We are a group of people who are looking to make our city better for all. As part of the Strong Towns movement, we align with the following five core campaign ideas.

Safe & Productive Streets
Transparent Local Accounting
Incremental Housing
End Parking Mandates and Subsidies
End Highway Expansion

These goals achieved through active participation in civic forums, activities, and group activities.

October’s Festive Fall Housing Conversation with Housing Next!

Upcoming Events

November 28th, 6:00pm -Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., 29 Pearl St NW #1, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 - StrongTowns GR Meeting- Holiday Edition

How to Reclaim a Parking Lot

We at StrongTowns GR stand in opposition to the construction of new surface parking lots within the city. While parking ramps are more costly to install, they are a much more economical use of land. If you contain the vehicles that require so much space in an urban environment with the use of strategically placed ramps, you can reclaim the areas previously designated as “car space”.

One example of this that has gone very well in the last 3 years is 555 Monroe. Once an underutilized space within the city despite its prime location, it’s now full of color and joy; the skate park, public art displays, and frequent events have helped to revitalize this neighborhood. Downtown Grand Rapids Inc has an excellent write up of this space's transformation to bring change about much faster.

Taking into account that large developments are expensive in terms of time and money, small scale neighborhood developments shine. Think pop up farmers market, container unit business, or unique public gathering spaces that allow people more space in the urban environment, which in turn builds community.

With the recent talk of the new Corewell development plan, requesting for special utilization for surface parking lots, followed up by the John Ball Zoo parking 2015 masterplan backlash, the people of the city are tired of acres of parking surrounding buildings. There are other solutions. Ones that prevent the automobile from further separating the community that lives between the buildings and connects the people within. The best solution is to have fully utilized parking ramps within a few key areas, which, combined with higher costs for street parking and lower ramp parking fees,would incentivize people to park within the ramp. Together, these changes would allow cities to reclaim street parking space, paving the way for more bike lanes and pedestrian safety measures. Not only that, but reduced land use for surface parking would also allow for additional infill development like affordable housing.

Yes, parking ramps require higher up-front investment, but the long-term benefits that come from repurposing this valuable land in city centers will pay dividends down the road. With strategic placement of parking ramps and the reduction of reliance on surface parking lots, affordable housing can be an excellent use for the reclaimed space within the urban environment. Grand Rapids is desperately in need of housing, per the current demand analysis from Housing Next.

-Anna Carley

Guest Publication

Save John Ball Park: 40 Years of Fighting Parking Lot Expansion on Grand Rapids’ Westside

John Ball Park has been countless things over the years: a meet up spot for Edwardian bike punks, winding botanical gardens, a golf course. If John Ball Zoo has its way, “paved parking lot” will be added to the list.

In 1884, John Ball left 40 acres to the City of Grand Rapids to be used as a public park. The city purchased the rest of the land around the park, enlarging the parcel to over 100 acres. For a while, John Ball Park included a conservatory, dance parlor, bandstand, carriage trails, swimming pool, formal gardens, and zoo. It was the City’s “Central Park.” As the zoo has grown, park attractions have atrophied.

John Ball Park and Zoo Are, and Have Always Been, Publicly-Owned Spaces

In 1989, the City sold the park and zoo land to Kent County. But can you sell a park? Not exactly. The work-around solution was to “release” John Ball Park and zoo from its Master Plan, removing the “park designation.” However, the sale was completed with the expectation that the park would be preserved.

Today, the county still leases the land to the zoo; any proposed changes must be included in a Master Plan or approved amendment. However, what many people don’t know is that the zoo’s lease with the county actually specifies that the zoo must maintain the park to the standard of other Kent County parks. There is even a figure that defines the divide between park and zoo—a line that’s been largely ignored.

The park-zoo divide, as per the zoo’s lease with Kent County. Zoo is on the top of the parcel, Park is on the bottom.

A rough overlay of the current Park and Zoo line compared to the lease agreement.

Currently, the zoo isn’t held accountable when it comes to park maintenance. Trees are not replanted once cut down, picnic tables are soft with age, cars are everywhere on the grass. The fairs and festivals on the lawn off Butterworth are no more. It’s almost like it’s easier to convince people that a park should be paved if the park doesn’t feel like a very nice park at all.

