Call this meeting of the city commissioner order.

Ask you all to join us as is our habit with a moment of silence.

Please all join us in saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

One nation under God, indivisible liberty and justice for all.

Mr.

Clerk, if you call the roll, and as you do so, if there are interpreter could come up front.

Commissioner Belchak.

Present.

Commissioner Purdue.

Good afternoon.

Commissioner Asassi.

Present.

Commissioner Kilgore.

Present.

Commissioner Knight.

Present.

Mayor LeGrand.

Yes.

Do we have an interpreter?

This is the first.

No.

Okay.

Well, if our interpreter shows, I will ask her to identify herself.

Uh that's a pity.

Generally, we have an interpreter for English and Spanish.

Uh, we do to spontaneous translation for the for the broadcast, but for people in the audience.

Okay, well, moving along.

Um, I will first this is our first opportunity for public comment on agenda items specifically.

There's an opportunity for comment on other items at the end of the meeting.

My name is Scott Atchison, and I asked the clerk to hand out a little piece of paper of what I'm going to speak to you about.

Uh fiscal committee number one and committee of the whole number four.

Um fiscal committee one is the resolution recognizing the African American museum as a local civic organization.

Great idea.

The reason I'm saying this, I think you guys need to promote all the museums downtown.

That's why I'm here to go tangent to say that's why you need an information center downtown through the QR code daily scan newsletter that lets them know about all the five museums downtown.

The Ford Museum, the Grand Rapids Public Museum, the Art Museum, the Children Museums, and now the African American Museum.

It just still makes me crazy that we don't have an information center downtown to let everybody know it's open daily and every day it changes.

You know, but basically it's a simple thing.

But now, committee of the whole number four, you guys are scheduling a public hearing for the necessity of a special assessment for the downtown improvement district, and I still find it hard to distinguish between the downtown development authority, the downtown improvement district, and the downtown Grand Rapids.

They all work in the same building in the same office, and it's like we have three when we only need one.

You know, it's but then on this um thing you're gonna be voting on or after the public hearing.

This is gonna be a three-year contract instead of one year contract, and I think everybody needs to know that.

Three there's a lot of shenanigans that can go on in three years instead of one year from input and oversight from this board.

You know, and I I was in a downtown improvement district meeting earlier this year, and every year I see uh rates and assessments go up, but this is definitely about the ambassadors.

The ambassadors, what I heard in the meeting, if they're gonna get another raise, it's gonna be more money coming out of the taxes and assessments of Grand Rapids, other than what the contract is.

So these are some of the questions you need to ask when whoever shows up at your public hearing.

Three years instead of one year.

They're already talking about expanding the assessment area.

Um who pays the ambassadors?

Who do the ambassadors work for?

Actually, the ambassadors are work like a temporary service out of block by block out of Kentucky.

So they pay them $15 an hour, but block by block gets at least $21 an hour.

It's like an employment service on steroids.

I think y'all need to go back and read the original contract that you guys okayed for this ambassador program.

I've got pros and cons about the ambassadors.

In in anyone who thinks the downtown wandering ambassadors are an information system or an information center, needs to go back to school.

Thank you.

Uh seeing no one else for comment on agenda items.

That brings us to approval of the meeting of the minutes.

Uh motion and actually I will ask that uh second.

Mr.

Clerk, what's okay if we do both of those together?

Um minutes from 331 and from 401.

So approval of both meetings.

I have a motion from support.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Brings us to petitions and communications.

Mr.

Clerk.

Communication received from Jose Costa regarding a FOIA appeal.

Steven filed.

Communication received from Jimmy Arizona requesting the removal of all portraits of Caesar Chavez and the removal of his name from streets in Grand Rapids.

Even filed.

Communication received from Scott Edcherson regarding a downtown information center.

Stephen filed.

Communication received from Tom and Wilmo Lauderman expressing opposition to the 7th Street Northwest Development.

See if filed.

Communication from Julie Hulk expressing opposition to proposed parking rate increases in downtown Grand Rapids.

Communication received from Joanna Jelks urging the city commission to consider a resolution opposing the ballot initiative known as Americans for citizen voting.

Communication received from Tom Willis expressing his disagreement with the recently implemented changes to the dash bus route.

That brings us to reports of city officers.

Comptrollers warrant report for the period of March 17, 2026 through March 30, 2026, in the amount of 30 million four hundred and eighteen thousand one hundred and seventy-nine dollars and twenty cents.

And the treasurer's report for the period of March 18, 2026 through March 31, 2026.

This brings us to our consent agenda and report of standing committees.

And for those in the audience, uh this is these are items which passed unanimously out of committee and which were not for any reason uh pulled from the consent agenda, which any commissioner can do if they want to have further discussion uh of the items.

So I'd ask for a motion for approval of consent agenda.

So moved.

Support all in favor say aye.

Aye.

That brings us to uh items removed from consent.

And uh we have one here that is a resolution uh confirming city manager Mark Washington's approval of Joshua Longer to the Grand Rapids Housing Commission.

Uh can I have a uh pardon me can have a motion?

So moved support.

Um thank you and Commissioner Sassi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, as uh stated, um, this item is about the housing commission appointment.

The executive director of the um commission, Miss Lindsay Reims, has recommended two individuals, the city manager for appointment to the housing commission.

Uh Mr.

Josh Langer is one of these individuals, and considering Miss Ream's recommendation, this resolution has been prepared.

Um, and this is for a appointment.

Uh the remainder of a five-year term ending April 9, 2030.

There are no remaining vacancies.

Should this appointment move forward?

Thank you.

And this is off consent due to lack of uh due to a dissenting vote and uh in committee this morning.

Yes.

Um Commissioner Cover.

Yes, uh, thank you, Mayor.

Uh I was the uh dissenting uh uh vote uh due to uh for the public, just to uh they can also refer back to the committee on appointments meeting at 8 a.m.

this morning.

Uh that dissenting vote was from a lack of consistency from this organization.

I'm very thankful for their work uh in surpassing their goal in the 100 and 100.

That is fantastic for our community.

But then in turn, they continue to have strategic uh and intentional advocacy against housing bill packages that would help with uh making housing more accessible for our neighbors.

In addition, they helped to penalize our unhoused neighbors uh by helping to support the um uh nuisance ordinance that happened a few years ago, uh, in which the ACLU spoke out against uh that ordinance for possibly violating human rights.

In addition, uh the Grand Rapids Chamber has continued to spread misinformation, such as their both web page and text campaign with continued unsupported claims that the climate action and adaptation plan uh that was passed by this commission six to one will cost neighbors and homeowners more money.

We are being transparent about uh our cost analysis for the climate action adaptation plan that will come in the summer.

There have been no sources or data that support these claims, and this is unacceptable by a community partner as we continue to support their work.

We're living in an age where uh misinformation spreads fast when a social media and a media age, and we need our community partners that are gonna partner with us to stay in truth, stay in fact, uh, and be consistent with our advocacy.

For so for those reasons, uh I would like to not support uh this appointment.

And in addition, the uh my colleagues and I on the committee on appointments continue to look at what expertise is needed.

Uh this uh organization, uh the chamber offers a deep expertise on development on business, but I think the other appointment that we reappointed uh from Rockford construction offers that perspective in a very meaningful way, and so it is duplicating expertise uh and uh ability uh that we already have uh recognized on that body.

So duplicating uh continued misinformation from the Grand Rapids Chamber uh and lack of consistency on helping people have actual access to housing.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um I guess I will say in response that uh Josh Lunger has the individual in question here, has done uh an extremely large amount of work on um trying to grapple with the question of how we actually house people in complex housing the community and has um really been part of some transformative progress on that, and I think we're actually a national leader in terms of our outcome in that space, and that's one of the um just so the public knows um complex care housing is uh one of the real challenges um for dealing with people who are unhoused.

Um and it's uh it's a very complicated issue that we've made real progress in the city and uh Mr.

Lunger's really been part of that.

Um I also think it's um I personally do not think that it's uh uh a good idea to um start uh uh to not appoint people simply to attribute their uh first of all the retrue but their employer to them to their own individual ability to act uh on an on an appointment, but also um I think that um disagreements with the chamber about uh even if that were salient, I think that disagreements with the chamber about this issue or that issue.

Um I think I certainly don't think it's a good idea to um blanket uh uh cease to uh cooperate and collaborate and work with the chamber, and I think this is a great opportunity for and has been a great opportunity for us.

I think that's uh the chamber has made significant interest uh pardon me investment in helping to deal with the housing issue in Grand Rapids, and so I will be voting to support this.

But if anyone else has any comments, uh otherwise I'll call for a vote.

We usually mayor mayor, we I know Robert's rule is that you know you speak on it once, but we usually don't uh go with that rule.

Um I I totally hear you, and I appreciate your very metered and balanced.

It's not a blanket statement.

Everything that I've said, Mr.

Lunger has been directly involved with this.

And with this work, your employer does say your values.

