Violent crime is dropping and GRPD funding increases: Who controls the narrative controls public spending
Last week, WOODTV8 ran a story entitled, Data: Has violent crime dropped in West Michigan?
The story was based on FBI data, which states that violent crime decreased between 2022 and 2023, by 3%. West Michigan followed this trend and Grand Rapids nearly quadrupled the decrease, with nearly an 11% decrease.
In addition, if you look at the most recent FBI crime data, you can see that violent crimes continues to decrease in Grand Rapids.
Unfortunately, the decrease in violent crime nationally and locally is often not reflected in news coverage or in the political rhetoric of both Republicans and Democrats. The decrease in violent crimes is also not reflected in the bi-partisan commitment to increase funding for the cops.
This push to provide more funding for police is also the mantra that the Grand Rapids Police Department has been using, particularly Chief Winstrom. The calls to increase funding for police, especially after the national movement to defund the police in 2020, has been constant, and Grand Rapids elected officials have embraced this message. The City Manager and the Grand Rapids City Commission approved an increase in the GRPD’s budget from last year, a $3 million increase to be exact.
So what are we to make of the fact that violent crime is down, yet the GRPD, other police departments and and elected officials are not only embracing the “we need more funding for cops” mantra, they are actually pushing the fear narrative. Of course, part of the reason for the fear narrative is that we are in the midst of an election cycle and no politician or candidate wants to be seen as “soft on crime”, but despite the upcoming election politicians and candidates embrace the increase police funding narrative.
Embracing the increase funding narrative for cops is not only problematic, it does actual harm. Here are a few ways in which the increase funding for cops narrative is harmful:
According to https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/ police around the country have already killed 997 people this year, with a disproportionate number of those people being from BIPOC communities. In addition, as Alex Vitale, the author ofThe End of Policing points out, police departments also disproportionately spend the majority of their time policing poor and BIPOC neighborhoods, since this is what local power structures demand of them.
Second, the excellent report from Interrupting Criminalization entitled, Cops Don’t Stop Violence, deconstructs the whole notion of crime, how crime data is misused to serve policing interests and how police consistently engage in their own crimes against people they stop, detain and arrest. This report concludes with the following statement: It’s time to recognize that decades of pouring more money, resources, and legitimacy into policing in an effort to increase safety have failed — because policing is functioning as it is intended to: to contain, control, and criminalize Black and Brown communities rather than to prevent and reduce violence. It’s time to invest in meeting community needs and building non-police community safety strategies. It’s time to invest in just recovery.
Third, the news media feeds into the fear narrative, which justifies large police departments. Since January 1st, I have been monitoring MLive, WOODTV8, WZZM 13 and WXMI 17 on a variety of issues. The number one new theme is crime, as you can see in the image here on the right. Comparatively, during the same time period, there have only been 72 stories about local elections. However, what is even more instructive is the fact that of the 503 news stories from the four news agencies, stories that center on public safety, there have only been 11 stories where the GRPD actually prevented a crime. If the GRPD is not actually preventing crime, then what the hell do they actually do?
Lastly, maintaining narratives around fear and the need to increase police funding results in massive police department budgets, which ultimately means that other critical issues like housing, food, health care, education, climate justice, etc. will not be a priority.
The last talking point is critical, since it was central to the Movement for Black Lives creating the Defund the Police Toolkit. The Movement for Black Lives understood that policing is designed to control and repress communities that are demanding justice, and that police departments are a drain on how public tax dollars are spent. We need to flip the script on this narrative and demand better in our communities.
ArtPrize vs Local Election coverage in the Grand Rapids media market
It has been several years since GRIID has conducted a comparative study of local news coverage on ArtPrize and local elections.
2009 was the first time that I did a comparative study between ArtPrize and election coverage, which was followed by a similar study in 2010. In fact, in 2010, GRIID produced a 21 page report just on the Grand Rapids Press coverage, which you can find here.
For 2024, I kept the comparative coverage between ArtPrize and local election coverage in a shorter time period. I looked at the coverage from MLive, WOODTV8, WZZM13 and WXMI 17 between September 8 through September 29. In that 3 week time span, this is what I found. There were a total of nine stories done about local elections (by local elections I mean elections happening for seats within Kent County).
- MLive – 5
- WOODTV8 – 1
- WZZM13 – 2
- WXMI 17 – 1
Total Local Election stories – 9
During the same three week period there were a significantly larger amount of ArtPrize stories, with all four of the news agencies producing more ArtPrize stories than local election stories.
