Grand Rapids Mayor Focuses on Public Safety, Housing in State of the City Address

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Mayor David LaGrand delivered his second State of the City address on Wednesday, emphasizing public safety, housing development, and urban design improvements as key priorities for the city.

In his roughly 30-minute speech, LaGrand addressed the challenges and progress facing Grand Rapids, with a particular focus on what he calls "neighborhood and city design."

We know there's more work to do. This last year we've seen incidents that have sparked real concerns about our policing policies and have also shown the limits of what our police force can do to intervene preventatively in crimes such as domestic violence, says LaGrand.

Public Safety Progress

LaGrand highlighted several key statistics about public safety improvements in Grand Rapids from the past year:

• Shootings were down 18%
• 481 illegal firearms were removed from circulation
• Auto thefts were down 27%

The Mayor also noted that after years of absence due to low staffing, the Grand Rapids Police Department has recently reintroduced Community Police Officers.

These are folks who are going to be building relationships and trust in neighborhoods, person by person, because ultimately, trust is not built in a moment in an encounter. Trust is built over time, face to face, explains LaGrand.

LaGrand says moving forward, he hopes to focus on expanding the city's conflict resolution and mediation efforts.

One of the most important steps we can take in public safety is to prevent problems before they escalate. Not every problem is a crime, and not all police responses end in criminal charges, but unresolved conflicts can grow into serious harm, and conflicts can grow rather than dissipate, says LaGrand.

Housing Development

The Mayor talked extensively about the need for more housing in Grand Rapids.

We know we need more housing in Grand Rapids, and we know that in past years, our scale of building wasn't meeting the scale of need, but we are making real progress with massive private sector investment, says LaGrand.

He explained that last year, permits were pulled for roughly $965M worth of new investments. Nearly 1,400 new units were permitted in the city, with about a third considered affordable.

Last year, the city convened an accessory dwelling task force to discuss how to better get smaller homes onto existing lots to increase housing supply. That task force issued recommendations involving changes to the process, zoning, and even state building code.

In the coming year, I hope we will make policies that will fit those recommendations and allow for construction of more new small housing units quicker and cheaper than we have in the past, says LaGrand.

Major City Developments

LaGrand highlighted several major developments and projects that are helping reshape the city:

• The ongoing efforts to restore the rapids in Grand Rapids, for which the City recently received federal permission to begin work
• The opening of the Martin Luther King Community Center
• The new Hub on Kalamazoo
• The Kendall Fire Station, the first new fire station in Grand Rapids in 37 years
• The Acrisure Amphitheater
• The Amway Soccer Stadium

Maybe the best thing that I would say about the amphitheater and the soccer stadium is that they'll invite more people to visit our city, find out what a great place it is, and maybe join us in living here, says LaGrand.

175th Anniversary and Model City

2025 marked the 175th anniversary of Grand Rapids, with the 250th anniversary of the United States coming up this year.

LaGrand asked what Grand Rapids could bring to the table as a birthday present to America on its 250th birthday.

Perhaps, as a friend of our city suggested to me recently, we can aspire to be a model, he answered. Can we in Grand Rapids show the nation that we can act clearly and compassionately and build a city for everyone while at the same time giving those who need help the help they deserve?

The Mayor's full address was available for viewing on FOX 17's platform.