The Transformational 12: Expanding the play area of downtown Grand Rapids for the white business class and their friends
On Tuesday, the City Grand Rapids Economic Development Team will be presenting information on what they are calling the Transformational 12.
According to the Agenda Packet from the Economic Development Team (pages 20 – 24):
“The Transformational Twelve” investment list was compiled by Grand Rapids community partners including The Right Place, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI), the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, City management and other stakeholders. The partners engaged in a dialogue to identify shared priority projects that can be advocated jointly for state and federal funding opportunities in response to the unprecedented funding available for public improvements, including through the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA). Many of the transformational projects are aligned with priorities in the City’s Strategic Plan and Legislative Priorities Agenda.”
Of course the first question we should ask ourselves is, for whom will these 12 projects be transformational for? In reality, the Transformational 12 is a list of projects that will primarily benefit the area’s business class. In addition, the total estimated cost for the Transformational 12 projects is $1,994,500,000, which is nearly $2 Billion. Imagine how $2 Billion could be used to provide housing, health care or combat poverty in this community.
A second question that should always be asked, is why do the entities listed in the Agenda Packet get invited to the table to make these decisions? Why do The Right Place, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI) and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce get invited by the City on these critical economic development projects? These groups represent part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, which is responsible for maintain systems of oppression, such as White Supremacy. Subsequently, we should be asking why are groups like the Urban Core Collective, the NAACP, Movimiento Cosecha or Justice For Black Lives not being asked to give their input? The answer seems painfully obviously.
Third, it seems like the language used above suggests that some of the funding that will be used will be public money, since it states:
The partners engaged in a dialogue to identify shared priority projects that can be advocated jointly for state and federal funding opportunities in response to the unprecedented funding available for public improvements, including through the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA).
This means that public money from the federal and state governments will be used, and since the City of Grand Rapids is involved in the Transformational 12 projects, that means that tax money from Grand Rapids residents will be used. Therefore, if public money from the federal government, the state government and the City of Grand Rapids will be used, then is seems to this writer that the public should have a direct say in how public money is being used.
Here are the 12 Transformational projects that are being presented, with an estimated cost in millions of dollars, followed by some observations about the projects:
- Aquarium $200M+
- Grand River Greenway Initiative $500M
- Convention Center Expansion and Hotel $400M
- GRCC Public Safety Training Center $45M
- Countywide Affordable Housing $240M
- GRR Airport Control Tower Relocation $60M
- GVSU Blue Dot Digital Learning Lab $90M
- Outdoor Amphitheater $40M+
- Market Avenue Gateway $270M+
- Post Office Relocation $70M+
- MSU Innovation Center Campus Expansion $39.5M
- Soccer Stadium $40M+
Aquarium $200M+ – Is primarily a tourist attraction, since the accompanying test says that the aquarium would have a $100 million per year direct economic impact. This means that people visiting would stay in local hotels, eat in downtown restaurants, etc.
Grand River Greenway Initiative $500M – The text here states that it would turn the banks of the Grand River into “a major new destination for visitors to Michigan and drive local growth towards an increasingly more livable, equitable and prosperous West Michigan region.” In other words, more tourism. The text also states, “The Initiative will also significantly increase the amount of parks and recreational opportunity accessible to low-income populations, communities of color and youth in the region.” Of course the text doesn’t say how it will attract communities experiencing poverty or Black & Brown youth. GRIID has previously addressed this development project.
Convention Center Expansion and Hotel $400M – more money from tourism and to keep Grand Rapids “competitive.”
GRCC Public Safety Training Center $45M – Seems that the community college wants to get in on the game of creating future cops.
Countywide Affordable Housing $240M – The text that accompanies this project is instructive: “WHAT: Analysts currently estimate that within Kent County, the current Housing gap between demand and availability exceed 22,000 units. In addition, the rental demand versus availability exceeds 13,000 units. This initiative would begin to address those gaps through the implementation of a countywide housing strategy. WHY: The data shows that housing supply has not kept pace with our growth, creating significant upward pressure on housing costs. To attract the future talent this region needs to fuel its economic growth, readily available housing for that talent is critical.” There is no mention of affordable housing in the text, but they do use language around the need for more housing to attract “future talent”, but is code for the professional class.
GRR Airport Control Tower Relocation $60M – Expansion of the airport means we contribute more to climate change.
GVSU Blue Dot Digital Learning Lab $90M – This project is designed to further facilitate a Neo-Liberal economic model, by adapting to a post-pandemic world, with more interaction between students and the business class.
Outdoor Amphitheater $40M+ – This is a DeVos family-led project, which has already used taxpayer funds for upgrading the Market Street Corridor and relocating Grand Rapids Government offices, which we have written about.
Market Avenue Gateway $270M+ – Here the text states, “The goal is to create a catalytic vision that will improve quality of life for today’s Grand Rapidians and guide the next phase of downtown development for the next generation.” Really, it will improve the quality of life for people in GR?
Post Office Relocation $70M+ – Those with economic control in this community have been pushing for this for more than a decade. The reason is…….”The 3.6-acre property has been an optional location for several downtown project initiatives and remains a prime development opportunity in the heart of downtown.”
MSU Innovation Center Campus Expansion $39.5M – This project would, make “Grand Rapids the next Silicon Valley for healthcare innovation and research.”