So I disagree with that, but thank you.

It's not meant to be a blanket statement.

Everything that I've said, he has been directly involved in coming from, I don't know if they call it a department or an office, but from his role.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um I'll call for a vote then.

Uh voice vote, all in favor of the appointment say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Nay.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Uh that brings us to our ordinances to be adopted.

And the first of these is an ordinance establishing the Dean Kendall House located at 2350 Leonard as a historic landmark.

Uh can I have a motion?

So moved.

Support.

Uh Commissioner Belchak.

Yes, this is an ordinance for the historic landmark uh designation at Dean Kendall House located at 2350 Leonard Street Northwest.

On March 31st, 2026, the City Commission established April 14th today as the date to consider this ordinance, establishing this historic landmark.

Melissa and Frank Pattis, the owners of the house located there, have requested historic designation of their property and their house, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

The landmark is significant under the National Register criterion C in the category of architecture for its excellent representation of a classical revival-style exterior and arts and crafts interior.

The house and garage maintain a high level of integrity with a substantial amount of original materials and workmanship still intact.

The original drawings and specifications used during construction have been preserved and illustrate the construction techniques and materials prevalent during the period of significance and utilized there at the home and garage.

A study committee was approved by the city commission in 2024, and a public hearing on the designation was held by the Historic Preservation Commission on October 15, 2025.

There's some additional history with our city code, but it is the recommendation to move forward with um with the historic designation, which is a personally an interesting part of our neighborhood on the west side.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Ums, colleagues, questions?

Great.

All those in favor of adopting the ordinance.

Pardon me, voice photo.

We'll call.

Commissioner Kilgore.

Yes.

Commissioner Asassi.

Yes.

Commissioner Purdue.

Yes.

Commissioner Knight.

Yes.

Commissioner Balchak.

Yes.

Yes.

Motion carries.

That brings us to City Commission uh resolutions.

And of these we have one.

And then as a resolution authorizing entry of the Pardon me.

I need a motion to suspend the rules to consider the following to the this committee commission resolution.

That's a resolution authorizing entry of or into participation agreements and partial settlements of the national prescription of opioid legislation with six remaining defendants.

Support.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

And uh I just named it, but Commissioner Knight, if you want to uh explain.

Oh, right.

Support.

Support.

Right on.

Now this is uh new national opioid settlement uh has reached with six regional distributors or dispensary defendants associated with uh pharmacies Inc., JM Smith Corporation, Louisiana Wholesale Drug, Morrison Dickinson, and there's um one settlement agreement covering the combined settlement with the six remaining defendants.

Uh the proposed remain remnant defendant settlement will result in six remnant defendants paying a combined ninety-seven million six hundred and twenty-five thousand um in cash for purposes of abating the opioid epidemic.

Um that's about it.

Of which we get about 56,000 if I recall correctly.

So we're not getting the whole 96 million.

That'd be great.

We could we could uh pause everyone's taxes next year.

Um, but uh we do have to have a resolution to receive any of these monies, and this is I think the seventh settlement we've seen out of the opioid uh uh settlement uh the opioid litigation.

So um any questions or comments, colleagues?

Otherwise, uh call for a vote.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye, aye.

All opposed to motion carries.

That brings us to public hearings, of which we have four.

Um these are opportunities for citizens to speak on uh these specific projects, and I'd ask, I believe it's miss is it Ms.

Renner, are you covering these or is Ms.

Tucker?

Mr.

Tucker's covering these.

Um so the first is a public hearing on uh programmatic agreements with Michigan State Historic Preservation Officer.

Mr.

Tucker, you want to go into that one.

Good afternoon, Commission.

Um our first uh public hearing today is about our programmatic agreement with the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.

Um this agreement we've been doing for years and allows us to do expedient and faster um reviews that are required uh by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Section 106 requires us to do historic uh and environmental reviews for projects that are supported by HUD funds, uh federal HUD funds, and so this programmatic agreement just sets up two different uh two different ways for us to get expedited review locally.

Uh, our very own Rhonda Baker is the one who uh provides these assessments uh for us on behalf of SHIPO, um, and so that is what's before you.

Great.

Um and I will just add that Rhonda's a gem and it's gonna be a sad day when she retires.

I'm uh she's been doing this a long time, and boy, does she make it easy to work through the historic process.

Real real great asset to the to the city.

Um so uh I guess this is an opportunity for public comment, so I'll ask if there is any.

Seeing none, this hearing is now closed.

Uh you can come up and talk about our next uh, you know, thrills and chills uh uh public hearing, which is a public hearing on our neighborhood investment plan, uh funding recommendations totaling eight million two hundred thousand and some odd dollars.

Yes.

Um this uh we'll do a brief presentation for you.

Um this is uh a little bit of a revamp for this body.

Uh you've seen a lot of this presentation before, but we're doing a formal public hearing today.

Um I will go through and uh very quickly uh explain um what's uh the the subject that we're that we're that we're talking about today.

Um so the neighborhood investment plan uh is uh is stacks all of our federal funds um into a uh into a city approved framework.

Your neighborhood investment plan says this is how we want to invest those dollars uh both from our federal partners and from our state and local uh funding sources on the federal side uh we are required to create a housing and community development plan um that serves as really a five-year strategic plan on that uh that is due to uh HUD that explains how we will invest community development block grant dollars, home investment partnership dollars, as well as environmental solutions grant ESG.

Um this identifies housing and community development needs and it also identifies goals and objectives and measures our um uh uh sets sets sets benchmarks for um for our outcomes.

The other thing that we have to do for our federal partners is an annual action plan um which effectively serves as our application for federal funds for C D BG Home and ESG and identifies annual projects, and these projects last for have a period of performance between July 1st uh and June 30 each year.

Those are the federal plans.

Your local plan, your neighborhood investment plan wraps all of those things together uh and says we're gonna take our federal funds along with other funds, opioid settlement funds and the amount of $730,000, affordable housing fund, uh, the amount of $700,000 uh and justice assistance grant and the amount of $88,000.

Um all of those sources together equal the $8.2 million that uh that principally funds your neighborhood investment plan.

Um, and there are eight outcome areas total, and I'll go over each of those outcome areas and the uh anticipated funding for each.

The neighborhood investment plan process um has a significant amount of education notification as well as technical assistance for uh partners who may be interested in um in applying for these funds.

Uh we start with virtual information sessions.

Um some 540 people uh were invited to that.

Uh we do a notice of available funding um and then we host a set of workshops.

Um following that, we actually release a notice of intent to apply, um, and we publish that in local uh the local newspaper as uh as well as our website, uh the community development homepage and social media.

Um once that notice of intent to apply is published, we host workshops uh for applicants who are interested uh in in applying, and a subset of those applicants are then invited to a uh a narrowed request for proposals process uh where we ask for a full application.

Um those applications are uh then reviewed and uh recommended uh through uh our affordable housing fund board uh committee.

Uh we also have uh a body that is a subset of the city commission, the RFP work group uh that reviews those proposals.

Um in addition, we provide technical assistance uh to uh to anyone who asks.

Um and this year we had over 40 organizations that receive that one-on-one technical assistance.

The neighborhood investment plan um, as I said, is 8.2 million dollars.

Um the the eight outcomes, uh neighborhood investment plan outcome one, um, which deals principally with homelessness.

Uh we expect uh anticipated funds of 1.26 million dollars.

Umcome two deals with creating and preserving affordable housing.

Uh we expect $2.5 million for that activity.

Outcome three is about increasing home ownership and housing stability.

We expect $360,000 for that activity.

Outcome four is about improving existing housing stock, that is $2.8 million that we anticipate uh to fund that activity.

Outcome five is around behavioral health, um, that is just about $500,000.

Outcome six deals with increasing wages and economic opportunity, that's $149,000.

Uh outcome seven is about improving neighborhood safety.

Uh we see about $314,000 appropriated for that, and then finally outcome eight uh is about fostering engaged and connected and resilient neighborhoods, and we see uh uh roughly $319,000 um appropriated for that activity.

Um public comment is uh is available starting March 27th.

Um and residents are invited to provide input on funding recommendations uh both in public today uh as well as written comments to community dev uh at GRC uh GRCity.us um that public comment period is open uh until April 29th, and the recommendations in full are available on our website at GRCD.info.

Uh final awards and annual submission to HUD uh will happen on May 12th after uh after you see this final uh memo for your approval on that date.

Thank you.

And yeah, as you noted the commission's already seen this uh essentially, but uh anybody in the public now wants to come up and comment on this, uh feel free.

Mayor, before the public remarks, uh we have a city employee from our office of equity engagement, Lilibeth uh Perez, who is able to offer translation services and announcement if you commit.

If you can come on up, thank you for saving our bacon.

At least some of our bagging.

Um good afternoon, everyone, and thank you so much for being here today.

Um if you need interpretation services in Spanish at any time during this meeting, please let us know and we'll be happy to assist you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Jones.

How are you doing?