- MLive – 12
- WOODTV8 – 33
- WZZM13 – 17
- WXMI 17 – 12
Total ArtPrize stories – 74
This means that the ratio of ArtPrize stories compared to local election stories was a little more than 8:1.
Reporting Equity
Before I jump into some analysis, I want to be clear that I am not saying that the amount of stories devoted to ArtPrize is a bad thing. In fact, I watched and read all 74 stories and thought that much of this coverage was pretty good. I was intrigued by some of the artist themes, the various mediums used and the passion of many artists who wanted to highlight specific causes and issues.
What I am critiquing is the lack of local election coverage during the same period of time. Imagine if the same amount of effort and energy were put into local election coverage as was this case with ArtPrize. Would increased coverage have an impact on the public’s understanding of what are often called “down ballot” candidates? Would increased coverage result in increased voter participation or at the very least a more informed voting base?
It is difficult to know what the outcome would be if there was parity between ArtPrize coverage and local election coverage. However, there are certainly several reasons why I believe increased local election coverage is important for participatory democracy, reasons I will now address.
First, I believe it is important to qualify what I mean by increased coverage and will use MLive as an example, since they had 5 local election stories during the 3-week time period. Four out of the five local election stories that MLive posted were about a Grand Rapids City Commission race, two different Kent County Commission races and 1 local judicial race. Unfortunately, MLive has decided to provide minimal bios on each candidate and then ask them each 4 questions. Now, I am not opposed to candidate responses to questions posed by the news media, but that should never be the extend of the coverage.
In addition to asking candidate questions, local reporters should should be engaged in fact checking, verify the claims of candidates, providing insights into their campaign finances and engaging the public on issues that are of concern to them. Local elections are not primarily about candidates, but about issues that impact local communities. None of the things I just named were included in their local election coverage.
Second, robust local election coverage is vitally important because unlike national and statewide elections, only local news agencies can provide coverage of local candidates and issues. Let’s face it, we are all inundated with coverage during a Presidential election cycle – not that is very informative – and we read/hear tons of political ads for other larger political races all the time. However, when it comes to local elections we relying exclusively on local news agencies to provide robust, non-partisan coverage.
Third, local elected officials are more accessible to the public and are less influenced by deep pockets than the larger races. People living in Kent County and Grand Rapids have the ability to watch or attend local commission and school board meetings. Granted, those meetings are not all that democratic and transparent, but you can meet up with these politicians in person or at public forums outside of government meetings. This type of access decreases when we are talking about state and federal officials, which spend most of their time in Lansing or DC and when they are in their districts they often hold hold public meetings that are too brief, during the day – when most people are working – or require you to register in order to get the location of meetings.
Fourth, increased local election coverage should be part of a larger effort to develop a culture of civic engagement and participatory democracy. If local news agencies were serious about local politics they would not only increase their coverage of local election, but of local policies that impact all of us. Such a focus on policy would lead right back to the public, where more and more people would not be mere spectators in local elections and local policy decisions, but active participants in the process.
We can’t allow ourselves to settle for the minimum when it comes to how local elections/local policies and how our tax dollars are used. I believe that people are tired of business as usual politics and want more than rhetoric when it comes to things like community safety, structural racism, housing justice, food security, robust schools and vibrant ecosystems. We have to demand more and part of our demands is for the local news to actually provide critical information for us to be able to fully participate in our communities.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of September 29th
It has been almost 12 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 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
No End to Israel’s Killing Machine and U.S. Complicity
ISRAEL BOMBED LEBANON TODAY, KILLING HUNDREDS. THE U.S. IS SENDING MORE BOMBS
The World Says That Israel’s Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Must End
25 Arrested Blocking Netanyahu’s Motorcade to UN General Assembly
FROM GAZA TO LEBANON: ISRAEL’S BOMBING CAMPAIGN BACKED BY MEDIA PROPAGANDA
Analysis & History
Three Views: Israeli Forces Continue Their Assault on West Bank Palestinians with Impunity
Local Events and Actions
Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids is hosting a screening of the film, Where Olive Trees Weep, Sunday, September 29th at 3pm, Fountain Street Church. https://www.facebook.com/events/453822167688541
Image used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/.
A visual representation of our Grand Rapids power analysis
What follows is a visual depiction of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, which I covered in a 10 Part series. You can go to this link to access all 10 posts to read my analysis. If we are serious about organizing for real change and collective liberation in this community, then we need to understand how power functions in Grand Rapids.
