Tagged: City of Grand Rapids

Recycling is up 80-percent since the City of Grand Rapids instituted a new single-stream recycling program. With single-stream people can put all kinds of stuff - glass, plastic, cardboard and paper - into a single cart (no sorting needed). The city picks up the recyclable stuff at the curb for free.

“Grand Rapids’ highly successful new recycling services are good for residents wishing to lower their refuse disposal costs, it is good for the City as it has lowered our refuse costs, and it’s good for our environment,” said Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell

Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell dedicated his entire state of the city speech Saturday morning to highlighting the problems facing kids in the community. 

Heartwell noted nearly 2 in 5 children in Michigan's 2nd largest city live in poverty. More than 1 in 5 students in Grand Rapids Public Schools drops out of high school. Many don’t have regular access to the internet.

“I’m done waiting for somebody else somewhere else to figure this out. That's not the Grand Rapids way," Heartwell said. "We’re among the most innovative problem solvers in the world and we have the capacity to do this.”

City Commissioners voted today in favor of controversial changes to the housing code.

“In light of the foreclosure crisis and the 70-percent increase in the number of single family rentals in the city, we recognize that we’ve got to do something to protect our housing,” Grand Rapids City Commissioner Ruth Kelly said prior to the vote, “It’s our family infrastructure; it’s what we live in.”

The new rules require landlords to register rental properties more often. They also require all rental units get an inspection. Before, only rental properties with two or more units got inspected.

The proposed changes would require landlords to register rental properties every year, instead of every four years. They would also require inspections of single family rental units. Right now only rental properties with two or more units get inspected.

This week hundreds of people turned out to speak at a public hearing. Mayor George Heartwell guessed the commission has received as many comments on this as they did on a proposed ordinance to allow residents to keep backyard chickens a little more than a year ago.

Barb Lester works with tenants through her job at a neighborhood association. She owns her home. She says renters in single family homes deserve the same safety checks as other renters.

Discussions about a proposal to merge the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County into a single unit of government will move forward despite numerous concerns about the final outcome.

Earlier this year a group of business leaders launched the “One Kent Coalition”. They didn’t really inform the city or the county of their plan ahead of time so initially there was a backlash against it. Many government leaders, like Grand Rapids City Commissioner Dave Shaffer, remain cautious.

“It feels a little bit more of an arranged marriage as opposed to a ‘do you want to say I do?” Shaffer said Tuesday.

Dozens of rental property owners and housing advocates are expected at a meeting in Grand Rapids this week. The rise of foreclosures could prompt the city to change parts of its housing code.

The city inspects rental properties with two or more units. They check for fire alarms, peeling or chipping lead paint, and other safety hazards. But single family homes for rent are exempt from inspections.

Tyler Nickerson is with the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness. The non-profit group advocates for safe and affordable housing. Nickerson says the group would like the city to start inspecting single family rental properties because there are so many on the market now.