AmplifyGR wants to use public money on property demolition for a new company that they are unwilling to even disclose the name of
On Tuesday, December 1st, MLive posted an article with the headline, Amplify GR seeking $2.2M in incentives to demolish vacant factory, construct office building.
The MLive story claims that the DeVos-created group, AmplifyGR, is asking the City of Grand Rapids to provide $2.2 million of public money for a demolition of a vacant building at 1601 Madison SE, which sits on a 10 acre lot.
The City’s Economic Development Team document for December 1st, pages 4 – 12, provide some additional details on the AmplifyGR-led project. The City document and the MLive article both mention that there would be the creation of 26 new jobs at an average wage of $21.57 per hour. This is somewhat misleading, especially since we don’t know what this company pays the administrators, office staff or data entry employees. The company could pay some people $30 an hour and other employees $11.00 an hour, which would make the average wage roughly $21 per hour.
The MLive article also states that 30% of the 26 new persons (7 employees) hired would have to be from the 49507 zip code. The boundaries for 49507 are Franklin to the north, 131 to the west, 28th street to the south and Sylvan to the east. Since AmplifyGR is only asking for 30% of the new people hired to be from that zip code, why not narrow the area down to the Boston Square neighborhood area, especially since it only means 7 new jobs?
Then there is the issue of anonymity, since the company that is proposing to purchase the property at 1601 Madison SE nor AmplifyGR is willing to reveal the name of the company. It would seem that knowing which company might be moving to the 1601 Madison SE location would be an absolutely necessary requirement before moving forward on this or any project. The City of Grand Rapids and the public has a fundamental right to know the name of this company. Transparency must be a priority, especially in this case, where they are asking for public funds to be used.
The next step in this proposal is for AmplifyGR to go before the city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on Dec. 9. The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has a board, which is made up primarily of people from the business community, which reflects a serious bias.
Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
Stanley Wisinski – Real Estate, Kristine Bersche – Natura Architectural Consulting, Guillermo Cisneros – Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Lynn Rabaut – retired, Troy Butler – Thacker Sleight, John VanFossen – Meijer Inc., Renee Williams – Huntington Bank, Kim McLaughlin – Wolverine Building Group and Joshua Verhulst – Tech Defenders.
If the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority votes to support AmplifyGR’s request for $2.2 million in public money for the for this project, it will then go to the City Commission for approval, which would not be until after the New Year.
Earlier this fall, the City of Grand Rapids voted to approve the 9-acre development proposal for the Boston Square neighborhood, which will also rely on public funding, specifically through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, for a housing development project. It’s instructive that AmplifyGR continues to ask for public money on their projects, especially since the DeVos-created entity, which is working in tandem with Rockford Construction, has already spent over $10 million to purchase properties in the Boston Square area. The question we should be asking is, why would the DeVos family and Rockford Construction, through their surrogate AmplifyGR, need to use public money, when they are both disgustingly wealthy?
What lessons can be learned from a message to Grand Rapids City Officials from a member of the Grand Rapids Power Structure?
People with wealth and privilege, which is to say white people, will do and say anything to make sure that their wealth an privilege is protected.
In an e-mail that was sent to Grand Rapids City officials on November 20th, an included in the agenda packet for the December 1st City Commission meetings, Sam Cummings, one of the partners in CWD Real Estate Investment, once again demonstrated just how much White Privilege he has.
What Sam Cummings, a members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, had to say to Grand Rapids City officials is so revealing, so we think it is best to reprint the entire e-mail.
Hello—
Let me get this straight—the City was offered $500k from the CARES Act $$ to supplement public safety and you said no? Have you taken a look at the violent crime increases recently? Have you taken a look at the imminent budget shortfalls coming our way?
As a tax payer and resident of this City, this is absolutely infuriating to me. And exactly, who does this rejection of resources benefit?
This is dereliction of duty, plain and simple. You people have no business representing this City and its residents if these are the kinds of decisions you are making.
We had a man shot dead in my neighborhood last week and my frightened wife asked me “why do we live in the City?” Frankly, I did not have a good answer for her—as we pay more for the privilege of being less safe—which is to say nothing of the lower level of services (snowplowing, street maintenance, etc). That is a sad state of affairs. You should strive for people to be happy with their investment in City income taxes—not angry and remorseful about it.