Event to focus on the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools
On Saturday, October 26th, the community is invited to attend a 2 hour event that will shed some light on part of the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools.
Join historians & guests from the GRPS Uncovered podcasts. This FREE workshop & lunch will explore the impact of history on community needs.
The event takes place on October 26th from 11am – 1pm, at 415 Martin Luther King Jr. Street SE Grand Rapids, MI 49507. To register for this free event go to this link.
Participants are encouraged to listen to podcasts ahead of the event. If you attended or worked at GRPS, feel free to bring in memorabilia such as trophies, yearbooks, graduation programs, photos, jerseys or uniforms, school event tickets, etc. for a gallery walk.
We are recommending attendees to preview the GRPS Uncovered podcasts prior to attending the event. You may access them by clicking the link below:
West Michigan Foundation Watch: The Jandernoa Foundation
Foundations are a way for members of the Capitalist Class, which made their wealth by exploiting workers, to hide some of their wealth from taxation, only to then turn around and use foundation funds to undermine social movements and generate positive PR for themselves.
“In any case, the hidden hand of of foundations can control the course of social change and deflect anger to targets other than elite power.”
– Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy
Jandernoa Foundation
GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. GRIID has already looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, and finally the CDV5 Foundation. Last week, we also look at the other Amway fortune family, with a focus on the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation and the Steve and Amy Van Andel Foundation. Today, I want to look at another member of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, Michael Jandernoa and his foundation.
I am using the data from the foundation’s 990 document for 2022, which is the most recent year that is available. The Jandernoa Foundation has significantly smaller amount of assets, specifically $4,383,771 in the foundation’s account, which is just another way that members of the Capitalist Class to be able to hide their money from taxation.
Before I dive into how the Jandernoa Foundation distributed their funds, I wanted to point out that the foundation pays William Lawrence $163,214.00 to be the Executive Director, and they pay $253,487.00 for management/investments to 42 North Partners, which is a company owned by Michael Jandernoa.
The Jandernoa Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2022, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious groups, political organizations, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few. Below is a listing of each from these categories, with a dollar amount.
Religious Groups
- Degage Ministries – $100,000
- Diocese of Grand Rapids – $40,000
- Help Pregnancy Aid – $100,000
- Mel Trotter Ministries – $62,5000
Political Organizations
- Michigan Colleges Alliance – $40,000
- Gerald R Ford Foundation – $30,000
Education-centered groups
- Catholic Central High School – $2,400,000
- Davenport University – $300,000
- San Juan Diego Academy – $100,000
Groups receiving Hush $
- Feeding America – $200,000
- Heart of West Michigan United Way – $509,350
- Women’s Resource Center – $50,000
The Jandernoa Foundation provided funding to numerous Catholic entities, not only because Jandernoa is Catholic, but also because he supports the Catholic Church’s anti-Abortion stance, which is why the foundation gave money to Help Pregnancy Aid.
You will also notice that the foundation contributed to the Michigan Colleges Alliance, which is a group that support private colleges in Michigan and pushes for public money to go to private education. The foundation contribution to the Michigan Colleges Alliance compliments the work that Michael Jandernoa has done with the West Michigan Policy Forum, specifically to influence education policy in the state, as I noted in an article from 2019.
Lastly, none of the groups receiving hush money listed above challenge systems of power, nor do they seek to address the root causes of societal problems like housing insecurity or food insecurity.
In addition, the Jandernoa Foundation gets to buy their silence, making it very improbable that these groups will speak out against the public policy decisions that are adopted by the politicians that Jandernoa and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure are funding. In fact, according to FollowtheMoney.org, Jandernoa has given $4,716,171 to 346 different filers spanning 29 years, mostly to GOP candidates. Like most private foundations, their owners create social problems through exploitation and buying politicians, then turn around and contribute to charity groups that serve the very same people harmed by their wealth.
Elections and political party machines in Grand Rapids
I was out and about recently when I cam across the political yards signs shown here below. One is for David LaGrand, who is running to be the Mayor of Grand Rapids, and the other one is for Richard Williamson, who is running for a seat on the Grand Rapids Public School Board.
There were no other political signs at the residence, just these two candidates. It made me curious, so I started to look at both candidates and found out that it was no coincidence that these two yard signs were next to each other.
Both LaGrand and Williamson began their campaigns way before anyone else in their respective races, with LaGrand submitting paperwork with the County Clerk in May of 2023, and Williamson submitted paperwork in April of this year.