Soccer Stadium $40M+ – “Given the size of the Grand Rapids market, and based on the feedback from league officials, the USLC classification represents the best fit to maximize Grand Rapids’ market potential.” Plus, who do you think would own the team???
Lastly, there is text which is on the first page of the document created for the Transformational 12 Project. The text reads:
These twelve transformational projects represent bold community and economic growth initiatives that will have a dramatic and lasting impact on the region. From transforming the Grand River corridor and developing world class entertainment venues, to investing in higher education and affordable housing, this list creates the unified momentum to accelerate the next chapter of West Michigan’s growth story.
We interpret this text to mean that it will continue to solidify and expand economic benefits to white business owners that are already incredibly wealthy, it will rely on lots of public funding with no real public input, and it will expand the play area of downtown Grand Rapids for the white business class and their friends. The Transformational 12 will have little impact for those that are economically exploited and those which suffer the most under a system of White Supremacy.
White Allies and Social Movements in Grand Rapids
“The risks of an ally who provides support or solidarity (usually on a temporary basis) in a fight are much different than that of an accomplice. When we fight back or forward, together, becoming complicit in a struggle towards liberation, we are accomplices.”
This observation was written by an Indigenous activist and is taken from a zine entitled, Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex.
Too often for those of use who carry lots of privilege – race, class, ability or citizenship status privilege – we fail to act or to stand in solidarity with those who are being targeted by systems of oppression. Or, if we do act, the tendency is to engage as white saviors, which ultimately makes it about us instead of the people we claim to be in solidarity with.
As white people, it is understandable that we often struggle with how to act or when to be involved in social movements, particularly movements that are led by Black, Indigenous, Latinx or other communities that are marginalized by systems of power and oppression. Good intentions aren’t enough, and what is worse is performative politics. Performative politics is often where those of us with privilege show up to struggles that are led by others, and we still make it about us. We take selfies and we post on social media platforms, as if to say, “see, I showed up. I took risks.” However, such self-congratulatory displays are not only hollow, they demonstrate that we are not centering those most affected by White Supremacy, patriarchy, ablism or class oppression.
In addition, those of us who claim to be allies too often don’t pay attention to what Black and Brown-led social movements are saying. For example, in the summer of 2020, when Black-led resistance to policing was happening all across the country, demanding that police departments be defunded, white allies too often would re-interpret the demand to defund the police. White allies would say, “it doesn’t mean we don’t want police, we just want them to be nicer, get better training or incorporate social workers into their plans.” However, if we actually were paying attention, we would know that the push to defund the police had emerged out of decades of a Black Freedom Struggle that was embracing an abolitionist framework. Ask yourself, how many white friends and white allies had actually read the Movement for Black Lives toolkit on Defunding the Police?
Another example of how White allies more often than not fail to practice real solidarity with Black and Brown-led movements, is how many of us have acted since the 2020 Election. Since the Trump Administration was defeated, there has been a sense that things are better in the country. This may be true for those of us who carry lots of privilege, but it is not the case for Black people, immigrants, queer and trans people and marginalized communities.
I have seen this dynamic happen since the 1980s, when I first became politically active. When Democrats are in the White House, the level of involvement by white allies often decreases. This was the case when the Clinton Administration came in to power, when the Obama administration came into power, and now the Biden Administration. White allies want to relax, because they think things are better now or they re-direct their energy to obsessing over things like the January 6th fiasco in Washington, DC.
What we often fail to recognize is that the condition of those most affected by systems of oppression have not improved in a meaningful way, regardless of who sits in the White House. Think about the fact that mass incarceration and the wealth gap grew dramatically during the Clinton years, leading to the anti-Globalization movement and the WTO action in Seattle. The Obama administration gave birth to the Occupy Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement, yet we have somehow convinced ourselves that the oppression these movements have confronted were primarily the fault of Republicans.
Black, Indigenous and other communities that are deeply affected by systems of oppression have disproportionately experienced even more harm since the beginning of the pandemic. This is definitely the case here in Grand Rapids, which is why the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network was created and that gives priority to Black, Indigenous and latinx families.
So, how can we show up for those most affected by systems of oppression? Again, I want to reference the indigenous zine mentioned above, which states:
Don’t wait around for anyone to proclaim you to be an accomplice, you certainly cannot proclaim it yourself. You just are or you are not. The lines of oppression are already drawn. Direct action is really the best and may be the only way to learn what it is to be an accomplice. We’re in a fight, so be ready for confrontation and consequence.
Part of being an accomplice is having mutually respectful relationships with oppressed communities. However, as the above comment makes clear, we must engage in direct action to demonstrate that we are an accomplice in the struggle for liberation.
Now Direct Action can take on many forms, but when it comes to being part of social movements that are led by Black and other marginalized communities, direct action is often determined by those movements and not just what those of us who are white are comfortable with. When Black people are being targeted by cops, we need to step up and do whatever is needed to reduced the ways that cops repress Black people. If immigrants are being harassed and live in constant fear of detention and deportation, then we need to engage in forms of direct action that minimize that kind of state-sponsored violence. Therefore, what white accomplices need to do is to leverage their privilege in service to the social movements that are being led by Black, Indigenous and other communities that are affected by systems of power and oppression.
