GRIID end of the year in review: Part II – Monitoring the Grand Rapids Power Structure
In Part I of the GRIID end of the year review I looked at my efforts to monitor the local news in 2025, particularly around critical issues like immigration, policing and the Schurr trial. Today I will focus on the monitoring I do regarding the most powerful families, institutions and organizations in Grand Rapids, what I refer to as the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
There were a total of 73 stories that I posted on GRIID that were specific to the GR Power Structure, and I began the year with a story about who was behind the dark money in the 1st Ward race for City Commission in 2024.
With the growing resentment that is directed at the Trump Administration, I wrote two articles to try to get people to make the connection to who are the biggest supporters of Trump. One article in early February was entitled, Why are we not more pissed off with the DeVos family regarding the shit show that is the Trump Administration? I followed that article up a month later with an article entitled, Why are we not focusing as much attention on the Billionaires in our own back yard as we are on Musk and Bezos?
I also started a new segment called, Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids. There have been 8 different segments run, focusing on local members of the GR Power Structure. The first one was posted on March 12.
It has been interesting to see which Grand Rapids groups are actively opposing the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative, which would increase taxes for millionaires and billionaires and use that money to fund public education. The first article I wrote to expose those opposing an increase in taxation for millionaires and billionaires was in July. This was followed by another post on August 25th, November 12th and December 15th. In each case it was the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the West Michigan Policy Forum.
I also wrote other articles about the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and how they are influencing policy right here in Grand Rapids, my critique of the GR Chamber’s history timeline, the GR Chamber-created group Housing Next, and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce’s secret meeting to discuss immigration policies.
In addition, I wrote my annual critique of Crain’s Grand Rapids Business 200 most influential people, which is really a critique of the GR Power Structure.
Of course, monitoring the Grand Rapids Power Structure wouldn’t be complete without including all the things I have written about regarding the DeVos family in 2025. Here are 11 articles I wrote about the most powerful family in West MI.
DeVos family always looking to expand their wealth, this time with high end bourbon and whiskey
Believe in Our City: Just another iteration of the same old business as usual brand in Grand Rapids
Why is Rep. Scholten celebrating a DeVos created charter school?
Further evidence of how much the DeVos family has their tentacles in all things Grand Rapids
9 years ago the GRPS Superintendent was praising Betsy DeVos: What is she up to now?
I write about the Grand Rapids Power Structure because it is absolutely essential that we know what they are doing, especially if we want to resist the local oligarchy and practice radical change in this city. Tomorrow I will write about social movement work in Grand Rapids in Part III.
State board OKs $561M tax incentive to billionaire Amway families for 3 tower project: Mayor LaGrand celebrates this decision
The Michigan Strategic Fund Board approved $561 million in state tax incentives for the DeVos and Van Andel three tower project that hopes to break ground in the summer of 2026, according to a recent Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article.
The unanimous decision by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board should not surprise anyone who pays attention to this group, which is made up of a few government appointment officials, but mostly corporate representatives. In fact, there are two people who are based in Grand Rapids that have a direct connection to the DeVos and Van Andel families. One is Randy Thelen, President and CEO of the Right Place Inc., which has an Amway Corporation and Van Andel Institute representative on their Board of Directors. The other person is Dan Meyering, CEO of Trillium Investments, which not only just expanded their control over apartment complex ownership in West MI, plus he is also part of the West Michigan Policy Forum, which the DeVos and Van Andel families were instrumental in creating in 2009.
The other aspect of this story has to do with how Mayor LaGrand responded to the news. First, it must be pointed out that LaGrand attended the Michigan Strategic Fund Board meeting and spoke during public comment. According to the Crain’s article, LaGrand stated, the 700 housing units proposed in the project will “achieve an objective that’s near and dear to my heart, which is to get people living in our downtown core.”
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.
When the Mayor says that he wants people to live in downtown Grand Rapids, he left out the fact that the three towers project will be specifically be for members of the professional class, as they are the only ones likely to afford the cost of the apartments and the condos that will be built. This is also not surprising, since Grand Rapids officials have been consistently pushing to attract “talent”, meaning people who will demand higher salaries and people who will be more likely to embrace a more normalized, business as usual way of seeing the world.
The billionaire DeVos and Van Andel families certainly want to attract these kinds of people, people who celebrate capitalism and don’t want to be bothered by the rabble masses who are more prone to dissent and challenge the increasing power and influence of the local oligarchy that continues to use public money to expand their wealth. Shame on Mayor LaGrand for endorsing this billionaire theft of public funds!
GRIID end of the year in review: Part I – Local News coverage of ICE, GRPD and the Schurr trial
We are getting close to the end of 2025, which means I will be providing some end of the year reviews of the major themes that GRIID has documented. I will be looking at how GRIID tracked the Grand Rapids Power Structure, along with social movements in this community. Today I will focus on my work of monitoring local news.
