Last week, in an event hosted by GR Rapid Response to ICE, I presented on the history of US Immigration Policy at Fountain Street Church to about 40 people. One person who attended provided this feedback:
This is an invaluable history of US immigration policy from the founding of the nation to the current Trump administration’s attack on immigrants. Jeff Smith begins with a picture of children in cages and raises the issue of whether this is unprecedented in our history. Sadly it is not, when we consider the legacy of family separation during slavery and the forced removal of Native American children to boarding schools. Jeff discusses the many reasons that people come to this country, from employers who recruit workers, encouraging them to build lives here only to get rid of them during economic downturns, to the forces of poverty, violence and climate instability that drive people from their countries. Included are many helpful book and film titles for those who want to learn more. This presentation powerfully conveys how decisions made at the highest levels of our government affect families and communities.
The Trump administration’s threat to engage in mass deportation is the first time a US President has threatened to deport all undocumented people. If we are going to resist the threat of mass deportation, it is important that we understand that deportation has been a long standing strategy used by numerous US administrations for more than 100 years.
The US engaged in deportation as a policy and strategy beginning with the 1875 Page Act, followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The Page Act prevented Chinese women from coming to the US and the Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese laborers for 10 years and establishing grounds for deportation of any Chinese person found unlawfully in the US. During 1885 and 1886, at least 168 communities carried out Chinese expulsion and self-deportation campaigns These campaigns resulted in the destruction of Chinese businesses, homes and several massacres.
In 1919 and 1920, the US government arrested 6000 people, mostly socialists anarchists and communists that opposed the US involvement in WWI, along with their involvement in radical labor organizing. These arrests were carried about by US Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, who also deported 556 of the leftists leaders, in what are known as the Palmer Raids.
After the Great Depression hit the US in 1929, there were between 500,000 and 2 million Mexicans that were forced to self-deport, because of all the anti-Mexican sentiment during the early 1930s.
In 1954, the Eisenhower Administration conducted what they called “Operation Wetback”, which resulted in the deportation of 1,074,277 Mexicans. This was historically one of the largest acts of deportation in US history, which President Trump referred to during his 2024 campaign.
Since the Clinton Administration, you can see how deportation, forced or voluntary removal has existed in the US, based on this graphic below.
I can offer the following educational opportunities for people, which includes these popular education slides.
- A 90 minute workshop on the history of US immigration policy
- An 8 week class on the history of US immigration policy
If you are part of a non-profit, a faith community, a grassroots group or any other organization that wants to learn more about the history of US immigration policy, then please reach out to me and we can talk about what would work best for your group. You can contact me at sjeff987@gmail.com.
Since the George W. Bush Administration, GRIID has been doing Media Literacy work in the community, which is essentially the promotion of critical thinking skills.
During the past 25 years we have been using Media Literacy Exercise #1, which we update every time a new US Administration has new cabinet members. This exercise has two parts, with Part I being the branded alphabet and Part II being a visual of White House cabinet members, and in this case cabinet members of President Trump. The answers to Part I & II can be found on page 3 of Media Literacy Exercise #1.
In both parts of this exercise, people are asking to identify the products from each letter of the alphabet, then name the members of the Trump Administration and what position they hold.
The Branded Alphabet media literacy exercise is a great way for people to:
- Understand the pervasive nature of advertising in our society and how we are all being targeted by advertising campaigns.
- Understand how the news media functions and how they decide what information to give us, when to give it to us, and how to give it to us.
- Juxtapose the Branded Alphabet with the current administration cabinet as a way to demonstrate the gap between our knowledge of products vs our knowledge of politics.
- Understand how the media system is constructed in such a way as to make consumerism a priority over an informed public
We invite you to test your knowledge, by participating in this Media Literacy Exercise. First, see if you can identify the product for each letter of the alphabet. Second, see how many people you can name in the Trump Cabinet, along with what position they hold in his administration.
Now, think about why it is easier for people to identify branded products, than to identify politicians that have a significant impact on policies that affect all of our lives. Some of the most common reasons that people give are:
- The products have been around for decades, but administration officials change regularly.
- The images of the alphabet are different, colorful and engaging, whereas the image of politicians are very similar.
- As a society we are inundated by commercial images, but the faces of administration officials are only on certain news channels or websites that focus on national politics.
- We consume products, but we don’t consume politicians.