I am rapidly losing my passion for this City as high levels of disfunction such as this are exhibited. We have enough to do in maintaining our viability and those of our small businesses and tenants through this pandemic without having to babysit the stupidity of some of our elected officials.
Decisions have consequences—no one will blow a bugle and send out press releases as people choose to invest elsewhere or locate their homes and businesses elsewhere. There are examples of it in many other communities across the country. We have great momentum and a lot going for us here thanks to years and years of dedicated and relentless pursuit, but it is NOT assured—not by a long shot. To the contrary it is fragile. We have worked too hard for too long. DO NOT SCREW THIS UP.
GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER— and stand up to the vocal and ridiculous minority or—resign. Have a nice weekend.
Sam Cummings Managing Partner
CWD Real Estate Investment
50 Louis NW Suite 600 | Grand Rapids | Michigan 49503 cwdrealestate.com | Phone 616.726.1700
This communication is instructive on many levels and provides us with a clear example of the mindset of those with wealth and privilege.
First, Cummings berates the City Officials who turned down the Cares Act Funding that was offered by the Kent County Government, without understanding the reasons why some city commissioners voted against accepting the money. As we noted in an article on November 17, There was a lengthy conversation centered around the resolution, with questions about why there was ShotSpootter information included, along with how the money would be used and how quickly the CARES Act funds would need to be used.” In effect, City Commissioners who voted against the Care Act Funding resolution, were clearly paying attention to what many in the public were saying.
Second, Cummings then says that someone was shot dead in his neighborhood and that his wife wondered why they lived in the City. The member of the Grand Rapids Power Structure reveals how privileged he really is, since we all know that Cummings, at any moment, could afford to move an buy another home or condo. Most people who are impacted by gun violence do not have the luxury of mobility, that Sam Cummings does.
Third, this privilege white guy then says he last lost his passion for this city, which is really just a way of threatening city officials. Cummings has in no way is less passionate about the tremendous benefits he enjoys through his partnership with CWD, but how much the City of Grand Rapids has provided his company in tax breaks over the years.
Fourth, Cummings continues to threaten City officials with economic blackmail in the last paragraph of his little tantrum, saying that the business community will take their investment elsewhere if City officials don’t do what those with the real power in this city want. Cummings says, “ We have worked too hard for too long. DO NOT SCREW THIS UP.” When Cummings says we, he means those who really run the city, and when he implores City officials to not screw “this up,” he really means don’t mess with his wealth and privilege, or the wealth and privilege of the other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
Lastly, Cummings tells City officials to, “stand up to the vocal and ridiculous minority or—resign.” What Sam Cummings really means is for City Commissioners to not pay attention to what an organized public has to say. In addition, when someone like Cummings tells City officials to resign, he makes another threat, because we all know that he contributes to Grand Rapids political campaigns.
After the rebellion in Grand Rapids this summer, Sam Cummings also revealed his wealth and privilege, when he was quoted in the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
“The peaceful gatherings are a justified, honorable and rightful thing to have occur,” Cummings said. “Those things should be protected, but when they escalate to damaging small businesses — we got guys who have had their entire inventory wiped out — when they escalate to damaging other people’s property or their employees, it’s not acceptable.”
We call this the West Michigan Nice syndrome, where those with wealth and privilege are outraged when people don’t follow orders. The reality is that Sam Cummings in not just interested in protecting his wealth. We need to see who Sam Cummings really is, which is to say that he has been looting Grand Rapids for decades. Here are a few examples:
- Sam Cummings has been involved in the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, the Michigan Association of Realtors, currently sits on the Aquinas College Foundation Board, is a GVSU Foundation Trustee, was a Trustee at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, a former board member of The Right Place Inc and former Grand Rapids Art Museum Foundation Trustee. Cummings was also instrumental in the failed Grand Prix races in downtown GR back in 1996. The Grand Prix shut down the downtown for several days, cost the city a ton of money and disrupted the lives of people who lived in downtown at the time. In fact, Cummings drove one of the race cars, seeing Grand Rapids as his own little play ground.
- As we wrote in 2017, CWD was in the news last Thursday, after the Grand Rapids City Commission voted unanimously to approve $2.3 million in reimbursements through brownfield funding for a new hotel project. In addition, the Downtown Development Authority awarded CWD an additional $895,000 in tax abatements this past February.
