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« "COOL CITIES" NOT COOL | Main | COINCIDENCE OR CLAN? »

Mar 24, 2005

BILLIONAIRE BAIL-OUT

I just received a notice from the City Clerk of a hearing before the Grand Rapids City Commission at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29, 2005.  Its purpose is to solicit comments from the public on whether taxpayers should subsidize (through the Downtown Development Authority) a list of so-called public improvements.  Larded into this list is a proposed subsidy for Amway-founder Rich DeVos's new hotel project across the street from the Amway Grand Plaza.  (Click here for related story.)

Rich_devosNow, folks, DeVos is purportedly a billionaire.  Why does he need our tax dollars to build another hotel downtown?  How is it that everything DeVos and his late partner Jay Van Andel built downtown ends up with a bill to the taxpayers, yet the DeVos and Van Andel families always get their hooks into the revenues that these projects produce?  How many times do we have to get stiffed in a "public-private" partnership with the Amway people before we figure out that the "public" part means tax dollars from us and the "private" part means profits to them?

Click here to contact Mayor Heartwell and the City Commission and tell them "NO!"  Billionaires don't need bail-outs.

Posted by Wm Tingley on Mar 24, 2005 at 11:17 AM in Project: Pyramid Power |

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