Stopping Crime Before It Starts: Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand’s Big Idea
I’ve asked a lot of government leaders to define good government. Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand gave me an answer I’d never heard before.
“The business of government is not prosperity,” he told me. “That is only a proxy for what the real business of government is, and that is human flourishing.”
Think about that for a minute. We talk about government almost entirely in the language of economics — even arts groups, the mayor points out, come to him armed with economic impact studies. He thinks that’s backwards. Arts, culture, education — these don’t have to justify themselves on a balance sheet. They’re the rewards of civilization. They’re the point.
Mayor LaGrand is a year and a half into the job in Michigan’s second-largest city, and he came to it with an unusual résumé: former Kent County prosecutor, former state representative, and owner of a distillery in a town proudly known as Beer City. That prosecutor’s background shapes his boldest idea, and it’s one he hopes every mayor in America will steal.
Here it is. Grand Rapids sees roughly 3,000 misdemeanor convictions a year. But behind those are thousands more incidents where police get called, no crime has been committed, and everyone walks away — still angry. The mayor calls these “subclinical” conflicts, borrowing a medical term. The neighbor dispute. The shouting match. The beef that hasn’t boiled over yet. Police aren’t equipped to follow up on those, and traditionally, nobody does.
So Grand Rapids is building a program where officers can flag those incidents for a trained mediator, who calls both parties a week later and offers them a chance to work it out. The restorative justice research suggests most people on both sides of a conflict actually want that resolution. And every conflict resolved is a potential assault — or worse — that never happens. As the mayor put it, we’ve all seen how an argument over a parking space can turn deadly. This is a way to settle a future crime before it’s committed.
It’s what he calls a “free lunch” in government — a change that makes things better with no real downside. He found another one in housing. Grand Rapids has tens of thousands of garages, each with four walls, a roof, and a floor — a big head start on a 600-square-foot apartment. The city already allows accessory dwelling units by right, no permission needed. Now the mayor is working with banks on financing programs and on state legislation to bring conversion costs down. In a national housing crisis, he says, there’s no single fix — but this is an obvious piece of the puzzle.
We also talked about changing the culture around guns the way Mothers Against Drunk Driving changed the culture around drinking and driving, why the cash bond system is a medieval leftover, and yes, where to get a burger and a beer in Beer City.
What struck me most was how the mayor described his job: like a magnifying glass for sunlight, focusing and catalyzing the energy of the people in his community. That’s good government.
Listen to my full conversation with Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand on The Good Government Show, wherever you get your podcasts.
Pull Quotes
- “The business of government is not prosperity. That is only a proxy for what the real business of government is, and that is human flourishing.”
- “You’re always looking for a free lunch in government. And they’re not always there. But sometimes there are. Sometimes there are things where you think, wow, why didn’t we do that years ago?”
- “Government has got a really strong bias towards: yesterday wasn’t a calamity, therefore let’s make tomorrow look like yesterday.”
- “My job is being like a magnifying glass for sunlight. My job is to focus and catalyze the energy of the people in the community.”
- “You should be using a risk assessment, not a wealth assessment.” (on cash bail)
GGI Boilerplate
The Good Government Show is produced by the Good Government Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization promoting civic engagement and civic education. Each episode extends GGI’s core mission: demonstrating that government works and that public servants across the country are doing meaningful work on behalf of their communities. Hosted by Dave Martin, the show features conversations with mayors, county leaders, and public servants who share what good government looks like in action. Learn more, listen, and donate at goodgovinstitute.org.