Grand Rapids residents will get a chance to weigh in on issues within the city during its first accountability session Monday.
A total of five sessions will be held this week, starting with the city’s 3rd Ward. The meetings are aimed at providing better transparency, with the city directly answering voters’ questions, updating current and future projects within Grand Rapids, and gathering input from community members to ensure the city is moving in the right direction.
The session schedule is as follows:
- Third Ward daytime session | June 12 at noon | Michigan First Credit Union, 1815 Breton Road SE
- First Ward session | June 12 at 6 p.m. | Stocking School, 863 7th Street NW
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) session | June 16 at 6 p.m. | Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School, 1205 Grandville Avenue SW
- Third Ward evening session | June 19 at 6 p.m. | Gerald R. Ford School, 851 Madison Avenue SE
- Second Ward session | June 20 at 6 p.m. | GRPS University, 1400 Fuller Avenue NE
Each session will include a community dialog about police and community relations. The push comes after a traffic stop study revealed black drivers were 1.85 times more likely than other drivers to be stopped, based on 2013-2014 data. The study also concluded Hispanic drivers were 1.3 times more likely to be pulled over by Grand Rapids police, based on 2015 data.
During each meeting, the city plans to update how it’s progressing toward meeting recommendations from that traffic stop study and the city’s 12-point plan for improving community and police relations.