What is instructive is that Richard Williamson is the treasurer for David LaGrand. In fact, Williamson has a history with LaGrand, since he was his campaign director in 2021-22, when LaGrand was running for a State Senate position. Since then, Williamson has been a legislative aide for Rep. John Fitzgerald, worked for the Michigan Senate Democrats as Legislative Director and is currently the Deputy Finance Director for the Michigan Senate Democrats.
The treasurer for Richard Williamson is Max Aulbach. Aulbach is the Legislative Director for the 82nd District State Representative Kristian Grant.
If we look at endorsements for both LaGrand and Williamson, we see lots of similarities. Both have numerous endorsements from Democratic Elected officials and numerous labor groups that have a history of providing lots of campaign funding to Democrats. However, LaGrand also has the endorsement of a few overtly far right people, such as the notorious Grand Rapids Capitalist Sam Cummings and Pro-Cop business people Johnny Brann Sr. and Johnny Brann Jr.
On the matter of campaign finances, David LaGrand has received funding from some of the usual Democratic Party elites and the business community, as we noted in July of 2023, November 2023, and in July of 2024. We don’t have campaign finance data for Williamson as of yet, since his campaign didn’t report anything in the last campaign deadline cycle in July, but I will post his campaign finance information in late October, when the Kent County Clerk’s office makes that information available. Only then can we determine if there are similarities between LaGrand and Williamson in regards to campaign contributions.
However, what seems clear is that both LaGrand and Williamson are backed by the Democratic Party establishment, since both have been involved in Democratic Party politics in Grand Rapids, Kent County and at the state level. Both David LaGrand and Richard Williamson have been endorsed by the Kent County Democrats, despite the fact that both are running for non-partisan positions.
The question I have for voters is, since both LaGrand and Williamson are part of the Democratic Party machine, will that translate into supporting business as usual politics if elected or will they really listen to the community, especially BIPOC and other marginalized communities, that have been most impacted by business as usual politics that both the Democrats and Republicans have supported in Grand Rapids?
5 anti-Capitalist things to know about the new DeVos/Van Andel downtown development project
As a follow up to my last post, headlined, Billionaire families announce new development project in GR, wants $544 million in public funding, I thought it would be useful to do the same thing that MLive did.
MLive did a follow up to the announcement about the new DeVos/Van Andel development project in downtown Grand Rapids, even though the follow up article didn’t really provide any new information than their initial post. I want to provide five points that we all need to be talking about, especially if we want to take away some of the power that the co-founding families of Amway have in this city.
First, even though it may not be the sexist thing to talk about, Grand Rapids has a serious issue around parking. I have already seen people on various social media platforms respond to the news about the new DeVos/Van Andel project on the corner of Fulton and Market regarding parking. People, especially those that live on the near westside of Grand Rapids are very concerned about the lack of parking in downtown Grand Rapids and their fear of having to pay for street parking in front of their own homes. Now, it is true that the initial MLive article about the new DeVos/Van Andel project did mention that it would include up to 2,500 parking spaces. However, there was no clarification if these spaces would be public or private, especially considering that there will be 130 hotel bedrooms, 76 condos and 595 market-rate (expensive) apartments.
Add the lack of parking to the fact that Grand Rapids and Kent County officials are hell bent on attracting as much tourism to downtown as possible. Tourism will bring even more cars to an area where parking is difficult to find, with the added dynamic that Grand Rapids just upped the cost of parking, which also included extending the hours for parking and increasing rates for events.
Second, the cost of housing with the DeVos/Van Andel project is all market driven, which means it excludes the majority of people already living in Grand Rapids. This project will include a 130 unit hotel, with rooms starting at $400 a night. There will also be 76 condos, but we don’t know the prices for those as of yet. However, after doing a search for the average price of a condo in downtown Grand Rapids I found $389,950.00 as the average.
Then there is the cost of the 3 types of 595 apartments that will be part of the DeVos/Van Andel project. The cost of these apartments are: for a studio apartment, that would be $2,643 per month, $2,833 for a one-bedroom, and $3,401 for a two-bedroom. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the average cost of rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in Michigan, based on the Fair Market Rate, is $1,204. However, the cost is higher in Grand Rapids, and according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, for someone to afford the average cost of a 2 bedroom apartment in Grand Rapids, they would have to make $26.33 an hour. Most people I know do not make that kind of a wage.
