City Commission - Regular Meeting

Oh yeah. Oh. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hey, hey, hey. Hey. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Got to call this meeting of the city commission to order and ask you all to join us as is our habit with a moment of silence. Please stand if you can and join us for the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Clerk, if you could call the role. And while you're doing so, if our interpreter could make her way to the podium. Commissioner Asasi, present. Commissioner Knight, present. Commissioner Purdue, present. Commissioner Belchek, here. Commissioner Kilgore, present. Mayor Lrand, yes.

If you could introduce yourself for the audience. Good evening. My name is Sandra and I am an interpreter, professional interpreter from the Hispanic Center. We're here to serve you. I will be glad to interpret from Spanish to English or English to Spanish um for anyone who needs it. Thank you. Thank you. Um and Commissioner Sassi. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um my apologies, colleagues. I'm not feeling well. I plan to go through the agenda that we have and vote on the appropriate items, but then I'm going to ask to be excused. Um, we need to be back in chambers tomorrow at 9:00. I want to be sure I'm there for that vote. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, I don't think we need to vote to excuse you, but thank you for making that note. Um, so, uh, first item of action for us tonight is approval of our prior minutes. Could I have a motion? So, move support. All in favor say I. I. I. That brings us to petitions and communications. Mr. Clerk, we have a few communication received from Garrett McTavish regarding Foyer request PD 2026-545. Receive and filed. Communication received from Erica Shamber expressing concerns for the growing number of flock cameras in Grand Rapids public roadways. Received and filed. Communication received from Kelly Woolheis Gable Ventures LLC expressing strong opposition to the continued renaming of streets. Received and filed. Two communications received from Scott Aerson regarding a downtown information center.

Received and filed. Communication 10 of them received expressing support of Phil Strong for the position of city attorney. Received and filed. Uh communication received from Kyle Vinstr regarding his resignation from the economic development corporation of Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. Refer to committee on appointments. Uh communications 28 of them urging the city commission to institute sanctuary city policies and pursue justice for Dayan Tree Johnson. Received and filed. And communication received from Crystal Hartzell regarding artwork in the uptown area. Received and filed. Uh that brings us to report of city officers. Mr. Clerk,

uh controllers warrant report for the period of March 3, 2026 through March 16, 2020 March. Yeah, March 16, 2026 in the amount of 37,3432,396.40 and the monthly travel report received and filed. And the treasures report for the period of March 4, 2026 through March 17, 2026.

Received and filed. That brings us to our consent agenda and reports of standing committees. Uh for the audience and for those uh online, these are items which passed out of committee uh unanimously and did not uh get pulled for further discussion or for any other reason by any member of the commission. Um the uh agenda was available at the door. I'm at least some of you have it. So if there are any of those items you wish to speak to later, you're certainly welcome to. Um, but I'd like ask for a uh motion to pass our consent agenda. So moved. Support. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries.

That brings us to um ordinances to be adopted. The first one is an ordinance amending section one of the budget ordinance 25 2025-11 for fiscal year 2026 amendment number six. Thank you. I'd like a motion. So moved. Support. Commissioner Saui.

Thank you, mayor. Um we have a number of items on this um ordinance item. First is for the police department M Cole's funding for recruit stipens an amount of 100,000. Second for our engineering department. This is um Grand River's Edge Trail Construction, the amount of 2 million uh 2.5 million approximately. Number three for the DID for the snow mount melt fund 50,000. My apologies. Um item number four, fiscal services department um for cloud services. Um this is a carry forward of a little over a million dollars and um that is the remainder of the items um and no other items to mention for this ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you. Any comments or questions, commissioners? Seeing none, uh this is a roll call vote. So Mr. Clark, Commissioner Knight, yes. Commissioner Belchek, yes. Commissioner Kilgore, yes. Commissioner Asi, yes. Yes. Commissioner Purdue. Yes. Mayor Lrand. Yes. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for immediate effect? So moved. Support. All in favor say I. I. I. This brings us to our second ordinance. It's ordinance reszoning 3113 Plaza Drive Northeast from the NOS, which is neighborhood office services to the NDR modern era neighborhood mixed density residential zone district. Thank you. Can I have a motion? Support. Commissioner Knight.

Uh thank you, mayor. Um this uh property is under consideration is located southside of Plaza Drive which is a private street and north of I96. The property is irregularly shaped and is encumbered by private road right off the easement along its entire 315 ft frontage width as well as a 25- foot easement for ingress and egress to a cell tower located at the southwest corner of the property. The purpose and intent um the modern era neighborhood mixed density residential district is intended to permit the moderate to highdensity single-use development pattern that present presently exists. Um it is encouraged uh that the redevelopment of these properties into mixed density format where a variety of housing densities and styles are provided.

Thank you. Uh any questions or comments colleagues? Seeing none, uh, this is also a roll call vote. Commissioner Balchek, yes. Commissioner Kilgore, yes. Commissioner Sassi, yes. Commissioner Purdue, yes. Commissioner Knight, yes. Mayor Lrant,

yes. Motion carries. Uh, this brings us there being no city commission resolutions this evening to uh public hearings. There are two, but they can uh uh they should probably be discussed together. Uh they are a public hearing. They're they both reference the same project. Uh the first is a public hearing for Obsolete Property Rehabilitation District uh for the Gideon Project LLC at 801 Oakdale. And the second is a public hearing for an application for an 11-year uh what's sometimes called Oprah an obsolete property rehabilitation exemption certificate uh for that project. Um if I could have doesn't look like Mrs. Reero, but anyone from the public wants to speak.

No, no, she's from the department. Oh, but well, you can come up too, but it's it's a it's a public hearing, so if you want to uh frame the matter for us, and then we can let the public speak.

Thank you. Good evening. No, uh Miss Reero is on a well- earned vacation for spring break, so I am filling in tonight. Uh thank you for allowing me to address the council on behalf of this project. This project is being put forth by the Gideon Project LLC by Tasha Cruz, whom you'll get to hear from in a few minutes alongside Kurt Repart. This is a tax abatement request for this facility which is going to be a complete renovation of a blighted uh commercial building at the corner of um I believe Eastern and Oakdale Street. There's over 6,000 square foot of space to be rehabilitated, which includes the full scope of the ground floor pictured here into a cafe and ice ice cream shop and community event space. In addition to rehabilitating the upper um second floor of the corner building to create um housing units that will be rented um to households earning between 50 and 80% AMI. So total project cost for this do um exceed $2 million. It's around 2.1, most of which is uh hard construction costs. And tied to this project are some aspirational inclusion plan goals um just under 10% of total project costs to women and minority owned businesses in this region. The project uh is being proposed for an 11-year exemption certificate based on its achievement of one of the investment criteria outlined in the in the policy, specifically housing and income diversity given its ability to meet um some affordability by design metrics. Construction is estimated to begin this year and take up to 18 months to complete. Uh and fun fact just in addition to the project seeking support from the commission in the form of a tax abatement it's also being supported through the southtown CIA through a generous facade uh facade grant awards. So staff have been working with the uh developer to layer support where possible uh to make this project possible um in this corridor and for this emerging developer.

Thanks. Uh before you go um I assume this is your I'm guessing this is your first time doing this for the city. It is. Right on. You did a great job. Um, but for the record, can you just give our give us your name? Yes, I am Audrey Tapendon and I am one of the newest hires to the economic development department. Good job. Thanks. Right on. Uh, so anyone from the public who wants to come up and speak to this, but also we happy to hear from the developer on any details they want to add. And uh, Mr. Reert was getting up and down from his seat because he's excited.

I am excited. Hello, mayor and commissioners. U, I'm Kurt with Collective Ventures. I'm here with Tasha Cruz. Uh we're thank you for listening about the Gideon project. It has been just an absolute joy for me to work on this project with Tasha and play a small role in it. Um we've had a few details from me. We had Paul and her team out to the site. They're not really pretty pictures that the assessor takes of an obsolete property. Uh but she did that. McKenzie and Audrey from the economic development department have been great to work with. We've also connected with planning and community development. uh the Southtown CIA, thank you for your support of our facade grant. Uh it was kind of a fun little tour of city staff for me. Uh which which I'm grateful for. And also throughout this process, thank you for your support that you've expressed. Uh the last detail because it's my jam. We are adding one 60% AMI unit in this neighborhood that will be for neighbors and uh and it will be at 60% of the area median income. So Tasha, you want me to just say a little bit?

Most of um everything has been covered. I will say that um part of this uh project has been in re um um in response to my great-g grandandmother. Um the ice cream shop is named Annabelle's and she was born in 1907 and was a surgical nurse and had properties um in California and Illinois and Michigan. And surely if she could do it during her time, I can do it now. And so that is um the motivation for me to um continue her legacy. So um my grandmother didn't quite have that vision, but we I am taking up that mantle again in her honor. And so um the ice cream shop is named Annabelle's Ice Cream Shop. And so this is part of her legacy that I want to continue. Well, those of us with long memories of that neighborhood remember when there were businesses along there. Uh there was a hardware store there back in the day. Um I want to say it was Hammer and Cornoff, but I don't remember the name. Either it was either that or called Oakdale Hardware or something, but I I actually went there before it closed in maybe the 80s, so it's been a long time coming.

Um so, thank you. This is great. If you have any questions, let us know. Yep. Uh anyone members for the public wanting to comment on this? Um, I'll just take another two seconds and explain how obsolete property rehabilitation, the certificate that we're hearing about. Basically, the idea is to give people an incentive to invest in exactly this kind of project by holding their property tax at the level it is now so that they're encouraged to invest in the property without getting penalized by having a a a big increase in their property tax. So, it's a very effective tool. very happy that we're using it here and seeing no one coming forward. Yeah,

you um thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure to work with you all the last maybe we met two years ago um and to get to this point in the project. I'm really excited to see so much development, particularly locally owned development, happening along the Eastern Avenue corridor. And I'm looking forward to the day where you can travel from Eastern and wealthy all the way to 28th in Eastern and have every single one of our business districts on that southeast end uh be vibrant and thriving. And certainly uh about a quarter of the district this will represent revitalization and redevelopment for. I do have one question of clarification, Kurt. Um you mentioned um so on this piece that we have up we see that there's going to be one onebedroom unit one two-bedroom unit between 50 and 80 AMI but you mentioned something about an additional 60% in your comments. Can you just clarify what you meant?

So the building's owner occupied in one unit and then the other occupied will be ren fully renovated at 60%. Okay. Okay. So here's an interesting thing and I had a conversation with Deputy Chief Barren about it today. We set that we picked the rent based on what we thought would be for that neighborhood which is actually not which is lower than what you could get at 60%. So it's actually presents as 50%. But there's a there's a there's an interesting debate there around AMI to have. Thank you Commissioner Bel.