I am D Jones.

I like to call myself Chair Jones because I am the chair of the stock and neighborhood hub.

I'm here in support of this plan because uh I started at my neighbor organization.

Uh when I actually earned a $10,000 grant in 2018, I was introduced to my neighborhood organization, which is WGNO, the West Grand Neighbor Organization, and I've been able to do a lot of cool things.

I started as a committee person, but now I grinded myself up to be the trusted person to be the chair of our project.

Because I get a lot of calls.

I sit in the office.

I actually like to spend time in an office, and we get a lot of calls about housing, uh jobs, uh things that's going around in the community.

If somebody's uh dog is going around crazy or there's not trash picked up, uh the neighborhood organizations usually do the stuff that the government usually can't get directly to.

And so we are the direct bridge to uh the community and the government.

And so I would like you guys to continue see uh funding neighbor organizations.

I believe our federal and state government should be funding our neighborhood organizations substantially.

We should be getting a lot of funding.

We shouldn't have just eight million.

I believe we should have like a hundred million or two hundred million or something like that.

Well, I believe we should be funding our neighborhood organizations very, very substantially.

Also, I uh appreciate you guys' increase because the neighbor organization that I do work at, the West Grand Neighbor Organization.

Uh I believe we're getting a $10,000 increase in our grant funding that all allows us to be able to pay our staff, the people that actually does the work every day that's taking the phone calls and things like that.

We actually get to pay them a dollar extra, but then we also get to provide them health care.

Uh everybody health care should be universal thing.

The United States should be providing people health care.

We shouldn't have to ask our government to increase grant funding to provide people health care for their jobs and the hard work that they do and answering phone calls and doing the stuff that you guys usually can't do because you guys are too busy and you guys are elected officials and we all have jobs and duties to do.

But people's jobs and duty to actually serve the community and breed that bridge, they should have health care.

They should have better pay.

I believe everybody should have better health care and better pay.

I believe these things should be universally.

I also like you guys to increase and continuously advocate for 3D printing construction.

As you guys know, I am the pioneer, the visionary that's working on historical black initiatives and getting financial institutions to actually finance 3D printing construction.

But I like to be that to be in the city's plans for the future beyond 2031.

Uh this last year on this specific day, I was in it at the United Nations where I got this hat at the bookstore and I bought David Le Grand a t-shirt from the United Nations directly.

And so I was there last year on the United Nations, and now I'm the chair of a project trying to do things locally where my community is, but I know I'm going to have a global impact.

So as I care locally for the community, I urge everybody to support their neighborhood organizations associations.

Thank you.

Hello, friends.

Mark from Grand Rapids.

I too in support of this investment funding plan.

My problem is this.

That's the reason why I'm skeptical of it.

If he can say there's no money for Medicaid or Medicare, I don't know.

There might not be no money for this.

So you better think about this.

Because this money might not be available.

If he continues, this cock can make me assault.

On a country that never attacked us.

Thinking.

Once again, I agree I like the plan.

But the funding might not be around for this plan to commence.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Deborah Cross, and I'm director of M Village here in Grand Rapids.

And I just stand before you today to say thank you for supporting affordable housing initiatives throughout, and also for considering M Village for the neighborhood investment funding to help us bridge our existing gap in our for sale housing projects.

So we know that delivering attainable home homeownership opportunities is different from the rental, and we have uh rental project as well.

But we have despite challenges in doing that, we are deeply committed to continuing to provide those pathways for home ownership that foster long-term stability and meaningful economic advancement for families.

So our mission has always been um to take an integrated approach where we have uh opportunities for both rental and for sale product, and so we are truly excited to continue on this journey, and we thank you for being along with us.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tom Rolston.

I'm with Union Suites Development.

We are an affordable housing provider.

Um want to echo the uh favorable comments from uh our neighbors and community partners here today on the subject of this uh funding program.

Uh we really appreciate the consideration of this body uh as one of the uh applicants for affordable housing, uh the component of this neighborhood investment uh grant union suites on COI2.

Really uh really appreciate the opportunity to build new uh affordable housing and uh um bring that uh to this to the city of Grand Rapids.

Thank you very much.

My name is Scott Addison, third ward resident.

I have a question for you.

Is downtown a neighborhood?

I believe reading in the master plan before you want to create downtown as a neighborhood, and I think it'll be a temporary neighborhood once we get stuff at the new soccer stadium and the new amphitheater.

It's gonna be a big temporary neighborhood.

That's why I think you need to use some of this money for it information center downtown.

Don't write me the check.

Write the check to Orion Pioneer, can one of the construction companies, Rockford, whoever.

But I'm saying if you want downtown to be a neighborhood, a community, community development block grant.

I'm just saying use some of your money to build an information center, and it should be built right at Rosa Park Circle behind the statue of Rosa Parks.

Thank you.

Seeing no further public comment, uh the hearing's closed.

That brings us to our next uh uh public hearing, and this is uh to consider brownfield plan amendment for the project at 528 bridge and Ms.

Oh, you're up next.

Hi, good afternoon.

So this is uh hopefully this building looks recognizable.

It's along uh bridge and seward.

Uh it's a hundred-year-old building, 10,400 square feet.

Uh there will be investment to reactivate the space for commercial use uh to house uh advantaged commercial real estate as well as a tenant that's not been identified just yet.

Uh this is a traditional brownfield TIFF Ask, which actually is one of the first I've seen since my tenure here.

We've mostly been doing housing projects, right?

So uh this is a great opportunity to leverage traditional eligible activities uh including demo, site prep, leadnessbesti abatement, and infrastructure improvements adjacent to private investment.

This is located in the DDA, and the DDA intends to take up this agenda item tomorrow for potential pass-through uh in order to um help reimburse the developer.

The project costs are 2.7 million.

There are aspirational uh inclusion plan goals for uh micro-local women-owned and uh minority-owned at 8% for a total of 195,446.

The plan will um be a term of four 24 years with a total eligible activity cost of 710, 831 dollars, and about 230 of that is where I feel really jazzed because there's an activation potentially of a sidewalk along Seward.

Uh, so this is a gap in our sidewalk infrastructure.

Uh so again, a great opportunity to use private investment to help uh activate uh pedestrian experience along Seward between bridge and the uh soccer stadium.

Uh construction anticipated a start this summer, and I have um Gary Albrecht and David Rapp and Jared Lutz, uh, which I'd like to invite up just uh give you a little more context on their perspective.

Hi there.

Um Dave Rapp with Advantage Commercial Real Estate.

I'm one of 10 principals with Advantage.

Uh a little background on Advantage uh commercial real estate.

We've been in we've been in business about five years now.

We um have been in the business in the West Michigan market, many of us for 15, 20, 30 years in different capacities with different organizations.

We started our uh a new company five years ago, like I mentioned, and um have been out well we've been in the city of Grand Rapids, but we've been on the outskirts at North Point Banks building.

We have shifted into three different spaces during that period of time because we've grown considerably uh in the last five years.

This is a building we've been looking at for a while.

We wanted a building downtown to get back downtown because previously we had been in different buildings in the downtown market.

And this checked a lot of the boxes for us.

We needed to have a building that could could capacitate, you know, some growth uh as well as on site parking.

And uh also in a corridor that's growing that has a lot of exposure.

We have a lot of people coming in and out from different markets from the Detroit, Chicago market, uh, like to entertain, be near restaurants, bars, and also take a you know very uh cool historic building and and make it something new.

So that's kind of where we're at.

Uh how many employees are you expecting to have on site?

So we currently have about 40 employees.

Uh I would say on an average year we add, you know, two to three uh employees.

We'll have space in that building to add uh you know considerably more than that.

Great.

Um anyone from the public want to comment on this?

Oh, go ahead.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

Uh Jared Lutz, uh, as Sarah mentioned with Michigan Growth Advisors, uh, we are the Brownfield uh consultants on this project.

Uh just like Sarah mentioned, we this is our first uh non-housing brownfield plan in in the city of Grand Rapids that we worked on since 2023.

Uh so excited to do an actual facility uh, you know, uh redevelopment project here.

Um building was built uh I believe around 1888 uh as the rail depot uh over in that corridor.

Uh so being able to activate this building, uh clean up the existing site, uh hopefully extend that sidewalk for uh neighborhood connectivity.

Uh we're really excited about advantages looking for their long-term home uh as they've grown over the past five years uh and and really make this building uh an adaptive reuse of a uh what is likely a historic structure not listed, but uh you know a marquee building uh in this market.

Capital investment uh is about three million dollars.

We uh are working with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation uh for state capture on this, and and uh Sarah mentioned uh also working closely with the DDA uh as it's in the DDA.

So thank you.

Great.

Thanks.

Any members of the public wish to come up and comment.

Seeing none, I will close that hearing.

Oh sorry.

I thought you were going out the door.

No, no, of course not.

I wouldn't walk out on you.

Uh Russell Omstead, first ward uh uh resident.

Love this building.