- When ArtPrize was just beginning in 2009, Cummings had one of the more honest reflections on what the DeVos spectacle was really all about: “Our long-term goal is really to import capital – intellectual capital, and ultimately real capital. And this (ArtPrize) is certainly an extraordinary tool.”
We should all learn some valuable lessons from the message that Sam Cummings sent to City officials recently, lessons about what those with wealth and privilege really believe in and what they are willing to do to protect their wealth and privilege. GRIID says, thank you Sam Cummings for exposing all of us to the real you.
40th Anniversary of the Murder of 4 US Church Workers in El Salvador
It was 40 years ago today that the bodies of four US church workers – Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan – were exhumed from where the spot they were clandestinely buried the day they were murdered.
Ita, Maura and Dorothy were nuns in the Catholic Church and had been working in Central America for some time before they were killed. Jean Donovan was a successful accountant with Arthur Andersen, but in 1977 she decided to leave all that behind and work for justice through the lay religious order of Maryknoll.
The four women had been invited to work with internal refugees in El Salvador by the Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1979. They women became good friends of the bishop up until his assassination in March of 1980. The women were present at the funeral for Romero where Salvadoran soldiers opened fire on the crowd of mourners, killing roughly 30 people.
Jean Donovan wrote that things became more dangerous by the day and that friends of hers were being killed on a regular basis. When asked why she didn’t leave, Donovan said, “I almost could, except for the children, the poor, bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them? Whose heart could be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.”
On December 2nd, Jean and Dorothy drove to the Salvadoran airport to pick up Ita and Maura. After they left the airport they were pulled over by Salvadoran Security forces. The four women were murdered, the bodies taken to a clandestine location and buried. After the bodies were exhumed it was determined that the four women were raped before they were murdered.
This injustice took place at the end of the Carter administration, which did nothing to hold the Salvadoran government accountable. The incoming Reagan administration was quite friendly with the Salvadoran government and even suggested that the four women were responsible for their own deaths.
However, family members of the four women and former US Ambassador to El Salvador Robert White fought hard for an investigation and in 1984 five Salvadoran National Guardsmen were sentence to 30 years each for the murders. The Truth Commission findings in 1992 determined that the murders were planned and that the soldiers were following them from the airport.
As a young man I was inspired by the dedication and courage that these four women demonstrated in the face of repression. Their deaths and the murder of Archbishop Romero months earlier both played a major role in my decision to become involved in solidarity work in Central America in the 1980s.
The self-less love that the 4 women demonstrated is what led several of us to start the Koinonia House in Grand Rapids in 1984, on the 4th anniversary of their death and then to declare ourselves a sanctuary for Central American refugees in 1986. Two years later I went to Guatemala to work with Peace Brigades International (PBI) and follow the tradition of the four women in doing solidarity work with people who were being terrorized by US funded death squads.
The courage of Ita, Dorothy, Maura and Jean were part of what influenced my own work and the work and lives of countless other people. It is because of this that we honor their memory today.
Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and Jean Donovan…….Presente!
The video link below, is most of the film entitled Roses in December, a 1982 documentary about one of the women murdered, Jean Donovan, as well as a powerful indictment of U.S. foreign policy in Central America. When I was a seminary student at Aquinas College, we screened this film on campus.
West Michigan Far Right Watch for the week of November 20 – 28: Apologists for Enbridge, unsourced science, and those who still don’t concede the election results
Welcome to the next installment of West Michigan Far Right Watch, where we keep tabs on the far right in this area and provide a summary of what they are up to and what kind of messages they are promoting in this community. As a matter of clarification, when we say the Far Right, we mean those in the streets who fight to defend White Supremacy, those who promote far right ideology, an those with political and economic power.
We have three examples for this installment. First, is the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. While the Mackinac Center is base in Midland, they have strong ties to West Michigan, with millions in funding from the DeVos family an current Mackinac Center board members, Richard Haworth and J.C. Huizenga, both part of the local power structure.
The Mackinac Center posted an article on November 24, condemning Gov. Whitmer’s decision to shut down the Enbridge Line 5. The arguments are what one would expect from an organization that acts as an apologist for capitalism. It will be very interesting to see what happens with battle over Line 5 in the coming months an what impact it will have on Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel proposal.