Well I might not let you off the hook so easily. Um well first of all both of you I really appreciate it. We know that this is a needed missing income bracket. Um it's I wouldn't mind if you know for everyone like when you're thinking about renting what those actual rents per month would be. And you mentioned affordability by design metrics in the presentation. I think that's an interesting concept. I haven't heard that per se. I wouldn't mind a 30 second description of that. I mean it's a small apartment so it's a it's an efficiency. It's a it's an efficiency. The affordability is by the efficiency in terms of what we're going to do as well as energy efficiency upgrades to the property

to make the the utilities cheaper. Thanks. I'm looking forward to having ice cream there. We're going to have to have our our community hours together long eastern first word, third w. Okay, seeing no other uh public comment, this takes us to our general uh public comment time. So, anyone wishing to be heard on any issue can come up. Please give us your name, tell us where you live. Um, Mr. Jones, I already know you live in the first ward, but anyone else uh please give us your name and and uh tell us where you live and you have up to three minutes to talk to us.

How y'all doing? I'm D. Jones, passionate entrepreneur and visionary. I brought a couple friends from uh from the hood, from the underserved community. David, I want to give you a shout out cuz uh I was looking at the stream and I end up seeing D. Jones and a couple of his friends at the mayor's Monday at the state of the city. So, thank you for putting the people, real people from the hood on the state of the city as black people are pioneering. So, as you guys know, uh I'm the guy who got the city to adopt 3D printing construction with my continuous advocacy, but I actually just handed you guys some curricula. So, I'm working with historical black colleges. Texas Southern University is a H.B.CU. Uh the regional director of that H.B.CU controls 30 H.B.CU. So you guys see curricula that is going to be integrated across the nation. I also have a guy who has uh connections to a 1.2 trillion 1.2 trillion making sure everybody hears 1.2 trillion but he has a connection to a 1.2 trillion sobering fund. And if you go to hbcug grid.1 you will see the guy who made a 1 who has connections to a $1.2 $22 trillion so fund who has a national innovation grid that literally helps us integrate our curricula into the nation and already has a platform and has thousands of universities and all of that. So you guys know where I'm going with this. I am an innovative genius, a left-handed genius that is going to change our economy that is going to build things and beautiful things in 3D print houses. Show people how to use a decentralized streaming platform. Build a digital brand. Use your digital assets because now Fanny May, the Federal Financing Agency, allows people to collateralize against their Bitcoin. So now you can use your digital assets to actually have a house without selling them. So David, I'm going to be on you even heavier now that the federal agencies and the financial federal agencies is allowing people to use cryptocurrency to actually

purchase houses without selling their crypto. Now we can use free digital assets. Now people can actually stream and voice their free speech and their opinion without having subscribers and earn free digital assets that can be utilized to actually have a house or because of D. Jones influencing digital money. Now you can actually stream and earn digital assets that can be utilized to actually purchase 3D printers or construction inc. This is all going to be prioritized and started with prioritizing historical black colleges, African-Americans, and people of color. and then we'll expand it to the other standardized organizations and communities and the stock and community hub is actually a part of that. I'm excited for what we're going to do with the stock and community hub because the stock and community hub will be the base of this. So, as I am a natural, innovative left-handed genius that's doing beautiful, beautiful things for King County, $1.2 trillion sobering funds. The guy who has access to funds has already developed this site. I'm excited for my friends that I brought from the hood to speak to you about the initiative they got going too.

Mr. Deans, I'm going to give you a 2 minute and 30 second uh timer. I'm just going to tell you when you're at two and a half minutes because you have three minutes to speak and I know you can't see the timer. So, if that's all right. Thank you.

Yeah. My name is Sydney Deans. I've been uh speaking to you, not you people specifically, but uh to the city uh concerning Grand River and the waste that's going into Grand River and uh how important that water was back when I was a child uh back in the 50s. We ate a lot of meals out of that out of that river. I'm going tell you. Although it was being dumped a lot of stuff in in that river that it's not being dumped in there now. But what I want to do is to see if we could filter our water system good enough to where we are to where we are releasing zero tolerance. you know, had got a zero tolerance on it, you know, against pollution because uh the state, not the state, but the federal government has these regulations that they say, "Hey, you can release so much uh file water in there." But if you got a zero tolerance, it' be better than what the government says because all you're doing is polluting it. is still polluting it and it don't take much chemical to pollute any water. You know what I'm saying? So, it's better that that we uh put a final filtering system on our water system, our uh outgoing water system to stop this here. uh chemical which which we still putting into the river inside my lake and you don't want it to come right back excuse me it comes right back into our kitchens because our water drawing if I'm not mistaken for the city is in Grand Haven also

at the lake so that water didn't make it a circle come right back to us so The better we make it, the better it is for this people and people of of this of this country and of the world because that water there's no limits to where that water can't go. And another thing is uh we have got to uh yeah god I don't know um make it right for for us to um get ourselves together as far as chemicals being brought into this into this this state chemicals be led into this state that shouldn't be coming into the state because other states don't bring them across our border but let us let them come into our

Mr. Deans you got five seconds left sorry I should have told you earlier

thank you I just let that five Hi, first of all, thank you for letting us speak. Um, I'm Cashmir Sterling. I own a recording studio downtown. Um, some years ago, I was able to change my life through the Haida Act. Thank you to the Honorable Judge Nicholas AUB. And, uh, the things he did, his brother did with uh, building the studio in Grand Rapids public schools really inspired me. So, uh, every Wednesday we do a mentor day thing and we record some younger artists for free. Um, I just wanted to let everybody know that that happens every Wednesday, no matter what's going on. If you just look up Patrol Media on uh Google, you'll find my business. Um, Desawn here and uh, Antonio are actually a couple of the guys who have been working to turn their lives around and work really hard at the studio. They've been doing really great job. Um, and they're a little more in tune with the current issues of today more than myself. Um, so I like to listen to the younger youth as much as I can. Um, but yeah, if anybody hitting Wednesday, we're there working hard.

Keep speaking. Keep speaking about your initiative.

Yeah. So, our initiative eventually we're hoping to build a community center um based uh you know in knowledge uh grounding and understanding um and maybe like more of a safe haven for especially for younger kids, somebody like myself who grew up right over on uh Franklin and Eastern and didn't have uh much of a parental thing going around. I just kind of spend a lot of time on the streets. I'd really like to uh help curb that if I can and and give a safer place for kids nowadays. And you know what I mean? Uh, some were creative, too. Kids nowadays are creating some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard in my life, and they're doing it off the top of their head. Uh, it's quite quite inspiring, honestly. Um, and I just want to do whatever I can to help keep fostering a place of growth and knowledge, and yeah, that's that's what we're doing. So, hope to see you guys soon. We'll definitely come back with more plans and more more specifics. We do need uh we are looking for funding in the future, but I'd like to come with a more ground plan like for that obviously. Um so, you know, for now, I mean, I have some small plans for just investing in like younger artists if you wanted to, you know, really boost their careers. I went to the LA recording school, so I I learned like a lot on how to actually do that. I've written quite a few plans for that matter of fact. But the the community centered thing is a much bigger mission and that I know and it's going to take some years, but we definitely want to get started as soon as possible. So,

hey, um, he introduced me as, uh, Deshan. Oh, I get I get three minutes again.

Oh, okay. I thought I only had like 30 seconds left. Um he name um yeah he introduced me as Desawn but they I'm known as like um they call me like uh anything that has to do with a plant or water. So I'm just came to say I agree with the guy that spoke before we did about the water thing and about the river. You know that's kind of um it's like for me the youth kind of like relates to me. I can talk good. I can dress good. I can uh they relate to me so they listen to me but the only thing that I tell them is exactly things like what the older man said about the water you know and it's like all of our bodies are made of water I don't know if you guys know that majority of your our body I think it's like 80% water so it's like I hear a lot of funding about a lot of housing and a lot of a lot of things around this is why we I bring my cousin here today and he kind of dones kind of like forcefully or as you can tell making us get used to talking and you know coming. But um yeah, I just feel like there's a lot of there's there's a like a lack of education and um about as to like you know what water is and health and like eating and you know I just feel like um I feel like maybe as he said we come from the hood. I don't know where a majority of these people come from or where you guys originate from, but I feel like there's things that on both ends that I feel like there's a lack of communication basically like no one no one really communicates, no one really talks. And that's why we're here today to see, you know, what you guys are talking about. What what is the funding going towards? What is, you know, and that's where I come into play as like, you know, the youth relates to me. If you want the youth to listen, they listen to me. If there's anything you

like to present to them, I can present to them, you know, but my biggest thing is like what the older man said, the water, you know. I feel like I mean, if you need to know something else about me, there's a only a minute left. Um, I'm two years um of no eating like me. I've been it's been like two years straight I've been in my study about you know like African holistic health and just different just different cultures and ethnicities ethnic ethnicities and recipes and how they just what they know and what we don't and there's just a lot that our youth doesn't know. I mean they don't know anything quite frankly and it's like the common core education thing is like I as like obviously not working. I don't think so. I don't know if you guys feel like it's working, but I just feel like a lot of the books, a lot of just everything. I mean, like I just feel like without education and water, where where can we get without that? Without the first steps, you know? Nice to meet you guys.

Thank you. Good evening, commissioners and mayor. I'm Ellen Atkins. Um, I'm here tonight with a group of concerned residents. We are King Park Neighborhood Association and Together West Michigan. a group, an organization that brings communities together with one voice to make our community stronger. Y'all stand up. All right. See what I mean? Okay. We're here tonight regarding traffic safety on Kalamazoo Avenue. We heard earlier that there are many plans for traffic safety in the city of Grand Rapids, and there is certainly a need for that. We won't debate that with you. Um, but what we didn't hear in that discussion were plans regarding Kalamazoo Street, which I kind of regard as the expressway between Burton and Hall certain times of the day. We know that construction is happening in an area south of Evergreen with improvements happening there, which is great. Our concern is for the area between Evergreen and Hall where there are several cross streets with limited and I mean limited sight lanes. We've also heard that there's a good possibility of a four four-way stop costing $200,000 at Kazoo and Adams which would be good too. We believe there's also a need for a flashing crosswalk a few blocks north at Euing or Hancock Street which would cost 125,000. Both of these safety features will make the area much safer. We we know that I'm sure the city wants the residents to be safe on these streets as the

neighbors do. As you begin to work on the upcoming budget, which I hear y'all getting ready to do, we are urging you to keep the safety of our neighborhood in mind as well. Our children should not have to run across the street on Kalamazoo. Nor should old ladies like me who can't run quite as fast. So please consider us when you are looking at your budget. Don't forget us because we are great taxpayers. We're great citizens and we want you to take care of us as best that you can. I would uh be uh remiss if I didn't thank our commissioners for the work that they have done on this project as well. Uh, so thanks Kelsey. Thanks Marshall.

Seeing. Oh, there we go.