It's one of my favorite buildings on the in the first ward.

It's fantastic building.

If I could have afforded it when I was looking for space for my business, I would have, but it would have only taken a small little portion of it.

Um I guess what I'd like to speak on is what we have a limited amount of resources that we can invest as a city.

And we're when we're talking about investments on ness necessities inside of the city, especially looking at economic outputs from uh the budget talks earlier uh presentations of last month.

Um what projections are, I think is important to consider um priorities around that and priorities around housing, I think need to stay first and foremost.

The city has um huge economic growth, especially in this area of the city.

Um gigantic opportunities for economic um investment for businesses for economic investment.

And using our limited resources in order to uh help on those private investments.

I'm I'm not sure is the best use of our our uh our limited whatever limited resources we have, especially going into projected budget uncertainty in the coming four or five years.

Um I I think you know, all four.

I think it's a great idea in having some of the things within this project uh as far as creating funds for um uh women-owned businesses um and what was talked about in that.

investment and using our limited resources in order to uh help on those private investments I'm I'm not sure is the best use of our our uh our limited whatever limited resources we have especially going into projected budget uncertainty in the coming four or five years um so I I think you know all four I think it's a great idea in having some of the things within this project uh as far as creating funds for um uh women owned businesses um what was talked about in that I think that's fantastic but uh I think that you know when we're trying to create some of these incentive towards uh private businesses they're for profit companies I own my own business I'm a for-profit company when I'm investing in something I am going to be making a profit off of that and I think it's important that at C resources we are prioritizing investment in housing housing housing because we are so desperately far behind it and any sort of money that could be directed towards that instead of private businesses I think would be a better use thank you how y'all doing D Jones again uh this is across the street from Bridge Street uh I I look at this building I've footed uh I footed it by this building a lot as I walk to city commission uh I would just say this uh if this construction company is going to be there I will be knocking at you guys' facility to speak to you guys about 3D printing construction because obviously people people are complaining already about you guys getting some taxes when they feel like our tax incentives should be going to housing so I will be speaking to advantage about 3D printing construction because we are looking to create a workforce around 3D printing construction and uh you guys are not going to be on the West side without D Jones speaking to you about 3D printing construction thank you how's everybody doing my name is Kenneth and I am going to continue to echo those sentiments as a for-profit business owner myself I don't get millions of dollars to do all the community work that I do um I work with a lot of you again I see you all the time and I do it out of my own pockets I do it out of the grants that I write I do it out of everything that I have to go through the hoops I have to jump through as a small business owner to make that happen.

No disrespect by the way I hope that you all will come in and do great work I'm pretty sure you're probably gonna get the money because that's just how the cookie crumbles usually right but if you are a construction company we have some things that are getting ready to happen and correct me if I'm wrong I don't know if you're a construction company I may have missed that part but we have some venues getting ready to open up I think a lot of these dollars need to be spent a little bit more responsibly as well we don't have enough parking I watched the news this morning and they can't even hide it anymore.

They know that we don't have enough parking and if we're gonna give millions of dollars to people private entities that want to come in and take over buildings that's cool but I think that we have about three or four months to start figuring out this parking situation or actually we're about three or four months too late because we're about to open right and then next year the soccer stadium is about to open right we've done a bang up job of cutting down all of our streets to make it more bikeable trying to force people to bike that's cool.

We enjoy that I enjoy a sunny day just like the rest of us right back grounded outside but there's still cars on the street now everything's one lane everywhere we go it was already one way everywhere we went downtown so we're trying to build up but then we're also trying to force expansion and we're bringing tourists in we're talking about 12000 seats at the uh Van Andel 12000 seats at the amphitheater 12000 seats at the soccer stadium 2800 seats at 2 Monroe not to mention all the clubs and the restaurants that are getting ready to continue booming because of all this tourism and the influx of dollars coming into the city when all these things happen at the same time we only have 18,000 seats estimated mind you within a 15 minute walk what about the elderly what about the disabled what about the children regular millennials are not going to see Lionel Richie I'm sorry.

All right but the buses stopped running at 11 Lionel Richie's not going to get done until 1030 he might do an encore with some Commodore stuff who knows so now you have all these people coming in from Granville from Sparta from Cascade they have nowhere to park they have to call it Uber Uber's not waiting in line for an hour to come pick somebody up sorry me Ma so let's just be a little bit more wise with how we're spending our money please seeing no one else I will close the public hearing and that brings us to our um mayor mayor I'm sorry I have my hand up is that okay if I make a comment or do you really want to close the hearing I think we can close the hearing if you want to if you want to say something in your in your closing comments feel free.

Um, so uh Ms.

Ranera, if you could come up for our next hearing.

This is uh hearing for uh the industrial industrial facilities exemption certificate for the folk sheet metal.

Hold on, wrong one.

No, really.

Oh, you mean you got the wrong slide up?

I brought the wrong slide up.

Okay.

There's some great pictures on that slide.

Okay, this looks familiar.

We did talk about Falk back in the fall, but this is a different project.

Um Falk is making a lot of investment in uh the 425 agreement that we have with the city of Walker.

And so this is in the Walker View Industrial Park.

This is a um this is Falk Sheet Metal.

In the fall, we saw Falk material wool.

Um, so that's the difference.

Uh they are working to expand their operation uh and open a new facility.

Uh the construction it will be a construction, a new construction of uh 50,000 square feet roughly of production for facility at a estimated cost of 5.4 million.

Um the reason you're only seeing a certificate now, typically we see a district and a certificate when we see industrial facility abatements, but this was part of a district that was established in 2019, and so we've already done the district.

So this is just about the certificate at this time, uh, which will be valued um over the 12 year period at about 1.1 million.

And again, this is pursuant to the 425 agreement partnership that we have with the city of Walker.

Um I've got Henry Smiths, who's the controller of Falk.

I would like to invite him up to say a few words about the project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I'm Henry Smiths.

I'm the controller for Falk Sheet Metal, and for the other Falk companies, um, as you know, Falk is growing very, very quickly in Walker.

Every year we are surprising ourselves with how quickly that we are growing.

And as we are continuing to grow, then we also recognize the need for more for more and more space.

Also just to make sure that we don't have to outsource manufacturing to other areas or to or even out of state, but you but you keep it here local, but also keep safe ergonomic and comfortable working conditions and well paid jobs here locally.

And so that and that's also one of the one of the reasons why we are also making this major investment in this new facility.

This is also right now something that we are doing.

This is a it's this building will will basically contain a activity that we are right now doing in our current manufacturing building, but as we are continuing to grow, we know that we are going to out to outgrow it eventually and actually very very soon.

So before we are really in a position where safety becomes a concern, we are making the investment now just to make sure that we are able to facilitate our our growth, but also maintain a safe and comfortable and ergonomic working condition and also that we have room for for growth here locally.

I I do want to thank the commission for your support thus far for all of the all of the all of the folk activities.

As you know, we are growing very, very rapidly, and we thank you for your support so far.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any members from the public wish to come up and comment on this seeing none, I will close this hearing.

That brings us to our second opportunity for public comment.

Uh and anyone who wants to come up and uh share thoughts with us on any item can do so.

You have three minutes, and if you could please uh state your name, keep an eye on the clock as you go, uh, and uh tell us what part of the city you live in.

That'd be awesome.

And Mr.

Jones, you live in the first ward.

We already know that.

Hiya.

How y'all doing?

I'm D Jones, passionate entrepreneur, and visionary.

Uh first off, just really excited to be able to do this ACBCU initiative and increase in digital equity, but actually getting 3D printing cut construction companies like Guardi Tech that has 3D printed 17 buildings in Dubai, 400 plus projects across the globe.

Actually, get in this uh 3D printed construction uh company to uh step alongside of D Jones and other ABCUs to actually educate black people on real estate on 3D printed construction, prioritize an African Americans for far too long historically, 400 plus years.

African Americans have literally built America.

We have literally we are American history, African American, the essence and ether of African American spirit, is uh US history.

And so for us to be able to prior to prioritize African Americans in the 600 trillion dollar industry, real estate is 600 trillion.

And we never prioritize African Americans with any real policy.

But me being a left-handed caring, compassionate genius that I happen to be, I got these people from these 3D printed construction companies and these historical black colleges to actually step alongside of me to develop curricula to actually educate our students in the future generations of historical black colleges and universities all across the nation.

I actually seen um something that the citizens study that the citizens group did.

But since 1990, uh racism against African Americans has cost the United States of America 60 trillion bucks.

I mean 60, 600, I mean 60 trillion.

That's a lot of cash.

60 trillion, just by priority, not prioritizing African Americans since 2020.

We could have had 16 trillion go into the U.S.

economy, but we keep displaying the highest level of racism towards African Americans.

It is not profitable discriminate against people of color.

And so, here being in the second worst city in the in for economics in America, the city of GR, that's why I yelled it loud and I said 1.2 trillion so y'all can hear me because I needed to put that out to the universe here in the second worst city for economics because I believe your actions, your beliefs, your thoughts create the reality around you.