In this community, there are numerous opportunities to be involved in solidarity work as accomplices. Those of us who identify as white can be part of Justice For Black Lives, Defund the GRPD, Movimiento Cosecha GR, GR Rapid Response to ICE, the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network and the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, as some examples. These groups, which are part of larger movements, when they are immigrant justice, housing justice or the abolition of police movements, will all tell you that the condition of Black people, immigrants, renters, workers, etc., has not improved because of the 2020 election outcome. These communities have not been able to relax, catch their breath or feel less oppressed, since last November. Being an accomplice in these movements requires those of us who are white to not only recognize that, but to participate in various forms of Direct Action that can chip away at the systems of power and oppression that plague the lives of Black, Indigenous, immigrant, queer, Trans, and other affected communities.
As the old movement song says, “which side are you on my people, which side are you on?” Are we on the freedom side or the side of oppressors? There is no middle ground.
My initial reaction on September 11, 2001: US Exceptionalism and the Legacy of the War on Terror – Part I
It was early in the morning, and I was already at work on September 11, 2001. At the time I worked at the Community Media Center (CMC) on Bridge Street in Grand Rapids. I was the Director of the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) and my office was located in the basement of the rectory of St. James Catholic Church, just west of the CMC.
I was coming from my office to the main office of the CMC, which had a TV mounted above the doorway in the lobby area. Several people had already been in the lobby and were looking up at the TV when I walked in. What we were all looking at was the damage to one of the Twin Towers in New York City. People were mostly silent, but at one point someone said, “what would cause people to do something so awful?”
At that time, I had already spent years doing human rights and accompaniment work in Guatemala, El Salvador and Chiapas, Mexico. I was well aware of the history of US Imperialism, and had seen first hand what US militarism was doing to people in Central America and Mexico. I also had been living in a community house called Koinonia, which was a Sanctuary for Central American political refugees in the 1980s. We chose ti become part of the Sanctuary Movement as a direct result of the brutal US-backed wars in that region, which caused thousands of people to flee US sponsored terrorism.
When someone had said, “what would cause people to do something so awful,” all I could think about what Malcolm X had said in 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated, that this was “chickens coming home to roost.” My understanding of what Malcolm X was saying and my own read of US foreign policy was, you can’t keep bombing other countries, occupying other countries, supporting dictators in other countries, training mercenaries in other countries, and NOT expect that some people will push back.
Native American scholar, Ward Churchill, wrote an essay at the time called, Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, which called out the long standing consequences of US Imperialism. Churchill later wrote a book entitled, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of US Imperial Arrogance and Criminality, which included the essay cited above. The rest of the book consists of two parts. The first part of the rest of the book provides a chronological look at US Militarism at home and abroad from 1776 – 2003. The last part of the book, which is the longest, is entitled, A Government of Laws? This chapter is a methodical and chronological account of US Obstructions, Subversions, Violations and Refusals of International Legality since World War II. Essentially, the final section of the book documents how many times the US violated international law.
For me, when I watched the planes crash into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, then heard comments like, why do they hate us, I was witnessing American Exceptionalism.
Now the days that followed September 11, 2001, we saw the US government and the US media practicing US Exceptionalism, without questioning or investigating the motives of those who flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. All we were hearing was, “They Hate America and what it stands for.”
Within days, there were already memorials being planned for the 3,000 people killed in the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. I kept looking for something that would go beyond candlelight vigils and begin to ask serious questions about US militarism abroad. Hell, even the organization in town that had a been questioning US foreign policy for more than 20 years at that time, the Institute for Global Education (IGE), was encouraging its members to go to the candlelight vigil, without organizing any sort of event or crafting a statement in response.
Thankfully, some people who were involved in the anti-Globalization Movement in Grand Rapids, were also wanting to do something that wasn’t just endless chanting of USA, USA. A group of us met and decided we would organize a teach-in, especially since the Bush Administration had already given the government of Afghanistan a deadline to turn over Osama Bin Laden or suffer the wrath of the US military.
The Grand Rapids People’s History Project has written about that Teach-In and all of the other anti-war activities that the group, People’s Alliance for Justice & Change, was engaged in to oppose the US bombing and occupation of Afghanistan. There were 150 people who showed up for the all-day Teach-In at Aquinas College in early October of 2001.
According to the National Priorities Project, the US has spent $21 Trillion on the War on Terror over the past 20 years. The National Priorities Project also has counters, which show the sobering reality of how much money the US is spending every second to fund the madness of the US War on Terror.
It is critically important that we not only question American Exceptionalism, but that we resist it, since the so-called US War on Terror has killed millions of people over the past 20 years. In Part II of US Exceptionalism and the Legacy of the War on Terror, we will look at the consequences of the US War on Terror here at home, especially with the USA Patriot Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
The GRPD once again demonstrates that they can wrongfully arrest Black people with impunity
I’m sure that most people have seen the viral video of the GRPD wrongfully arresting a Black man in the parking lot of a McDonalds a few days ago.
You can watch a 7 minute and 42 second video at this link, and learn that the Black man that the GRPD arrested was an employee of McDonalds who had been at the fast food restaurant for 2 hours prior to his arrest.
The GRPD was looking for a Black man who was the suspect in a robbery and said that the Black man they detained “fit the description.” However, if you listen to the video, the person who filmed the incident and several other kept telling the GRPD that this Black man had been at the McDonalds on Division, near Hall street, for the past 2 hours.
