CITY BALKS AT BILLIONAIRE BAILOUT

At its regular weekly session on Tuesday, the Grand Rapids City Commission postponed approval of an amendment to the Downtown Development Authority's charter that would provide a $5 million taxpayer subsidy to alleged billionaire Rich DeVos's latest business venture, a new Marriot hotel at the corner of Pearl and Campau in downtown.

The City Commission had already given preliminary approval to the amendment by a 6-1 vote.  First Ward Commissioner James Jendrasiak was the lone hold-out, griping that DeVos was rich enough to do the project without taxpayer help.  (Of course, the problem isn't whether DeVos has the money, but rather why should the taxpayers subsidize any business.)  The purpose of Tuesday's session was to rubberstamp that earlier approval, however, the commissioners balked at the intensity of the opposition to it from competing hoteliers.

Although Tuesday's session produced no new information in opposition to the tax subsidy for DeVos, First Ward Commissioner Roy Schmidt moved to postpone a final vote on the matter to consider new questions about it.  Maybe the foolhardiness of subsidizing another hotel downtown when half of the existing rooms are going empty is sinking in with the commissioners.  Then again, maybe they just want time to find a weasely way to justify subsidizing DeVos.

Click here to tell Mayor Heartwell and your commissioners to just say "no" to the new amendment to the DDA's charter.  Or maybe we should be creative and tell our city solons that we'll agree to "invest" (as they like to put it) in DeVos's new business venture in return for an equity stake and a cut of the profits. ;)