Hello. My name is Shannon Tannis and I'm a displaced um former resident of the first ward. Um there's a few things I would like to speak about. Um, I've been trying to get to these meetings for couple of or a few weeks now um to address uh the mayor's comments regarding uh uh the right to carry and those who exercise that right. and um I informed uh his person that arranges his schedules and Monday coffees and stuff of my viewpoints and how eronous he was in that. I appreciate his response to backpedal his comments, but it's too late. Um I've witnessed so much arrogance from you, Mayor Lrand. Um, at this point I have asked for the signatures for recall and that is 2017 signatures if that's actually correct considering that our state has been influenced by ERIC and our elections have been compromised. Um, I had conversations with Joel back in 2023 regarding my engagement and oversight with elections. Um and we're at the time of the wrath of judgment and for those who participated in that to influence that. Um furthermore about speaking about policing matters. I was assaulted at the county commissioner meeting on March 12th. I was informed by the sheriff's department at the time to call the Grand Rapids Police Department to make a report. I did and um I had no one contact me back even though it was assigned to a detective. Um I documented every um recording and message I left asking for engagement. I also called and

inquired with just a regular cadet when they informed me that uh the detective decided that they weren't going to investigate. Not because there wasn't any evidence, just because they chose not to investigate. And the fact that a detective couldn't even contact me or anything like that is highly concerning. Then I m left a message a week ago with the office of oversight and accountability. Um the not and follow through with that is still continuing. um a multitude of issues regarding the exercise of a first amendment uh right uh freedom of speech uh doesn't it's not just about speaking it's about the engagement of public meetings and the safety of those and public officials not participating in coordinating protest and um giving them some kind of entitlement that think that they can physically assault people during a public meeting. Um, I'm kind of over telling you guys and asking you to come to the table to address these issues. Thank you.

Lucas, first ward. First, I want to pay a compliment to the GRPD. Yes, you heard that right. This won't get 4 million views like last time, but it was never about any of that anyway. At Saturday's No Kings March, our police responded with the appropriate force for once using bicycles for safety and routing. And I can commend that. Sure, they hid their paramilitary units around the corner, but this was a small step in the right direction. So, good job. Keep it up. Now, I'd like to open with a quote. I'm acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots. Jerry Ford, the only US president never elected by the people's vote. GR's hometown homeboy. This probably figures into the corrosive habit of government by appointment widely accepted as perfectly reasonable here. But it's not reasonable. Offices are repeatedly appointment filled from city hall to school board. And while it may be the current law, it should not be. Between these appointments and the unelected city manager's corporate throttle on the will of the people, most GR citizens probably don't understand that their government isn't controlled by the people they vote for. But we can force it to change. It's time for Grand Rapids to empower leaders who will propose a referendum to amend our charter and flip this government back to the will of the people with a strong mayor and commission. We can also rid this city of another bizarre practice. See, Drew Robbins didn't leave office because he wanted to. He left because he was required to by local law, out of step with most of the rest of the American political system. In filling his vacancy, the law defines very little. Instead, the most honest method, a special election, they

get to just make up what they want to do each time. And this time, they've told us out loud that they would prefer former commissioner Reppert. And they could have just appointed him. Instead, we have this process of political theater and applications, but we all know it'll be Kurt. His appointment would be justice, writing a nasty wrong. and entrusting him as caretaker of a seat that was robbed by dishonest and unethical players in a dark money conspiracy. I'm among those now interviewing for this seat, but I still see these flaws. I'm a firm believer that you can't complain about something unless you're willing to help change it. So, I'm honored to diversify the ideology in the conversation despite knowing this government has little to no interest in a no BS approach like mine. We are settling for a corrupt system crafted by the rich and powerful 110 years ago. And it's time for the people of GR to rethink it all and put the power back into their own hands. And if I can help, I will.

Mayor, might we simulate to city hall have a line of queue of two or three people? So folks, maybe um if you wouldn't mind just queuing up in the middle so we have an idea because I almost cut off public comment by mistake there because I didn't see anybody at the in line. So,

hello. My name is Khloe Moulder. I've lived in Grand Rapids for 25 years. Um, I hold this community very close to my heart. Um, and I want the people who live here to be safe, but as of late, things have not felt very safe for some of our neighbors. Um, I'm not sure why we still have to keep coming to these meetings just to demand answers and justice for Dcoin Johnson and his family. The lack of urgency, the lack of transparency and accountability shown by this city is truly unfortunate. A mother lost her son in a family's grieving. A whole community is hurt hurting and outraged. And yet what we keep getting in return is silence, deflection, and delay, which is unacceptable. In what world does someone who's already being restrained, held down, and attacked by police dogs deserve to be shot in the back? Officers carry tasers, and they are trained in deescalations. They had options, and they chose deadly force. That is not protection or justice. Well, this family is begging for answers. I'm sorry. While you can't release the death report yourselves, you are not unable to speak. Speak up for the family. Call for the death report to be given to the mother. And it feels like the city is more focused on economic projects and profit than accountability in human life. And let me be clear, nothing is more important than just than justice, not development deals or business interest. The community is not going anywhere and we will not be quiet. We are demanding real transparency, real accountability and justice for Dcoin Johnson. And beyond this case, we are also demanding that ICE be kept out of our city. COTACHA has been calling on the city to adopt the six sanctuary policies that would protect our neighbors and keep our community safe. And it is time to listen. Do better. The family deserves it. This community deserves it. And Dcoin Johnson deserves it. Thank you. Hello, my name is Bryce and I'm an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. I'm here again to join

Duan Trey Johnson's family in demanding the release of the unedited body cam footage and to name, fire, and convict the officer who murdered Daquan. When we last came here and said, "We need a new system," your response was, "We have a justice system." Well, if we take a look at that system, we see 12 GRPD officer involved shootings in the past four years. Nine of those were located in the southeast side of Grand Rapids, and 11 of the 12 shootings involve black and Latine people. Meanwhile, black and Latin folks make up roughly only 34% of the city's population combined. This doesn't even include others like Riley Dogit and Samuel Sterling who have been run down by MSP cars or DeAndre uh Givon who was brutalized by GRPD dogs. Even just 5 days ago, GRPD destroyed Carol Liptrot's home while keeping her in the back of a cruiser without her oxygen for hours. This is the real legacy of Grand Rapids so-called justice system. You say things like, "We see you. We hear you." But then in the same breath claim, "Nobody is against police, just police brutality." Or as Mayor Lrand claimed, that our characterizations of police are strawmen arguments. Last time you offer next steps like policy reviews and increased incentives for officers to live in city limits, all while saying you can do nothing to meet the family's demands. Get real. We've heard it all before and after Patrick Lya's murder. Winstrom implemented all sorts of so-called reforms around increased training, diffusing conflicts, directives to use deadly force only as a last resort. And let's not forget his sanctity of life policy that all people, including lawb breakakers, should be treated with dignity, and that preserving one's life should be an officer's top priority. Yet, here we are with Dacoin murdered because this is not a mere issue of tactics. The truth is for a long time uh that you have no real

solutions. That you're committed to running defense for killer cops in the same system that is rooted in slave patrols, hunting down black and brown folks. A system that is clearly still hunting down black and brown people, workingclass people and poor people in this city. A system that only serves and protects the Vanandals and the Devoses with that grace and patience Mayor Lrand was talking about last time. Just to be clear, we aren't begging and expecting you to do something about this on your own. We know you won't. We're here to remind you that real solutions, real justice has only ever come from the people. 98% of cops in this country who are involved in shootings never even face charges for their killings. In those other 2% of cases like George Floyd, Briana Taylor, Elijah Mlan's, justice didn't come because the system worked. It was because thousands of people over years long struggle shut down their cities until police chiefs and politicians like y'all were left with no choice but to recognize and meet their demands. We've got to build our own movement right here.

Sir, your three minutes is up. Thank you.

Okay. I'll just say release the unedited body cam footage. Uh name, fire, and convict the officer. Justice for Daycoan. And get those sanctuary policies passed, too. Hello, I'm Viola from the second ward. As I stand here in the midst of another tragedy, I am burdened for this city and the Grand Rapids police. If we take a walk back in history, we will see a clear picture of where we stand today. In times of political unrest and moral chaos, God raised up prophets to warn against coming judgment. They called the nation to repentance. And they warned of a great deception. A deception so great that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. Take heed. Let no man deceive you. They warned of evil men and impostors that would become worse and worse, deceiving many and themselves being deceived. Deception does not come dressed in horns and a pitchfork. It comes cloaked in religion quoting scripture. There is something sinister at work here when leaders and pastors campaign for the lawless and launch assault against those that have been called to uphold the law. No call to repentance, no conviction of sin, no call to take responsibility. Something is wrong when we reward the evil and punish good. Truth must be the standard by which we measure all things in these dangerous times. The truth is uncomfortable. But the truth is the only thing that will bring forth true change. Truth is, we don't have a race problem or a police problem. We have a sin problem. My Bible says the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness. The hard truth truth is the greatest

threat to any society are those who reject the law and choose violence and walk in rebellion. When a nation or a city rejects the law, lawlessness will increase. Until we take hold of the truth, nothing will change. The city needs revival. We cannot raise a generation with no accountability and then be shocked by the consequences. The real issue in any community or nation is the condition of the heart. Laws can restrain behavior. Leadership can can influence policies, but neither can transform a soul. Only when heart change changes does culture change. The true church is the only legal entity. Sorry, I lost my spot. The true church is the only legal entity that has the ability to bring forth change. It is the only by the power of the Holy Ghost that changes a man's heart which changes his mind and changes his direction. A society without warriors will crumble. The heroes of the Bible stood against false religion, false preachers and corrupt systems. They paid with their lives. They spoke the truth even when it cost them everything. So today I make a stand with heroes. I stand with the GRPD in Jesus name. Mr. Scott, you know the rules here.

Okay. Right. Bad president. So, generally folks, there we've got rules for of decorum for a reason. We don't want this to be a popularity contest. It's really important that people get heard and that we respect them. But I would appreciate it if everyone would try to abide by the the rules for public comment and not clap. I can't force you, but I would appreciate it.

Hi. Uh, Russell Olmstead, Westside, First W. Um, I wanted to, uh, talk about the presentation this morning from, uh, GRPD, uh, the the interim chief, uh, Tri, um, around the police shootings that were happening, um, over the last four years. Uh, the the statistical data and everything that was presented, I think, was enlightening. However, I think it's really important that we don't just accept statistical data without pushing back against it. I had a few questions uh around that presentation. Um I don't know if he's here this evening. I didn't see him. If he is, I would love to talk to him. Um but I would also like to be uh to have some of these on the record and perhaps you on the deis may may be able to look into these as well. Um it was discussed at one point um around a debriefing that would happen around 48 hours or so afterwards, but it wasn't really gone into in depth about who the who was involved in that debriefing um what all parties were involved in it, what was the purpose of the debriefing. So I think that's really important. Um on the internal review process that happens when a police involved shoot officer involved shooting happens. It was discussed that they review all of those cases and uh it's used if necessary to improve training practices, but it wasn't discussed on any of those 10 incidents that were discussed today. If that was ever done, did was it actually gone through and used for any sort of um review of training practices that led to these things? uh in particular around the the incidents that happened with uh people who had box knives and hot guns as well as uh the people who it seemed from uh news coverage of those as well as the information this morning that it may have been suicide by a cop. Um so I think that it would be important to look at that the gun stats that were brought on. We've had four chiefs in the time that those gun staffs were started in 2012. It wasn't discussed about how those stats have been compiled

differently possibly between every one of those chiefs. Maybe it hasn't. I don't know. But every leadership has a different understanding of what um how to how to categorize and retention policy and all of that stuff. Uh along those same lines, the the first year of uh the data that was presented in 2012 only had like 60s something illegal guns. I'm wondering if that's because it was from a shortened time period. it wasn't implemented for the full year. If so, that probably shouldn't be included in the data. And on that note, too, the shootings that were presented was from 2020 till recently, while the gun data was from 2012. So, if we're if we're looking at statistics, we want to make sure we're we're looking at everything. Pardon me. Looking at everything is how it uh lines up so we can make the right types of decisions. Um, quickly, I fully support business owner in the Cal Kamazoo district. Um, we need to look at what's going on with the traffic there. Possibly opening up a different business route on Blaine where it's there's a dead end where it's blocked off, but there could be business traffic that could go that route and keep it from neighborhoods. So, should look into that.