Despite the fact that several witnesses could vouch for the Black man, the GRPD ignored what they were being told. On top of that, there were several cops who had drawn their guns and were holding this Black man at gun point for several minutes before they put him in cuffs.
Even though this Black man was innocent, they still arrested him and took him to the Kent County jail, because this Black man did not “cooperate” with the GRPD and was “resisting arrest.”
The Grand Rapids Police Department released the following statement in the wake of the incident:
“GRPD responded to a call of a burglary in progress at a neighboring building. While checking the area officers observed a subject matching the suspect description. Contact was made and the subject was not cooperative, which resulted in his arrest. The investigation is ongoing. We understand that sometimes bystanders may be upset or concerned about a police contact, but that is not the time to engage or interfere with the officers. That could easily lead to someone getting hurt. GRPD officers will always listen to those who have information in order to ensure appropriate action is taken, but only once the scene is safe.”
This statement was released by the GRPD in order to justify their actions, in the same fashion as they did in May, when the GRPD arrest another Black man who “fit the description”, even though this Black man was on his way to the funeral of a family member. In that instance, the GRPD statement read:
“The GRPD continues to be dedicated to transparency and accountability regarding police operations, particularly when it comes to using force. When it is appropriate, and allowable under law, we are committed to providing full context to our encounters and answering the community’s questions and concerns.”
Ultimately, this means that the GRPD:
- Wrongfully arrested another Black man.
- Traumatized another Black man, and likely the people who witnessed what happened.
- Alienated those who witnessed what had happened, thus making a mockery of their claim to build trust in the community.
- Will hide behind what is allowable under the law, because the cops can do pretty much whatever they want with no real consequences.
- Act with impunity, since GR City officials continue to demonstrate that they believe that the GRPD is valuable entity in the city.
If you listen to the video, the Black person who filmed what happened made it very clear when they said, “the GRPD is racist…..and they don’t give a fuck about us.” This is an honest assessment and the most valuable lessen we all need to learn from this incident. Those of us who identify as white and claim to want to be an ally in the Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids should be following the pages of Justice For Black Lives and Defund the GRPD, educating ourselves, then taking action in ways that support these Black-led groups in Grand Rapids.
Serial Offender: NAACP Legal Defense Fund submits a brief against GRPD’s Captain VanderKooi for violating the rights of two Black teenagers….again
(Editors Note: While this post is primarily centered around the person of Capitan Curt VanderKooi, we do not subscribe to the one bad apple in the barrel theory. The GRPD, like all police departments, are designed to protect power and property, along with criminalizing Black and other communities of color.)
A few weeks ago, “the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and counsel Janey Lanier filed an amicus brief in the Michigan Supreme Court in support of Keyon Harrison and Denishio Johnson, two Black teenagers who, on separate occasions, were stopped, interrogated, searched, photographed, and fingerprinted by the Grand Rapids Police Department even though neither teen committed any offense. The case challenges the Grand Rapids Police Department’s official policy of taking photographs and collecting fingerprints of people who are stopped and lack identification, even if they are never charged with a crime, and then storing their information for future use is unconstitutional. The Department’s long-standing policy has been disproportionally used in interactions and field interrogations with the City’s Black residents.”
There are two GRPD officers named in the brief, Elliot Bargas and Captain VanderKooi. As some of our readers might remember, Captain VanderKooi was the GRPD liaison with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who in 2018, called ICE while he was off duty, because he saw Jilmar Ramos Gomez on TV while at Spectrum Health. The ACLU and MIRC released documents in February of 2019 pertaining to the ICE arrest of Jilmar Ramos Gomez, documents that demonstrated that VanderKooi was racially profiling Gomez because he looked “Latino”. VanderKooi even asked ICE to check his immigration status, even though it was already known that Jilmar Ramos Gomez was a US Marine and had been born in the US.
During a campaign to get Captain VanderKooi fired from his position in the GRPD, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE attended a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to demand that VanderKooi be removed. During that City Commission meeting, many people spoke during public comment about how VanderKooi had a history of racially profiling other immigrants in the community, as well as being involved in harassing and targeting Black youth.
With this new brief submitted by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which also names Captain VanderKooi, it further demonstrates that VanderKooi has repeatedly engaged in racially profiling as a GRPD officer. The City of Grand Rapids then reinstated VanderKooi in April of 2019 and the Grand Rapids Police Department chose to exonerate VanderKooi.
However, in May of 2019, the Civilian Appeals Board found VanderKooi guilty of racial profiling and voted to reverse the GRPD’s decision. VanderKooi ended up being suspended for only 2 days, even though that was less time than Jilmar Ramos Gomez spent in ICE custody after VanderKooi called the Department of Homeland Security agency on the former Marine. Despite VanderKooi only receiving a minor slap on the wrist, the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association found this unacceptable and released a statement in defense of VanderKooi in August of 2019, stating:
“The Grand Rapids Police Command Officer’s Association is shocked and dismayed at how the rights of Captain Curt VanderKooi, who has served the City of Grand Rapids for nearly 40 years with honor and integrity, could have his rights so blatantly violated in an effort to discipline him for the first time in his career. His due process rights, the GRPCOA collective bargaining agreement, along with state law were trampled on throughout the Citizen’s Appeal Board process and now by the final disposition issued by the City Manager. He, and many others in City Hall, were put on notice and advised of these violations in the form of our grievance which was originally filed May 23, 2019. We were forced to file this grievance after he was cleared of the most serious accusations following an unprecedented three iterations of the same investigation.
