talk about how we can create public safety that doesn’t rely on heavily armed people who are trained to use force as the normal approach to conflict.
What would it look like if people were allowed to and encouraged to talk about things like:
- Is there concrete evidence that the GRPD prevents crime or solves crime?
- How does structural violence and structural racism impact people, especially since it is legal for institutions to practice structural racism and structural violence?
- What would real community safety look like?
- What if the necessary resources were available to people, would that eliminate the need for street level crime?
- What if the current police budget were re-imagined into meeting the real needs of people?
These are the necessary conversations that we all need to have. We need to stop allowing the systems of power and oppression to dictate how we have community engagement and how we practice participatory democracy.
The fact is, those with power in this city, particularly those with economic and political power, have already determined what they want in the next Chief of Police. They have been having this conversation for months and the process of community engagement is really nothing more than a distraction, a con, meant to make us feel like they care about what the public thinks.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 