Can you come up with more reasons why we know more of the Branded Alphabet over members of the Trump Cabinet? In addition to identifying them, can you talk about who these people are in terms of their history, their voting record (if they were elected officials), what other government positions they have held, how much money they have and what kind of political positions have they embraced over the years?
Here are a few websites that you might find helpful for answering some of these questions.
Voting Records for those in the Trump Administration have previously held federal political positions https://justfacts.votesmart.org/
Campaign Financing records for those in the Trump Administration have previously held federal political positions, or you can search what each of the Trump Cabinet members have contributed previously. https://www.opensecrets.org/
The Revolving Door Project tracks people who have been in politics and gone into the corporate world, or they came from the corporate world and are now in politics https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/personnel/
You can also compare the information you get from the above sites to what the White House has to say about these cabinet members.
For week #4, participants in the discussion on the Prison Industrial Complex in Kent County, we looked at two items before we talked about the main reading.
The first item we looked at came up in the Week #3 class discussion, which had to do with GRPD surveillance of activist groups, specifically the GRPD targeting those demanding justice over the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya and the FOIA documents that were requested.
A second issue that was discussed was a look at more data on the PIC in Kent County, data that was used to create 4 community flyers that could be used as popular education tools and to engage the public in radically imagining how taxes could be diverted from policy & incarceration to meeting real community needs.
The majority of the class discussion for week #4 was spent discussing chapters 3, 4 and 5 from the book Beyond Courts. Chapter 3 provides an excellent critique of what are often called diversion programs or specialty courts. The authors of the book have this to say:
“For abolitionists, the fact that prosecutor-led diversion programs and specialty courts maintain and entrench the legitimacy of the carceral state is just one reason to oppose them. In addition, these programs: 1) extend the scope of the criminal punishment system into the community; 2) widen the net of people under carceral control; 3) increase the power, resources, and reach of prosecutors and ”judges (and the criminal punishment system more broadly); 4) further neoliberal logics of individual responsibility that uphold the criminal punishment system; and 5) are more concerned with control and submission than health and well-being. Diversion programs deprive people of self-determination through a logic of white paternalistic “care through control.”
Chapter 4 focused on a variety of community-based interventions that would shift power away from the carceral state. Some examples of community-based interventions were:
- Cop Watching
- Court Watching
- Bail Funds
- Participatory Defense Hubs
- Jury nullification
Chapter 5 centered on the abolitionist idea of Defunding Courts, just like Defunding the Police. In fact, if we are serious about abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex in Kent County, the book would call this Defunding Cops, Courts and Cages. At the beginning of Chapter 5 it states:
“For example, in 2022, there were almost 13 million misdemeanor charges that forced thousands of people into the criminal justice system each year. More than a quarter of all cases filed in criminal courts are motor vehicle, drug and broken windows offenses, so called “low-level” crimes that police and prosecutors pursued aggressively in cities particularly in the 1990s.”
The authors argue that these 13 million misdemeanor charges more often than not landed people in jail, primarily because they could not afford bail. These statistics expose the absurdity of the of the Prison Industrial Complex across the US.
There were numerous great models being used across the country, like the Seattle Solidarity Budget, which used a participatory budgeting model to redirect millions to meet community needs away from the PIC in that city.
On Friday, MLive posted a story with following headline, “ICE is partnering with more local police agencies, but not in Michigan.”
The article strangely begins by quoting a Sheriff from Washtenaw County and Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom, both of which claim that they are not cooperating with ICE. Just because these local law enforcement spokespersons are making a claim doesn’t mean their departments aren’t cooperating with ICE. I don’t have experience with Washtenaw County, but I have been directly involved in immigration matters in Grand Rapids and there is plenty of evidence over the years that the GRPD and the Kent County Sheriff’s Department have been cooperating with ICE. The case of Jilmar Ramos Gomez is probably the case that received the most local and national news coverage.
In fact, shortly after the Jilmar Ramos Gomez case, the City of Grand Rapids was forced to create a policy about interacting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), known as the Foreign National’s Policy. This policy clearly states:
The policy allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents.
Many of us from GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha are all too familiar that the rhetoric of the City and the GRPD is in dark contrast to what they practice. See my article entitled, the criminalization of dissent in Grand Rapids. The GRPD always gets to decide when public safety is being threatened, which often happens when they believe that systems of power are being challenged, like people trying to prevent ICE from arresting and detaining immigrants.
When Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE initiated their campaign to get the City of Grand Rapids to declare the city a Sanctuary, this action came with several demands, which included: (Note: you can still sign that Action Alert)
- policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants;
- policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status;
- policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law;
- policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention;
- policies preventing immigration detention centers in Grand Rapids.
Mayor LaGrand has gone on record that he opposes Grand Rapids becoming a Sanctuary City would give immigrants a “false sense of hope.” On the contrary, if Grand Rapids adopted the policies listed above, it would concretely mean the GRPD would not be cooperating with ICE in direct ways.
The MLive article I cited earlier in this post, specifically mentions the 287(g) program, which would allow ICE to deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. Policies such as these would give the Sanctuary declaration real teeth, not a false sense of hope, as Mayor LaGrand claims.
The MLive article also mentions Michigan law enforcement agencies and schools would cooperate with ICE if they have a judicial warrant, which the GRPD and the Grand Rapids Public Schools have said they would honor. This is cooperation, which any governing body can question and refuse to comply with.
Lastly, the MLive article mentions that, “The Michigan House passed a resolution earlier this month threatening to withhold funding from any city, county or university that has a policy to “subvert immigration enforcement in any way” or “refuses to comply with federal immigration enforcement measures.”
MLive article never cities immigrants
The response from Movimiento Cosecha to this threat of with-holding state funds for cities that declare themselves sanctuaries is powerful. Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe said:
If the State of Michigan were to withhold funds to Grand Rapids because they were a Sanctuary City, the city could first ask the people who have their names on the buildings all over this city, to donate funds to cover the cost of lost state or federal funds. Of course, it is not likely that this would happen. However, we have a saying, “Everything we need is right here in our community.” We believe that if the State or the Federal government were to withhold funds because the City of Grand Rapids decided to defy the arrest, detainment and deportation of immigrants, people in this community would step up and contribute with money, time or skills to meet the needs of people in Grand Rapids. In fact, it would galvanize the community and demonstrate that “we take care of us.”
The City of Grand Rapids has no real excuse to not declare itself a Sanctuary, it is simply a matter of political will, especially since we know that 3204 people are on record as supporting GR being a Sanctuary City, while only 16 people have gone on record as being opposed. The City better starts listening to its people.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of March 2nd
It has been nearly 17 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. We will also provide information on local events and actions that people can get involved in. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Israel pounds West Bank children and infrastructure
Stop Repeating the Vast Undercount of Gazan Deaths. It Is Ten Times Greater.
Gaza Has Changed the Discourse on Popular Resistance, But Are We Truly Listening?
Israel Delays Prisoner Release, Threatening Gaza Cease-Fire
Israel Sends Tanks into West Bank Amid “De Facto Annexation” of Palestinian Lands: Mariam Barghouti
The Gaza “Ceasefire” Is at a Crucial Crossroads
Campus Police Are Using Israeli Spy Tech to Crack Down on Student Protest
ICC urged to investigate Biden’s personal role in Gaza genocide
Analysis & History
Trump Gaza Video Reflects Shared US and Israeli Histories of Ethnic Cleansing
Unlawfully Detained, Tortured and Starved: The Plight of Gaza Medical Workers in Israeli Custody
The State of the Gaza “Ceasefire” and an Interview with Hezbollah
Image used in this post is from Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids https://www.facebook.com/PalestineSolidarityGR
Do you want false solutions to the Housing Crisis in Kent County from Non-Profits or do you want to build Tenant Power with GRATU?
Last week, housing non-profits met in Grand Rapids to talk about upcoming housing projects and to release a new report, State of Housing: Solutions for an Equitable Housing System in Kent County, Michigan.
The report, which was produced by Housing Kent, was the main theme in a recent MLive article, headlined, Kent County leaders using 7 projects to solve ‘astronomical rise in housing prices’.
Like most coverage around the housing crisis in Kent County, the article centered on what housing non-profits are doing, along with their partners in government and the business community. In other words, we are not hearing from people who are directly impacted by the housing crisis, people who have a live-experience of what housing insecurity means.
In addition to not hearing from those most impacted by the housing crisis, the MLive article simply regurgitates talking points from the Housing Kent report. There are 7 solutions they are committed to:
100 in 100 – A Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness project.