Captain VanderKooi was given a two day suspension, which has recently been served. The City Manager advised the GRPCOA that he was willing to uphold the original exoneration in exchange for his agreement to retire. This discipline was unwarranted and is clearly an attempt to appease a vocal group of activists who made him a scape goat for their own political gain. We will be amending the grievance to appeal this most recent decision by the City Manager. We are also awaiting a very copious FOIA request involving all the communication reference this investigation and those involved in it. Captain VanderKooi is pleased to announce he has decided to postpone his original retirement date in 2020 and looks forward to serving the citizens and crime victims in the City of Grand Rapids as Commander of the Investigations Unit for an additional year.”
Captain VanderKooi is once again the subject of a legal brief, which further demonstrates that he makes it a practice to racially profile residents in Grand Rapids. It will be interesting to see what the courts decide on this new amicus brief that was filed by the NAACP. However, to this writer, it seems pretty clear that the GRPD will do whatever is necessary to defend their officer’s actions and that Grand Rapids City officials are unwilling to hold cops like Captain VanderKooi accountable.
GRIID – In late July, you submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the City of Grand Rapids regarding their newly announced program called Clergy on Patrol. What was your motivation for submitting such a request?
MACRA: John F. Kennedy wrote, “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” and we could not agree more. Government religion is antithetical to freedom of conscience and to freedom in general. Just look wherever religion is in power, theocracies like Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, or where religion has undue influence on laws, in places like Ireland and the United States. The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) Clergy on Patrol program is likely unconstitutional and MACRA aims to find out by reviewing communications between GRPD and clergy invited to participate. For example, were all locally represented religions invited to participate? Were Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, Satanists, Humanists, and atheists or agnostics invited and/or given equal opportunity to participate?
GRIID – What exactly did you [specify] in the FOIA request?
MACRA: The exact language of our FOIA request is as follows: Any and all written communications, including, but not limited to letters, text, social media messages, and/or email, including any enclosures, attachments, etc., to or from, by or between, the City of Grand Rapids, the City of Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD), and/or any other department thereof, including, but not limited to, the GRPD Chaplaincy, or any other representative, agent, officer, or employee of the City of Grand Rapids, and/or the City of Grand Rapids Police Department, and any clergy, priest, nun, pastor, minister, chaplain, rabbi, imam, shaman, witch doctor, palm reader, and/or psychic, and/or any church, synagogue, mosque, temple, coven, or other religious sect and/or cult, institution, and/or organization, and/or any representative, agent, and/or employee thereof, and/or any other person, and/or organization with respect to the City of Grand Rapids Police Department’s “Clergy on Patrol” program from January 1, through July 30, 2021.
GRIID – You received a response from the GRPD on August 6. What was the content of their response? And did they alter the language of your request?
MACRA: In its response, GRPD informed MACRA the department would require an extra 10 days (allowed under the FOIA) to respond. GRPD improperly and unlawfully edited the language of our request to read as follows: Any and all written communications, text, social media messages, emails including all attachments, to or from, by or between the City of Grand Rapids, GRPD and any other department and any member/associate or relation to Clergy on Patrol from January 1, 2021 to July 30, 2021. GRPD provided no explanation for editing our specific language, which was admittedly written to be both specific and to ‘poke the bear.’
GRIID – Two weeks later the GRPD sent you the cost of the documents, but they also said they said there would be costs for redacting the documents. Why would they redact information regarding the Clergy on Patrol docs requested?
MACRA: In its response, GRPD estimated 2 hours for labor, to “search, locate, and examine” the documents, which is fair, but then estimated a full 5 hours for “redaction”, and 3.5 hours for “duplication,” for a total estimate of 10.5 hours. GRPD also said it would take 2-3 months to fulfill the request. How does 10.5 hours become 2-3 months? Because there can be no substantive redaction of communications with the public, including clergy, the estimate of 5 hours for redaction is excessive on its face. We believe GRPD has attempted to use excessive charges, the threat of redaction, and inordinate delay to dissuade members of the public from pursuing disclosure of documents relating to the controversial Clergy on Patrol program.
GRIID – You also decided to appeal the costs, since they were substantial. What was the GRPD’s response to that?
MACRA: GRPD estimated it would cost $333.85 to locate, redact, and duplicate the documents requested, with a 50% deposit required prior to fulfillment, and the balance due before disclosure. Therefore MACRA filed an appeal to City Manager Mark Washington. To their credit, the Grand Rapids City Commission’s Committee on FOIA Appeal scheduled a timely hearing for September 2 at 9:00 AM at City Hall. An attorney representing the City and GRPD then filed a 5-page response that was virtually devoid of legal substance, citing no specific laws to justify the improper editing, threatened redactions, excessive costs, and inordinate delay (2-3 months) to disclose the documents. To their response, MACRA filed a detailed opposition memo on the eve of the hearing.
GRIID – The City then scheduled a meeting to hear your appeal on September 2nd. What happened during that meeting?
