GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On Tuesday evening, July 25, the city commission voted 5-2 to add changes to ordinances regarding activity in public spaces.
The Grand Rapids Chamber said these changes are long overdue.
“We appreciate the leadership of the city commission in dealing with a complex and challenging issue, and advancing these ordinances to support vibrant and active public spaces,” said Andy Johnston, senior of vice president of the Chamber.
FOX 17 interviewed Johnston on Wednesday afternoon at the chamber office on Monroe Avenue.
One ordinance centered on panhandling and accosting people who are dining outside or using an ATM. The other was in regards to the city seizing unattended personal belongings found in public. The property will be held up to 30 days in a safe storage place and discarded if it isn’t claimed after that.
Johnston said the chamber has over 2,500 members and businesses in West Michigan. The chamber helped author the ordinance changes after their clients reported to them last year accounts of business owners and workers being accosted repeatedly.
“This is just one step in the process of addressing these keys issues that are going to drive Grand Rapids forward,” Johnston said.
City leaders voted on the issue after a number of people spoke at the meeting about their concerns regarding the changes.
Some of their stories resonated with Second Ward Commissioner Lisa Knight who was once homeless.
“What I said last night is we forget to see people’s humanity,” Knight said during a Zoom interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday. “We see how they dress. We see how they smell and we forget that they’re still human beings.”
Knight was one of the two commissioners who voted against the changes. Kelsey Perdue of the third ward voted against it as well.
Knight’s pushback stemmed from the deep systemic issues that need to be tackled first, she said, like a lack of housing, employment, child care, and mental health resources.
“My angst in that is also in and how we’re getting this messaging out to the community,” she said. “And then making sure that the people who are responsible for kind of the enforcement part of this, really know how they’re going to address people.”
Enforcement was also a concern at LINC Up, a community nonprofit that specializes in fair housing.
“We have concerns that this ordinance is going to increase, you know, interactions with GRPD,” said Isaac DeGraaf during a Zoom interview on Wednesday. “And, that can lead to physical and emotional trauma, or it can lead to more money spent on incarceration, or criminalization.”
The policy is expected to take effect in 30 days.
DeGraaf is the policy strategist at LINC UP. He said what they’d like to see moving forward is transparency from the city and more dialogue with the community.
Knight agreed, that more conversation is needed on the issue.
“If I ruled the world everyone would have what they need,” Knight said. “We assume that we know what everybody needs and that everybody needs housing. But, everybody has a different need that helps them reach that level of success that’s important for them.”