Our second example for this week’s Far Right Watch, comes to us from the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP), the Betsy DeVos-created and funded entity, which seeks to undermine public education in Michigan. On November 23rd, GLEP posted a brief statement from their Executive director making claims that science-base research shows that schools are not a spreader of COVID.
First, the GLEP leader doesn’t provide any sourcing of this supposed science-based evidence, plus the other examples of creative solutions are all from Europe. It’s bad enough that they do not source their claims, but they fail to acknowledge that the US response to the COVID crisis has been uniquely disastrous and criminal, compared to what most of the rest of the world has one.
Our third, and last example, comes to us from the American Patriot Council, with their latest video featuring “founding father” Ryan Kelley making a speech on November 20th in front of the State Capitol in Lansing. Kelley’s speech is not only filled with slogans and buzz words, it is intellectually insulting and analytically embarrassing. The American Patriot Council still doesn’t accept the results of the election and dreams of 4 more years of Trump.
Armed Self-Defense, White Privilege and White Supremacy in West Michigan
“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, an it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.” Ida B. Wells
Nearly a month ago, I attended an action in Allendale, which was organized by Justice for Black Lives. I wrote a critique of the local news coverage of the action, which featured the American Patriot Council’s freedom march and a counter-demonstration by Justice for Black Lives.
MLive framed there coverage of the events that took place on October 24th, with the following headline, Lots of guns, but simultaneous West Michigan rallies by opposing groups stays peaceful.
This kind of simplistic coverage is not surprising, but it offers no serious look at the major difference between White Supremacists who carry guns and why Black and Indigenous people would bring weapons to a protest.
Likewise, some of the people involved in trying to get Ryan Kelley, co-founder of the American Patriot Movement, removed from his position on the Allendale Planning Commission, also took issue with Black and Indigenous people coming to the protest on October 24th, with arms.
I get that people, meaning white people, might feel uncomfortable with people they are protesting with, who are armed. However, white people have no credibility or moral authority to question whether Black or Indigenous people chose to defend themselves, even if that includes showing up at a protest with guns.
I understand how this might make white people uncomfortable, since I used to embrace a more dogmatic position when it comes to non-violence vs Self-Defense. However, once I started doing solidarity work in Mexico and Central America from 1988 – 2006, I came to see how groups in those countries that used non-violent tactics worked in conjunction with those who had chosen armed self-defense. The group COMADRES in El Salvador, which were essentially families and relatives of the disappeared, worked with the FMLN, the armed insurgent group. In Mexico, the EZLN, which took up arms in 1994, also had the support of millions from civil society and worked directly with groups that embraced non-violence. These are strategic choices that people make, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t work together.
For the rest of this article I want to provide some arguments for why white people should never tell Black and Indigenous people that they cannot engage in armed self-defense.
First, it is important to acknowledge that Black and Indigenous people have a long history of using armed self-defense, especially against state violence in the form of Settler Colonialism and White Supremacy. Do white people honestly think that it is morally superior for Black and Indigenous people to only use non-violence? Think about the tremendous amount of violence that Settler Colonialism and Genocide has brought to First Nations over the past 500 years. Those engaged in Settler Colonialism used brutal force, with guns, scalping, chemical and biological warfare, along with force relocation and forced removal of indigenous children with the dictum, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” Do white people actually think that Indigenous people did not have the right to defend themselves, their families and their homes from all of the heinous crimes the US government committed against them? Do you think that Indigenous people should have tried to reason with the like of Col. George Custer? The armed resistance against the US Calvary at the Battle of the Greasy Grass, also known as the Battle of Little Bighorn, was a direct result of the US government’s ongoing war against Native people during the period of what we were all taught in school was, The Indian Wars.
