GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids voters approved a millage back in 2019 to drastically improve all of the city's parks.
By the first real snowfall of November 2022, much of the work was done, buried beneath the snow, ready and waiting for spring.
The city expanded programming over the summer, including youth day camps, exercise classes and free kayak classes.
All across Grand Rapids, new playgrounds, new trees and new splash pads rolled out throughout the summer and fall.
74 out of 75 parks got massive upgrades and changes, thanks to the millage.
Sawyer Johnson, a communication and outreach analyst for the city,is the guy behind some of the city's most popular posts on social media.
"The one I'm most proud of is the one-star reviews. That's the one that went the most viral. So I took a collection of kind of, these absurd one-star reviews across the park system, that we really have no control over. Like for example, someone gave Fish Ladder Park a one-star review because they didn't see any fish at the park. So, just took those, and juxtaposed them with beautiful photos I've taken of the parks," Johnson said.
Max Gilles, communication and outreach analyst for Mobile GR, arguably has an even more difficult task: getting people to learn about community transportation and parking—the city department most people love to hate.
On the page he runs, humor is more effective when it comes to relaying messages about hazards, like texting and driving.
“When you do the scare tactics, people tend to block it out. They don’t want to remember it,” Gilles said.
Memorable posts for Gilles include using Danny DeVito to measure the five-foot distance drivers need to use to keep people riding in the bike lane safe.
For Gilles, as long as people get the message, it doesn't matter how they arrive there.
“I said, even if we’re embarrassing and we’re not really funny and we kind of look lame… people will make fun of it and they’ll still be talking about it. As long as they’re talking about the subject, it works,” Gilles said.