And I believe one day I'll stand in Kent County.

And I don't know if it'll be democratic control or the Republicans will continue continuously control the county, but I know that we will have 3D printed houses.

I know that we will have at least an economy that I know that I can help build work for everyone, and I hope that David, as the Senate banking committee, is close to actually putting this Clarity Act onto the floor, and we actually have in federal regulations around cryptocurrency, David, that you actually support it and actually utilize it because they can do the social good.

The Rothschilds and Rockefeller banking system does not work for every constituent, but cryptocurrency can.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Deb Van Dynen.

I'm a member of Oakdale Park Church and a volunteer with Together West Michigan.

Hi, I'm Anthony McConnell, Third Ward.

I'm Champagne McConnor, a therapy resident.

Um, just here today on behalf of Oakdo Neighbors, Neighborhood Association, as well as concerned residents and neighbors who care very much about the traffic safety on Kalamazoo Ave.

Um, could you please stand?

Thank you.

We recently heard uh that there are many plans for traffic safety in our city, and we know that it's a great need.

Our concern is between Evergreen and Hall, Kalamazoo Street, where there are several cross streets with a limited site.

We've heard there's a good possibility for a four-way stop costing $20,000 at Kalamazoo and Adams.

We believe there also there's also um a need for a flashing crosswalks of a few blocks, which is north of their uming or Hancock, which is off of Kalamazoo as well.

This will cost $125,000.

Both of these solutions would make the corridor um safer.

As you begin work on the upcoming budget, we'd urge you to keep the safety of our neighbors in the Oakdale neighbors area in Boston Square.

Our residents need to see action on their behalf.

By the end of this year, thank you for supporting this work.

Um, special thanks to our their work commissioners, um, Kilgore and Purdue for just consistently working with us on this um traffic issue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Dennis Rodriguez.

I'm a peer support specialist at the Family Outreach Center.

I work with the Seeking Safety Program.

I'm here to thank the city for the continued funding and supporting our work and expanding behavioral health services to underserved communities.

Family Outreach Center was one of the first to implement a modified seeking safety program for men of color who've been impacted by trauma and violence.

We started this 10 years ago with the sport of the city of Grand Rapids and federal funding.

Today we continue working with youth in impacted by trauma, violence, and substance use, many of whom go to Grand Rapids Public Schools.

Others are referred to us by the 61st district courts task program.

The task program is a partnership between mental health agencies and the criminal justice systems.

Um if they have issues with substance use or mental health issues, they get put in the tax program, and it's if they complete all the classes in therapy, they'll be able to get their charges dropped or reduced, and they get referred to seeking safety as a part of that tax program.

And our goal with these TAS participants are to improve their mental health and reduce recidivism.

Our work goes beyond group therapy and peer support.

We help um participants apply for jobs, obtain work permits, apply for college, and we provide them with bicycles if they need transportation.

I want to emphasize that this program is not just therapy, it's mentorship and guidance.

And we just want to thank the city for the partnership, and these funds allow us to continue serving young men most in need, help them heal, grow, and build a better future.

Thank you for your time.

Hello again.

I'm just up here to finish a little bit.

Uh three minutes ran out.

Um I'm not gonna keep harping on the stuff we already talked about.

Um, but there's a lot of things that are concerning with just the traffic flow.

Um, and I want to keep making sure that we understand that because there's so many opportunities for us to grow as a city.

Um we want to be progressive.

There's new faces coming into leadership all the time with these great ideas, and I feel like over the 24 years I've been in Grand Rapids, I've watched all of them get sucked up into the system and kind of forget about what they wanted to do when they started, right?

Um and we want to fix things.

We want to make things better.

Like that's the whole purpose of leadership is I know that I can make a change.

I want to make something better, so we're not supposed to get blinded by the people that have been jaded, right?

So with traffic, we are going backwards.

Our bus systems, the Dash just decided that because they don't have enough money, which is understandable from an operational standpoint that they can no longer serve the expansive spaces that they have, right?

And the routes that they've been serving.

We need the Dash.

So a lot of this money that's getting thrown in different directions.

I don't know what you guys have to do or you people have to do, right?

To make sure that some of that gets kind of rerouted to the Dash, we need the Dash, especially if we're talking about people catching buses to all of our attractions.

If the Dash isn't running, we're going to fail.

The actual buses themselves, the city buses.

I know that's a different system.

It feels like it's the same, but it's not just for anybody who's wondering, right?

So we need more money for them too.

How do we find it?

That's not for me, that's for you all.

We need to find it though, because there's not enough drivers, there's not enough routes.

When I was growing up and I was catching the bus regularly, there was more routes than there are now.

When they first expanded, they ran more often.

You go to bigger cities, we want to be a big city.

We are not making the strides to actually be a productive big city, if that's what we want.

Because you go to other cities and the buses run all night long.

You can go to the party.

What's the point of me going to a party?

But now you're kind of forcing me to drive home because the bus stopped running.

You kind of forcing me to wait for 45 minutes for an Uber.

But then the prices are $60 an Uber because the surgeon, I want to get on the bus, not me personally, but you know, this is the mindset, and I'm hearing it from people every day, all day long.

So these are some top-tier things that I think we need to worry about.

Obviously, the parking being the biggest one because people are going to drive no matter how much you want everybody to get on the bike, people ain't getting on bikes like that, especially not in the winter.

This is a six-month cold state.

We gotta understand what's happening here, right?

So we need parking, we need buses and better public transit.

I would suggest maybe a light train rail system or something like that as well.

And then we need to maybe save some money, I guess.

I don't know.

But thank you for your time.

Hello, my name is Shannon.

I live in the third ward.

Um, firstly, I wanted to thank Commissioner Kilgore for being the dissenting vote on the housing commission appointment.

Um, thank you for expecting better of that body, and I hope that your comments inspire the appointment to uh improve and do better.

Um the rest of my comments are um along a similar vein as the person before me.

Um I think it's a terrible idea to reduce uh Dash service.

Um who does that benefit?

No one, except for the people who own the businesses that will still be served by the Dash.

Uh the arenas, the hotels, the performance halls.

Um it won't benefit residents of the city, it won't benefit owners of businesses outside of the immediate downtown area.

Um, and it won't be benefit tourists who want to see anything other than the arenas and the performance halls.

Um a related note, um, I everyone keeps hearing about plans to raise um uh uh pricing for uh parking.

Um, as the previous person said, we don't have enough parking in this city.

And I think raising the prices on parking is a stupid idea if you want people to visit businesses downtown.

But if you are going to raise uh prices on parking, then you need to funnel that money towards the public transit system so that people have alternative ways to get around downtown.

Um you can't expect people to come spend money downtown if they also have to spend money on parking.

Um we need better public transportation, um, and we need uh places for places outside of the town for tourists to come park and then pop a bus to the arena or whatever museum or whatever they're visiting so that they don't clog our streets and our parking um so that we don't have to find any way to avoid Fulton Street whenever there's a concert at the Van Andel.

Um tourism is great for the economy, but you also have to take care of the residents who live here.

Um so that's uh my main point.

Um we need vastly improved public transportation system.

Um and instead of funneling parking money to the police, which already has an overinflated budget, we should funnel that to the bus system to the dash, um, to any sort of public transportation system.

Uh thank you.

Mark back.

I want to talk about Sinclair broadcasting and media.

These individuals are a mega far right company whose objective is to basically sabotage the black community.

An article from the Baltimore Sun, which is owned by St.

Clair.

They trying to go after the only black governor in this country, what's more for Maryland.

I don't know why they're doing it, but they're trying to think of ways to sabotage his governorship.

It's not good.

And furthermore, they trying to bring out false narratives go out to crime in Baltimore, which is also not good.

Crime is in Baltimore is down.

It might not be down to zero, but it's down nonetheless.

This company are snakes.

If they can do it in Maryland, they could do it all over the country.

These people had to be looked at.

They were big donors in the Orange Fallons campaign.

Producing dark money ads to help them win this presidency.

This company owns several TV stations all across the country, including Channel 3 in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids.

I suggest these individuals should be monitored for their hoodwinking and false narratives that they're doing today.

This is a right-wing propaganda company that needs to be checked.

And it need to be checked right now.

Because if they can do it there, they can do it here.

Revenge 2026.

Good afternoon.

My name is Michael Scrugs.

And I thank you all for receiving me today.

I'm a citizen of Grand Rapids.

I'm I'm here because I want to help.

In my community, well, in our community, there's a lot of talk about police conduct.

We have a civilian appeal board talking about they won't subpoena power.

I'm here to say that we should not do business as usual, but do something else.

Maybe start looking at statutory power.

But what is statutory power?

Well, statutory power would assure that our police officers get the due process that they want.

That we as a city be in due form.

And then along with trying to make sure that our citizens get the transparency that they're looking for.

How do we do that?