There were a total of 40 posted that I did that fall under the category of dissecting the local news. Interestingly enough, the first post from January 7 was a WOODTV8 story where they provided former January 6th insurrectionist participant Ryan Kelley with an uncritical opportunity to present why he took part in the January 2021 action.
There were 14 times that I dissected how the local news reported on immigrations matters, with the majority of those stories having to do with how they reported on what Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE were doing to resist ICE repression. There were also several stories where I critiqued how the local news reported on what the Mayor of Grand Rapids or Police Chief Winstrom had to say about ICE. In each of these stories the local news took the Mayor and Chief Winstrom at their word. One example from WOODTV8 centers Mayor LaGrand’s comments during a City Commission meeting, despite the fact that for 2 hours during public comment people condemned ICE terrorism.
I also wrote a couple of responses to how local news was hyping the GRPD-centered show on HBO/MAX, which was nothing more than copaganda.
There were also several times where the local news provided Chief Winstrom a platform to misinform the public, stories where the local news acted like stenographers rather than reporters. Here is an example of a story that I critiqued, with the headline, GRPD creates counter narrative about incident from last weekend, while Chief Winstrom claims the cops have regained community trust.
In April it was the 3rd anniversary of the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya, so I provided a critique of the local news coverage for that anniversary coverage.
I also monitored the local news coverage of the stories leading up to the trial of Christopher Schurr, the GRPD cop who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. The headline of that article was, Local news coverage leading up to Schurr’s trial has been influenced by his lawyers, experts, a failure to provide community voices and a pro-GRPD bias.
Lastly, I did a six month study of local news coverage around several issues, with policing being one of the dominant themes of local coverage, along with courtroom coverage because of the Schurr trial. Here is a summary of the trial coverage from the GRIID Report.
While there might have been 46 stories created regarding the upcoming trial of Schurr, there have been two things that stand out. First, the local news media missed opportunities to do a deeper dive or investigation into issues like whether or not the racial make up of juries will have any influence in the outcome of this trial. See the recent report, Race and the Jury, from the Equal Justice Initiative.
The local news also could have created stories by talking with people and organizations in the community that have been organizing fund raisers for the Lyoya family, marches, protests, even those who have been arrested by the GRPD for demanding justice for Patrick Lyoya.
Second, most of the 46 stories generated over the past two weeks have been recycling the same narratives about the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya some 3 years ago. This recycling of story narratives is a disservice to the public and it disproportionately reflects a bias that favors the GRPD and how policing is done in Grand Rapids. If I was someone who hadn’t already formed an opinion about what happened the day that Schurr shot Lyoya in the back of the head, I would mostly likely be swayed by the most recent pre-trial coverage.
Once the Schurr trial had begun, I wrote a series of articles on the GRIID blog, that also centered aspects of the trial that the local news media either did not address or addressed in a superficial manner. Here are those GRIID blog posts:
As the jury prepares to render their decision in the Schurr trial, why is there so little attention around police killing civilians and cop convictions? https:// griid.org/2025/05/05/as-jury-prepares-to-render-their-decision-in-the-schurrtrial-why-is-there-so-little-attention-around-police-killing-civilians-and-copconvictions/
Responses to the mistrial of ex-cop Schurr who killed Patrick Lyoya – Part I https://griid.org/2025/05/11/responses-to-the-mistrial-of-ex-cop-schurr-whokilled-patrick-lyoya-part-i/
Responses to the mistrial of ex-cop Schurr in the death of Patrick Lyoya – Part II https://griid.org/2025/05/12/responses-to-the-mistrial-of-ex-copschurr-in-the-death-of-patrick-lyoya-part-ii/
Responses to the mistrial of ex-cop Schurr in the death of Patrick Lyoya – Part III https://griid.org/2025/05/13/responses-to-the-mistrial-of-ex-copschurr-in-the-death-of-patrick-lyoya-part-iii/
Chief Winstrom is now saying that Patrick Lyoya was killed because the GRPD was understaffed https://griid.org/2025/05/15/42056/
There are reasons why the Kent County Prosecutor will not re-charge Schurr for murdering Patrick Lyoya https://griid.org/2025/05/22/there-arereasons-why-the-kent-county-prosecutor-will-not-re-charge-schurr-formurdering-patrick-lyoya/
Mayor and City Manager statement after County Prosecutor’s decision to not re-charge Schurr for the killing of Patrick Lyoya praises the GRPD and wants lawful and civil responses from the community https://griid.org/2025/05/26/mayor-and-city-manager-statement-after-county-prosecutors-decision-to-not-re-charge-schurr-for-the-killing-of-patrick-lyoya-praises-the-grpd-and-wants-lawful-and-civil-responses-from-the-comm/
I include these articles because they communicate two things. First, these articles demonstrate the reality that local commercial news agencies don’t question systems and institutions of power. In fact, I would argue that they begin with the premise that the GRPD and the local courts are both necessary and provide essential services to the residents of Kent Count. The other conclusion to draw is that it underscores the point that when commercial news agencies don’t hold power accountable, the public needs other sources and other news or news analysis sources, especially around critical issues like public safety.