Um, my name is Ally. I'm here again to speak on the murder of Daycoon Johnson and to stand in solidarity with his family and demanding justice for him. Um I have noticed throughout the past almost six years that whenever even when instances of police brutality that don't result in death, there seems to be a cycle of abuse um that is being perpetrated amongst the public. I feel like in terms of the Daycoin Johnson case, we are continuing to be gaslit by the Grand Rapids Police Department by releasing edited footage telling us what we should think about what we're seeing, telling us that community conversations from eyewitnesses who saw everything happen being called falsehoods or inconsistencies. When what's inconsistent is the fact that again we continue to hear, "Oh, he had a gun. He tried to reach for his gun. Nobody saw that. There's not footage of this happening. Next thing you know, they're saying the gun was underneath him. And now they're coming out with information saying that he had drugs and that he had a bullet in the chamber. And I feel like this information is specifically being pushed to the public to create doubt within Dayquin's character and dehumanize him when he can't even defend himself in death. I'm really tired of hearing about these reviews, these reports because they're all internal. I don't expect the Grand Rapids Police Department to so super solely hold themselves accountable. I don't expect Mark Washington to really hold GRPD accountable either because we've been asking for that since 2020. More people have probably been asking since that before and we're still not getting it. People are still dying. People are still being traumatized. I just saw a video of a man being attacked by GRPD on the southeast side. And this is a regular occurrence. More people are

starting to film the police because they don't trust them. We do not trust the police. I'm once again want to reiterate that this keeps happening because no accountability is taking place. The entire city watched Christopher Sher execute Patrick Leoya. The entire city watched him get away with this murder after dragging the family through the legal process for years. And it was strategic because the expectation was for people to forget. The expectation was if enough activists got arrested and enough activists shut up about it, nobody would care anymore. when the truth is people still care. And the truth is the GRPD sees this as a president to do whatever they feel like because they're they saw their officer get away with it and be able to live the rest of his life while Patrick Leoya's family is now fighting a civil suit because they couldn't get justice in the criminal court. Um again, justice for Daycoon Johnson, just for Patrick Leoya, justice for Riley Dogget. Gosh, there's too many names. just for Samuel Sterling. Free Kai. Stop arresting the arresting these activists and get ICE off our streets.

My name is Michael Thompson. I've been a resident in the Grand Rapids general area for over 30 years. It is my community. It is my home. Um, this past couple of years I've moved from being a happy slactivist to coming to places like this and talking to people like you to holding pickets on the street to taking my phone and chasing down uh leads where ICE may be picking my neighbors off the street to see if I can get some footage or stand in the way. Um, if you want to arrest me, arrest me now because if I can nonviolently, I will continue either to document or stand in the way of you removing my neighbors. Justice, yes, for Mr. Johnson is imperative, but also justice for neighborhood after neighborhood. There were four people taken the other day about five minutes from my home in one go. I try to get there in time. Others from our group, Rapid Response Device, were able to document some of this. It's a great organization. I'd love you to join us. Seriously. Seriously. I've heard David Lrand quoted, and I've heard it secondhand, so correct me if I'm wrong, that when this all started out, you referred to this as a Bonhaofer moment. If that's accurate, I commend you. I commend you to follow up on that. Bonhaofer was willing to stand against these types of evil included uh prison time, persecution and the end of a noose. I not am not alone in this room that we are willing to go to jail for our neighbors. They are our neighbors whatever their status. It's also shocking to me not only in Grand Rapids but nationally

that when um a couple of white people got shot and God bless their families for the loss of Renee Good um and the others who were shot in the same period there actually two more uh that it got attention but how come Mr. Johnson's case isn't on CNN or Fox got help us. So, I'm inviting you to join us in the trenches because these are the people who have small businesses. They cook wonderful food. They open all kinds of shops. They deserve better. In my last 30 seconds, I want to ask briefly what I know will fall in deaf ears. that we as a city would divest from the uh from the country of Israel. I do not mean this anti-Semitically. I have many Jewish friends who would second what I'm saying. Israel has recently passed a fresh law encouraging death penalty for any violent Palestinians but excluding any Jews from that law by law. Sounds like America sometimes. Thank you. Hi, my name is Autumn. Um, I am a resident of the third ward. I have never spoken at anything like this. So, this is the first time you Congratulations. Um, my partner was here a few weeks ago at a at a previous city commission meeting and she spoke on exactly the same story, but I want to tell it for myself because it's mine. Um, Patrick Loya was shot in the back of the head in my grandmother's driveway. She was supposed to wake up 20 minutes later to go and take uh to to babysit my siblings when they were very they were pretty young at the time, so they needed to be. Um she was not able to make that because her driveway was a crime scene.

I have not been back to her house since then. I have not been to her house for Thanksgiving. I have not been to her house for Easter. That land is tainted. I'm mad. I want to ask if I have I the last time that I have seen a police officer in this town use their turn signals. I I can't even remember. And I want to say if we can't trust them to use their turn signals who follow basic traffic laws, how can they be trusted with our lives and with police officers with guns? I'm done with this Um hello uh my name is Oak. Uh since I last spoke here, I am now a resident of the third ward. Um not the first. Um it has been a very long time since I've come to one of these. Uh I think the last time I came there was a hearing um about a change in potential parking prices. This wasn't from the recent $4 thing. This was before that. and um I spoke at the wrong time and I was told, "Oh ma'am, this is, you know, you can finish your comment, but this is the wrong time." Someone else that night, I think, pointed out that I don't use that form of address. It's they them. But I also am past the point of really caring about that too much from people who I don't love. Um I would implore you all to listen to all the other people who have spoken today. Um people who kind of still believe that some of y'all are listening. Um, it can feel hard to it's hard to feel like uh people are because we kind of keep saying the same thing. Last time that I spoke about police um it was probably over a year ago and it was about Patrick Leoya and concerns about the jury uh being fair, concerns about um how there

were a lot of news articles about how good at foot chases Christopher Sher was. um a lot of stuff from M Life um regarding Dacoin Johnson. There was uh like two I don't know it felt like a 30 second update on whatever news channel my grandpa watches and it just said as other people have mentioned they were just like yep the gun had a bullet in it. And that's kind of the rhetoric that we see every time um someone is killed by police is a lot of good stuff about the cop, although not this time because we don't know who did it. And also a lot of this is why the person who was killed actually was bad and it's okay they got killed. Um you know, their ABV was a little high or they had a gun with a bullet in it. Well, a lot of people have guns with bullets in it, but we don't go around killing them. Um uh something that has also been on my mind regarding uh the charges like this this circle of logic doesn't make any sense except that it does. The idea that with Patrick Leoya he committed a felony or could have because he touched a taser and it's a criminal offense to or it's an offense to touch the taser because the cop was really scared he would kill him with the taser. Well, he probably was scared about the taser, too. And you don't have the right to be afraid when you're a citizen. You don't have the right to be angry. And you don't have the right to actual discourse. Um because whenever we try to talk about it, we get hit with a well, I don't understand. This one was from Mayor Landr. I don't understand why people are upset since the, you know, the jury process is the most democratic. But you did go downtown one time at least. And do you maybe understand a little more now? If you have a conversation, not just listen to us talk for 3 minutes shaking with anxiety, but like sit down and talk. I would like to think you'd understand. I worry that you don't want to, though. Thank you.

My name is Tanner. I live just south of the city. I would like to add my voice to those demanding Chris Becker name and prosecute the officers who killed Daquandree Johnson. Uh the Grand Rapids Police Department has no basis of trust with the public. They defended the officer who shot a peaceful protester in the face with a tear gas canister in 2020. They defended the officer who executed Patrick Leoya in 2022. Chief Winstrom states that Johnson pointed a gun at an officer's face. This is not corroborated by the publicly shown dash cam footage, body cam footage, or bystander footage. Mysteriously, the body cam footage of the officer to Johnson's left, which theoretically could corroborate the chief's claim has not been shown. GRPD had no problem producing footage for their propaganda series, All Access PD Grand Rapids, preceding Christopher Short's trial for the murder of Patrick Leoya. So, produced this footage. Now, I find it very hard to believe Johnson could have drawn a gun from the prone position with a dog and two officers on his back or that he could have pointed it behind him from this position. I also find it very hard to believe two officers could not safely cuff a man in the prone position with an attack dog on him. uh release all the body cam footage unedited and prosecute the officers in a court of law. Additionally, I find Mayor Lran's attempt to shift the blame for this killing onto legal gun owners to be pathetic and desperate, especially so shortly after the illegal disarming and execution of Alex Prey in Minnesota. I can only assume that the mayor has no faith that his hair trigger police force can safely interact with any person carrying a firearm for any reason and is preempting the fallout of the future violence by either the GRPD or the expanding ICE force in the city. And on the topic of ICE, I also support the adoption of sanctuary city policies within Grand Rapids. Thank you.

Hello. I've lived in Grand Rapids for 30 plus years. My name is Lauren. I'm a mother and I am a really tired, concerned community member. And I want to talk today about the safety of my neighbors. Specifically related to both my black and brown neighbors. Uh I consider myself someone who radically loves. I work hard every single day to build community and also be in community and support my neighbors in any way that I can with the extreme privilege that I carry as you all carry yourselves right now. The support that our community is in need of the most is directly tied to the lack of action involvement or necessary support from elected officials, government systems, how our city is handled, and the involvement of law enforcement at large. It's been over a month since Daquin Johnson was murdered in the city of GR by Grand Rapids Police Department. We have a grieving mother, a grieving community, and there's no answers or information. It's unacceptable. Why are our tax dollars going towards an entity that is executing lives in our streets? Were the extra tax dollars you've all approved going to the police funding the last couple budgets used for the slave patrol dogs that were out there mauling everyone on video? How does that sit with you at night while you go to sleep? Cuz I'll tell you how it sits with me as a mother. It's not great. Release the names of the Grand Rapids police officers, charge them for the murder they committed, and get the mother the answers she deserves. Just as for Daycoan Johnson, let's talk about GRPD again with ICE and GRPD connected. I myself have been in front of you asking for the six sanctuary policies to protect my neighbors and dozens of my friends as well. I've read all of your after comments after our meetings. I know the excuses and things that are I'm not going to list the sanctuary policies again because you're yawning and all of that while you're up there. Anyway, so uh none of you have joined a rapid response training yet. You wanted to say, "I need to see it out there. I want to see it with my own eyes. I need to be

there to see it." You haven't been there. Even when a video went viral of a young man having his face shoved into a snowbank as Ice wrestled and sat on him, none of you could even address the fact that a GRPD, Grand Rapids police officer, had his hand on the gentleman holding him down in the video. ICE and cops go hand in hand. They always have. And I'm tired of you telling us that there's nothing you can do while we all work to feed, support, and fund our neighbors so that they can continue their lives here. Doing nothing is a choice, one you've all chose to make. But Mayor Grant, trying to undermine the work of Movie Mento Cosa and GR and rapid response to ICE by creating a peaceful observer program clothed in white fragility is absolutely despicable. I see you laughing and that's just really awful. Do better. Do something. Adopt the sanctuary policies. Abolish ICE. Abolish the GRPD cop that killed all of these people in the streets. You let Christopher Sher go. Don't let it happen again. Justice for Daycoan Johnson. Thank you for this time. Kim Combmes. I've lived in the third ward long enough to watch the transition of being asked what church I go to and what my husband does for a living. Obviously, I don't have a husband to now those questions are not asked anymore when I meet someone new in this city. Finally happy to watch that transition. We've had a lot of people move in from outside of the area and we are now a beautiful eclectic city and we have the opportunity to be a city that leads by example because the stories that we're hearing are not isolated to Grand Rapids or West Michigan. This is what's happening all across our country. We had thousands and thousands of marches across our country this past weekend for no kings. And I want to share and echo my brother