Where Should the Cars Go if Not On the Grass?

On October 12, the zoo submitted a proposed amendment to the Kent County Finance and Physical Resources Committee that includes paving the majority of the open green space at John Ball Park. In return, the zoo promises to improve the remaining green space and write it into the lease to be “green space in perpetuity.” We suggest the zoo reread its own lease; that area is already protected green space.

Parking expansion proposal; everything in orange would be paved.

If you’re wondering why an organization that’s as “committed” to sustainability as the zoo is would choose to pave vast sections of natural park area, you are not alone. As far as we can tell, the zoo’s commitment to sustainability only applies when it’s convenient.

Remote parking lots aren’t feasible, they say: too many people will refuse to visit a zoo if they have to wrestle their strollers onto a trolley. A parking ramp would reduce a paving footprint, but is too expensive: if they build one, it’ll be “green,” but there’s just no money for that, they say. The proposal doesn’t contain any provisions for bike access, sharing parking space that already exists in the neighborhood, more accessible public transit, or green pavers that would lessen the environmental impact of parking lots. Their only solution: to pave the public park they are in charge of caring for.

John Ball Park filled with cars in 2022.

None of these changes are for us, the community. John Ball Zoo has already been using the park as parking for years. It’s so normalized, that most neighbors don’t think twice when cars occupy the big green lawn all weekend instead of people playing ultimate frisbee, school sports teams having practice, or families enjoying themselve. Parking on grass is better than pavement, but still problematic. John Ball Park is a park.

The Zoo Is Desperate to Cater to Out-of-Town Suburbanites

When did we decide that behavior didn’t need to change based on context? Why do you expect suburban ease in a dense city neighborhood? Do these same people expect to drive into Chicago and park in front of Wrigley Field? Cars trick us into believing that we are somehow separate from the world and free of any responsibility to it. In reality, we’re only guests. You still have to take your shoes off when you enter someone else’s house.

2015 master plan parking proposal; the white box is proposed parking expansion.

All this matters very little to the zoo. Their 2015 master plan is approved and in effect. This document also includes parking expansion in the field off Valley Street. The zoo president Peter D’Arienzo has stated that, if their current amendment is not approved, they’ll enact the plans from 2015—even though both the zoo and the community don’t like them anymore. In fact, he’s also on the record stating that “even if they pave the whole park, there still won’t be enough parking” in the future. So why pave the park now? Why be so flippant with such a precious resource?

Every inch of asphalt that goes down in our neighborhood is like an ocean-front hotel going up on a beach; it’s for people who visit to have an experience, not people who live here to have a life.

When Growth Is Relentless, Community Pays the Price

What then, is the actual point? It’s not sustainability, and it’s not community health, and it’s not taking responsibility for your business. Because when you requisition public land for business development, the burden of business growth is then placed on the community, not the business itself. Which is a bold stance for the zoo to take. John Ball Park is one of Grand Rapids’ neighborhoods of focus—a community that has major inequalities when it comes to factors like income, education, and housing.

A 2022 report from the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy observed a disparity in the amount of parkland between neighborhoods of focus and Grand Rapids overall. The report goes on to note the neighborhood of focus had six acres of parkland per 1,000 people. Grand Rapids has seven acres and Kent County has 11 acres per 1,000 people, respectively. The best practice is to offer 10 acres of parkland per 1,000 people.

The report also found that “more than four out of five households (82%) in the neighborhood of focus had income below the Grand Rapids median household income of $50,103.” In 2021, the executive compensation for the John Ball Zoo’s eight-person C-suite was $1,237,033. In the same year, the zoo received $5,589,613 in millage funding.

The zoo intends to requisition public land and get paid with public funds to do it.

In the end, this fight is about what all parking expansion fights are about: doing what’s good for people. Acres of blacktop will make our neighborhood less socially and environmentally resilient; the zoo knows this and doesn’t care. It’s busy providing jobs. In 2021, the zoo reported 437 employees (429 excluding executive leadership). The total for other, non-C-suite wages is $5,401,526. In the extraordinary event that every employee got an equal piece of the pie, each person would take home $12,360. Let’s say 100 of those employees worked for one day and then quit, something Mr. D’Arienzo has stated happens with some frequency. Divided evenly among 329 workers, everyone would take home $16,418.