The company at 545 Michigan in Grand Rapids that already has a contract with ICE, will now be using bounty hunters to track down immigrants for ICE
Since June 4th, the public awareness around the existence of the ISAP office in Grand Rapids has increased, since ICE agents arrested and detained immigrants who were coming to their scheduled appointments at the 545 Michigan St. office building.
Since then, GR Rapid Response to ICE has been providing accompaniment to people who have appointments at that office, along with those who go to the ICE office at 517 Ottawa NW, just north of the 196 overpass.
A lot more people have also learned about what an ISAP office is. ISAP stands for Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which is a program operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that provides an alternative to detention for individuals in immigration proceedings.
What is instructive about the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, is that it is run by BI Incorporated, which is a subsidiary of the GEO Group. The GEO Group is one of the largest private prison entities in the world, which also runs prisons that are specifically ICE Detention Centers.
In addition, BI Incorporated also sells location tracking devices, such as ankle bracelets or wrist bracelets that people have to wear, so that ICE or other cops can monitor their whereabouts.
Think about it this way. The people who come to appointments at the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, are in the ICE system. They have to access the BI SmartLINK app, which allows “for real-time communication between officers and clients,” according to the BI Incorporated page. If they have a wrist or ankle bracelet, that is also provided by BI Incorporated. When they come to an appointment at the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, that is owned by BI Incorporated. Lastly, if they are detained by ICE agents while coming to their appointments, which is what happened on June 4, they will be sent to detention, which will soon mean that they will be sent to the GEO Group ICE detention facility in Baldwin, Michigan.
BI Incorporated will now be using Bounty Hunters
On December 19th, The Intercepted reported that BI Incorporated has a new contract with ICE to use bounty hunters to track down immigrants for ICE. The article states:
Records show ICE has already paid BI $1.6 million, with the potential for the contract to grow to as much as $121 million by the time it concludes in 2027.
It was also recently reported that a Bulgarian man died at the GEO Group owned North Lake ICE Detention Center in Baldwin, Michigan, supposedly of “natural causes.” The MLive article failed to mention a more relevant aspect of the Bulgarian’s case, which was reported by the ABC affiliate in Chicago.
“Gantchev was one of hundreds of people that a federal judge in Chicago ordered released on bond last month, after his warrantless arrest was flagged as possibly violating the Castañon Nava consent decree in place. In court records, federal officials indicated Gantchev’s release was not considered a high risk to public safety.
Gantchev’s wife said the order initially renewed their hope that he would be released and could seek further medical treatment, as he was diabetic.
But when the order was blocked by the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court, Gantchev’s wife said her husband Nenko faced a difficult decision: Submit to voluntary removal from the country back to Bulgaria, or stay in custody at North Lake, hoping he would eventually be granted bond.”
Last week, I wrote about accompanying someone to the BI Incorporated-run ISAP office in Grand Rapids, where they once again threatened those of us who accompanied an immigrant going to their appointment, harassed that same immigrant and also took pictures of us while standing outside the building where the ISAP office is located, which is 545 Michigan in Grand Rapids.
What this all means:
- The GEO Group makes massive profits from ICE contracts to run detention centers where several people have already died in 2025 while in a GEO Group detention center.
- The GEO Group subsidiary BI Incorporated has a massive contract to run Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) offices all around the US and in Grand Rapids.
- BI Incorporated sells tracking devices like ankle and wrist bracelets, along with an app called BI SmartLINK, all of which allow ICE to track immigrants.
- Now BI Incorporated stands to make an additional $121 million in a contract with ICE to use Bounty Hunters to also track down immigrants.
This is how Capitalism functions, by profiting off of the cruelty inflicting by companies against immigrants. Welcome to America!
What accompanying an immigrant to their ISAP office appointment in Grand Rapids looks like
Editor’s note: For transparency purposes I was representing the work of GR Rapid Response to ICE in my capacity of accompanying someone to their appointment.
Two weeks ago I shared a story about a young man I had done an accompaniment with to a court appointment. Today, I want to share a story about someone whom we did accompaniment with to the ISAP office here in Grand Rapids.
There were two of us from GR Rapid Response to ICE that agreed to meet someone who wanted us to accompany them top their ICE contract appointment at the ISAP office, located at 545 Michigan, near downtown Grand Rapids.
The young woman who requested accompaniment also came with another woman whom they had befriended. However, there must have been some miscommunication, since while we walked to the office we saw someone on the 3rd floor of the building looking out at us and waving. We motioned to them to wait for us to come in but by the time we got there they were already buzzed into the office.
