GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- David LaGrand has worn a lot of hats in serving the public over the years.
At different times, he was a second ward Grand Rapids city commissioner, a Grand Rapids school board member and a state representative. Now, LaGrand has announced he's running for mayor. He tells WOOD Radio that government transparency is something he would like to address, if he's elected mayor next year:
"That's something I'm proud of having worked on for a number of years," LaGrand said. "But I think that voters really need to be able to know and have a lot of confidence that they can really trust their elected officials. And for my money, that means we've got to have more accountability and transparency in government."
LaGrand lists housing affordability, environmental sustainability and public safety as some other issues he'd like to focus on, if elected mayor. Rosalynn Bliss has been mayor of Grand Rapids since 2016, but won't be able to run again due to term limits.
LaGrand, a Democrat, says addressing homelessness in Grand Rapids is also part of the platform on which he's running, and how that relates to access and affordability.
Public safety is another plank on that platform.
"One of the issues is justice, generally," LaGrand said. "Policing issues, we've really got to have a community conversation about. How we do public safety. Ways we can do things better and ways we can make people feel safer but also feel like they're being served well."
### [Photo courtesy: David LaGrand]