This same history is similar within the Black community, especially since the beginning of slavery in the US. Too often, especially amongst white people, we see the emancipation of those in slavery as coming about with the Civil War. However, as Carter Jackson points out in her book, Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence, the use of armed self-defense and self-liberation was very much a part of the abolitionist movement. However, even after chattel slavery was abolished, White Supremacy morphed into the Jim Crow era, state-sanctioned apartheid and systemic racism. After WWII, groups of Black men, many who had served in the US military, formed gun clubs for self-defense, the most famous groups were called Deacons for Defense (see The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and 
the Civil Rights Movement, by Lance Hill). The most well known Black armed self-defense group, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, also organized during the Civil Rights era, along with groups like RAM – Revolutionary Action Movement. The consensus amongst historians is that the non-violent groups benefited from the armed self-defense groups, since the power structure now saw the non-violent groups as more reasonable. In other words, the Black armed self-defense groups provided political space for the non-violent groups to accomplish more, since the threat of an armed uprising was now on the minds of the white power structure.
Second, armed self-defense by Black and Indigenous communities is based on their lived experience of how brutal the white power structure has been and can be. If your people were forced off their land, enslaved, your children forcibly removed, your people lynched and discriminated against in every facet of society, do you think that they could ever trust the white power structure?
Third, the Black and Indigenous armed self-defense group that was at the Allendale protest on October 24, were not only protecting themselves against the armed members of the American Patriot Council protest, they were also protecting themselves against the armed cops who were also at the protest. The reality is that Black and Indigenous people know all too well that law enforcement agents, from local police to the FBI, have a long history of murdering, arresting and detaining their community. The white armed participants in the American Patriot Council were probably the main concerns of the armed Black and Indigenous resisters, but the specter of law enforcement is always on their radar.
Fourth, the white people from Allendale, who raised objections to Black & Indigenous people coming to the October 24 protest with arms need to come to terms with the first 3 points raised here. In addition, were the white liberals from Allendale ever concerned or did they object to there always being armed members of local law enforcement at the October 24 protest or any of the previous protests against the Confederate statue in Allendale? I suspect not, which makes them hypocritical for not condemning the armed police and just the armed “militia” who have come to the aid of Ryan Kelley, since this conflict began last summer. Again, cops are more likely to shoot and kill Black and Indigenous people than are white “militia” types.
Of course it would be wonderful if no one came to protests with guns, but this is not the world we live in. The reality is that white people need to come to terms with the long history of state violence against Black and Indigenous people in the US, before they question or judge Black and Indigenous people for armed self-defense. White people, like myself, need to confront our own privilege and our own complicity in the larger systemic role that White Supremacy plays in this society. Lastly, white people have no grounds to ever tell Black and Indigenous people how they should protect themselves or how they show up to a public demonstration.
Settler Colonialism, Genocide and Indigenous Resistance: A Thanksgiving invitation for White People to Learn directly from First Nations people
Thanksgiving is going to be different for many of us this year. With the COVID pandemic, many of us will have smaller meals, with fewer family members, and lots of us will not be traveling to celebrate the holiday.
However, there is another reason that Thanksgiving is different this year. Ever since the national uprising in the aftermath of the public lynching of George Floyd, those of us who are white, have been forced to think about our privilege and the system of White Supremacy, a system which is at the root of this country’s history.
Black, Indigenous and other communities of color have not only been resisting against police/state violence, they have been attacking symbols of White Supremacy, by bringing down statues, by forcing sports teams to change their names, by forcing corporations to change their product brands and forcing white society to have to re-think our role in perpetuating White Supremacy.
Over the next few days, instead of just enjoying meals with family and friends, I invite White people to engage in some self-reflection and self-education about the history of Settler Colonialism, Genocide an Indigenous Resistance. All of the educational resources that are listed below, are educational and activist resources from indigenous people.
Books
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present, by War Churchill
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance, by Nick Estes
As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock, Dina Gilio-Whitaker
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, by Winona LaDuke
Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide, by George Tinker
Documentaries
Websites
Indigenous Environmental Network
Zines
Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex
Colonization and Decolonization
Stop saying this is a nation of immigrants
Grand Action 2.0 speaker provides update on new development vision for Grand Rapids: Whiteness, Grand Rapids as a destination and Disaster Capitalism
Over the past month, there has been more and more information coming forth about Grand Action 2.0 and their desire to build an amphitheater along the Grand River and Market Avenue SW.
In October, we reported on how some groups in the Grand Rapids Power Structure were planning to move forward with a proposal to build a large amphitheater in downtown Grand Rapids.