I say buzzed into the office, since the private company that has a contract with ICE to manage these appointments now has the door locked and the only way to get in is to be buzzed in by the office manager. It wasn’t like this before at the ISAP, but ever since GR Rapid Response to ICE has been offering to accompany people to their appointments at the 545 Michigan office, the company that manages the ICE contract has significant changes to which people they allow in.
In June I wrote about the ISAP office, saying:
What is instructive about the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, is that it is run by BI Incorporated, which is a subsidiary of the GEO Group. The GEO Group is one of the largest private prison entities in the world, which also runs prisons that are specifically ICE Detention Centers.
In addition, BI Incorporated also sells location tracking devices, such as ankle bracelets or wrist bracelets that people have to wear, so that ICE or other cops can monitor their whereabouts.
Since GR Rapid Response to ICE has been providing accompaniment for people going to their appointments, BI Incorporated has added a buzzer for people to get in and they included signage, which is reflected in the image included above, making it clear that they don’t even want people in the building who are there to support people who have appointments. If anyone else comes into the building the ISAP office will call the GRPD and have people removed from the building.
The Honduran woman that we provided accompaniment today told us that they left Honduras because someone with the drug cartels was pressuring her husband into getting involved in drug trafficking. This is not something that he wanted to do, but he also knew that it was risky to say no to them, so they fled their country and eventually came to the US. Her husband had applied for asylum, which means he is here until the courts decide whether or not he is worthy of being granted asylum. Being granted asylum seems unlikely, since the US has had cozy relations with Honduras for years, since the Obama Administration supported the coup. The coup created tremendous instability and corruption in the country, which is why so many people are fleeing, with many coming to the US.
The Honduran woman that we accompanied to her appointment came out after just 15 minutes, but told us that the ISAP office staff was very rude to her and was asking questions about us, like “who are those people with you?” She chose not to share information with the ISAP staff person, but did say that they had taken our picture from the 3rd floor window.
This woman was very upset by the interaction and also shared with us that the ISAP office staff wanted to see her work papers, since the Honduran woman had recently found a job. She told them that she would bring it to the next meeting in February, but then shared that she was just going to make a copy of her work papers, since the ISAP office people took her passport, and only gave her a copy of it, which we believe to be illegal.
This was also the first time that the Honduran woman had interacted with GR Rapid Response to ICE and was glad to hear about the Mutual Aid work we do, along with offering sanctuary to people who no longer feel safe where they are living.
I spoke with her briefly, since I have spent some time in Honduras and knew the area she was from. My sharing that bit of information helped her to feel a bit at ease for the few minutes we were talking. She then shared how grateful she was for our presence and will call us before the next appointment. She then gave us both a hug and went on her way.
The other GR Rapid Response to ICE person I was with said this experience was a bot intense and that she couldn’t imagine how undocumented immigrants are feeling when coming to these appointments. Most people we have done accompaniment with have a feeling of dread and are treated with suspicion. So much for the sentiment etched onto the Statue of Liberty.
”Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
This is just part of the work that GR Rapid Response to ICE does. If you want to get involved you can contact them through their Facebook page or by sending an Email to info@grrapidresponsetoice.org.
New Report released on sexual abuse by Catholic Priests in Grand Rapids, my own experience, and what the Bishop said and didn’t say
On December 12th, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a report that covered a 75 year period of reported sexual abuse by Catholic Priests in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
The 336 page report is hauntingly difficult to read, especially since there were lots of names I recognized in the report. When I first moved to Grand Rapids in the early 1980s, I was a youth minister at St. James Catholic Church in Grand Rapids. The following year I went into the Catholic seminary and attended Aquinas College as part of the process of becoming a Catholic Priest.
The priest at St. James who invited me to work there was Fr. Charles Antekeier, one of the priests named in the report. Antekeier was a rather conservative priest who was part of the Catholic Charismatic movement, which adopted some fundamentalists religious views, but maintained a deep commitment to Rome and the church hierarchy.
I loved the work with the youth, both at the grade school and through the congregation, but I soon realized that Fr. Antekeier was a rather rigid leader and would not tolerate anyone who questioned him. A friend of mine at the time, who was head of the Peace & Justice committee at the church had organized an event to hear from two local priests who had just come back from Nicaragua to talk about the role that some catholic priests were playing in the revolution there. Fr. Antekeier was not pleased by this event and made it a point to invite Nicaraguans to speak at a mass the following week. However, the Nicaraguans he invited were part of the Word of God community in Ann Arbor, which was a reactionary group that supported the Nicaraguan dictatorship that had been overthrown in 1979.
I was then told by Fr. Antekeier that I needed to go to Ann Arbor and spend a week at the Word of God community, so I could be presented the real truth about what was happening there. I refused, saying that I already had work commitments with the youth of the church. Fr. Antekeier then told me to pack my stuff and leave that same day, as I was fired from my job.
