Huge investments of public money are being made in Kent County and Grand Rapids into private and quasi public developments. Think Acrisure Amphitheater, Amway Soccer Stadium, and The Three Towers.
These enormous investments were made not in response to public discussion or listening to the community, but the desires of a small number of wealthy and well connected individuals.
In each case the discussion around public benefit from these investments of public money ranged from downright dismissive to pie in the sky. This trend will continue - unless community members organize to ensure significant public benefit for our public dollars that goes beyond a select few investors.
We are working to:
• Educate ourselves on the real costs and benefits of public investment in these high profile developments
• Educate ourselves on what investments of public money are beneficial to the general public at large and not just a thin slice of wealthy individuals.
• Widen the circle of understanding of the realities of public investment through a series of Civic Academies.
• Accumulate hundreds voter commitments focused on making genuine public benefit for public investment a campaign issue.
If we’re successful:
Our membership and community will know much more about the realities of public investments in development and be less likely to be swayed by vague undeliverable promises.
Our membership will be able to advocate for investments that have real and lasting benefit for the community at large and not just wealthy.
Grand Rapids City Commission and potentially State and National candidates for office in 2026 will commit to work with TWM on our members' priorities for public money - and we'll make sure they follow through.
Share your perspective and join us in this important work.
Advancements made:
• We changed the conversation around the Three Towers development in Grand Rapids in 2024 from a rubber stamp to a conversation with real tension around deliverables and transparency, including dozens of stories in the press and conversations with City Commissioners.
• We created “Show Me The Public Money” - a civic academy and listening campaign we’re planning to run with over 1,000 community members across Greater Grand Rapids in 2026 leading up to the City Commission elections in November.
• We’re getting ready to create the Together West Michigan agenda for public money in Greater Grand Rapids.
• We’re preparing to recruit hundreds of voter pledges to vote based on the public money agenda our members build in 2026 and to hold candidates accountable to their commitments on that agenda!
We encourage you to share your perspective and join us in this critical work. We meet in person as needed, but in between meetings are doing advocacy work with local governments and city staff.