Enhanced Coordinated Entry – which aims to streamline the process by which housing providers connect people experiencing homelessness with housing resources.
Eviction Prevention Pilot Program – The Heart of West Michigan United Way and Housing Kent are co-leading an eviction prevention pilot that helps keep renting families in their homes.
Employer Housing Programs – A partnership between Housing Kent and Bank of America aims at addressing the shortage or workforce housing by helping large employers implement their own housing-related programs as the “new employee benefit.”
Gap Financing – Kent County needs an additional 35,000 housing units by 2027 to keep up with demand, according to Housing Next’s 2022 Housing Needs Assessment.
Kent County Corridor Strategy – The Kent County Corridor Strategy was devised to identify underused properties where residents want to see housing growth.
Fair Housing Education and Enforcement – The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan is taking aim at racial disparities in homeownership that hinder economic mobility.
The reality is that beside the Fair Housing Education and Enforcement strategy, the other 6 strategies are false solutions. What I mean by the other 6 strategies being false solutions, is that they still operate through a market-based housing framework, and rely on financial assistance or co-ordinated efforts of non-profits that don’t address the primarily problem.
The MLive article stated the primary problem in these two sentences:
Even if rents froze tomorrow, and wages increased at their current rate, it would take until 2036 for people in similarly earning professions to be able to live comfortably and affordably in Kent County, according to the report.
If home prices remained at the rate they are now, people in those occupations still wouldn’t be able to afford a home in Kent County until 2041, the report stated.
The issues are not the lack of housing, they are the cost of rent and the cost of buying a home. One way to address this crisis is to make sure that everyone makes a living wage. A second way to address the housing crisis is to provide housing to people outside of a market framework.
If we think about people who pay rent, the market says that what they are paying is based on what the market says the value of rent should be. However, more and more people involved in housing justice work are referring to rent as theft. In the book, Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis, co-authors Tracey Rosenthal and Leonardo Vichis help us to re-frame what rent really is with these statements:
- Rent is a fine for a human need.
- Rent is the gap between tenants’ needs and landlords’ demands.
- Tenants live inside the landlord’s profit-maximization vise.
- Rent is a monthly tribute to those with generational wealth.
- Rent is an engine of inequity.
- Rent is our money, which landlords invest for their gain.
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Rent prevents us from caring for ourselves and each other. - Behind each rent check is a threat of eviction.
- Behind each rent check is the threat of state violence.
I attended a workshop by these co-authors, both of who are renters and part of tenant unions.
In contrast to what the non-profit housing industrial complex in Kent County is suggesting, people who are housing insecure, especially those that are tenants should consider attending the 2nd Annual GRATU Tenant Assembly on Saturday, April 26th. This Tenant Assembly is designed to build tenant power, build tenant solidarity, and fight against the exploitative practices of landlords and Property Management Companies that are committed to making profits, not providing safe and healthy places to live.
4 reasons to think critically about the February 28th economic blackout
It’s been all over social media, with people being urged to do things like not spend money, not shop, to consume nothing, and to hit em where it hurts.
Before offering up my 4 reasons to think critically about the February 28th economic blackout, I want to say that in general I fully support boycotts, strikes divestment campaigns and any other economic grounded tools to impact systems of power and oppression.
However, as I wrote back on February 18th, we need to think strategically about what we are doing and to avoid just being reactionary in what we are participating in. Grassroots, community-based social change is not a quick fix, rather it is the result of dismantling systems of power and oppression, along with creating new ways organizing that are based on cooperation, consensus, radical imagination and collective liberation.
I’m not writing this to tell people not to participate in the February 28th economic blackout, but to encourage people to think critically about it, especially if we want to build powerful social movements that are necessary to confront and dismantle systems of power and oppression like Capitalism, white supremacy, Settler Colonialism, heterosexism, patriarchy, ableism and other systems of oppression.
First, when engaging in economic boycotts and economic blackouts, we should always ask ourselves who do we want to negatively impact and who do we want to avoid doing harm against? There are companies that are listed with the February 28th economic blackout like Amazon. It is true that Amazon does evil and awful shit, like providing tech support to the Israeli military to more effectively target Palestinians, assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to target immigrants, and the way they exploit those who work in the Amazon distribution centers.