Lucas's sentiments about it was refreshing to see our GRPD out there on foot and on bicycles. That was wonderful. Unfortunately, at the end of the march, we were kettled by cars and forced to stop marching, but it started off how we would want it to. We're peaceful community members and neighbors using our voices and our bodies and our first amendment rights. And my dream is to see our GRPD marching with us as well as our leadership. But I only saw two of you out there with us this weekend. And I want to thank you for that. If we are going to grow as a city and heal as a city, we need some serious reforms. We need you all out there with us in the streets. We need you being our voices. We don't want to be silenced. And I do want to see justice for Dcoin, who was murdered in my neighborhood. This needs to be our priority. Once we get past this, we can focus on the fun stuff and the safety issues and growing our city and providing housing. But until Dcoin Johnson gets justice and his family and we stop unleashing dogs on our neighbors and we make sure that our GRPD and our neighbors are friends and we know each other, this isn't going to change. And you hold the power in your hands and we're asking you to seriously do something about it now. Thank you. Hi, my name is Shannon. I live in the third ward. Um, I'm here to add my voice to those demanding justice for Dacoin Johnson and demanding that the unedited uh camera footage be released and the evidence be released and given to the family. Um, and that the cops

responsible are named um, arrested and convicted. Um, I was not able to attend the public safety committee meeting this morning, but I was able to see the PowerPoint presentation that was uh presented. Um, and the review of uh officer involved shootings in the past several years. Um, I hope that that is only a first step and that was presented in such. Um, because the presentation was simply a summary of the events and what Chris Becker said about each event. Um, what I did not see in the presentation was any solutions or steps forward. Um, the review needs to include more than just summaries. It needs to include analyses of um what happened and what policies could be changed to prevent uh interactions in the future. Um there's no reason that a simple traffic stop a should happen or b should lead to someone dying. Um there's no need that traffic uh minor misdemeanors need to be stopped. Um, there's no reason anyone should have to interact with a cop for something uh so minor as a expired license plate or something stupid like that.

Um, yeah. So, there I I hope that that is just the first step of the review and that there is more to come, more analysis, um, and that you're not just patting yourselves on the back that oh, the police didn't do anything wrong because they do. um even if the people involved in those shootings had guns or weapons, uh they that doesn't shouldn't be a death sentence. Um there's no reason that the police should even carry lethal firearms. Um there are other countries where police don't have guns and it seems to work. Um and our police force seems to be especially egregious with excessive use of force. Um, so I think that they should not be allowed to have lethal weapons. Um, with my last 30 seconds, I guess I'll just say that I agree with the people um demanding uh sanctuary policies um that's been being asked of you for uh more than a year at least. Um and also I agree with the first person who spoke about um our power not being with our elected officials but by government by appointment. That is undemocratic and uh some of you should have the spine to do something about that. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Katherine. I'm a resident of the third ward. Um, last city council meeting that I was at, which I think was two ago, um, you talked about the policy that the GRPD does not assist ICE, and you said that's a policy. And people said, well, it's still happening. Um, and you were surprised that people don't believe that the GRPD is getting good training in that regard. Um, and I just wanted to connect the dots for you between that and the killing of Dcoan Johnson. Nobody trusts the police because you've made it so that the police don't have to be trusted and you've made it so the police cannot be trusted by papering over um issues like the identity of the killer cop. You've made it impossible to trust the police by not releasing unedited footage. Um, that's why nobody believes you when you say what you're doing about the police because you haven't earned that trust. The GRPD hasn't earned that trust and they've done everything possible to, you know, let that trust melt away. So, I want to support the sanctuary policy demands that have been made for a very long time. I want to support community control of the police. I think a great place to start would be an independent citizens review board. Um, so that the GRPD are not the ones that are overseeing themselves. Nobody else gets to do that. I don't get to do that at my job. You know, I don't write my own performance reviews. Um, and I don't see why we're letting the GRPD control that aspect of their lives. So, I don't I don't understand why we let the cops police the cops is what I'm

saying. Um, and I think that ultimately the demands to defund the police, um, down to the whatever the city requirement is, I don't remember the number, but I think, um, you need to reconsider that because I heard great comments today about the need for real public safety, stop signs in the right places. And um I you know could talk about Union Avenue as well where we seriously need some speed bumps. Um and that's public safety and I think if we weren't paying police so much out of our budget, we could maybe afford some more speed bumps in my neighborhood and some more stop signs in these folks neighborhood. Um I think I'll end there. Thank you. My name is Daniel, longtime resident of the city. My real identity uh as always is I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Good evening, Mayor Lrand. Please forgive me for breaking the rules. Will you forgive me? Thank you. And greetings to you, commissioners. It's still uh Women's History Month. I would agree that every month is Women's History Month. What about the little women being murdered through abortion since 1977? The total is 80 million that we can estimate. Let's say four half of them were female. That's 40 million little women murdered through the terrible practice

what people call abortion, which almighty scripture says is murder, either through surgical or now the murderous pill being dispensed at 425 East Cherry inside Corell Health at Metro so-called hospitals. We need more bold women like the Puerto Rican governor Jennifer Gonzalez Cologne who signed into law recognizing that unborn babies are human beings. like this one

she was saying, Mr. Scott, you remember there's a policy about no signs, right? If you want to distribute something to the commission, you can, but but make let me make a note publicly. Mayor, last meeting, Commissioner Wulmarmac stood for three minutes holding a placard. Fair enough.

Can I be treated equally? Well, I'm I'm trying to enforce the I'm trying to enforce the rules consistently, but you're pointing out that I don't always do that, and you'll have to ask me to forgive uh you I'll have to ask you to forgive me for that. Um, but I do uh aspire to have them observe. And I also I may as well point out at this point um those of you in the audience who don't agree with this speaker's comments, please um don't re refrain from reacting. Um it's common courtesy. Um, if you really believe in the first amendment, then let people have their opportunity to speak. And it's the flip side of clapping. And there's that's exactly why we try to ask people to not clap, but also not booger. You can go ahead and you're forgiven.

Well, let me say her name. Baby Owen Leah. Saved from murder at 425 East Cherry on December 9, 2022. and now is a striving, healthy little girl that may grow up to be a city commissioner. I saw the uh forum on the city attorney as well as you, Mr. Strong, and I heard you say that you really want to support the freedom of speech, but I call you out publicly because this was a public vote. where you public publicly voted against allowing us to preach at 425 East Cherry. So, what is it? Do you support free speech on a public sidewalk or not? I trust you will if you win this election or vote or appointment, whatever it is. Let's be consistent and let's speak up for the unborn. They're just as much a citizen as you and I. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Justinda Swanson. I live in the third ward. I spent more than 25 years researching and teaching democratic theory and social justice. I want to raise four different issues. They are connected though by the shameful lack of democracy in this city. The commission has a long a long-standing record of serving the privileged, not serving the disadvantaged, and actually allowing harassment and violence against the unhoused, black and brown people, and political activists trying to create a better world. Yesterday, the Grand Rapids Press printed a very unfavorable story about the state sponsored report that serious raised serious questions about the financial viability of the Deboss and Vanandal three towers project which the GR city commission oayed granting 560 million in tax breaks. In a democraticallyrun city, taxpayer dollars would serve the housing, health, transportation, child care, educational, social, and safety needs of all residents. Instead, what we seem to have is what Aristotle called oligarchy, government by the rich and their own narrow interests, with the city commission acting as representatives for the rich and for powerful businesses. Two, I've been out of town, but as far as I can tell, GR city commissioners have done nothing to mitigate the horrific danger our immigrant neighbors are facing at the hands of ICE and often with GRPD assistance. No more for more than a year, Concha, GR rapid response and many residents have been begging to no avail commissioners to implement six specific concrete policies. Three, real true democracy requires transparency and accountability for anyone misusing public office. We need transparency,

including all body and dash cam camera videos and the name of the cop who appears on video to have executed Dcoan Johnson. We need prosecutor Kirst Becker to charge the cop with murder. Daquan's family and the community deserve accountability. I read over the PowerPoint review of officer involved shootings that was presented to commissioners this morning. It's frankly a disgusting joke. The fox guarding the hen house. A review by cops of cops by a procop prosecutor. Democracy means government is transparent and accountable to regular people. It is long past time we had an independent citizen controlled police oversight body fully empowered to review police harassment and violence, hold wrongdoers accountable, and set policy. We four, we desperately need to reform our city charter so GR isn't run by an unelected city manager who caters to the rich and powerful and our elected officers do little or no nothing to serve the most vulnerable members of our community. We need more than just seven commissioners and we need people who will serve us. Hi, my name is Teresa and I've been sitting here thinking about what what do I want to say, you know, because I really get tired of David looking down and doodling all day long during this

conversation. Yeah, I see that. Um, my concern is that where do you guys want to end up on the side of history? Are you part of the Ebstein class? The bottom line is if you are, you're protecting pedophiles and we're supposed to care about lives, but you guys sit there and say, "I can't, David. You said I cannot do anything because it's it's federal when it comes to sanctuary policies." But you know what that means? that you are part of the group that is abusing children and allowing our politicians to get away with it at the highest level and you all sit there. Does anybody care that we're being destroyed by a bunch of rich divos people that love Trump and I know it's not all about Trump. I know that. But I also know that he is a pedophile. And if you voted for him, if you continue to support him or his administration, and that goes along with the FBI and the GRPD and the ICE and everything, if you are supporting this, that came the ICE is being treating people the way they're trained to treat people. GRPD does it, too. I've seen it myself. I'm an old lady and yet I've been out there. Where are you? Where are you? You're going to look in the mirror and you're going to say, "I sided with the pedophiles." Do you understand? It's bigger than just your egos. And we need to protect our immigrant families. You all seem to just sit there and doodle. So, please, are you going to be a pedophile protector? Are you? Is that what you want to be? because our police are obeying the the