MACRA: The City’s Committee on FOIA Appeal denied our appeal after less than 5 minutes deliberation, but the Commissioners did question GRPD about editing the language of our request and instructed the department to respond to our specific request, not their improperly edited version. We argued that any redaction would violate open records laws. MACRA informed GRPD at the hearing that it must respond with all the requested non-exempt documents within 10 days, as the law requires, and promised to appeal to the Circuit Court if any communications with clergy are redacted in any way whatsoever.
GRIID – What do you plan to do moving forward?
MACRA: Going forward MACRA will file additional FOIA requests and pursue a thorough investigation of GRPD’s Clergy on Patrol program, from its inception through implementation, and publicly share all of the documents and records uncovered. We ask members of the public who may encounter or interact with police and clergy on the streets or in their homes or businesses, to contact MACRA at macrainfo@gmail.com or send private message to our @gomacra Facebook page.
GRIID – Why is the issue of transparency so important in this case and what do you think is motivating their failure to be completely transparent with the Clergy on Patrol program?
MACRA: The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is one of the most power tools the public is granted by law to audit government activities. Anyone can use this law to force the government, including police departments, to be open and transparent in publicly funded programs. Although, as this case illustrates, government may not appreciate it when members of the public exercises their rights in this way. We encourage every person to read Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s FOIA Handbook, available online at https://www.michigan.gov/documents/ag/FOIA_Handbook_2019_644053_7.pdf, and to use the FOIA whenever necessary or desired.
As to what is motivating GRPD to employ excessive charges, redaction, and delay, in responding to our request to review communications with clergy, we believe the writing is on the wall—they know the “Clergy on Patrol” will not withstand public scrutiny and exposure. The First Amendment does not permit favoritism or preference for one religion over others or for religion generally over non-religion, nor excessive entanglement with religion. How does the program even function on the streets of Grand Rapids? What are the rules for clergy on these “ride alongs” with police? Clergy are not trained social workers or counselors. Each time police deliver a preacher to a traffic stop, emergency call, or crime scene, the constitutional rights of all involved are violated.
As we approach the Labor Day weekend, some will certainly be reflecting on the status of workers in the US. There will be Labor Day parades and other events to celebrate the role of the working class in this country, but how much of that celebration or reflection will take a hard look at how the system of Capitalism impacts those who sell their labor?
We all know that during the pandemic, that the Billionaire Class has continued to amass a tremendous amount of wealth, while millions of workers are unemployed, underemployed or work for less than a living wage.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about how much Doug & Hank Meijer’s wealth has grown since the beginning of the pandemic. In fact, within the past 4 months alone, Doug & Hank Meijer’s wealth has increased by $900 million. During the same time, the retailing giant continues to pay workers in their stores an average $11 an hour.
This massive wealth gap between CEOs and workers is continuing to grow across the US. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute, documents that CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,322% since 1978, and that the average CEO makes 351 times more than the average worker.
The AFL-CIO has also come out with their annual CEO to workers pay ration data for 2020, which is rather sobering. The company that has the highest CEO to worker pay ration in the US is the Abercrombie & Fitch Co., where the CEO makes 6,565 times more than the average worker. You can investigate the data they have compiled for hundreds of US-based corporations and see that the disparity between CEO and worker pay is rampant.
You can also search by state, so we looked at some of the most glaring examples of CEO/Worker pay ratios in a state that has historically had a fairly strong organized labor movement.
According to the AFL-CIO data, some of the companies in Michigan that have the largest gap between CEO and worker pay are:
Lear Corporation 1,627:1
Whirlpool Corporation 772:1
Sun Communities Inc. 572:1
Other household company names are:
Dominos Pizza 285:1
Kellogg Company 279:1
Ford Motor Company 202:1
General Motors Company 201:1
Stryker Corporation 181:1
Wolverine World Wide Inc. 160:1
Dow Inc. 141:1
Steelcase Inc. 131:1
Herman Miller 88:1
CMS Energy Corporation 72:1
DTE Energy Company 67:1
SpartanNash Company 58:1
The CEO to worker pay ratio exposes one of the many flaws within the Capitalist system. This huge disparity between CEOs and worker pay will not change, no matter who we elect to office. If workers really want to demand better wages, livable wages, then they need to do what they have done for nearly 200 years, they need to organize in their workplace and use whatever tactics necessary to achieve those demands.
Kent County: A great place to start a business and raise your family…..if you’re white
Last week, while several hundred people who oppose a mask mandate issue by the local Health Department addressed Kent County Commissioners, I went on the County’s site to look for some information.
While looking for information about the Commission meeting, I came across what you see here below, which is a screen shot that appears at the bottom of the Kent County Government site. This is how those at the Kent County government level want us to see the county, through these numbers and the organizations included here. Let’s take a critical look at this information and deconstruct it, since this is not the lived experience of thousands of people who live in this county.
So, there are seven ways that the county wants us to see them, and thus, the residents of this area. First, they present a Triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poors Global and from Moody’s Investor Services. Both entities are integral parts of the larger capitalist/investor sector, providing ratings on how financially sound an entity is. The metrics they use are biased in favor of what the capitalist/investor sector holds dear. Think of it like the GPD, the Gross Domestic Product, which is how countries often measure themselves. However, such measurements often do not take into account the quality of life for communities.
