Grand Rapids mayoral candidate Senita Lenear lays out goals

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Senita Lenear says she is the best person to be Grand Rapids’ next mayor.

As the top two vote-getters in the August primary, Lenear and David LaGrand are vying for the office in the Nov. 5 election.

Lenear has served on the Grand Rapids city commission and Grand Rapids Public Schools board. Now, she says she is ready to take her goals to the main office as mayor.

Asked about her first day in office if she’s elected, Lenear said she will spend time meeting with colleagues.

“I think one of the major roles of the mayor is to facilitate the commission meetings and gathering and engaging with my colleagues to hear from them some of the thoughts about what they think is valuable in the way things are already done, and things that they may see as changes,” she said.

She listed four priorities she wants to address, the first being housing.

“It isn’t just affordable housing that I think is needed. I also think that what we are calling the missing middle. So it’s housing for people who … may not be able to afford the rent, and the mortgages that are happening right now in this market, in Grand Rapids, because it is it has outgrown us really quickly. And I know that this is a national issue, and so making sure that we’re building some missing middle housing is also a priority,” Lenear said.

Combating violence in the community is Lenear’s second priority. She cited work she has already done on the city’s SAFE Task Force , which addresses crime from multiple angles.

“Within the SAFE Task Force, there are different pillars … that we call them the peace pillars,” Lenear explained. “One of them is tied to addressing policy changes, so we would want to see what policy changes we can make in the city to make the city safer for young people, or to make sure that young people are thriving. Another one is addressing violence head-on, so where there are violent acts happening, making sure that we’re preventing those or addressing them as soon as they happen.”

Lenear wants to expand the Third Ward Equity Fund to help kick-start businesses.

“We know where (underfunded neighborhoods) exist, but there are many that haven’t been funded to the degree that that the Third Ward has been underfunded,” she said. “And so what I would like to do is see us going to those neighborhoods to make sure that we’re funding very similar programs that we’ve already funded in the Third Ward, in both the First and Second Wards.”

Her fourth priority centers around supporting Grand Rapids youth through economic development for families.

“It looks like making sure that families have thriving experiences while they’re living here in Grand Rapids. It looks like making sure that employers know that livable wages are important for families to thrive here in Grand Rapids. It also looks like making sure that there’s housing available to families here in Grand Rapids. We were on one of the worst places to live for Black families, economically, the second worst place to live economically for Black families on the Forbes list , and so and it was tied to economics. It was tied to ownership, home ownership and business ownership. And so those are the things that making sure that we’re investing in families economically, that’s important,” Lenear said.

When asked why people should vote for her as the next mayor of Grand Rapids, Lenear touted experience and years of faithful service.

“I’ve served this city well. I know the issues of this city. I moved here at nine. I’m a Creston Polar Bear. I’m a Cornerstone Eagle. I have been a business owner of over 10 years. I have corporate experience. I bargain on the union side of the contract,” she said. “I have worked in human resources regionally, as well as community affairs and in management in the largest health care insurance provider in the state of Michigan. My experience speaks for itself.”

Absentee voting is underway in Michigan. Early in-person voting begins in Grand Rapids Oct. 26.

Below, read additional excerpts from News 8’s interview with Lenear, edited for length and clarity.

News 8: What would your first 100 days in office look like?

Lenear: “During this campaign season in the spring, I started what we’re calling neighborhood connections, where I have gone into the neighborhood, into laundromats and restaurants and coffee shops to meet people where they gather, to hear from them their thoughts and ideas about Grand Rapids. And so within that first 100 days, I would do something very similar as mayor … so that we can get more people involved, just to kind of hear from the public about their ideas. … I’ve stayed really close to the work that’s happening on the commission right now. I’ve only been gone a year and a half, and so just kind of understanding what’s coming down the pipeline for the budget. That conversation typically starts in the fall. So right after that election, it’ll be time to really engage with the city manager and the other appointed officials about the budget that they’re foreseen for the future.”

Regarding affordable housing:

Lenear: “While serving on the commission, there were a number of policy changes that we’ve made to attract developers to build more affordable housing in our city. We have promoted and changed policies to attract small developers like homeowners to be able to put ADUs (accessory dwelling units, or additional living spaces) on their properties. So to address housing regionally, I think, is something that we didn’t do so well and so it’s a priority for me to make sure that we’re having conversations regionally about housing. Grand Rapids is pretty landlocked, and so to have conversations with neighbors and municipalities is going to be a part that has to be a part of the solution. And so that will be something that that is a priority for me, and that’s one of the ways in which I’ll address it. Another is what I’m calling A to P: Alpine, 28th Street and Plainfield — looking at corridors that have blight, in some instances, where there are vacancies and retail locations, but there’s a lot of land there, and so how can we reimagine those locations with innovative housing?”

News 8: With your experience on the school board, what are your views on using education to help reduce crime?

Lenear: “Nelson Mandela has a quote that says education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. And I truly believe that. So we have at the city right now what we call a City School Liaison Committee. It’s a committee that I sat on as a school board president and also as a commissioner, and what I have found is making sure that we’re keeping the lines of communication open through that committee is vitally important. We have properties that we co-own where there may be a school building there, but there is a park that that we own adjacent to the building or on the same property as that building, and so having those that communication and making sure that we’re providing some input into the educational outcomes is important. Because you’re absolutely right: When people move to Grand Rapids, they’re looking into the schools. They are trying to figure out where they’re going to live based on what’s happening in the school districts. And so we want to make sure that GRPS is thriving, and that the children within there are learning, and that the teachers and the faculty that work there are respected and receiving salaries that they deserve to receive. I was in a meeting today. It’s the BLAC (Black Leadership Advisory Council) — it’s a statewide group that is rolling out their plans that go to the governor . They were talking about education, and one of the deficits, as they saw it, is how education is funded and the inequities that exist and how funding occurs across this state, and so they’re talking about how to figure out how to make that a little bit more equitable. So I’d be interested in learning a little bit more about that. One of the things that happened while I was serving on the school board is the city decided that they would no longer be in the after-school business. I know from serving on the school board that that’s a really important time in the lives of our youth, is the moment after that they get out of school, and the moment that they get home from school and what happens in between. And so being able to have a safe place for students to go after school is extremely important to me. And I would be looking at how do we make sure we do have … after-school programming as well? How do we make sure that every student who wants and every family who wants after-school program that they can get it?”

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