laws that came down from DHS. And if you're going to allow that to happen in our city, that is disgusting. Please. Hi, my name is Adam Arnazi. Uh I'm from the second ward with the Grand Rapids Action Committee. Um I believe to have a healthy city, there needs to be trust between its leaders and its citizens. Um because of that, I don't think Grand Rapids is currently a healthy city. I'm sure you're aware Grand Rapids has over 80 flock cameras actively deployed that track its citizens coming and going on a daily basis. This on its surface is a blatant disregard for the privacy of the people in this city. It's even more atrocious because the people didn't vote for the implementation of these cameras in the first place. Uh to add fuel to the flame, uh with the 287g agreements that are in place, not only do the police have access to unfettered tracking information on its citizens, but so does ICE. Um these agreements allows allow DHS and ICE to delegate actions to local and state law enforcement, which mean that ICE can utilize the information from flock cameras to hunt down our immigrant neighbors. How can we trust our leaders when systems like this are in place? When our privacy is invaded on a daily basis as we move about this city? Uh we have the power to stop this. Let's end the 287g agreements and prohibit any flock cameras from being placed in our city. Uh this is but one aspect of trust. Many of my fellow community members have also pointed out how the leadership of this city can build more trust with its citizens. uh justice for Dcoin Johnson, hold the GRPD accountable, implement sanctuary policies, end 287G agreements, prohibit

flock cameras, and build back trust with the people. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Angela. I'm a lifetime resident of Grand Rapids. Um, I've heard people say that they didn't they don't know what to do about um getting information getting the names of the killer cops released. So, I'm here with some information. People can call the uh Kent County prosecutor whose telephone number is 616-632-6710. His name is Chris Becker. You can say something like this. Hello, my name is Angela and I'm calling from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm calling to urge Chris Becker to formally charge the officers who murdered Dacoin Johnson. Your mission statement says, "Your office protects the rights, safety, and security of Kent County residents through diligent prosecution of criminal offenses." I'm calling to make sure the prosecutor knows that people across the country are watching just as they watched Deco be murdered after he was subdued. Applying the law equally protects the credibility of the justice system. I just wanted to read that script that people could use to also call the prosecutor, but sounds like you need this reminder, too. My name is uh Missy Jackekal and I originally didn't plan on speaking this evening. Um, I was going to email about

a different issue and then, um, you know, I have two, I guess, policy changes that I would like to discuss or have conversation about. Um, so again, my name is Missy Jackekal and I'm a local business owner and social equity advocate working in cannabis policy, compliance, and community impact through social equity solutions and the Great Lakes Expungement Network. Um, I am also a victim representative. My father was a homicide victim here in Kent County in June of 2022 around the same time as Patrick Lola. And um, you know, I feel the pain of Dcoin Johnson's mother and the community and wanting transparency and information. And there is ways to obtain some of this information. I don't know the legalities of the Freedom of Information Act with the investigation with the MSP and um Dcoin being a police involved homicide. My father's homicide, he was by a resident of Grand Rapids. Um but what I wasn't anticipating as a victim representative was paying $90 for the medical examiner's report for my father's murder. um thousands of dollars in Freedom of Information Act request, police reports. I never did get any of the um body cam footage because they wanted $600 some dollars for um information on my father's murder, which I think is crazy. Um I did send a letter and asks about making changes and I feel that victim representatives should not have to pay for these reports. Um I would also reach out um to discuss uh specifically I am proposing exploration um of three updates on the cannabis ordinance through the committee of the whole is who I was going to address it

to. Um, but I'd like to discuss the establishing a framework for licensed cannabis consumption lounges as well as creating a pathway for temporary event-based cannabis consumption permits as well as implementing a formal process to allow amendments to the good neighbor plan. I felt that today would be the perfect opportunity with the MIVE report and the seeds of justice and the millions of dollars that the city of Grand Rapids is sitting on to do the good work that these licenses were not able to do. A lot of these licenses um applied back in 2019 and the points were important for the good neighbor plan because the city decided to do a lottery. So they mattered. The points mattered. The points for the voluntary program as part of the licensing process has no way to amend it. You know, a lot of things have changed since 2019 and I think that there should be a formal way with their licensing application that they can amend their good neighbor plan. Thank you. Hello, my name is Olivia and I live in the first ward. Um, I just have one statement to make some questions that the community has. Um, whose decision was it to give these police officers their anonymity? Is it the Grand Rapids City Commission? Um, I hear you all in saying that the investigation is the Michigan State Police and we have to wait for them. But, um, again, my question is who gave these police officers anonymity and what makes this situation different? Um, that's my only statement, so I'm going to keep repeating it. I also want to teach people to hold their time. If you

are done talking before your 3 minutes are up, you can say, "I hold my time and stand here until that 3 minutes is up." I think that's a great thing. Um, again, who is giving these police officers their anonymity? Why uh don't we know their names? Who made that decision? Was it um Mark Washington? Was it Lisa Knight? Was it David Lrand? Whose decision is that? Who has that authority? Um, I don't know that the community is sure. I don't know that answering the question would give any assurityity to the community, but um, we haven't been uh given that that answer at all. So, I'm going to repeat the community's question again. Who gave these police officers their anonymity? Why is it that they are still anonymous? Um who has that authority? Is it the police union? Um did they decide it? Is it Triggs? Is that um Chief Winstrom's last gift to our city? Um who gave these police officers their anonymity? Is it Philip Storm? Um, is it Yasi? I wouldn't be surprised. Um, who gave these police officers their anonymity? Why don't we know their names yet? What makes this situation so unique? Um, I hear you that the investigation is still with the Michigan State Police, but uh my question is why don't we have these police officers

names? Who made that decision? Um, and when will we know in what case? Will we ever know? Was it Mark? Was it David? Was it the city commission? I'm still here. Yeah. I'm going to walk back to my seat. Thank you. Hello friends, Mark from Grand Rapids, the Viant Boys, the Oathkeepers, Patriot Front, Blood Tribe. They could be coming soon to an airport near you. disguises as ICE agents. They're there already in most airports in the country. They don't know a damn thing about aviation safety, TSA responsibilities, telling passengers where to go in terms of getting to their boarding gates. They'll know nothing about that. They can say All they want were their

funny videos of passing out water bottles, water to passengers who was waiting in line, long lines and everything else. But we know what they're there for. To wreak chaos and havoc. all that the taxpayer money and the original TSA agents not getting paid. It's as simple as that. I ask for Reverend Scott and his and his band of anti-abortionists if he says that abortion is murder. Well, he couldn't. Well, he he's probably with the legislation in Missouri who's trying to institute the death penalty for women, pregnant women who are going at length to get an abortion. This is why you got better go. You better get registered and go out to vote because this Save Act is going to limit you for mail and voting, but it has not yet been finalized. So, you have plenty of time. go out there and register to get registered to go vote especially early and absentee because these midterms are critical to limit the orange felon's dastardly deeds where he's trying to make sure that he wants

to be in that office until he dies. Trust me on that one. Revenge 2026.

My name is Jesse Maru. Um I've lived in Grand Rapids my entire life. Um this isn't my first city commission meeting. I've been here when um Patrick Luella was killed and obviously the faces are different but I still see the same wall. You've had so many people up here telling you the history of this city which I'm I hope you know who have been telling you all of the dastardly deeds that you know about. You've gotten your reports on your tables. You've had how many mothers come up here crying, talking about their children who are dead, who they don't get to see anymore. Some of you have children yourself. And I I'm sure so many people before me have asked you how you would even begin to fathom what it would be like to lose your child and to see the image of their your child being on the street held down by grown adults and then have dogs maul at their neck. Could you imagine having the person that you raised your entire life, well, not your entire life, but like their entire life, be humiliated in the press and then have all these people stand in front of you and beg you for justice and have nothing be done. have these performative little bills that you write off promising that something's going to happen and then I'm back here again asking begging again for justice to be

served by the government that is supposed to be protecting us that is supposed to be helping our neighbors. I assume that when you guys decided that you wanted to be in office, that you wanted to make a difference and that you wanted a point across and that you wanted a better life for your children and for the children of your neighbors. But I am here again asking again to the same brick wall. I don't pretend to believe that I am the one who is going to change your minds about suddenly being put into action. But there are so many people who have come up to you and ask you to do something. I assume you want to do something. So do it. You have the power. You have the strength. So do it. That's what we pay you for. Thank you. Hello. Um, my name is Peter. I am a new resident to Grand Rapids and this is my first time attending a city commission meeting. Um, I'd like to extend my thanks to everybody that spoke before me um about the injustices uh to the to the hands of the GRPD and ICE as well. Um there's been a lot of talk today about trust and it disintegrating in this space and in GR as a whole. Um and I would like to raise concerns about that and also um promote the adoption of the six sanctuary city policies. Um, as we continue to see DHS expand um what they're willing to let ICE do, uh, every day trust degrades even more as we when we cooperate with that. Recently, um, ICE or DHS has expanded ICE's profiling

abilities to include those of transgender people or people that appear to be trans, which that doesn't even make sense. It's just going to end up, you know, further endangering cisgender people's lives and everyone's lives. Um, and I just want to express that as we see that and I've heard today that there hasn't been much policy change um over the last however long this has been now. Um, if we continue to cooperate with ICE and DHS, the trust is going to degrade further and I want to extend that uh to this city commission um council and that is what I would like to say with my time. Thank you. Seeing no further public comment, um, oh, I'm sorry. Come on up.

My name is Marian Barrera Young and I've served in the community for over 31 years. I've built my trust in the neighborhood by working with police officers, community ministers, businesses, working together to make a difference. I know your job is hard and it's not. I know you take a lot of things to heart, but you can't change things that have grown over the years in three months. You have to prioritize what you do as I do in my job and as people should do at in their homes. The world itself is messed up right now. The people in it, not the world. But the whole thing is I'm people are asking for footage and there's a process in doing that. If you're being investigated, you can't leak things to the public. You will taint the investigation. If the state police are investigating the police and once it gets out of the hands of the state police and goes to the prosecuting attorney now it's in his hands. You can't take it from the state police and you can't take it from him until he delivers a verdict. I wasn't there when it happened. I see pi bits and pieces of videos, but that doesn't tell the whole story because a story goes from the beginning to the end. And these videos that we're seeing are pieces and you're traumatizing the parent over and over again. I went to the funeral. I don't know how

many of you out here that are complaining went to the funeral. I said through the whole funeral. I talked to her at the end. People go through g grieving states. Um I I'm a victim advocate with the police department. I go out when there's death and there's a process of doing that. And what what you're doing right now is making it hard for her as a parent. I wouldn't want to see all this on TV all the time in bits and pieces and not knowing the story. The media asked me about it. I wouldn't comment because I don't know. And if you weren't there, you don't know what happened from the beginning to the end. I know we have pieces, but I I know that the state police got what they needed in order to hand it to the prosecutor. And what I'm I'm asking right now is don't blame every officer for what happens with in one incident. Everybody makes mistakes. If you had to wear a video camera every day, you would make mistakes. And the whole thing is people go want to go home to their families too. Just like everybody else want to go home and the whole families there. A lot of people put their life on the line every day. I go out without a weapon. I go out at night day and night. It doesn't make a difference. If there's a problem, I'm going to go out there. I'm going to work with it and I'll pull in whoever I can to make it happen. The commissioners know that. The police department knows that. I pull in the people that's going to solve the issue.