Third, we all have to stop buying into the narrative that these projects are transformational, or to more accurately put it, such projects are transformational for those who already control most of the land and other assets in downtown Grand Rapids, such as the DeVos and Van Andel families. As I stated in yesterday’s post, the DeVos/Van Andel project is requesting $544 million in financial incentives, for a $738 million project cost. This means that the DeVos/Van Andel project people are asking for roughly 75% of the cost of this project to be picked up by the public sector.
Beyond this, imagine how much money the DeVos/Van Andel people will make off of the 130 unit hotel, the 76 condos and the 595 apartments. These families will be making millions on a regular basis, not the people who will clean and maintain those properties or provide security for those buildings. It is likely that those workers would not be able to even afford to stay in the hotel rooms, plus they certainly will not be able to afford the cost of any of the 76 condos, nor the 595 apartments. These spaced are reserved for the business class and those that make 6 figure salaries and up.
Fourth, it is not likely that we will see any local politician – city, county or state elected official question or challenge the new DeVos/Van Andel project. These issues are not part of the candidate platforms for those running for Mayor of Grand Rapids in November, for Grand Rapids City and Kent County Commission seats, or those that represent Grand Rapids in the State Legislature.
Politicians and candidates will not speak out against the use of public funding/financial incentives for the DeVos/Van Andel project or any other major downtown development project because they will not publicly challenge the members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. When was the last time you heard a local politician publicly challenge the power of families like the DeVos and Van Andel families? These politicians and candidates do not have the guts to do so, plus most of them actually believe that the DeVos/Van Andel project and those like it are transformational.
For example, the legislation that allowed for the increased in the hotel tax in Kent County that was voted on in August, was based on House Bill 5048 of 2023, which was sponsored by House Democrat John Fitzgerald (District 83). The Democrats in the State House and Senate unanimously voted for it, with some Republicans joining them. Here is what that legislation said about how the hotel tax could only be used:
Generally, a county must use the revenue from the imposed excise tax to pay for specified items, including the administration and enforcement of the tax ordinance, the financing of convention and entertainment facilities, and the promotion of tourist and convention business in the county. Under the bill, these requirements would apply to revenue from a local unit of government’s imposed excise tax.
Based on this recent example, the question is, why aren’t politicians, and especially Democrats, creating policies that re-directs the kind of funds generated by the hotel tax in Kent County ($24 million annually) going to fund housing and other basic needs of the people whom they claim to represent? Because they are cowards and because they embrace business as usual politics.
Lastly, since we can’t rely on local politicians to represent the interests of of the major of Grand Rapids and Kent County, it will be necessary to build a movement that not only demands that the public has a say in how public funds are used, but to make demands on using the disgustingly larger amount of wealth from the small number of billionaires and millionaires in Kent County for real community needs – housing, food, transportation, health care, renewable energy, etc. Imagine how many lives would be improved if the public had control over public funding. Imagine if there was a movement to demand that the wealthiest members of this community should give that money to the people who made their wealth through their labor – a point I made about the Meijer family wealth increasing during the pandemic. Who wants to be part of such a movement?
Billionaire families announce new development project in GR, wants $544 million in public funding
MASSIVE news for GR! Check out this article highlighting a historic development project that will transform our skyline and enhance our community.
The above comment is what the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce posted on their Facebook page over the weekend, a comment that was attached to a post from MLive about the new DeVos/Van Andel development plan.
Such a comment is no surprise coming from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, especially considering ht close relationship that that organization has had with the DeVos and Van Andel families over the years. The GR Chamber has endorsed every DeVos and Van Andel development project ever since the DeVos family decided to purchase the Pantlind Hotel in downtown Grand Rapids and re-named it the Amway Grand Plaza.
This symbiotic relationship with the GR Chamber at the co-founding Amway families has also been seen in the Chamber’s unconditional support in the history of Grand Action 2.0 (which began with using millions in public dollars to build the Van Andel Arena) and every project since then, leading up to the 12,000 seat outdoor Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium. The DeVos/Van Andel relationship has also been central to the creation of the West Michigan Policy Forum, which was an outgrowth of the GR Chamber of Commerce in 2008, and has been pushing neoliberal capitalist policies ever since.
Local News coverage of DeVos/Van Andel development announcement
It is also not surprising how the local news had reported on the announcement about the new development venture involving the Amway co-founding families. In fact, the coverage once again demonstrates the subservience of both MLive and WOODTV8 to the DeVos and Van Andel families. To be frank, I believe that the local news agencies are essentially lapdogs to power, especially when it comes to the DeVos and Van Andel families.