The Kent County government might be considered fiscally sound, but how do we measure that in terms of the quality of life for the residents in Kent County? The county has a reserve of funds and has for years, so why is that money not invested in the most marginalized families in the county? For example, if we look at a report released in March of 2021, the Kent County Community Health Needs Assessment, we see a much different picture of the quality of life for people in this county. One major statistic from the report, focusing on economic security stands in sharp contrast to the Triple-A credit rating. The economic security statistic found in the report states, “1 in 4 people were unable to pay for housing, utilities, food or medical care in the past year.” This is a sobering contrast to how the County values fiscal security.
The second selling point from Kent County is that this county is “ranked #1 metro area to raise a family out of 100 largest metros, according to Forbes. Again, what are the metrics being used to measure this reality? More importantly, the question should be which families are more likely to have a good quality of life in Kent County? Again, the Kent County Community Health Needs Assessment report can provide us with some useful comparisons. For white people, the unemployment rate is 3.5%, whereas for African Americans the number is 11.1%, more than 3 times higher. Another instructive statistic shows that the median household income for white families is $67,324, but for African Americans that number drops to $35,203. Kent County might be ranked #1 for white people to raise a family, but this is not the case for Black, Indigenous and other communities of color.
The third point that the County’s website brags about states, “Ranked #3 in Leading Locations Report,” from the Area Development Magazine. This designation has to do with best markets to do business in, as well as development projects. Kent County, and Grand Rapids in particular, have excelled in the going business and development arenas, since owning a business in this community as sacrosanct.
Here, we could compare this ranking with housing in the community. Once again, the Kent County Community Health Needs Assessment report released earlier this year can provide us with some important information. The report identifies the following 4 points of input from the community:
- Gentrification of Grand Rapids neighborhoods
- Increasing rent prices
- Rental process is burdensome, competitive, and expensive when having to apply for multiple rental units
- Racial inequities in home ownership
An additional piece of data from the report states:
“In Kent County, non-Hispanic Whites make up 87.3% of all homeowners and 73.8% of the population. In Grand Rapids, this gap is even larger, despite a higher proportion of non-White homeowners in the city (21.6%), 78.4% of homeowners are non-Hispanic White compared to just 59.0% of the population.”
Once again, the ranking is only a benefit to certain sectors of those who live in Kent County.
The fourth point listed on the county’s site says, “2nd Best large city to start a business.” Again, the question should be asked if this is the case for everyone, or primarily for white people. We all know about the report from 2015, where Grand Rapids is the second worst city for African Americans economically, which also applied to Black businesses. There have been efforts to change that dynamic, in terms of Black people starting new businesses, but this has been slow going, especially with the onset of COVID in March of 2020. In some ways, it seems like this fourth ranking is especially insulting, since there isn’t much evidence that Black-run businesses are on the rise in a substantial way. One last point about the socio-economic condition of Black people in Kent County, is that according to the 2020 Census, Black people comprise 9.2% of the population, yet roughly 30% of those in the Kent County Jail are Black.
The bottom row, which includes three additional points that Kent County wants to celebrate, are instructive on a different level. None of the three points are about ranking, but they do make certain claims.
The fifth point says that Kent County is “A Great Place to Work.” This point includes as a sub-heading, which says, “Work where diversity, equity and inclusion matter.” I personally detest such phrases, but the point here is that there are literally thousands of people who work in Kent County who would disagree with such a statement. There are thousands of people who make minimum wage in Kent County, and thousands more who work for even less, especially wait staff and agricultural workers, where minimum wages laws don’t apply. Here the Kent County Community Health Needs Assessment report states that 20% of white people could not afford to pay for housing, utilities, food or medical care over the past year. When we look at African Americans the number rises to 41% and 47% for Latinos. Again, for whom is Kent County a great place to work?
The last two points made are just promotional statement for two organizations. Under the heading of, A Great Place for Business, it lists The Right Place Inc., which we identify as part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. GRIID has also written numerous articles that have been critical of the practices of The Right Place Inc, which are numerous. In addition, it is instructive that the plug for The Right Place Inc, means that four out of seven of the points that Kent County wants to celebrate, are centered around business.
The last point has the heading, A Great Place to Play, with a link to Experience Grand Rapids. Now, a great deal of what Experience posts for play are things that cost money and disproportionately bring people to downtown Grand Rapids, which again leaves lots of people out of the equation.
So, while we are all focused on the anti-mask contingent who are hell-bent on putting us all at risk of COVID exposure, the government of Kent County quietly promotes this area as pro-business, along with a thinly veiled notion that this community is a great place to raise a family……if you are white.
West Michigan Foundation Watch: Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation – Practicing the politics of White Saviorism
To date, we have looked at the 990 documents for local foundations in 2021 for the Prince Family, the Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation, the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, the Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation. the Cheri DeVos Foundation, also known as the CDV5 Foundation. Today, we want to look at the Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation.
The Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation may seem out of place, as they are not a household name, at least not the way that the DeVos family is. However, we are including them in this list, since Jerry Tubergen is an integral part of the DeVos family empire.