In 2015, Fr. Charles Antekeier was permanently removed from doing any ministry work, since it was revealed that while he was pastor of St. James Church, he abused youth in the parish in the early 1980s. I remember seeing a news story about this and then read the formal statement from the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese.
I was not surprised by this revelation, since I always had a suspicion about Antekeier’s relationship to the families at St. James, especially since his authority could not be questioned. However, I do struggle with the fact that this priest was probably abusing children while I was working at the church and I had no idea it was taking place.
The details about Fr. Antekeier in this new report are deeply troubling. There are 30 pages alone of testimony from survivors in this report, with victims being abused by Fr. Antekeier as both children and adults.
Bishop’s Response
On December 15th, the Catholic Bishop for the Grand Rapids Diocese wrote a letter and made it public here at this link.
The two-page letter has some sincere comments, particularly regarding victims/survivors. At one point the Bishop writes:
All alleged conduct involving a minor occurred before 2002, the year the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops enacted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. While the report highlights the failings of priests over a 75-year period, it lacks proper context, especially in failing to acknowledge how the Church has supported victim-survivors and taken appropriate and immediate actions to address reports of clerical sexual abuse, especially since 2002. The AG report gives evidence that these safeguards are working.
While this comment seems reassuring, I don’t personally take comfort in it. There are two things that I find troubling from both the report and the Bishop’s response. First, there isn’t any real acknowledgment or exploration around the fact that Catholic priests have tremendous power in the communities they work in. Catholic priests are still seen by too many people as authority figures who often do not like to be questioned or challenged, especially in public. What I wrote about my experience with Fr. Antekeier was about the power he had and even though I was not sexually assaulted by him, he still wielded tremendous power over someone who dared to question him. The Catholic Church (and churches in general) need to address the formal and informal power that clergy have in this society, if we are serious about addressing abuses committed by clergy.
The second problem with I have with Bishop’s response is his comment in the last sentence, “The AG report gives evidence that these safeguards are working.” The Bishop provides no hard evidence that the abuse by priests isn’t continuing. If you say that there are no new reports then you are perpetuating one of the dynamics about the power that priests continue to have. Those who have a documented history of abuse are not the only problem, since there are likely priests who have not yet been caught or held accountable for their actions. Just because people are not coming forward doesn’t mean clergy abuse has ceased in the Grand Rapids Diocese.
Lastly, it is worth noting that in the Bishop’s letter he does not have any strong language condemning this history of sexual abuse by priests. The only language he uses is calling the abuse a “crime and a sin.” This kind of language is not forceful enough and the Bishop should make it clear that he condemns this kind of violence, both physical and spiritual, since priests can easily coerce and manipulate children and adults they mean to harm.
The Bishop also completely ignore the trauma caused by such abuse, trauma that has life-long implications for individuals and families who have been impacted. The Catholic Church has not responded adequately to this issue and too many priests have not been held accountable for their actions and abuse of power as priests. People who have been harmed deserve better, indeed they deserve more.
Campesinos reclaim some communal lands in Mexico that Amway has been using for their Nutrilite product line
I read an interesting story on Crain’s Grand Rapids Business yesterday, which centered around a land dispute between the Amway Corporation and Mexican farmers.
The Crain’s article headline reads, Inside Amway’s failed $2.7B claim over seized Mexican farmland. Early on in the story it states:
The dispute follows a 2022 land seizure that has been in arbitration since 2023. Amway affiliate Access Business Group has racked up nearly $3.5 million in legal costs to protect the company’s interest in a plot of land known as Rancho El Petacal that the Ada-based direct selling giant purchased in the early 1990s for its Nutrilite supplement operations.
This article is instructive in so many ways. First, the Crain’s article is written almost entirely from the point of view of the Amway Corporation. At one point in the article readers do hear from someone other than Amway:
“This land has been stolen, first by the landlords of the hacienda, and then came the worst, when the government handed over the land to a transnational company instead of us peasants,” Raúl De la Cruz Reyes, chairman of the San Isidro ejido, told publication Pie de Pagina in 2022. “This company destroyed the fauna, everything. They take the product but the people remain poor because the wealth is taken abroad. What is left here are people who are worn out from work and a few elites who are filling their pockets with money.”
Second, without looking into the claims of those who have communal land rights, the Crain’s article shifts gears and talks to a Grand Valley State University Seidman College of Business professor, who was also cited at length early on in the article.
Third, when discussing the arbitration component, the Crain’s article states:
In its 2023 arbitration request, Amway argued its investments reflected the company’s commitment to its Mexico operations and benefited the local economy.
The investments included the construction of a nearly 4-mile highway to the farm, a bridge and a water treatment plant for the local community. Amway said it contributed financially to the construction of a local church, a soccer facility, and to maintenance of an elementary school facility. Amway also built a community center where Nutrilite has sponsored events such as English language courses, arts workshops and nutrition programs.