In thinking about boycotting Amazon on February 28th and beyond, will it have unintended consequences that could negatively impact Amazon workers? Amazon workers have been trying to organize a union in recent years, in order to build worker power and win demands from the Jeff Bezos-owned company. Does anyone know if Amazon workers are supporting the economic blackout and if they were asked to be part of the campaign? Social movements need to come from those most impacted and it has to be collectively decided if it is to be effective.
Second, boycotts have been a strategic tool used by social movements for more than a century around the world. However, boycotts are usually initiated by those most impacted by a specific corporation or center of economic power. Several examples that I think are worth looking at are:
Montgomery Bus Boycott – this boycott relied on creating alternative means of transportation for African Americans who were resisting the racist and sexist practices of the bus company in Alabama.
The 1965-1970 Delano Grape Strike and Boycott – this boycott was called by farm workers who were fighting for better wages, better working conditions and the right to organize as farm workers.
Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign – this campaign was organized by Palestinians as a way to fight against Israeli apartheid, Israeli settler colonialism and Israel’s decades of brutal military occupation
The Seattle General Strike of 1919 – this movement was organized by workers, anarchist, socialists and communists in an effort to take control of the city of Seattle and create a radically different kind of economic and social system.
The overall theme with each of these boycott movements was that it was born out of the collective reality of those most impacted by whatever oppression they were facing.
Third, who is behind the February 28th economic blackout? This whole campaign is not coming out of a movement by from one guy, John Schwarz. John Schwarz, aka The One Called Jai, is credited with organizing the boycott. Schwarz is a former business owner and manager, who by his own admission, did not expect his idea to amount to anything.
The People’s Union USA is complete a creation of John Schwarz, a guy who has not prior involvement with labor unions or grassroots organizing. Schwarz is a TikTok influencer and meditation and mindfulness facilitator.
Fourth, what are the goals of this campaign that was proposed by one guy? According to John Schwarz, there are 4 things needed to unionize the people.
- Establish a Legal Foundation
- Organize Membership
- Develop Economic & Legislative Strategies
- Build the Infrastructure for Action
For me, this plan seems to fit the business as usual model, the non-profit industrial complex model, which seeks to operate within the framework of the existing system.
What about the goals or demands of this campaign. According to John Schwarz, these are the demands, which you can read at this link. These demands are primarily centered around making billionaires pay their fair share. However, billionaires can only become billionaires because the economic system of Capitalism allows them to exploit and expand their wealth by use the labor of others and always with exploitation as a central component. This is a false solution and will not address structural or systemic oppression, as I have written about before.
Again, by all means participate in the economic blackout, but I will not participate in an effort that was organized by some white dude who has no experience with grassroots organizing. Instead, I will continue to be involved with movements that are led by immigrants – Movimiento Cosecha, led by tenants – the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, ally groups like GR Rapid Response to ICE or the Grand Rapids Pull Over Prevention (GRPOP), both of which seek to do defensive work that reducing the harm to affected communities like immigrants, BIPOC communities and other marginalized groups who are the most impact by the current political and economic system we have in this community and this country.
Rep. Hillary Scholten always supports more funding for militarism than she does meeting the needs of people in the 3rd Congressional District
Last week, Rep. Scholten held a press conference to announce that she helped to secure $25 million in federal funding to upgrade the East Beltline bridge/overpass above highway 96.
The Congresswoman representing the 3rd District stated during her press conference:
The East Beltline Bridge in Grand Rapids — once a rural roadway — is now a major thoroughfare that over 50K vehicles traverse every day. That’s why I was thrilled to announce a $25 million federal grant I helped secure that will help fund a much-needed replacement of the bridge over I-96. This investment is a game-changer for Grand Rapids to ensure our infrastructure is safer, more accessible, and built to last.
The Fox 17 news coverage didn’t include much other than Scholten’s announcement, with no other sources cited and no questions regarding how this will be a, “game changer for Grand Rapids.”
Additionally, the WXMI 17 story doesn’t put this $25 million in context. For example, according to the National Priorities Project, $1.82 billion left the 3rd Congressional District to fund the US Military Budget for 2023 (which is the current data that they have).
It is likely that the amount that has left Rep. Scholten’s district in 2024 was higher, especially considering that the US military budget has increased every year since 2023, an increase that Rep. Scholten voted for in 2023 and 2024.