Jerry Tubergen is the CEO of one of the largest components of the DeVos empire, the RDV Corporation. In addition to being the CEO of RDV Corporation, Jerry Tubergen is listed as a trustee for every DeVos family foundation, according to the 990 reports that you can find on GuideStar.org Thus Jerry Tubergen is a trustee of the Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, the Dan & Pamela DeVos Foundation, the Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation and the Cheri DeVos Foundation – known as the CDV5 Foundation. Lastly, Tubergen is the CEO of Ottawa Private Capital LLC, an entity which manages all of the DeVos family investments.
As you can see, Jerry Tubergen is deeply embedded in the DeVos family empire. Therefore, it is worth looking at the foundation that is named after him and his wife.
The Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation is not as large as the various DeVos family foundations, but the foundation’s assets are listed at just over $18 million. According to the most recent 990 document (2019) for the Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation, this foundation contributed $3,784,970.
So where does an integral part of the DeVos empire chose to contribute part of the money he makes managing the wealth of the wealthiest family in West Michigan?
A review of the 990 records (2019) for the Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation, clearly shows that they contributed to a lot of Christian organizations, particularly the kind that engage in White Savior politics and can be classified as part of the Religious Right. When we say White Saviorism, we mean White centered organizations that are making decisions about how to help communities of color, without 1) asking those communities what they want, and 2) without addressing the root causes of poverty or the structural racism that plagues these communities.
Here are some of those Christian groups they contribute to, along with the amount they contributed in 2019.
Ada Bible Church $20,000
Alpha USA $33,000
Cornerstone University $205.000
Cure International Inc. $2,500,000
God’s World Publications, Inc. $5,000
Guiding Light Mission Inc. $5,000
Hope International $10,000
Mel Trotter Ministries $25,000
Moriah Ministries $15,000
Museum of the Bible Inc. $100,000
North Coast Christian Ministries Inc $10,000
Open Doors With Brother Andrew Inc. $125,000
Potters House $30,000
Pregnancy Resource Center $15,000
Relational Concepts, Inc. $25,000
Right to Life Educational Fund $5,000
That Day $61,000
The Cause Inc. $57,500
Truth for Life $20,000
As you can see, the majority of the organizations that the Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation have contributed to fall under the categories of Conservative Christian groups and those that practice White Saviorism, with the largest contribution going to Cure International Inc – $2,500,000.
While there might not appear to be anything unusual about where the Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation directs their contributions, it is important to think about one glaring fact. The person who manages all of the DeVos family investments, Jerry Tubergen, makes it a point to direct the bulk of the contributions from his foundation to Conservative Christian organizations, many of which practice White Saviorism.
Update on Grand Rapids Participatory Budgeting Project: Will marginalized voices really be at the table?
In early June, the City of Grand Rapids had announced that it would be engaging in a Participatory Budgeting Pilot Project. We wrote about the announcement at that time and expressed some skepticism of what the experiment would result in.
We expressed four reasons for skepticism, such as 1) pre-determined parameters for how the money could be spent, 2) the creation of steering committees for each of the three city wards, 3) a timeline that was too short, and 4) limiting the amount of influence the public can have on determining how the City’s annual budget will be spent.
On Tuesday, during the Committee of the Whole meeting, the city staffer who has been overseeing the Participatory Budgeting Pilot Project, provided an update. One glaring thing that was evident, is that the original timeline was way off target. The initial timeline had the public input and vote to be completed by August 29. As of the Tuesday’s presentation, the steering committees had only been able to complete some goals for the outcome of the project.
As was acknowledged in the original document from June, other cities had allotted 9 – 12 months for the process, but Grand Rapids was still committed to a shorter timeline. Their new timeline projects that there would be public engagement in September and October, which begins in less than a week and there are no planned dates as of yet. There would be a public voting process, but as of right now, there is no timeline set for when that will happen.
Those who have agreed to be on the three steering committees are somewhat representative of the community, but there are people who are too connected to power that are involved. One example is Kristian Grant, who is the President of the Grand Rapids School Board. What many other Participatory Budgeting Projects have found is that it is critical to have people who are normally not at the table, play a much larger role than just attending the public input meetings. In fact, one of the goals that the steering committee members came up with was, “to amplify marginalized voices,” which voices who are not already in positions of influence.
In addition, the steering committees have come up with a vision statement, which reads:
Our work will be guided by the value of equity, with an intentional and transparent process designed to include marginalized voices, people with lived experience, and diverse groups. This process will be structured to remove barriers and build community capacity.
Such a statement sounds good, but it is another thing to make sure that such a vision is implemented. For instance, how will the City engage people to be part of the process? How will people who are marginalized have the time to participate in such a project. To her credit, Commissioner Ysasi did say during the discussion at Tuesday’s meeting that paying people to participate is a good faith demonstration that you want marginalized voices to participate. One could go further by saying that the City would not just pay people to participate, but provide free transportation, child care and food for those who are able to attend. Of course, community engagement should always practice full accessibility, which includes physical accessibility, thinking about the process being multi-lingual, and lots of options for people to attend and participate that provide people with lots of opportunity to be involved.
In contrast, during the Tuesday morning Committee of the Whole meeting, 3rd Ward Commissioner Moody stated that he wanted to have a larger role in the process. Having those with power have a larger role is a fundamental violation of the Participatory Budgeting Process, which leads me to think that some of the Commissioners do not fully understand what Participatory Budgeting really looks like. You can watch the Participatory Budgeting update during the Committee of the Whole meeting, which begins at 2:35:40 into the meeting.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 