We also reported that the land in question for the proposed amphitheater, was owned by the DeVos family, specifically the old Charlie’s Crab restaurant and the adjacent land & parking area. One of the properties is owned by 63 Market Avenue Holdings LLC, which was not verified by local news sources, but 63 Market Avenue Holdings LLC is in the same address that houses the DeVos businesses and the various DeVos family foundations – 126 Ottawa Ave NW, Grand Rapids.
On November 10th, we reported on updated details about this proposal, which is even more insidious. During the Grand Rapids City Commission’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday morning, the City approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), whereby the Amway Hotel Corporation, 63 Market Avenue Holdings LLC, the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority and the City of Grand Rapids, have agreed to enter into a private-public agreement to build a 14,000 seat outdoor amphitheater. You can read the details of this agreement from our previous article on this topic, which means that the City of Grand Rapids will spend over $6 million to move offices they have on Market Avenue, just south of the off ramp of US 131, in order to make space for the proposed amphitheater.
On Monday, Grand Action 2.0 brought to town John Kaatz, who works for Conventions, Sports & Leisure International (CSL). Kaatz spoke at the Econ Club meeting, which are meetings that are primarily attended by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and the business & professional class from West Michigan.
Dick DeVos and Carol Van Andel, as key members of Grand Action 2.0, both made comments before the scheduled speaker. Grand Action initiated this whole process and Dick DeVos made it clear that Grand Action 2.0 and this current riverfront development conversation was really started in 2016, when they paid consultants to produce a study about expanding the tourism & entertainment industry in Grand Rapids and how to attract and retain talent, which is code for how does GR attract the professional and business class to the area……which is also code for White people.
John Kaatz (CSL) then appeared on screen and began to talk more about this new development process and which key stakeholders his company engaged. You can see from the image here, who CSL considers to be stakeholders, which is code for those with economic and political power. The list does not include the public, but as Kaatz said, “potential customers.”
Kaatz then laid out 3 main issues, based on what Grand Action 2.0 wants to see happen:
- Future investment and expansion opportunities that will help preserve and expand the competitive position of the DeVos Place Convention Center.
- Potential development of a new multi-purpose soccer stadium in Grand Rapids that will allow for a higher level professional play, as well as various other sport and entertainment activities.
- Potential development of a new large-scale amphitheater in Grand Rapids, partnered with numerous cultural, entertainment, adventure and other assets that can improve quality of life for regional residents and attract new visitors.
Addressing the first point, Katz said the convention center could add a TV production studio, food & beverage operations within the convention space, specifically for locally sourced products.
On the matter of the second point, developing a plan for a soccer stadium, Kaatz said they are looking at maybe using spaces like the downtown post office, Calder Plaza or other area spaces for expansion. Kaatz also said there would need to be an ownership group, someone to own the team, and that the USL – United Soccer League – is interested in Grand Rapids.
In regards to an Amphitheater, Kaatz could envision maybe 25 concerts a year, maybe picnic at the pops, plus booking other business events at the site. He also said the space should be a community gathering space, that doesn’t necessary need the Amphitheater for events like PRIDE or beer festivals.
Kaatz then talked about what else could go on the site, such as commercial development, which would put activities right on the water front. Kaatz made it clear that this whole development project will tie into the Whitewater project, which would include other activities, like an Urban water park, space to relax, for picnics and an outdoor adventure center.
The Econ Club event was then opened up to a Q&A portion that was facilitated by former Gov. Engler Press Secretary John Truscott. Actually, Truscott did not allow anyone to verbally ask questions and he controlled the content of the questions that were sent to him, often re-phrasing what was asked.
Tom Welch, from Fifth Third Bank and co-chair of Grand Action 2.0, also made it clear that this larger project would follow the public/private partnership, which really means that the private sector gets to be the primary beneficiary, with the public meaning local government, who will provide public dollars, without public input.
There were a few other questions that seemed rather inconsequential and than Dick DeVos wrapped up the comments by stating that, “this is the perfect time to develop ideas.” DeVos then said he saw COVID as a “hiatus.” This comment not only demonstrates that he gets to see the pandemic from a highly privileged position, while thousands contract the disease in Kent County and the death toll climbing daily. Dick DeVos then said he has his own term for COVID, but said he wouldn’t share what it is. As someone who has followed the DeVos family for decades, I would speculate that Dick DeVos sees the pandemic as a form of Disaster Capitalism, which means that the private sector will be able to capitalize on the harm an push things through that will benefit those with power, while the rest of us are just trying to survive.