Another way of thinking about funding priorities is to look at how $1.8 billion in tax dollars leaving the 3rd Congressional District to pay for militarism are the possible trade-offs. Again, the National Priorities Project provides great example of how our taxes could be used to meet the needs of people locally, rather than going to fund war and militarism. For example, $1.8 billion that current goes towards the US military could fund:
- 256,312 Public Housing Units for 1 Year, or
- 19,235 Elementary School Teachers for 1 Year, or
- 111,485 Military Veterans Receiving VA Medical Care for 1 Year, or
- 31,873 Scholarships for University Students for 4 Years, or
- 657,002 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for 1 Year, or
- 370,771 Adults Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for 1 Year
Surely, funding these basic community needs are more important, yet it is not part of the news coverage on Rep. Scholten’s announcement, nor the overall public discourse around the massive US military budget.
The irony is that two days after Rep. Scholten held her press conference on the funding for the Beltline bridge, she was part of a rally in support of the Ukraine on the 3rd anniversary of the Russian invasion. I did not attend that rally, but I would bet money that Rep. Scholten didn’t talk about her voting to provide the Ukraine government with US military aid since 2022. Scholten did not become a member of Congress until 2023, but since 2022, the US has provided $119.5 billion in military aid to the Ukraine.
Over 50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., said of the United States in his crucial “Beyond Vietnam” speech that: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Rep. Scholten continues to prioritize military spending over the needs of people, thus contributing to the spiritual and actual death of people in her district.
MLive reports on land sale for new soccer stadium, but omits the concerns of residents and ignores the DeVos connection in all of it
Two weeks ago, MLive ran an article entitled, Grand Rapids board signs off on $8M land sale for Amway Stadium.
The MLive story was based on a February 10 Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA) meeting, where it was decided that Grand Action 2.0 would be purchasing the land on which the new soccer stadium would be built. The article states:
The 8.5 acres Grand Action is purchasing includes 4.4 acres of surface parking lots near the corner of Pearl Street NW and Mt. Vernon Avenue NW owned by the DDA. It also includes the YMCA’s parking lot, public rights of way and the former Big Boy property.
The only people cited in the MLive article were DDA chairperson Rick Winn, Grand Action 2.0 executive director Kara Wood and Tim Kelly, president and CEO of DGRI. There were no neighbors cited, nor were any community groups that have publicly opposed this project.
The DDA unanimously approved the land sale, but the MLive article failed to mention that two of the members of the DDA are DeVos family operatives, Rick Winn and Greg McNeilly.
Richard Winn is the President of AHC Hospitality, which is a DeVos-owned company that manages 14 Hotels/Inns, most of which are in West Michigan. In addition to sitting on the DDA Board, Richard Winn is also on the boards of the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority, Experience GR, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and Grand Action 2.0. All of these entities work in collaboration to make sure that the DeVos and Van Andel families get what they want.
Greg McNeilly was the campaign manager for the failed gubernatorial campaign of Dick DeVos in 2006. McNeilly is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the DeVos run Windquest Group, an entity that is owned by Dick & Betsy DeVos. McNeilly has also been the former President of the Michigan Freedom Fund, a far right political group that was also created by the DeVos family. McNeilly ran the campaign to oppose the Voters Not Politicians ballot initiative in 2018. In 2021, McNeilly defended the Enbridge Corporation and their plans to build a tunnel underneath the Great Lakes for the Line 5 oil pipeline.
The MLive article also leaves out some of the important details that were decided upon at the February 10 DDA meeting. Here are additional details, based on the DDA minutes:
Of the approximately 8.5-acre site, the DDA currently owns 4.4 acres, which includes the northern portion of the YMCA parking lot and the portion of the Area 7 parking lot south of Blumrich Street. It also includes the former Big Boy property which was given to the DDA in December 2023 for no cost. The rest of the site is made up of the southern portion of the YMCA parking lot and public rights of way. The attached exhibit provides an overview of DDA owned property on the site.
To initiate construction of the stadium, Grand Action 2.0 has developed agreements for the land owned by the YMCA and the DDA. Under the proposed arrangement,GA 2.0 will acquire the YMCA property and assign the deed to the DDA. For the DDA owned property, GA 2.0 has agreed to pay the fair market value of $53.43 per square foot that was established in the 2024 appraisal. Excluding the former Big Boy property, the total site area is 150,481.21 square feet, bringing the final amount of the sale to $8,040,211.05.