Yeah. And we work together to do that. And I want to thank all of you for tonight. I want to thank all of you for your voices, too, because everybody's voice is important. And I just want to thank you for letting me run over my time. Thank you.

I lost track. Sorry about that. Hello, my name is Mate Garcia. I've been living in Grand Rapids my whole life. To be honest, this is quite terrifying to stand before the people who are supposed to take care of my family, my neighbors, and have the power to do so. But the only thing that I really ask is for your mind to be autonomous. As I think of your PD and other police departments and I think the ones that are here today, to have their own individual mind and think about how murdering our neighbors is wrong and to not side with other police officers who think this is a joke. The way that a police officer thinks is that seconds matter. And it does. And I think the ones who help us out in emergencies because that's truthfully what we want our police department to do when we call them to help us, not to murder us. And I apologize. I can't imagine having my own son being murdered. And how difficult it must be to arrest and handcuff

one man 2v1 with a dog. Isn't that incredible? I hope to grow our education to our neighbors to know that these city councilors are happening and to speak your voice and educate ourselves in the systemic oppression that we live in and the red lining that has been living in for since Grand Rapids has started. I hope that each of you go back to your family and hug them because we really don't know the last day. And I hope that you don't feel what all of the people who have been executed here in our home and to hug our children really tight because I can't stand not even seeing my own mother for a week. I cannot stand not seeing my sibling for even a couple days as I live off in school alone trying to fix and hopefully change our future. Thank you,

Commissioner Co. Excuse me. Uh well, thank you all so much. Uh everyone who came out this evening uh for stayed multiple hours. I know that many of our neighbors have to go to work tomorrow morning. So I don't take it lightly or for granted uh that you all are raising your voices. Um I I want to continue to uplift as some folks said I did go to uh the no kings rally. I think we all have our piece in the movement towards positive change for this community. Folks who show up at these uh this uh forum and continue to show us the tension, the trauma that is within our community, I appreciate you. I thank you. Uh folks who I thought it was silly, but that's their the there was like a song thing this time with no kings. Hey, for our privileged neighbors that if that's how they're going to speak against the challenging and horrible things that we're seeing uh from the federal government, let them sing. Um and and the marching was it was wonderful to see thousands of people standing against uh the tyranny that we're seeing. I had a a very full and productive O and in in terms of we all have our um our role in the work and so at the city level I am thankful that we are doing our work uh the review of the of uh the officer involved shootings that is one part of this uh the city manager this commission has agreed to also reviewing policies I believe that's coming in the summer uh we're supposed to see that later on in the summer Um so there will be more to follow. There are action items that we are doing as this body and I um am looking forward to seeing uh actual action and change come from reviewing. We do do a a lot of

reviewing. Uh I wish things could move quicker but there is um a way that we have to be very measured when we approach these so that they actually help the frontline communities that we want to help. Um, so once again, full and productive day reviewing those officer involved shooting. Um, also the city attorney interviews where we had three wonderful candidates. I'm looking forward to selecting this role tomorrow. Um, and I want to thank you all again for taking your time out of your day um to continue to raise this tension and trauma and encourage us to continue to do our roles better. Thank you. Good evening,

Knight. Um, I will echo the sentiments of Commissioner Kilgore. Uh, we truly appreciate um the voices that have been lifted up in this space tonight and continue um to lift up their voices. And you know, I I think we all kind of at some point in our days and in our lives wish we could just make things happen with a snap. Um, the unfortunate thing is that justice doesn't move as quick as it should. not the way we wanted to, but we do want justice to be served and we want people to be um in a place where things are done appropriately, things are not missed, mistakes are not made, and so we have to wait patiently like everyone else to see what the next steps are. Um I do believe and will continue to believe that everyone up here grieavves when someone is lost in our community. I absolutely do because I have children that work on both sides of the public service space. Um, and that pain is something that no family or mother should feel. Um, but I do think that at some point I have hope that we will heal. I have hope that we will change, that we will grow, and we will do so for the better of each and every member of our community. Um, so that I'm I am grateful for the um presentation that was given to us today. had helped uh enlighten us on some of the things that we were missing. Uh but there's always more to be done. Um there's no perfect product. And so as we continue to work uh together as a community, um I'm hopeful that we will be able to uh grow and move forward. Um we had our interviews again as Commissioner Kilgore said today. Uh it was very enlightening and looking forward to um really bringing someone forward into that space. Um that will

also feel the heart of this community and also be able to have a a balance on how to um watch over the city and do things things that are appropriate for the city but as our community as a whole. Um and looking forward to those next steps. Um that's it.

Uh Commissioner Purdue Thank you. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for coming out today. Thank you for staying. Uh Miss Miss Miss Ellen here. I see you. Um so, um you know, when we have public comment, um particularly in long nights like this, uh folks come and you can say whatever you want about anything, right? Uh for the most part. And um typically I don't address every single thing that was stated in part because I think there's sometimes a lot of education. Um there's a lot of updates. There's just a lot that can go in that. Um and we'd be here all night if if if we did that. Um but tonight I do want to answer one question that came up and it was where have you been and do you care? So my answer for myself is I've been here. I've been doing this work for over 20 years. Um, and I do care. I care a lot. Um, I helped in this community organize to get equity-minded candidates and ballot initiatives passed starting 10 years ago, both on the local level and the state level. I worked on state policy influence federal policy to bolster economic security throughout our state pro to protect women's health and and infant health to advocate for changes to our tax code so that we can have the resources to fund our school um and fund education and other opportunities for everyday folks. I've worked on programs to help upskill folks and allow everyone to be able to benefit from the opportunities that are coming in terms of tech and green jobs so we are not left behind. I helped lead a 250 person community health team that not only saved lives in Kent County but throughout all of West Michigan throughout a 17count area. In that role,

I also helped move millions to support community- based organizations that are servicing community members throughout the county, but especially right here in Grand Rapids and in the urban core. Since I've been on commission, I have been a strong advocate and independent voice, I think, for many of the people focused and neighborhood focused issues that we hear every single time we have public comment of we need more on, we need more leadership on. I stood up to the three towers project and I said this is not this is unacceptable for our community. By doing that I was able to negotiate an additional $50 million committed to support minority and small businesses in our community on the sanctuary sanctuary city conversation. While I think that uh we do have a lot of very strong policies in place that reflect what people are asking for and I do think that by naming ourselves a sanctuary city, we will actually be putting uh making it more difficult and dangerous for our neighbors. I also said I am willing to have that conversation if it means that much and it to the people that are most affected by that issue. I've asked for support and have not received it around let's do an audit of our foreign nationals policy so that we can tell you all yes those policies that we have in place are working as intended and or discover gaps that we then need to fill. I've asked for support to extend our support of uh domestic violence prevention work and I'm continuing to highlight how when we talk about public safety intimate partner violence interpersonal violence is one of our greatest threats. I've been working to strengthen our civilian appeals board, that independent body. I c I from this day last month called for a review of the policies related to police pursuit and K9 use. I fought to preserve voting sites in our city to make it easier for every single person to get out and vote whether you want to do it early on or on election day. I was

on the losing side of that vote, but I stood up anyway. I also stood up to protect your first amendment rights and your ability to protest throughout the city and in a way that is clear um and that is legally permissible. I also been advocating to have a public dashboard and public information that is really clear on what is our process related when an officer involved shooting happens. How do we keep the public informed and how do we really be really clear about our role versus MSP and the timing of each of those steps? I've called since our last meeting. I shared with you all that right now because the investigation related to Mr. Johnson is not in our hands. We do not have insider information. I have not received or seen any body camera footage or anything else that the public has not seen. But since I have been working and asking our interim city attorney, we need to have this executive session ASAP. We cannot wait for MSP to be done. I need more information. I've also been advocating and helped um uh send investment to invest in arts and culture in our local artists in this community. I've helped support new developers, one which we saw today. Their project is reaching the finish line um develop their properties, provide affordable housing and job opportunities to our neighbors. I have been helping to I have been really been pushing to say our economic development tools by and large are designed for people who are already rich who are already real resources. How do we how do we leverage that here and or advocate for changes at the state and federal level to make sure that our tools can properly meet the people that need them most? particularly the mom and pop folks, the everyday folks, the working-class folks who are trying to create more opportunities for them and for their family and add to the fabric of this community. I could go on and on, but my point is that I say that not in a way to be defensive, in a way to be informative. A lot of work happens. It

is nearly impossible for you all to keep up with every single thing. I know that every time we vote, our our voting our packet today was about a hundred different items. I understand that it's hard to keep up with the conversation and the process for every single one of them. So, I don't mind reiterating that. Every single month on the last Wednesday of the month, I have a let's talk third ward where we get into the issues. We have two-way conversations. I share what are the wins and what are the barriers and we are going to have real talk and what's behind the headlines, okay? And what's behind the social media conversation? How can we write the record and again have that two-way conversation? Um I grew up we had some young men come at the beginning of our public comment to talk about um them growing up on Franklin and Eastern and wondered hey is anybody else from here? Yes I grew up on FNE as well. I also have been to the top universities in this country. So I'm a kumla graduate of Howard University top H.B.CU and I'm currently pursuing my masters at Yale University one of the top Ivy League institutions in the world. So with that lived experience, I bring courage, I bring competence, and I bring commitment to this role that I just want to re reiterate for all of you and also reinvite you and welcome you to engage with me and us off of these three minutes, right? Um I typically stay after I typically you call me, I'm there. You call me, I answer. Um I am not afraid of conversation. Um, and I know that it's going to take all of us working together in conversation, in sharing ideas, and in organizing to move these things forward. Marin, I appreciate it. I think it was Miss Marion who who said, you know, in in 30 days, you can't fix what we right. uh an elder of mine shared with me um she said, "Sweetheart,

with all due respect, your four years on commission are not going to fix 400. You keep you keep working. You keep sewing seeds. You keep planting them. You keep watering. You would do the work." And I just shared some ways that I've been doing the work and I will continue to that do the work on behalf of you and with you and for you. So, I have been here. I do care. Um, and um, I love the city and I love you all and I I I you all have extremely whether I agree with um, delivery, whether I agree with all of the content, I hear the passion, the grief, and the frustration um, that I also share. I got into the work not because of uh, rosecolored glasses or pie in the sky, but because I was angry. I've been angry of how I felt as a young person growing up in this community. I've been angry at how my neighbors have been treated, how my family has been treated in so many aspects of our lives. And so I opted in to do the really, really hard work of being within a system that I am still uh I think we all are still designing to be the one that we can actually believe in and trust in. With that, I want to highlight a few things that we talked about today. I want to give a shout out to the MLK neighborhood associations and together West Michigan. You all have been fabulous advocates and organizers around the issues of traffic safety in Boston Square and on Calamazoo. I think the way that you all have been going about this is excellent. It is should be a case study and this commission should and will deliver for you. We have a big hire. Uh, tomorrow at 9:00 am we are going to vote on who our next city attorney will be for the city of Grand Rapids. This is a huge hire that relates to almost every single thing that someone said in here. One thing that I was really pushing for in that interview process is I want a leader, a

strategic partner that also has an appetite for risk that also says, "Hey, we are in different times. We need courage and we need competence and we need to push to allow us to legally deliver for everyone in this city. And I think we have a lot of strong candidates and I heard affirmation from each of them that they will do that. And I'm excited to cast my vote for who we get to work with on that front for the next many years. I'll also mention that we have our neighborhood investment plan. Uh we we are allocating millions of dollars in grant funding to support housing, to support public safety, to support neighborhood associations. There will be a public hearing about that uh sometime soon. Uh it's in the packet, I think our next meeting. Um if you have any comments on that, but that is our opportunity to support dozens and dozens of community- based organizations in our city working on many of the very issues that you all spoke to. And the last thing I'll mention that we continue to make progress on our our work to restore the river um and to make sure that it's clean, that it's healthy, that we are great stewards of it, and it's a and it's a great place of gathering and contribution to the city. So, thank you all so much for coming out tonight. I will be around as we adjourn um and continue to uh looking forward to continue to have conversations with you on all these really important issues. Thank you,

