On Thursday, August 4, roughly 50 people came together to learn about the proposed changes to the Grand Rapids Hindering & Opposing (H & O) ordinance. The meeting was organized by the Community Leadership Coalition at the Sheldon Complex in the near Southeast side of Grand Rapids. Attorney Steven Drew walked through the proposed ordinance changes (pages 1, 2, 3) in order to bring clarity to what they mean before GR City Commissioners adopt them. Drew basically said that while language such as "knowingly and willfully" does provide greater legal defense opportunities for those arrested for H & O, "more stuff was inserted to be used against the public."

Here are a few of the new components - "threaten to hinder," which is vague and up to the discretion of the police, or "failing or refusing to obey the command or direction of any law enforcement officer to refrain from entering or to exit a police perimeter that has been established for law enforcement or safety purposes." Lastly, you could be arrested for "failing or refusing to obey the command or direction of any law enforcement officer, park patrol officer or other authorized representative of the City of Grand Rapids to leave a public park, playground, boulevard, swimming pool or recreational area." Basically, failure to obey any GR City employee at any of these public places could result in arrest.

The Urban League also presented again their findings from the Kent County Sheriff's Department data on H & O arrests by racial breakdown. There was a lively discussion after the formal presentation that involved in part some strategizing about what to do for the Public Hearing that is scheduled for 7pm on Tuesday, August 9 at Grand Rapids City Hall. Many people also felt that it didn't matter what the law is and that the "police will just do whatever they want." Others asked "why are we even accepting this (ordinance change)" and another person said that "we should write something and give it to them, instead of just responding to their proposal." There was also some discussion on the need to have some "ongoing strategizing beyond the public hearing, since police abuse will continue in the Black community."

Plenty of news media were in attendance, but failed to do the most important thing - failing to tell the public about the proposed ordinance changes or where they can get a copy. Fox 17 only provided comment from organizers, but didn't stick around for the discussion and input from the community. WOOD TV 8 did better, by providing some background to the issues, but they also failed to tell viewers about the proposed changes and provided Chief Dolan's perspective despite the fact that he wasn't at the meeting.