Well, we do that by having our city manager through the collecting bargaining process, try to get the police union to make an agreement to eliminate the police board or that department that deals with police conduct and hire someone to come in that have statutory power.

This way, no one go away dissatisfied.

If one is dissatisfied, then they can always appeal to the public court.

The legal system.

We don't need that.

So bringing in someone that's independent makes sense.

Looking at this in Chicago and other cities.

So they probably already didn't get the work.

So we can look at some of that data.

And we probably can consider this.

See no one else.

I will turn to my colleagues.

Oh, caught me off guard.

You don't want to go first?

Hey, that's okay.

We can move downline.

Commissioner Coco.

No, I am, you know, caught me off guard.

Um 447 days, just so everybody remembers where we're at.

Um grateful for the um you all showing up here today and um sharing your thoughts and concern.

Um of the things I wanted to point out, uh, we've been talking about, and I think I talked to City Manager about that.

Um, the mobile GR hopefully is going to be kind of bringing forth a presentation on some of the changes around the dash because I think when information comes out, there may be a piece that comes out and we get grab a hold of that piece and we don't see the whole portion.

I was able to have uh a presentation uh from mobile gr about some of the changes, and um yes, sometimes things are painful, but uh if I got five dollars and gas is six, if I can't negotiate with you, then I'm out.

I gotta go with the five dollars that I have, right?

To try to make things work.

And um, I think that some of the options that they have come up with looking at our parking situation, um, how we're utilizing parking in the city because we we're not using it effectively.

We're just not.

Um, and the numbers speak for themselves.

And I think once they have an opportunity to really present what the bigger picture looks like and why the changes have to be made and what we're doing to try to mitigate and help uh our neighbors in our community be able to be more mobile in the community, even with the expansion of amenities that are coming into our community.

I mean, when the amphitheater opens, uh, no, I don't want to be driving downtown, but I'll have an option on how to be able to get around uh if I need to.

And so I think once that happens, um, that will help people understand a little bit more about what our transit looks like.

Um, was also very grateful to hear the presentation today on our affordable housing fund and some of the strategies that they um are researching and bringing forth, and this group has been working on this uh for a long time, and there's still more work to be done.

However, um some of the things that they have presented to this body today are very hopeful in being able to provide opportunities for um builders and developers to create more affordable housing.

Um, when I heard someone earlier at a Roma NARAB event the other day um trying to talk about affordable housing, making that terminology more around entry level, right?

Because affordable is not the same to everybody.

And so what does it take for people to be able to get into that space and to to um create their own home, their own wealth building uh opportunities in community, and everybody doesn't have those opportunities.

So being able to provide um other resources and entry ways uh into that space for people who are looking to care for their families and to create general rational wealth for their um for their future and be able to have the income necessary to do the things that they want to do uh is really important, and so I'm I'm grateful for that presentation and that information.

Um looking forward to hearing what comes out of the next iteration as they continue to look at the next steps, not only here locally, but even on the state level and how the two of those um connect together to help us continue to grow as a community.

Um so I know sometimes you know information doesn't come while we're sitting and thinking about things and looking at things, but it is coming, and so um always uh grateful and uh open to having communications um about that.

I think we all are um very open and amenable to to talking through things, and we may not always know the best way, but hearing from our community to help us um make better choices and being able to be more informed is important.

So thank you.

Commissioner Sossing.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thanks everyone for coming out today.

Um I just had a few things.

One um this is more of a clarification from earlier, but Miss Claren um shared um in our in our fiscal meeting colleagues.

Um, there was a comment the comproller made about a negative amount on one of the reports, and Miss Claren, thank you for I don't know if she's here, um, but thank you for clarifying that, and thank you um to our deputy comproller for also clarifying that with Miss Clear and so working together.

Um, it was it was regarding a return check.

So I just wanted to put that out there um because I think you know we've talked a lot today about transparency and our fiscal services, so I appreciate both um our deputy comproller and our CFO for working together to get that clarified with us so quickly.

Um, second, I just wanted to um share that Healthy Homes Coalition, and they're gonna be having a job fair um this week Saturday this week the 18th, yeah, Saturday's the 18th.

Um, and so check out them for more information.

I think you know, a lot of times we hear individuals come up and share different pieces, and people might not know all of the history, and so the the gentleman who came up to talk about seeking safety.

I remember when that original DOJ DOJ grant came, and there's been a lot of iterations because sometimes there's money and sometimes there's not money, and so I said, you know, I want to keep on sharing different um community organizations that are doing some work.

So I wanted to share that.

Um and then I also just wanted to share that uh our North Quarter, our Corridor Improvement Authority.

That was a mouthful, North Quarter Corridor Improvement Authority.

So we talked a bit about today about the DID, but then you also heard you know, all of us serve on a corridor improvement authority, and I won't go and name them all.

But we recently did some rebranding to be um the Creston Corridor Authority.

I want to say thank you to our um our board members who are all either residents or business owners who are volunteering their time, quite honestly.

Um, and many of them very actively engaged in this.

I want to say thank you to the economic development department and Vera for working together collectively, and so let's see if you all get it.

Creston, there's nothing plain about it because it's on playing field.

It took me a minute.

Um but again, and I think that is the goal.

You know, we do spend a lot of time talking about developments that are happening in our downtown corridor.

And I will say I know this entire body and our city staff are always thinking about how do we connect um different neighborhoods, and that's you know, so great that we have these corridor improvement authorities.

So I know many are anticipating, you know, how do they become involved with the things that are happening with these, you know, uh once-in-a-lifetime investments of amphitheater and soccer stadium and are thinking about ways to continue to bring people into our neighborhood.

If we lived in Chicago, I'd probably I probably would have walked to work today, but I didn't.

Um, and so maybe that's a challenge that commissioner you and I can take up one day from the north end.

Um but I just wanted to say check out that branding.

It's again, it's creston, nothing plain about it.

You'll start to see some of these efforts.

Uh, thank you to Miss Barons and team.

You'll start to see some different signage as well as you are either heading north or coming into the city.

Hopefully, you're coming that way.

And the the division construction is done, so we're happy about that.

Um, I just wanted to, and I don't know, Commissioner Belchuk, if this is what you wanted to talk about, because there were some comments made during the public comment.

I'll save them, but I I was wondering because I had the same thought about just in terms of our brownfield um program and dollars and what are the different tools.

Today we had a really good presentation about affordable housing fund and it talked quite a bit again as one of our economic development tools, but we're really using a variety of them in that toolkit.

And so I don't know, probably city manager, you might have a couple of comments around that.

Just um, you know, what is the general fund?

What is that?

And and then you know, sometimes people say, Well, I know what it is, and but I think that there are different just opportunities to be able to define and and um identify how we're using different economic development tools, both that are local and statewide.

Uh then I just want to share that the neighborhood summit, I don't know where Miss Lily Beth and now went, but um the neighborhood summit is coming up on Saturday, April 25th, and that is gonna be happening at GRPS University, an amazing day that is um staff led, neighbor led.

Um, there's gonna be like yoga.

I I I heard a rumor there was gonna be cousins.

So maybe it's not a rumor anymore, but um, and healthy options too.

But um cousins is a is a and a workshop by the clerk, which and it's you know, again, I think we all feel this all the time, and you know, there is thank you to those who came out and said, you know, this is great, we're getting this investment, and thank you to those who said I want you to do more and different and better.

I think that's oh that's more than okay.

That is the tension that we must live with, and I think we all understand that that's what we accept when we come up here.

Is uh, you know, I'm not uh we're not expecting people to say you're doing it right all the time.

But a lot of the stories in the thank yous today, I think were about and not even really the city commissioners, but it's staff putting together these projects, braiding this funding, connecting the dots to get these monies out the door, and especially right now where our federal government is really questionable about what they're doing to support individuals.

Um, we're trying to come in.

We are we don't have the same budget.

But I did want to want to say that about summit, so I hope you come out.

I think there's still time to sign up.

And then lastly, I'd be remiss uh your taxes are due for the city of Grand Rapids on April 30th, right?

April 30th is the day.

Seeing a head nod.

Um, is that right, Audra?

Oh, sorry, wrong department, my bad.

And um, but every every year I get some people like, oh my gosh, they didn't take out my city tax.

So just a reminder there's actually a clinic, I think, on the 25th, that the income tax department is doing to help people who might need help filing for um their city taxes because sometimes you can get prep for state and federal, but they might not do city.

Um, but don't get caught up.

That did happen to me one time when I was working in Holland.

So a couple of per public service announcements and um interviews.

Oh well I was yeah, I was gonna I'll let uh one of my other colleagues do that.

But thank you so much for coming out and um look forward to um our next little our little swearing in that we have for our new city attorney.

Thank you.

Commissioner Purdue.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Great to see you all.

It's great to have decent weather finally.

Um so uh one comment on something that we voted on today, um, and that's related to some of the appointments, particularly the appointments to the civilian appeals board.

