GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Newly elected Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand has delivered his first State of the City address Thursday night.
The invite-only event began with former Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, who expressed her support for the new mayor and excitement for his term ahead.
In a relatively short address, about 25 minutes in length, LaGrand focused on what he called "policy buckets."
The buckets included three topics: housing, justice and policing, and city and neighborhood design.
While discussing housing, the mayor brought up the need for 12,000 additional units needed in the next two years to keep pace with demand.
He hopes the city's land bank program can help. It keeps a catalog of vacant lot properties that could be sold and who is eligible to buy.
According to the city's website, these properties may have homes on them that are currently vacant and unsafe because of their condition. It also says only proposals that include development of new housing or significant rehabilitation of existing homes will be considered. The policy also provides timelines for who is eligible to submit purchase proposals.
LaGrand also wants to focus on meeting the challenge of homelessness in Grand Rapids. He highlighted the work of the "One Hundred in 100" program, a campaign to find housing for 100 unhoused people in 100 days. It housed 73 people and referred an additional 72 people to permanent housing.
See more: Local leaders launched a campaign to house 100 people in 100 days in Kent County. How did they do?
He also hopes the Accessory Dwelling Unit Task Force can improve its numbers. After the building code was changed in 2024, only eight additional units were built. These could be something like a garage that could be converted into a living unit.
His second "bucket" that was addressed is justice and policing.
He highlighted the successes of the Behavioral Health Crisis Center at Trinity Health on Jefferson Avenue. About 1,300 people have been helped.
LaGrand said crime is down in Grand Rapids and that the police and fire departments are strong, led by their respective chiefs who are increasing staff.
See more: 'We're all in this together': GRPD police chief thanks community for helping bring crime stats down
His third "bucket" was city and neighborhood design.
LaGrand wants safer streets for walking and biking and hopes additional flashing pedestrian crossings will help. He says there's a way to make our streets an asset and not an obstacle.
He also pointed out that there are only two dog parks in the Grand Rapids park system. Owning three dogs himself, he would like to see that change.
LaGrand finished by pressing a message of unity, departing from the bipartisan battle happening across the country. He says he's proud to be elected as a non-partisan mayor.
Moving forward, he encouraged people to get involved with the Mayor's Monday events. The meetings will focus on the three policy buckets rotating across the three wards every week.
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