To allow construction to begin in spring 2025 while the project funding is finalized, GA 2.0 has proposed entering into two Agreements with the DDA. The first is a Temporary Access Agreement that would remain in effect for the entire construction period, currently expected to last two years. The Access Agreement will provide GA 2.0 and its contractors full access to the site to construct the Stadium. During construction, GA 2.0 has agreed to carry the required insurance and to indemnify the DDA and the City of Grand Rapids from any and all claims that may arise during their use of the site. Additionally, to make up for lost parking revenue during construction, GA 2.0 will pay the DDA a fixed amount of $27,000 per month in the first year and $28,350 per month in the second year. Those payments will be applied to the final purchase price.
The second agreement is a Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) that finalizes the terms and the purchase price to be paid to the DDA. Like the Agreements for the Acrisure Amphitheater, GA 2.0 will pay off the full amount due for the property (minus the monthly parking payments) over a term not to exceed 10 years. As the ultimate owner and operator of the stadium, the PSA is expected to be assigned to the CAA at the conclusion of construction.
The MLive article also omits the larger context of the relationship between Amway, Grand Action 2.0, the DDA and DGRI, all of which have embedded DeVos family operatives.
The other major omission centers on the fact that the soccer stadium will be built where there is existing downtown parking, thus reducing the amount of available parking in the downtown area and the near westside. Westside residents are already pissed off about the possibility that they might have to pay for permits to park on the street. Apparently, these concerns are not relevant to MLive, nor is it a concern of Grand Action 2.0 and their masters, the DeVos family.
When Bi-Partisan votes translate into abandoning the working class: The Michigan Legislature votes for Wage Theft
“We commend Michigan legislators for reaching a bipartisan compromise to amend the state’s onerous paid sick time and tipped wage laws.
While the compromise is not perfect, jobs, businesses and people’s livelihoods were saved last night. Shared power between Michigan’s legislative chambers is leading to more pragmatic solutions for the people and job providers of our great state.”
The above words were posted by the West Michigan Policy Forum on their Facebook page, after learning that the Democrats abandoned the interests of working class people and gave in to the demands of the business class. For those who read this blog, you know that the West Michigan Policy Forum was created in 2008 as a project of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, to mobilize members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure to lobby state legislators to embrace the interests of the Capitalist Class. The GR Chamber of Commerce also celebrated this vote, as you can see from their message here below.
An article in Crain’s Grand Rapids highlights how the working class continues to be betrayed by both Republicans and Democrats. The article states:
“The Democratic-led Senate passed a revised version of House Bill 4002 on a 26-10 vote following weeks of negotiations. The Republican-controlled House quickly approved the legislation, 81-29, about 35 minutes later. The Democratic governor was poised to swiftly sign it and revisions to a minimum wage law, potentially overnight, but not before new laws they will replace took effect after midnight.”
It would do us all well to remember that in 2018, Michigan voted for a ballot initiative to increase the minimum wage in Michigan. According to the group One Fair Wage, the group behind the 2018 ballot initiative, stated that Governor Whitmer was “stripping millions of dollars” from Michigan workers’ paychecks. One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman, in a released statement after the Michigan Legislature betrayed workers stated:
“Michigan’s highest court ruled that these wage increases should take effect. Michigan workers have already earned this raise, and taking it away is not a compromise—it is wage theft. We are mobilizing to ensure voters—not politicians—have the final say on whether these protections remain in place.”
Here is what the Thursday vote will mean for working class people. SB 8 will phase in an increase in the lower wage for servers and bartenders, now 38% of the general minimum wage, until it reaches 50% by 2031. The tipped wage, which businesses can pay as long as their employees’ tips make up the difference, had been scheduled to equal the regular minimum wage by 2030.
The legislation also will accelerate a boost in the general minimum wage to $15 by 2027 instead of $14.97 by 2028. It went up to $12.48 from $10.56 on Friday under the law that went into effect overnight and the one Whitmer will sign.
The fact is, that waiting until 2027 for the $15 an hour minimum wage increase should tell us that those who voted for this are not people who are struggling to make ends meet. For instance, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, for people living in Michigan, they need to make $23.16 an hour to be able to afford the average cost of rent in this state. The fact that this was a bi-partisan vote should tell you that both parties are ultimately in the pocket of the Capitalist Class and will not fight for working class people……only we can fight for ourselves.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 