A look back at Rosalynn Bliss’ first term as Grand Rapids mayor - MLive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – In 2016, Rosalynn Bliss charted a ‘bold’ list of goals for her first four-year term as Grand Rapids’ mayor.

Those priorities were wide in scope, including to improve racial equity and community-police relations, increase affordable housing, reduce homelessness, strengthen local schools and grow the local economy, among others.

Four years later, the mayor sees Grand Rapids moving in an “incredibly positive direction."

“Our local economy is strong,” she said. “You’ve seen a lot of development and energy downtown, and you see a lot of energy and vibrancy and growth in our neighborhoods. A lot of people want to move to our city and I think that’s a positive thing.”

While there’s been progress on many of the challenges she inherited as mayor of Michigan’s second-largest city, she knows there’s more work to be done in her second term.

“With all of that comes challenges," she said. "With success and a strong economy, we know it results in issues around affordability, around homelessness, and a concern of mine is really making sure as our economy grows, there’s opportunity available to everyone regardless of their gender or race.”

Bliss doesn’t see challenges facing the city as separate issues. They’re intertwined and require multi-pronged approaches in finding solutions.

That view, she said, comes from her background in social work. She previously served as director of residential services at DA Blodgett-St John’s, which provides emergency shelter and residential services for abused and neglected children.

So, when city officials look at goals related to strengthening neighborhoods, fostering racial equity and increasing affordable housing, Bliss said she sees issues that are interconnected.

“With my background, it’s hard to see an issue in isolation,” she said. “When you connect all the dots, you recognize all the different issues you’re trying to work on, that if you can make positive movement in all of them it’ll have a greater impact.”

As Bliss gets set to give her fifth State of the City address Tuesday, March 3, here’s a look at some of the work she highlights from her first four years in office.

Affordable housing and homelessness

As Grand Rapids’ population grows, its need for affordable housing becomes more and more apparent. And at city commission meetings, affordable housing is as popular a topic of public concern as it gets.

In 2016, Bliss established the Housing Advisory Committee and tasked it with coming up with recommendations to improve zoning ordinances and increase the city’s affordable housing supply. Most of the committee’s 11 recommendations were approved throughout 2018 and 2019.

Changes of note that came out of the process were meant to allow for accessory dwelling units, reduce requirements for duplexes, create an affordable housing density bonus and protect applicants against predatory application fees.

Reducing homelessness itself has also been a top priority for Bliss in recent years and will be again in 2020.

In 2017, Kent County reached ‘functional zero’ status for veteran homelessness. The status means the community assures all of its homeless veterans have been and will be connected to resources to secure housing.

More recently, Bliss has taken a larger role with the Coalition to End Homelessness and its efforts to reduce homelessness locally by considering the need to make systemic changes.

“A number of families and children are struggling with housing stability,” Bliss said. “So now there’s an effort to really take a close look at making sure we’re providing adequate services for families and children who maybe aren’t homeless yet but they’re struggling and they’re at risk of maybe becoming homeless.”

Bliss said the efforts ask what is and isn’t working, and seeks to create a more effective system to ensure residents have secure and stable housing. That process is expected to carry through early 2020, in partnership with county and private partners.

“There’s not one solution because it’s such an individualized issue,” she said. “You need to have a really thoughtful comprehensive approach. Our hope is to look at the system, elevate the issue beyond just programming and services, and really look at how the system is working as a whole and are people falling through the cracks.”

Fostering racial equity

In 2018, the city had an economic opportunity dashboard created, which highlighted several inequities facing the community related to income, poverty and unemployment.

Since her first State of the City address in 2016, Bliss has said she wanted to see the city prioritize racial equity. She called for private-public partnerships to financially support minority-owned businesses and for the creation of a strategic plan that aimed to eliminate racial disparities.

In the more than four years she’s been in office, the city has more than doubled the number of minority- and women-owned businesses that have received certification through the local programs. Those businesses get an advantage when it comes to bidding on work contracted out by the city.

