GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There was a small protest in Grand Rapids Saturday pushing city commissioners to change a city code— opposers say the ordinance targets the unhoused community.
Several commissioners voted about a month ago to change the city’s disorderly conduct and nuisance ordinances.
Supporters say the new ordinances are to address growing issues reported throughout the city, but others argue it’s unfair for people struggling with homelessness.
Saturday’s protest specifically targeted commissioner Jon O’Connor, a co-owner of Long Road Distillers on the west side of Grand Rapids.
“We’re here to show just how unjust it is that Jon O’Connor can put changes into the city ordinance that affect unhoused people in an unjust way,” Kellan Martin with the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union said.
However, O’Connor told FOX 17 that he stands by his vote.
“I’m proud to serve the people of Grand Rapids and want to keep positive momentum moving forward here,” O’Connor added.
Late last year, the Grand Rapids Chamber presented its ideas to city commissioners on how to address certain concerns— specifically, business owners and employees who had reported being accosted repeatedly downtown.
One idea was fining people for violations, but the city pushed back.
“I think that that request really started a dialogue about, you know, kind of, really what the needs are in Grand Rapids in terms of some of the housing outcomes that we have,” O’Connor said.
City leaders spent months looking over current ordinances— trying to figure out what’s on the books already and what could be done to boost public safety.
Then, they came up with banning loitering in doorways, accosting while near ATMs and the amount of someone’s personal property that’s allowed in a public area.
Many community members voiced their concerns at public meetings and claimed the potential changes were directed at the unhoused community; however, commissioners still voted 5-2 in favor of the changes.
READ MORE: Grand Rapids leaders approve changes to city's disorderly conduct, nuisance ordinances
“These were gaps that, you know, opportunities to address some gaps in the system based on, you know, behaviors in our community that we didn’t think were acceptable,” O’Connor explained.
“Those changes are anti-homeless in nature. They’re anti-people in nature. They are meant to subvert the public and to destroy any community that we have,” Martin argued. “People won’t pay them, for them to get those basic necessities. They don’t hire them.”
Martin told FOX 17 that he too struggled with homelessness at one point in his life.
“They just leave them on the streets to die,” he added. “If you can imagine a situation like that, that’s basically what being homeless is like.”
O’Connor, on the other hand, offered several options for someone trying to seek shelter in the city of Grand Rapids right now— He says there are beds open and many resources available to help people get back on their feet.”
“We have the Fusion Center, which operates at Crossroads Bible Church every week,” he said. “You have an opportunity, if you are unhoused, to go to one location to get an ID if you need it, to get signed up for your VA benefits or your SSI benefits, to take a shower.”