“The Nutrilite operation on the Nutrilite Property land and corresponding improvements was the first source of employment in the local community. It did more than contribute to the local economy. The Nutrilite investment actually created that economy,” the company said in the arbitration request.
What the Crain’s article suggests is that the people from the community had nothing before Amway arrived and made their lives better. Fortunately, there is another narrative. In an article headlined, San Isidro vs Amway, it states:
The communities brought their case against Amway to the United Nations and to the Permanent Peoples Tribunal. They denounced the company for violating their right to use their lands, not only to grow their foods but also to access water and move freely across their territory. They also denounced the company for environmental damage, contaminating water sources and causing health impacts such as cancer, kidney damage, and poor childhood growth. The community also decried how, without access to land, they were forced to work for the company, in poorly paid and precarious conditions.
This paints a fundamentally different narrative from the one that the Amway Corporation wants to portray. I found another article written in an online publication called Ojala, with the headline, The long road to getting land back in Mexico. This article also presents a very different narrative than the Crain’s article, which relies primarily on Amway’s narrative. Here is one excerpt from that article:
In 1994, U.S. company Amway/Nutrilite S.R.L. de C.V., bought the land from the former plantation owners, who were in deeply in debt, under the regulations of the North American Free Trade Agreement. According to attorney Robles, the company did so knowing that the land title was disputed. The company purchased the land nonetheless, while accepting liability for any conflict that might occur. It never complied with the agreement that its representatives signed. Amway has asked the courts to affirm its claim to the land, but this should be dismissed given this clause, according to the ejidatarios and their lawyer.
Ojalá attempted to contact Amway’s communications department via phone and email to inquire about the reasons for its lawsuit, despite having agreed during the purchase to assume the consequences of having acquired the land in default. We have not yet received a response.
It warms my heart to read of the possibility that communal lands might be restore to Indigenous people in Mexico. During the Mexican Revolution over 100 years ago, one of the principles of that revolution were captured in the phrase – Those who work the land ought to own it collectively!
It should surprise none of us who live in West Michigan, that the Amway Corporation is seeking to keep land that did not belong to them. The Amway Corporation should be seen clearly in this case as the outsiders and the colonizers of land they have no right to. As the Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata once said, “Tierra o Muerte!” “ Land or Death!”
Real Estate Investment firm just bought 3 more apartment complexes for $67.5 million, but their CEO is against the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative
The growing real estate investment company Trillium Investments, just got a whole lot bigger with their recent purchased of three separate apartment complexes in West Michigan.
According to an article from Crain’s Grand Rapids Business:
The transaction included the 160-unit Bayberry Farms, at 5910 Bayberry Farms Drive in Wyoming, for $24.5 million, or $153,125 per door, and the 100-unit Marcell Ridge at 240 Marcell Drive NE in Rockford, for $14.6 million, or $146,000 per door. As part of the same deal, Trillium also bought the 181-unit Meadow Springs at 3079 E. Springview Drive in Holland Township for $28.4 million, or $157,778 per door.
The total cost of these three purchases comes out to $67.5 million. This purchase provides Trillium Investments with a sizable control over rental properties in West Michigan. The company already controls/owns rental properties in the following West Michigan counties:
- Kent County – Richmond Hills, College Hill, Ashbrook, Town & Country, Eagles Nest
- Ottawa County – Highbrook Town Homes and Cottonwood Forest
- Muskegon County – The Amazon
It’s bad enough when you have companies controlling this much housing in West Michigan, since they get to dictate rental rates that are generally out of reach to most working class individuals and families that are already housing insecure. But that it not the only thing that is problematic about Trillium Investments. Their CEO, Dan Meyering, has been very public about his opposition to the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative.
There are currently 12 billionaire families living in Michigan, with 2 right here in the Grand Rapids area, the Meijer and DeVos families. According to one source, there are 73,364 households in Michigan with $500,000 or more in income, which makes up only 1.8% of the population. Therefore, if the ballot initiative is passed, then 1.8% of the population – the wealthiest members of Michigan – will pay increased taxes that will generate billions for public schools.m
As I reported last month, Dan Meyering says of the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative:
If adopted, this income tax increase would fall hardest on Michigan’s small businesses, not its largest corporations. In fact, over 75% of those who would pay more under this plan are small business owners. That’s because many small businesses are “pass-through” entities, meaning owners pay taxes on business earnings and even money reinvested into growth, hiring, or equipment. The simple truth is these entrepreneurs aren’t forced to pay additional taxes on household income of $500,000 for single filers; they’re taxed on their business’ income.
First of all, if passed, the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative would not increase taxes for corporations, yet Meyering includes corporations in his deceptive argument. Second, Meyering makes the claim that whatever profits small businesses make gets reinvested in new hiring or equipment, but again does not provide evidence or data to support such a claim.