“As we look to the work that will be coming up with the river restoration project, we’re working to identify what work will be done and how do we tee-up locally owned, minority-owned, women-owned business to bid on those projects,” Bliss said.

The city continues to work with groups like the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses, and Local First West Michigan to increase the number of businesses with Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE) and Micro-Local Business Enterprise (MLBE) certification.

Grand Rapids also established a strategic plan in 2019 that prioritizes equity, and an economic development-focused strategic plan earlier this year.

Bliss noted that the city supports local minority-owned businesses, through the Downtown Development Authority, in an effort to diversify business ownership downtown.

“You’re starting to see some of that work result in concrete examples of diversification downtown and that’s ongoing work,” she said. “There isn’t and end in mind; we need to continue to be intentional.”

The city also increased the number of employees going through implicit bias training, including throughout the police department, and updated the language in its human rights ordinance.

Growing the economy

It’s no secret that Grand Rapids’ economy continues to grow.

One significant ordinance Bliss is particularly proud of in her first term was the food truck ordinance, which began as a two-year pilot in August 2016 and expanded in permanence in January 2019.

“That was an economic development issue because it’s an entry point for entrepreneurs who don’t have a significant amount of access to capital to open a brick and mortar,” Bliss said. "Knowing that many entrepreneurs get their food in the door through a food truck, I wanted to create that opportunity for folks in our community.

“I also believe food trucks add to the vibrancy of a community.”

There was initial push-back to the ordinance, Bliss recalled. But during the two-year trial run, both food trucks and brick-and-mortar food businesses increased in the downtown area and perceptions shifted.

Bliss also said the expansion of the Medical Mile and the moving of businesses downtown have been significant to the local economy.

That includes the plan to move the headquarters of the Caledonia-based insurance company, Acrisure, to Grand Rapids in 2021. The move, which Bliss called “a huge feather in our cap” is expected to create 400 jobs over five years.

Safe community

Bliss prioritized community-police relations, crime prevention and the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians throughout her first term as mayor.

As it relates to the police department, the mayor said a lot of the positive work has been handled internally. She commended the department specifically for the establishment of its youth-interaction policy in 2018 and foreign nationals policy in 2019, both following controversial incidents.

Additionally, Bliss highlighted the city’s amended firearms ordinance, which set policies related to toy and replica guns.

The city commission has discussed a desire to adopt an evidence-based crime prevention program but had yet to move forward with one as of early 2020. Bliss said the city was seeking grant funding before moving forward.

There has also been considerable progress on bicycle safety through the development of a bicycle action plan in 2019. The document is a master plan that proposed new and upgraded bicycle lanes and trails.

“I also feel good about us updating our bicycle ordinance and having the five-foot rule for cyclist protection,” Bliss said. “When I was first elected we had a really high crash rate. We did an education campaign and took a look at ordinances and our bike lanes and I feel good about that work and the time that went into that work.”

Another aspect of a safe community is reducing the threat of lead poisoning in and around Grand Rapids homes. Bliss pledged a more aggressive response to the issue during her 2018 State of the City address.

The city has received grant money to help with lead testing, abatement and education, but Bliss said she wants the city to do more with reducing the threat in 2020.

As Bliss looks ahead to her second term as mayor, she’s got another lengthy to-do list. Some of her top priorities include:

• A complete count for the 2020 census.
• Establishment of a promise zone.
• Reducing homelessness by making systemic changes.
• Diverting individuals experiencing mental illness and substance abuse away from jails and emergency rooms.
• Adopt an evidence-based violence prevention program.
• Continue to improve community-police relations.
• Elevate the city’s involvement in reducing lead poisoning in the community’s youth.

Read more:

How to watch Grand Rapids mayor’s 2020 State of the City speech

How residents evaluated police, education, life in Grand Rapids

Timeline for recreational marijuana sales in Grand Rapids in limbo

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A look back at Rosalynn Bliss’ first term as Grand Rapids mayor - MLive.com
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