The MLive headline read, DeVos, Van Andel families plan massive ‘skyline defining’ project in Grand Rapids, while the channel 8 online headline stated, Plan for old Charley’s Crab site would be ‘skyline-defining,’ firm says.
The idea that such a project will be “skyline defining” is based solely on the words of the firm that has been hired by the DeVos/Van Andel families, specifically Progressive Companies, known by most as Progressive AE. The CEO and President of Progressive Companies was quoted in both news sources, which confirms the subservience of the local news to these two families.
According to MLive, the DeVos/Van Andel project is being handled by:
The Fulmar Property Holdings, a company comprised of members of the DeVos and Van Andel families. The families own the 500-space parking lot at the corner of Fulton Street and Market Avenue, just north of Acrisure Amphitheater, where the project would be built.
The same article states that the project will include, “mixed-use development with three high-rise towers containing up to 671 high-end apartments and condos, a hotel, office tower and retail.”
Besides Progressive Companies and Fulmar Property Holdings, the project includes Michigan Growth Advisors, which will be taking the lead on efforts to secure federal, state and municipal financial incentives – tax breaks, subsidies – which means the millions in public funding will likely go to a project that is being championed by two multi-billionaire families.
The MLive article states that the project’s price tag is an estimated $738 million, but the “developers are eyeing a big public subsidy — a $544 million Transformational Brownfield plan.” Thus, the two billionaire families are seeking to use public incentives to cover the cost of three quarters of the total development project costs.
What makes this all the more absurd and infuriating is that the development will include 76 condos – which will no doubt only be affordable to those with deep pockets and a 130-room hotel, with rates that start at $400 a night. But wait, it gets even more disgusting. There will be 595 market-rate apartments that will cost the following:
For a studio apartment, that would be $2,643 per month, $2,833 for a one-bedroom, and $3,401 for a two-bedroom.
Much of the remaining portion of the MLive article is dedicated to how this DeVos/Van Andel project will utilize public funding to create an even larger playground area for the business class and their friends in downtown Grand Rapids. The MLive article also states that the project deal will be sweetened because, “Fulmar Property Holdings is proposing to access the bigger subsidy by providing an $8.5 million payment to the Grand Rapids Affordable Housing Fund over a 20-year period.”
Ok, so just to be clear, the DeVos/Van Andel project will provide $8.5 million over a 20 year period to the Grand Rapids Affordable Housing Fund, and in return, the two billionaire families hope to get $544 million Transformational Brownfield plan (Public Money). Welcome to the world of NeoLiberal Capitalism, where the billionaire class will receive $544 million to develop a project that will make them countless millions over the years and we are supposed to be excited that some of the wealthiest families in the area will contribute $425,000 a year for 20 years to the City’s Affordable Housing Fund. $425,000 a year for the DeVos and Van Andel families is like most working class people contributing $50 a year. It’s chump change for these rich families.
To add insult to injury, MLive ran a second article on Saturday with the headline, 5 things to know about the massive, skyline changing Grand Rapids riverfront project. This second article was essentially a summary of the initial post from Friday.
Again, the subservience of MLive to the DeVos/Van Andel families is demonstrated. Instead of providing even more Press Release journalism, MLive might want to actually ask people who have been dealing with gentrification, displacement and housing insecurity in recent years. There are groups in this city that would certainly have something to say about billionaires using $544 million in public incentives to expand their wealth and create a downtown district that will be their playground, but the local news doesn’t care what the public thinks about how public funding is used.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of September 22nd
It has been more than 11 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 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
Israelis Must Ask Themselves if They’re Willing to Live in a Country That Lives on Blood
US students, faculty fight silencing of anti-genocide protests
Israel Admits It Probably Killed Israeli Hostages in Gaza Airstrike in November
U.N. Experts Accuse Israel of “Starvation Campaign” in Gaza & Demand End to Western Complicity
MOST OF THE WORLD AGREES ISRAEL’S OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE MUST END. THE U.S. IS FINE WITH IT.
450 Wounded, 14 Dead After Lebanon Hit With Second Wave of Device Explosions
‘Horrific’ Video Shows Israeli Soldiers Pushing, Kicking Palestinian Bodies From Rooftop
Analysis & History
Palestinians in Occupied Palestine: Defying Zionism and Imperialism
‘Genocide Can and Should Never Be Just a Normal Story’
BDS impacts in times of genocide
Local Events and Actions
Power to Palestine: Weekly Rally in Grand Rapids
Wednesday, September 25th, noon – 1pm, Corner of Pearl St and Monroe in downtown GR.
Image used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 