Uh so commissioners, individual commissioners get appointments, um, and uh one of the appointments that was made today is going to replace a longstanding member.

And so um why I support you know all of us making our decision.

I do want to note that as we are beginning to talk about recommendations for the civilian appeals board, we are going to be losing a lot of very important historic knowledge.

Um, and I'm not sure if we realize that uh as we prepared for um the timing on this, but I do want to name that.

Um I've talked to our director of OPA and he committed to ensuring that uh this former chair, long-standing uh member will will remain part of the process.

I just want to name that um because I think it's really important um to make sure that we retain historical knowledge and through lines, particularly we when we are in times of uh thinking through and asking how can we be better.

So I want to name that.

Um, in terms of concerns that I heard during public comment, um, certainly parking and public transit uh being a big theme.

I want to name for Kenneth that the rapid um and the rapid board is responsible for our bus system, and so they will be the best collaborators and the best audience for some of the specific feedback that he and and others had on that.

Um, also her concerns around housing, traffic safety.

Thank you together, West Michigan and Oakdale Park neighbors for all you've been doing to bring attention to traffic concerns in your area, safety concerns, um, and excited to continue to support your ass during the upcoming budget process.

Um a lot of folks have already mentioned um that we have uh opportunities to leverage our roles and our tools differently.

And so I heard that as a concern as well.

I also want to celebrate a few things that we did today, and that is there is a project on Oakdale and Eastern, 801 Oakdale, which is several parcels owned locally, and we approve some really important financing and tax support for them so that they can revitalize really essentially a quarter of the district, a huge, a huge building, a huge section of that district.

And so I'm really excited to see that uh come to fruition.

It's really going to change the look and feel of that area.

Um and I've had the privilege to work with that owner for at least a year now, plus, and so it's so excited to see folks, particularly local folks who it's their first time, their emerging developer meet those different milestones in the project.

And today was a huge one for for her.

So uh congratulations, Tasha.

Um, and likewise for M Village.

Uh, great to see you here.

Excited that we can support you through our proposed um NIP recommendations to get your project off the ground.

Both of those projects are in the third ward, both of them were dreamed about and pursued as first-time new developers in order to better serve the community in order to provide housing, provide attainable housing, both rental and ownership options, as well as commercial and business space.

And so I think that's worth celebrating.

Um, that's all I have today.

I look forward to seeing you all um soon.

Oh, I will mention um I want to remind you all that the last Wednesday of the month, I have an online briefing called Let's Talk Third Ward, where I give updates on what's happening in City Hall, what decisions are coming up, as well as what are more of the wins that we're experiencing, what are the challenges that we are experiencing, and what decisions are coming up that you can weigh into.

Um I hope to see you all there.

You might RSAP on my website at WWW Purdue4U.com, um, RFCP, and you'll get a reminder email with all the joining information.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, this I just want to say thank you to everyone because this meeting today has been so different than the last few that we've had, and I really appreciate the productive conversation that um with people bringing ideas and sharing in the winds as well because it has been very productive today, and you've heard some of that.

I want to just um take a moment here to highlight that I think that Grand Rapids is in a defining moment and it's kind of an exciting time, even though there are challenges.

Uh, we are a strong, stable city, and we're a city that's experiencing real growth and real opportunity to rise and be a real uh national leader in a lot of different areas than what we've already been identified as.

And I've been looking at um different cities that are of similar size, say Milwaukee or Indianapolis, that are holding their own, and we're holding our own against them, but in some ways they're outperforming.

And when we look at those cities or others like Columbus or Raleigh, we can see some different levels that we can still aspire to.

And the things you guys brought today in public comment are part of those.

I think when we look at our neighborhood investment plan and the other work that the commission is doing, we really do have a very, very strong foundation here.

We've got strong neighborhoods, we've got um community organizations that are very invested in making sure that our everyday average regular folks are getting what they need and get represented at the table.

And I've been at a few meetings actually with Together West Michigan recently, and I know that there's gonna be more strategic conversation coming in the future.

And it all comes down to growth and how are we spending our public dollars, but also how are we going to be leveraging private dollars so that we can continue to provide a high quality of life.

Um, we have a collaborative civic culture here, and I do think that makes us a stronger place.

We're going into the budget season.

Um, we're gonna have a lot of these discussions, looking at them deeper on the 28th and beyond.

And I think that this is exactly the time to be positioning ourselves and asking hard questions.

You know, basically, are we willing to be intentional about where we go next?

And I think that if we want to compete, it's we we've done a lot of laying the groundwork with venues and you know, other things that the city and private private partners are doing, but we uh have to look at the housing, and we have to make sure that people can live here and enjoy being here as well as coming to visit here.

So I I hear that call from people in the comments today and from the work I'm doing in the community.

I think that we have a commission that and a city manager that is dedicated to the vision and the mission of the city to provide high quality governmental services, but also to be a leader in conversation.

And um, I want to work with partners who maybe in the past have been less forthcoming or welcoming in that regard.

And we've had a you heard today some discussion we had about weighing the pros and cons of putting someone on a board.

I would like to invite people who have maybe in the past oppose different things that we're doing to work to also align in better way in the going forward.

For instance, we talked about the chamber today, and we reviewed some of the parts that our CAP is getting analysized.

Is that a word?

To be in an the analysis of where the big bang for the buck will be on those 20 priority items that we had listed.

And I do think it's very important if we're going to continue to be a strong cis city that works together to make real things happen for real real regular people.

We have to listen to dissenting voices and also work to find out where we have a gap.

So bottom line, we're in a moment of choice, and we have direction.

We have which we can set during our budgeting and other discussions, but we're listening, and this is this is growth.

Gross is growth is going to be coming to some of our neighborhoods whether we like it or not.

And I had the opportunity to actually share that with a constituent recently.

It was a very hard thing for me to say, but I really do think that we need to adjust our mindset to welcoming it.

And um, towards that end, we are working to have a new person on the commission to help in that.

The first ward appointment is something that has been um on our docket for a while, and we're going to be look reviewing and interviewing all 10 applicants uh for the appointment on Friday this week.

It's gonna be public, so you can watch it or come and visit us here, and everyone will get 15 minutes.

The top few from that will then go forward to be interviewed in front of the entire commission the following Wednesday, which I believe is the 22nd.

Um, this is important work we're doing, so it's important that we have all as many voices at the table making these decisions.

And uh, we do have an appointment we're gonna be celebrating today.

So, congratulations again to Phil on uh Mr.

Strom on being our city attorney and and for those of you who are gonna stay afterwards, I'm sure the city clerk will tell us more about that.

But I'll look forward to seeing uh my fellow commissioners at neighborhood summit and all of you too.

Commissioner Cogar, yes, thank you, Mayor.

Uh, quickly here, uh focusing on the upcoming budget.

We'll be meeting a lot about that.

Thank you so much to do together West Michigan for coming out and in numbers.

It's been really nice uh coordinating with you all and community organizations and members throughout our uh ward to talk about traffic safety.

Um I've I've been someone who's worked on this before elected.

I was the chair of the Vital Streets Oversight Commission, so this is something I really love talking about and safety, and I'm happy that uh Commissioner Perdue and I are um in an agreement on uh how this should look in terms of how we're gonna support these community-centered uh proposals uh in the upcoming budget.

So um we're hoping to allocate funds to the third ward equity fund for uh much needed traffic safety.

Um, and I'm hopeful that our colleagues will like last year uh take uh and value the input that the third ward commissioners uh proposed to the commission and and um affirm what we propose to be done with the third ward equity fund.

We had a very nice uh review of the climate action adaptation plan today, the CAP.

I want to thank the staff for their work on that.

And I'm really proud of the city and my colleagues for our commitment to transparency on next steps in the cost analysis with that, and then lastly, hear the neighborhood investment plan.

I'm so proud to work with my colleagues, uh, Commissioner Belchak and Isasi on that work group.

Um it's a lot.

This this year we have the highest number of requested dollars for community uh work, so there is intense need in our community uh and village.

Thank you all for showing up today.

Um I'm happy that we can fill in some of those much needed gaps uh uh with uh federal dollars and like someone did comment uh the current administration threatened to completely wipe uh CDBG funding.

So uh continuing to look at how we can make uh funding sustainable for some of this community work is something that I'll be interested in.

Uh thank you all again for making time in your busy days to come at 2 p.m.

on a Tuesday.

I deeply appreciate it and value your input.

Thanks.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um Mr.

Clerk.

Yeah, so at the conclusion after the conclusion of this meeting, after the mayor makes those remarks and adjourns the meeting, we'll um move the Mr.

Strom and I will move down lower in front of the day is here to do his oath of office.

So if you want to stick around for that and we will um we'll continue um with that because congratulations.

Welcome to the team appointed, I guess.