Instead of giving public money to benefit the business class in Grand Rapids, how about we adopt the process of Participatory Budgeting
During the November 10th City Commission’s Committee of the Whole meeting, city officials agreed to use more public money to assist the retail industry, particularly those in downtown Grand Rapids.
What was decide on at the November 10th meeting, was that the City of Grand Rapids would provide $50,000 to go towards the salary of a Retail Specialist. You read that correctly, the City of Grand Rapids is contributing $50,000 towards the salary of someone who will be working with the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.
In addition, the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), will also be contributing $50,000 towards the Retail Specialist’s salary and the GR Chamber of Commerce will offer in kind services. Now, the DDA will also be using tax money that is collected by downtown businesses for this project. However, it must be noted that the DDA board members are not elected, they are appointed, with the public completely excluded from their decision making process, even though the DDA also uses public tax dollars. Here is a list of who sits on the DDA Board of Directors and who they represent:
Richard Winn (Amway Hotel Corporation), Jermale Eddie (Malamiah Juice Bar), Jen Schottke (ABC Western Michigan), Rosalynn Bliss (Mayor, Grand Rapids), Greg McNeilly (Windquest Group), Luis Avila (Varnum Law), Jim Talen (Kent County Commissioner), Kayem Dunn ( Consultant), and Diana Sieger (Grand Rapids Community Foundation).
This Retail Specialist that the City just approved funding for was actually created in October of 2019, when the City approved $100,000 to work in conjunction with the GR Chamber of Commerce. Thus, the City of Grand Rapids has contribute $150,000 over the past 12 months for a salary position that the public is excluded from, all for the benefit of retail businesses. If you include the $50,000 from the DDA, which is tax money, then we are looking at $200,000.
Of course, this who thing of the City using public money to bolster and improve the private business sector is not new. In recent years we have documented the following instances of public money that benefits the business class, with a few examples here:
- In 2011, a business called Levitation, asked the DDA to give them $5,000 to promote shopping in the downtown. The DDA responded by giving them $7,500.
- Millions in public money has been invested in the downtown market, despite the fact that most of what is sol their caters to the professional and business class.
- In 2016, the City of Grand Rapids gave the DeVos-owned entity SG Ecosystem Inc, $725,000 to promote more businesses in the city.
- In 2013, the City of Grand Rapids provided $317,000 in tax abatements to the RDV Corporation (yes, DeVos-owned) to turn the old Morton House into another downtown hotel.
- The City of Grand Rapids literally has provided tens of millions in tax breaks to private developers in the last decade, specifically for developers who are building in or near downtown Grand Rapids.
Now, called me old fashioned, but I thought that capitalists believed in no government interference, since the “market” would decide who can survive and who can’t. The reality is that there are lots of businesses that rely on tax breaks, public funding and public bailouts in order to survive, yet they get bailed out with public money all of the time.
Participatory Budgeting
The City of Grand Rapids also doesn’t do enough to inform the public that they are voting on giving money for retail specialists or any other forms of business subsidies. This is why we need to adopt a practice of participatory budgeting in Grand Rapids, whereby the public would have months to discuss and have input on how they want to see public tax money used in their community.
Imagine what a City budget would look like if the people really had a say in it. Imagine if people actually had a say in how much money can go to the GRPD. Imagine what residents would do if they had to decide on further subsidies and tax breaks to developers or to give money directly to residents to support their housing costs. Imagine what it might look like if the public had a direct say in how tax money was used and how that money could be applied for real needs in neighborhoods, for community-based projects an to support the most vulnerable in our city.
The great thing about participatory budgeting, which I have witnessed being practiced in Guatemala, is that it often leads to people demanding the democratization of more and more of society. If Grand Rapids residents were to demand Participatory Budgeting, it would be one important step towards democratizing the local economy and truly creating equity, which the City of Grand Rapids often claims to care about.
While Rep. Chatfield and Sen. Shirkey meet with Trump, we need to remember who bankrolled them
As I write this, Representative Lee Chatfield and Senator Mike Shirkey are meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington. Trump is continuing to delay his ouster from the White House in the aftermath of the November 3rd Election, even though it is pretty clear that Biden won the election.