Later in the article, Meyering uses the standard anti-public education talking points, where he states:
We should focus on three clear changes to help kids learn:
- Make sure third-grade reading works by supporting teachers with proven science-of-reading instruction and literacy-based advancement.
- Give parents transparency to make school performance data clear, comparable and accessible.
- Expand options for families. Every child learns differently, and every family deserves access to the education model that works best for them.
It is worth noting that Meyering refers to himself as a small business owner. Now, when I think of a small business owner I think of someone who owns a neighborhood restaurant or a bookstore. Meyering is the CEO of Trillium Investments, which owns a growing number of multifamily apartments across the midwest. These apartments are not affordable to most people, thus Meyering’s company owns apartment complexes that cater to members of the professional class. Thus, owning apartment complexes in Michigan and Minnesota hardly makes one a small business owner.
Meyering has a history of using his wealth and position of influence to impact public policy that benefits the wealthy and punishes working class people. For example, Meyering sits on the board of the Michigan Strategic Fund, which uses public dollars to support private projects, like the one he voted on to give $252.3 million of incentives for Amphitheater in downtown Grand Rapids. Meyering was also a signatory to the GR Chamber’s push for the City of Grand Rapids to adopt ordinances that would criminalize the unhoused.
Lastly, Meyering contributes to political campaigns locally, where he uses his wealthy to influence the outcome of elections. Meyering contributed $1000 or more in the following local elections since 2022:
$1000 to Andrew Robbins who ran for Grand Rapids 1st Ward Commissioner in 2022
$1000 to Kenneth Hoskins who ran for Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Commissioner in 2022
$1225 to Dean Pacific who ran for Grand Rapids 1st Ward Commissioner in 2024
$1225 to John Krajewski who ran for Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Commissioner in 2024
If Meyering can spend that kind of money to influence local elections and sit on state boards that approve millions of public dollars for private projects, he can surely pay a modest increase in income taxes to benefit public education. This is what propaganda looks like and why we need to call it out.
Last week I posted an article that provided some historical context for why Kent County has been so opposed to adopting the 6 sanctuary policies that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been demanding since the beginning of 2025. The historical context is based on Freedom of Information (FOIA) documents that people requested in 2018. Today I want to present similar historical context for why the City of Grand Rapids has been unwilling to move on the same 6 sanctuary policy demands. Today’s post is based on FOIA documents from 2019, specifically how much the GRPD was engaged in monitoring of Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE, including threats and intimidation.
It should be stated that since Movimiento Cosecha GR and it’s ally group, GR Rapid Response to ICE, began organizing in early 2017, the GRPD has consistently engaged in surveillance, monitoring, harassment and intimidation tactics of this movement. On many occasions, when organizers engaged in specific actions, there were as many, and at times, more police officers present than there were those protesting.
In what follows, you will see that the GRPD spent a great deal of energy, resources and taxpayer money to monitor, harass and threaten a consistently non-violent movement for immigration justice.
The FOIA documents obtained can be viewed at this link, with 271 pages of e-mail communication, text messages, photos, and other documents related to the 2019 May Day action that Cosecha GR had planned.
On pages 269 – 271, you can see the final cost of the FOIA request, which was $551.01. However, if one goes through the pages, it is clear that 90-95% of the documents were redacted by the GRPD. Here is the explanation they provide on the redaction:
Your request for these records is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Please be advised that information has been redacted from the documents under MCL 15.243(1)(a)(information of a personal nature release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual’s privacy) and MCL 15.243(1)(b)(iii) (law enforcement records release of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy). It is the City’s position that the public interest in the disclosure of this information is outweighed by the public interest in keeping this information private. The core purpose of the FOIA is to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government. Requests for information that involve private citizens in government files that reveal little to nothing about the inner working of government do not serve the core purpose of the FOIA.
Apparently, the GRPD did not want the public to know what they did, and more importantly, how they operate. So much for transparency.
On page 255, the FOIA document states this:
One could certainly make the point that the work of Movimiento Cosecha GR is anti-fascist, but the idea that there are “professional protesters” is just plain ridiculous.
Even more disturbing in the document on page 238, which shows what the GRPD was threatening to do if people marched in the street:
Remember, Movimiento Cosecha GR is a non-violent movement, but this is how the GRPD planned on responding if people marched in the streets. with violent repression.
On page 240, they GRPD included pictures they took that day, but every single one of those pictures are redacted.
However, the bulk of the FOIA documents are from e-mails by the GRPD within the department. Again, most of what are contained in the e-mails are redacted, but there are some useful and revealing comments that were used, which we want to look at.
Page 17 – It states, “Just touching base to make sure we are up and running for tomorrow’s Movimiento event as Arrest Team 2.” The GRPD is always eager to arrest someone.
Page 28 – Here the GRPD is talking about a Crowd Management plan, which means they want to manage what those protesting do. The police are always trying to bend actions the way they want them.
