GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The city of Grand Rapids is hosting engagement sessions to allow community members to chime in on public health and safety initiatives.
“First and foremost, it means people care about their safety,” Deputy City Manager Kate Berens told FOX 17. “As somebody who works for a city, that is absolutely critical to us. We are trying to serve the public and if we don’t hear where we’re doing well and where we aren’t doing well, and what we understand as people’s priorities, either confirming or telling us we got those wrong, then we can’t be effective.”
The first session was Monday, March 20. FOX 17 was there for the second session Wednesday morning.
The National Civic League joined the city’s Public Safety Committee to give attendees a better idea about the issues and initiatives they are working on.
“It is in support of a conversation that we are having with our public safety committee about what tools are we all bringing to bear on some of the particular health and safety issues that we heard about from the business community in a December city commission meeting,” Berens explained. “We heard, in particular…that there was a perceived need for some additional ordinances for the city to deal with some misdemeanor behaviors that were happening downtown that were kind of detracting from people’s feeling of health and some public health issues and public safety issues."
READ MORE: Amid reports of downtown safety concerns, GR takes stock of existing resources
City officials learned, through these engagement sessions, some community members are concerned about things they've been seeing, including "car prowls."
They also shared ideas about how to improve systems, specifically for those struggling with homelessness. Community members told city officials it would be beneficial to create welcoming environments, helping people tap into different resources so that they don't fall through the cracks.
If you could not attend either session, you are welcome to email your ideas to the city at info@grcity.us.