An opinion piece in the magazine Politico, states the following:
The danger to democratic elections is well understood. The Constitution authorizes state legislatures to decide how states choose presidential electors. For more than a century, every state legislature has chosen to do so by popular election. According to one school of thought, though, a state legislature could choose to set aside a popular vote if it doesn’t like the result and choose different electors instead. This is a pretty undemocratic idea, as well as one that misreads the history of election law: the National Review recently described it as “completely insane.” (State legislatures have the power to change the system for choosing electors in future elections, but not to reject an already conducted election just because they don’t like the result.) Nonetheless, the president is pushing for it. By so far refusing to go along with Trump, Republican state legislators have been standing up for the idea that fair, democratic elections are more important than any individual president. If Shirkey and Chatfield are reconsidering that view, they are playing with the possibility of throwing out the results of a free and fair election. That’s not something that the system comes back from easily.
The Trump administration has demonstrated over the past 4 years that they have engage in illegal an corrupt executions of power. These crimes are well known and have been well documented.
However, in the case of Chatfield and Shirkey, we also need to begin to ask who else is responsible, even if this meeting is just for show? In other words, which organizations and which people are responsible for these men getting elected an staying in office?
Rep. Chatfield was first elected in 2012, an according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, the largest organizational campaign contributors have been the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan PAC.
Then there are individuals and families who have contributed handsomely. Among the names listed are the DeVos family, Peter Secchia and David Van Andel. Now, the DeVos family is listed as having contributed $67,500, but this is misleading, since the number one contributor to Rep. Chatfield is the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has contributed $250,000. The DeVos family, through the Amway Corporation, has contributed $1 million to the Republican State Leadership Committee since Chatfield was elected in 2012, and that doesn’t include contributions for the 2020 election cycle, based on OpenSecrets.org.
In looking at who have been the major contributors to Senator Mike Shirkey, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, we see two prominent members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure listed, with John Kennedy (CEO of Autocam) contributing $200,000 to Shirkey, and the DeVos family contributing $71,000.
So I ask, what responsibility to these groups and these people, like DeVos, Kennedy, Secchia and Van Andel, have in this situation? I would argue that they are complicit in the actions of Rep. Chatfield and Sen. Shirkey, because they were both bankrolled by the members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. In fact, I would argue that, unless DeVos, Kennedy and others denounce Chatfield and Shirkey for meeting with Trump, they are equally complicit and equally guilty of election fraud.
Betsy DeVos Watch: Schools as a Talent Pipeline for the Private Sector
Before Betsy DeVos is forced out of the federal government, she is not wasting what few weeks she has left sulking.
“Before the pandemic, there were more than seven million unfilled jobs in the United States waiting for workers with the right skills and a personalized education. And more than 80 percent of HR professionals report they’ve had difficulty finding qualified people for open positions. More than 4 in 5 say this,” said Secretary DeVos. “Employers can’t find enough qualified people to hire because there are too many disconnects between education and the economy, just as there are often too many disconnects between a child and the school they’re assigned to by government.”
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Career Technical and Adult Education, Scott Stump, also stated, “it is our hope that attendees heard and are ready to respond to the call to action to expand employment opportunities for youth as America emerges from the pandemic.”
This is not a new issue or theme for Betsy DeVos. Last year, at the annual US Mayor’s Conference, DeVos had a similar message an was soliciting help from US Mayors to create a Talent Pipeline from schools to the business sector.
Seeing students as workforce talent is dangerous. First, this kind of thinking commodifies students to be used by the private sector. The other reason why the notion of students as workforce talent is dangerous, is because it minimizes and detracts from students being able to develop critical thinking skills that can provide them with the ability to make important decisions an choices about what they want to do with their future.
The same kind of thinking is very much part of the West Michigan ethos, with groups like Talent 2025 and Believe 2 Become, which also produced a report in 2017 and organize a conference on workforce development, where local CEOs were pushing the notion that education was all about talent development for the private sector. Here are what some of the West Michigan CEOs had to say in the report:
For those who value public education, we need to pay attention to the business class and how they want to influence both higher education and K-12 school systems. We also need to resist the business class and their desire to see students as nothing more than profit making talent, a message that Betsy DeVos has been pushing for the past 4 decades.