Page 39 – “I believe the below link is the video, but it is Movimiento Cosecha explaining that they are going to march without a permit tomorrow and know that the march will disrupt people.I would like it maintained for evidence the event we end up making arrests.”
Pages 53-57 – Includes communication between Cosecha GR and the City of Grand Rapids. The question should be asked as to why the GRPD would include this communication?
Page 59 – The GRPD is trying to set up a meeting with “Hispanic Community Leaders,” but they were rebuked saying that Cosecha GR is the group that needed to be at the table. The GRPD uses the tactic here to marginalize on the ground organizers, by meeting with people who are considered leaders, but not doing the on the ground work.
Page 72 – Operations plan is completely redacted
Pages 82-84 – The GRPD provides numerous links to articles “of interest” about the planned May Day march.
Page 103 – The GRPD says, “Being May 1, that is the date of the Mayday March organized by Movmiento Cosecha, an immigrant rights group that seeks to disrupt traffic each year. Last year was a mess and we expect worse this year.”
Page 105 – The GRPD again talking about meeting with community leaders, but that they should not initiate, “as it may be seen by some as an attempt to interfere with march plans.”
Page 173 – The GRPD writes, “I don’t think he is a member of Cosecha but I think we can make him do whatever we want…doesn’t he work for you guys?” Seems as if they are trying to get someone to infiltrate and/or collect intelligence for them.
While these examples are not terribly revealing, they do provide a window into the mindset of the GRPD and their efforts to manipulate and marginalize social movements. More importantly, the GRPD clearly does not believe in transparency, since most of the documents are redacted, thus preventing the public from having any understanding of how the GRPD functions. The larger questions are; 1)what are they hiding?, and 2) what can we learn from these documents and this example in terms of how social movements can be best prepared to deal with state violence and repression?
This historical context about why the City of Grand Rapids has opposed adopting sanctuary policies should be clearer for those following the efforts of Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE. The GRPD continues to deny any cooperation with ICE and the City of Grand Rapids continues to support the GRPD’s harassment and surveillance of Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE actions to pressure the city to adopt the 6 sanctuary policies since early 2025.
Rockford (Construction) will likely get the contract for a housing development project next to the Amway Stadium
At a recent Downtown Development Authority (DDA) meeting, Rockford (formerly known as Rockford Construction) was authorized to “to explore development potential for surface lot property the DDA owns,” according to a story on Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.
In a Memorandum from the DDA (part of the Agenda packet from 12/10 pg. 41) it reads:
For several reasons, staff believe Rockford is uniquely qualified to deliver on the objectives previously articulated for the project and site. Those qualifications include being the general contractor for the Stadium which provides them with an understanding of site conditions and coordination logistics for future development. Further Rockford is Downtown based, well capitalized, and has a history of delivering projects on the west side of Downtown – including several mixed-use projects with housing in the immediate vicinity of the stadium.
MLive also reported on the DDA’s recommendation that Rockford be the preferred developer for the housing project next to the Amway Stadium.
The problem with the MLive and Crain’s reporting is that it doesn’t provide adequate context for all the players involved in the development project. Here is how I see this project coming together.
- The Amway Stadium project, which included adjacent housing, was proposed by Grand Action 2.0. Dick DeVos is one of the three co-Chairs of this group.
- The Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA) approved the original request for the Amway Stadium and is now recommending that Rockford get the contract for the housing development project. Two of the nine board members for the DDA are DeVos family operatives – Greg McNeilly (The Windquest Group is run by Dick and Betsy DeVos) and Rick Winn, the President of AHC Hospitality is owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families.
- It was determined last year that the Soccer Stadium would be named the Amway Stadium, since the Amway Coporation bought the naming rights for $33 million. The Amway Corporation is owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families.
- Just after the soccer stadium would be named the Amway Stadium, it was reported that the DeVos and Van Andel families would own the professional soccer team that would be playing at the Amway Stadium.
- The fact that Rockford was named as the company to likely get the contract to develop the housing project adjacent to the Amway Stadium makes complete sense. Rockford has a long history of working with the DeVos family, like the company’s integral involvement with the Doug & Maria DeVos-funded effort to spend millions to purchase land in the Boston Square and Cottage Grove areas, with Rockford’s involvement that began as early as 2014, some three years before the public ever knew about it.
In a 2016 MLive article, former Rockford CEO Mike VanGessel was talking about why Rockford moved to the westside:
Three years after moving the company’s headquarters into the neighborhood, VanGessel is working on a series of plans and projects aimed at revitalizing the gritty, working-class neighborhood into an entertainment, shopping and residential neighborhood.
VanGessel revealed in this article that he had developed important relationships over the years with other power players in the area, specifically Rich DeVos, Mike Jandernoa and Pete Secchia.
So, you can see from my narrative about who benefits from these development projects is based on who gets to decide, which in this case it is primarily the DeVos family, followed by the Van Andel family. This is what political and economic power looks like in Grand Rapids.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 