A couple election things um yeah I I'm gonna be doing a um summit workshop at the neighborhood summit with uh Kathy Harris from Proactive we have a good relationship with um working on on election things me on the official side and her in the in the community um with voter registration various things so those partnerships are really important an exciting note um for the November election so come thinking ahead to November um we'll have uh four locations for early voting um just put it on radar so we'll we have three different locations for August we'll a fourth location in November will be at New Hope Baptist church um in the by Martin Luther King and Ionia back in that neighborhood there um so that's gonna be an exciting um new location um obviously in the nexus of the first and third wards kind of coming together in that in that um part of the grand part of Grand Rapids where um be where we use some of our lower um turnout precincts are so it'll be exciting to um be in that neighborhood to have several days of early voting um right there in that neighborhood so I'm looking forward to that thank you to New Hope after the Baptist church for opening their doors to us for um outside of more than one um day um so that's all I have city attorney I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to be more intentional about thank yous after this but um I've been feeling the love the last couple weeks thank you for everybody that's reached out and supported or or took part in the process for the other candidates for my family uh especially those that um you know pulled a little bit harder while I was distracted or or for my dad that came down from the UP it was really uh teamwork that has helped me to be ready to take an oath of office uh an oath really means a lot to a lawyer especially to me um and I look forward to recommitting both my commitment to public service but my commitment to the city and the practice law city manager thank you mayor and commissioners uh for your work today and all the staff who helped uh put together um this agenda made a lot of the briefings and uh decisions easier for you uh having uh the information on the diets I want to congratulate my colleague uh Phil Strom on his appointment and also uh I want to also acknowledge our interim his his appointment of the interim deputy city manager uh Sarah Hartman and I keep trying to make a deputy city manager it's like the second time this week third time this week deputy city attorney uh Sarah Hartman thank you for your work and I see uh our former colleague uh city attorney hitchcock retired city attorney hitchcock here this morning so good to see you uh just a couple of things uh we're gonna have a press conference I heard a lot of concerns around mobility issues with the opening of the amphitheater and major events I think our press conference is scheduled April 20th and uh we'll be providing a lot of information how people can navigate around the city uh particularly during those times and I'm pretty sure uh pretty feel pretty confident we will work through it we uh I was not here when the uh Van Andal opened and I heard there were similar concerns but uh we were able to navigate through it and figure it out and I feel confident this will be the same as well.

Uh I do want to just very briefly we'll have ample opportunity to talk about the budget but what we we cannot um come up with fiscal policy on the dais I mean it it is it is very very nuanced complicated with with both law as well as color of money and also restraints and how you spend money and one of the conversations we were having here was the public hearing uh doing uh the use of the brownfield authority which we want private businesses to use because that's the intent it's an incentive to encourage private business development to offset some of the costs that would be impediments like remediation uh doing some of the environmentals so that cities can redevelop and reinvest and you abate the taxes that in the future the increase uh values of those properties will be general purpose revenues that the city could use for things like police fire uh parks other general uh services uh of the community it it you you can't um just unilaterally provide an incentive that's intended for private business development say well we need to have a general purpose for this uh throughout the city and so there are there are things that we can do and there are things that we can't do for uh time does not permit uh that kind of discussion here but uh we'll be having ample time during the budget process to talk about how we can best use all the funds the city uses uh to ensure that our city uh remains safe continue to grow and yes the city is not a housing developer but we understand there are some things that we do influence there's some incentives we influence there are some

And so there are there are things that we can do and there are things that we can't do for uh time does not permit uh that kind of discussion here, but uh we'll be having ample time during the budget process to talk about how we can best use all the funds the city uses uh to ensure that our city uh remains safe, continue to grow.

And yes, the city is not a housing developer, but we understand there are some things that we do influence.

There's some incentives we influence.

There are some uh zoning uh and place making uh kind of policies that we can do to promote housing investment, and we are believe me, doing as much as I have seen since we have been here to ensure and the numbers show that.

I looked at the report uh this morning on the number of housing units uh that were produced uh that was permitted last year, and it was the highest that has been uh achieved since I've been here.

So looking forward to having more of those conversations during the budget process.

Thank you, City Manager.

And um, I don't mean to beat the Brownfield thing to death, and I wasn't going to talk about it, but I do want to uh emphasize a couple things there.

Um those of you who are listening um probably noticed that I wanted to know how many employ how many um jobs were gonna be in that building.

Um those people are in a very dense neighborhood, which means potentially they can live very close to those jobs.

So having job opportunities in the city as well as housing is really part of how you build um an environmental community, among other things, because it can lim it minimizes transportation.

Um the other thing that's worth pointing out about Brownfield is yes, it's not general fund dollars, and that's true, but it's also not giving away the income tax from all those people who will pay city income tax if they are working in the city, as opposed to if that business is located outside of the city.

Um the other thing that's worth pointing out, and this is me, the former legislator, is that the Brownfield um program is specifically tailored to try to be urbanist.

It's an attempt to level a playing field against people building things in cornfields.

So if you are not a fan of sprawl, and I am not, uh I am profoundly grateful that um cities have tools to equalize, and specifically the brownfield uh money doesn't get spent on, you know, parties or uh a nicer roof.

What it gets what the money has to be allocated to is remediation costs, cleanup costs, things that you don't have in a cornfield.

So it's uh it's a way to uh stop people simply moving their properties out to places where they wouldn't have uh environmental cleanup costs, where they wouldn't have uh remediation costs and exist and this is again reconditioning an existing building, and those of us in the environmental space are keenly aware that there's a concept called embedded energy.

If you've already got a building, it's a really good idea to rehab it if you can uh to conserve the investment that's already been made in even the mundane thing like link things like the bricks, they all represent energy costs, and so being able to clean those buildings up and repurpose them is exactly what the Brownfield is supposed to be for.

So I just wanted to point out that's not foregone uh city general revenue.

It is uh certainly I hope going to be additive to our uh tax base, um, as many of us have pointed out.

So um wanted to point that out.

The other thing I I wanted to point out is I've been talking for uh recently a lot about um encouraging our city to move into more of an experimental mindset.

So if there are things that you can try and see if they work or not, and you can try and you can move them back or you can do something else different without uh huge opportunity costs or in inconveniences, those those are good characteristics.

And so what am I talking about here?

The dash.

The the change in the dash line is specifically envisioned as a pilot.

So we are going to try this and we are going to see how it works.

And there are cost savings involved in that, and that's real, and Commissioner Knight, you're absolutely right.

Um, but it's also true, I will tell you, as a daily uh pedestrian over the course of the winter.

I looked at that new la uh route and realized that I could actually use it for half of my commute down to City Hall.

I could intersect it down on Cherry Street.

And for a frequent bus user as I am and a frequent pedestrian as I am, um, frequency matters a lot, and all of the actual use by of mass transit by people uh who do that, who do you actually consume mass transit, how often the bus comes matters.

I am not waiting at a bus stop for half an hour in February in the hopes that it will save me six minutes of walking.

If the bus uh move comes every eight minutes, that's a huge difference.

And so one of the things that it's worth noting about this pilot, and you know, if if the if we survey people and they decide that this was uh uh a bad vision, we have the opportunity to change it.

Nothing permanent is going into redrawing the lines for where the dash goes.

Finally uh thanks for the folks who came out for uh traffic safety I will say um that uh this is something that I've been very urgent about and continue to be urgent and I I know my colleagues are um and I know that area of Kalamazoo very well since my office used to be at 1551 Kalmazou.

So I know those traffic patterns very well and um if I could have say two three thousand uh instant on traffic uh crossing uh beacons in the city that would probably be about the right number for me intuitively um so the more the merrier I don't mean to be casting aspersions at all on the request there I think it's absolutely right uh and it's absolutely appropriate.

I will however point out that um I would be remiss if I didn't point out that today I went down and uh clocked traffic on Leonard Street um around the Plymouth area and cars going 55 miles an hour on that stretch are not outliers.

Uh I you can buy a radar gun people out there in TV land and uh for about 120 bucks on Amazon and you can track your neighborhood speed without too much difficulty.

And there are cars going 55 miles an hour routinely on that check of Leonard Street.

And to say again what I've said many times before a pedestrian gets hit at 35 miles an hour is about a 90% f fatality rate.

They get hit at 25 mile hour miles an hour there's about a 10% fatality rate.

So getting cars sub 25 miles an hour is really really important if we value the lives of the people who aren't in cars uh who are trying to make their way through the city.

So that's something I firmly uh uh am committed to continuing to lift up and I know that uh my colleagues uh support in general the long-term work that the city's been doing on traffic calming and I and I do not mean to suggest this is a criticism of criticism of staff work by any means because this is something that has been a very clear objective of our city for a long time.

We continue to make progress here and um uh I always want it to be more and faster but that doesn't mean that there aren't the real constraints of time finances uh logistics planning engineering um and a partridge and a peretry I mean there are lots of there's lots of logistics that go into to real world changes but I think all of us up here are urgent that we do as much as we can as fast as we can uh to keep people in our community safe and that includes uh traffic safety that is absolutely part of public safety so with that I will end thank you all for coming