- Amy Hinman

The Fight for Public Space Isn’t Over, but We Need Your Help

On October 16, the Finance and Physical Resources Committee declined to vote on the zoo’s amendment. Instead, they requested a park walk-through and suggested that the zoo hold another “community outreach” meeting to share their plans with the neighborhood. It’s been two weeks and counting and there has been no outreach or communication from the zoo regarding the proposal. The only way the neighborhood has learned anything is because a group of neighbors continues to be vocal. We’re also in the process of having a moderated discussion with zoo leadership to discuss metrics and reporting outcomes from that meeting. The zoo might not be interested in due diligence, but we are. The amendment will go back to the committee on November 21.

The Save John Ball Park movement has existed for longer than many of us who are currently in it have been alive. We shouldn’t have to keep fighting this fight, because it shouldn’t be a fight at all.

For now, the best way to fight the parking expansion is through our elected officials and spreading the word as a community. If you are opposed to public land being seized for parking expansion, or have ideas about alternative parking, please email:

Kent County Board of Commissioners: publiccomment@kentcountymi.gov

Kent County District 14 Commissioner Carol Hennessy: carol.hennessy@kentcountymi.gov

Kent County Chair of the Finance and Physical Resources Committee Emily Brieve: emily.brieve@kentcountymi.gov

Kent County Board of Commissioners Chair Stan Stek: stan.stek@kentcountymi.gov

Grand Rapids First Ward Commissioners Jon O’Connor and Drew Robbins: joconnor@grcity.us and drobbins@grcity.us

You can also get involved by following our Facebook page or joining our Discord server. If you’ve signed the petition, you’ll receive our email updates. And finally, if you (or someone you know) is an attorney with municipal law experience who wants to save a park, please contact us at savejohnballpark@gmail.com.

- Amy Hinman

The John Ball Zoo stop on the Laker Line. Do you know where the Zoo is from here?

Closing Notes

Wow. The energy, participation, and passion that has been shown by our Strong Towns Grand Rapids community over the past couple weeks has been amazing. After impressive coordination from the Strong Towns leadership team and amazing public support, Corewell Health does not get to demolish buildings to build surface parking just yet… We have sent a clear message to our City that we will not tolerate more surface parking lots in our Downtown.

While currently necessary due to policy decisions made between 105 and 70 years ago, private vehicles are not efficient - they are cost-prohibitive, polluting, and sit idle most of the time. The same can also be said about parking lots! The last thing we need as a growing, young, and housing-strapped city are more cars and empty, non-revenue generating space taken up right in the beating heart of the rapidly evolving and walkable Monroe North (MoNo) Neighborhood.

Over the course of this action, I’ve heard “but they will develop the surface lots into housing later!” many times. I too have read their documents, but until an enforceable plan is in place, surface parking lots should still not happen. Our City is toothless when it comes to compeling a private entity to build according to their “future” plans - this either needs to change or the City should not continue to trust “we will build it eventually”... Plans, economies, and politics change and we must protect ourselves.

Corewell, through pressure from the City, employees, and residents, needs to get serious about developing ways for their employees and patients to travel to and from their buildings. Even something as simple as a safe and dry bike parking garage… Imagine a rapid transit system on Michigan Ave between ample parking and a dense and thriving Medical Mile. Perhaps even a streetcar in MoNo? I believe the City and other interested parties stand ready to work with Corewell to make a dent in the car dependency we are plagued with - Strong Towns Grand Rapids certainly does.

Our beloved Grand Rapids is currently at a crossroads… Do we continue our pattern of car-dependent community shattering development or should we try something new and truly become a beacon of the future? Our Strong Towns GR community continues to inspire on a daily basis through passion, innovation, care, and hard work. We continue to grow in both influence and membership. Our time is rapidly emerging and I am optimistic that we can continue to make a difference.

-Stefan Pawelka

November Newsletter