Commissioner Bjack. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, colleagues. Um, it is very hard to respond to everything that is brought up in public comment in one sitting. So, it is good that we continue to have conversations. I want to frame as we move on to our other um conversations here that um I hear the I hear the need I think we all hear the need that there is discontent that there's need for change there's always need for improvement we're in this you know where are you are you in it for yourselves are you in it for the billionaires are you in it for you know some for us right we want to be us people. I can't count the number of times today I heard on this commission we're looking and working with people because of people. So I want to propose to you that we need to start talking to each other, thinking with each other and being with each other as if we are actually people. That means we have to hold the tension and we need even our regular everyday selves need to grow in some sort of leadership role. Whether that's in our own home on our block at a wider scale, those of you who are brave enough to come and talk and shaking in your boots, that's a form of leadership. And then there are many, many, many other forms. And for us to be here today serving you, there have been a lot of steps for us to grow that leadership, but holding tension. System A and system B don't get along. It has to come through us because we're

people. And the answer isn't always going to be in the moment because we need data. We need ideas. We need lived experiences. We need conversation and yes we need neuro differences. I want us to caution ourselves from jumping to conclusions without understanding the other side. And I will propose to you it's a kaleidoscope. Not all of us are called to do the same kind of work. For some of us it will be the advocacy. For some of us, it will be the advocate or the activist. For some of us, it might be a police officer, a nurse, a teacher, the garbage man, the snowplow driver. And for some of us, it was running for office. We have 1500 staff that show up every day in the city. They're regular people like you, like me, and they're doing things that are boring, tedious, sometimes really dirty and gross. I don't know if you've ever been to the wastewater treatment plant, but you might want to check it out someday. And by the way, there's other opportunities there. We're thinking about how to get a green infrastructure so we can have clean air, clean water. You've heard some of the projects that are being mentioned. We, and I mean Grand Rapids, I mean the people of Grand Rapids. That includes all of us up here that are elected, appointed, being paid by the staff or you out there in the community. We are being asked to navigate some real tensions. Growth versus affordability. investment versus dislocation, gentrification,

trust versus mistrust, safety versus fear, doubt, worry. We have to listen to each other. And that's what we were doing here tonight. I'm sorry if it feels like a brick wall. I'm sorry that it's hard to but this isn't the only place we're doing the work and I'm not trying to be defensive either. I really appreciate um Commissioner Purdue's perspective on this. I think it is our responsibility to not ignore the tensions, but I do think it is our also all of us need to show up in ways where we are not going to jump to conclusions and vilify without really finding the solution. And I know I kind of repeated myself there, but if we want trust, and that's my issue actually. I've just I I think we need trust and we need to solve trauma. That's more than policy decisions. That's going to accomplish that. And if we're going to trust each other, we have to allow ourselves to be willing to open at least a sliver of our mind to maybe another possibility. So, I won't say more than that because we have to keep coming and having this. But just because we don't know what's happening or have the clarity doesn't mean that stuff isn't happening or that it isn't really complex. I mean, if we could have solved it by checking off a box, we probably would have. That's not what this work is about. So, thank you all for being here. We got construction season, so be ready because that's another way we're changing and growing.

City court.

Yeah. Um, so a couple things. Um there were a couple comments that were made about the um filling a vacancy um process in the city city of Grand Rapids. Um and we're and we're in I'll give updates of where we're at in that process. Um so unlike the governor, the city of Grand Rapids can't just pick election dates and run elections on dates that we choose. She has that ability to do that as governor say we had open state senate. I'm going to wait a year. I'm going to wait 15 days. I'm just going to pick these days and that's when you run elections. We don't have that luxury to or you don't have that luxury to do that. Um that's why our our charter is written the way it is. There's a there's a time frame involved. So when a vacancy occurs, it depends on when the vacancy occurs. There is a special election that's held if if it's early in a commissioner or a mayor or a controller's term. If it's early that term and there's time to finish out the term, that's when there is. So it isn't just an appointment at any time during a commit or an elected officials term. It's it's at a certain time where we there's not election time if if we felt if we did based on the elections this year the person the replacement would be elected in November to serve two months. So that's why is the um all cities have that most cities have that in their charters also um every other township or village government have the same kind of thing written into their general laws. So with that, that's why we have this process that we that we have um right now for this vacancy and the f first award. And so we had um 13 applications um 10 of them passed the vetting process and the committee of appointments will go through the first round of um interviews on on uh April 17 and um they agreed to interview all the 10 candidates that were vetted. then they will they will um reduce the pool and send that to the

city commission. Um don't know what that number is. It's up to them to decide who they move forward to the city commission for a final interview. That will be on April 22nd. So those are those are um that's the process. That's what we're going through alongside of all this other stuff that's going on. But that's that's why we have the the electro. So it isn't that they can appoint for any vacancy. It's only in a in a time sensitive or a time place manner kind of uh process. Thanks. Thanks. Um, city attorney. I'm good. Thanks, city manager.

Thank you, mayor. I'll be real brief. First of all, I want to thank Grand Rapids public schools for allowing us to use this facility. And I see uh assistant superintendent Larry Johnson and his team. So, thank you for letting us be here. I want to thank all the staff that made this possible tonight, the departments that were here earlier, our facility staff for setting this room up, our communications team, uh media team, and all the again all the departments. I do also want to thank the human resources department for their work in facilitating the many many panels for the assessment over the many many many days. Uh and I wanted them to let them know their work uh goes unnoticed. Thank you, mayor, for your remarks at the state of the city. I thought your remarks were well done and you were uh u said a lot of good things about the things that we have were going well in our city while acknowledging the things we need to improve upon. I also want to thank our community development department for bringing forth the uh neighborhood improvement plan, neighborhood investment plan, I'm sorry, along with uh the committee that worked on that, allocating the over $8 million of federal funding that will help us address issues around homing housing, homelessness, and uh public safety. I also want to thank the police department, Chief Trick, this morning. will release uh more details of the presentation that was shared today uh from an informed basis on what happened in those 10 cases and un we got to be reasonable. We can't expect police officers to be fired at, fired upon, charged with weapons and not respond. It's unrealistic to do that. And so, uh they have the right to use deadly force when they feel like their life or others are at risk. And so while we understand we don't want overpolicing and excessive force, we cannot talk about every

instance of an officer involved shooting like uh painted all all the same. We have to look at the totality of the circumstances in each case. Lastly, I want to let Miss Ellen know, Miss Barren is here. Uh we have been talking to your third war commissioners about uh the traffic safety, traffic mitigation around uh Kalamazoo and Adams and uh there is a plan to allocate funding for the third world equity fund along with some other funding to try to get some of those projects started uh as soon as this uh summer. Uh but uh we may have to cross budget years to address to address all of it. Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks. Um, so I certainly appreciate everyone coming out tonight and especially those of you who stayed till the absolute end. Um, and particularly those of you who have to do this because it's part of your job description. So uh I did give the state of the city uh last week and I'm maybe acutely uh cognizant right now that there are rounding up about 3,000 people who uh work for this city every day and who see it as a vocation and a mission. uh to make our city better. And so um many not many of you, a very small fraction of you are here right now. Um uh and thanks to those of you who are here tonight, but um certainly very grateful to the people who who do the work of the city. Um, and I will um say that uh as much as I appreciate the uh uh character the concerned characterization of Kalazoo as a as an expressway um it doesn't even make the top five for for me for this for the uh my unofficial highways that I see around town. Um so

what's that?

Well, oh no, I've taken I've taken radar. Uh I've taken radar. I I own a radar gun. For those of you who are interested, you can buy a radar gun on Amazon for about $120. And if you've got a street that bothers you, go start tracking what traffic does. Uh Michigan between Fuller and Plymouth is an official highway. Fuller between Michigan and uh uh Fuller Fulton is an unofficial highway. Uh Kovville, Lake Michigan Drive by Kovville is an unofficial highway. Uh Burton is an unofficial highway on a lot of it. Breton isn't an official highway on a part of it. So, we've got real work to do uh to get traffic speeds down to non to sublethal speeds. Uh and I say this all the time. Um people if you hit a pedestrian at 25 miles an hour, there's about a 90% survival rate. A pedestrian gets hit at 35 miles an hour is about a 10% survival rate. That 10 miles an hour is absolutely critical. So um there is and you can go to other countries and look there's essentially a global movement to get uh traffic below 20 miles an hour as the ex expectation in cities u because if that's the expectation um people stop dying because they get hit by cars. Um so I I'm glad that you're advocating for Kazoo and I'm with you and I want to get Kazoo done. Um, but if I could have a thousand flashing crosswalks in the city of Grand Rapids, if I could have midblock crosswalks, if I could have a lot more four-way stop signs. Uh, but uh, as uh, Marian said so wisely, it's tough to get things done in a 30-day timeline. Sometimes you got to look at the multi-year timeline. Um, but I do think we have to continue to focus on improvement of I think public safety is the bedrock of a successful community. We have to be able to get community safety right and I think that everyone here is committed to doing that. Uh frankly those are those concerns have

been the focus of my entire professional career long before I was mayor. Um and it's something that I intend to continue to work on diligently. Um and if anyone wants to um uh work through with me anytime they like uh the uh the offer in reference six sanctuary cities policies. Um a couple of those don't just manifestly don't apply can't apply to the city. Um they're really county jail policies. Um we don't have any 287g agreements. We actually have a policy that forbids them. I got the city attorney to confirm uh that my reading of that was accurate. Uh, we don't have 287G policies, nor can we have 287G policies. City manager couldn't sign one if he wanted to. There's a policy prohibits it. There's a policy that prohibits any elected official from signing a 287g. Uh we also have non uh cooperation policies in place for our police department um with ICE and uh those are if if people think that they see uh violations of those policy there is a very clear mechanism for uh filing a complaint about that and the mechanism simply is to go to OPA and and those will be investigated but we do have a policy in place on that and that's a policy that's essentially um uh identical to policies of many of the cities that are referred to as sanctuary cities. So, we have sanctuary policies. Um, and I'm happy to talk to anybody about that anytime and go into the legal detail, but that is in fact the situation in Grand Rapids. So, that being said, thank you all and uh thanks for coming.