Jim Rinck for Grand Rapids Mayor

I am glad to see you running for Mayor. I loved everything that you had to say when you were runnng for Congress. You seemed to have a passion for our envirment. Do you think that you will be able to have an impact on local environment and green space issues as Mayor?

Thanks Josh,
Absolutely nothing has changed in my environmental viewpoints. Our environment is in a state of crisis. Greenspace in our cities are very important to the viality and quality of life of our community. I am advocating for increased train service to Grand Rapids to reduce the number of cars on our road and to help bring more visitors to Grand Rapids.

Hey this is fun… please keep the dialogue going.

Mr. Rinck - presently I am an undecided voter, which is why I am viewing the websites of the candidates tonight. I appreciate your no-holds-bar attack on Heartwell and Tormala; it is raw and heartfelt and I am certainly no fan of Heartwell(’s push for a raise, taxpayer funded vehicle after an accident, hint at tax increase, clandestine games and general arrogance); and while I respect and believe that Tormala would concentrate on leaning the fat from the city budget, I do not appreciate any reference to a proposed income tax increase (nor would I remain a city resident should one pass).

I applaud you for pursuing the economies of scale that would result from forming some sort of intercity police and fire network. It makes perfect sense in my mind.

I agree with Mr. Tormala, however, that privatizing the city parking garages is a good move. While it may be true that the city receives $5-7MM of revenue by owning these garages, the question you should be asking yourself is is owning and operating parking garages the best use of the city’s personnel and monetary resources. Admittedly, I have not crunched any numbers, but it seems logical that operating a parking garage requires a hefty sum of money in terms of employees, maintenance, security, renovations, etc… My point is that while the city generates $5-7MM of revenue from these garages, what is the bottom line and what would the city be able to accomplish by freeing up the resources devoted to operating parking garages (fully staffing police and firefighters, for example).

Furthermore, privatization of the garages would likely not result in any loss of jobs (you still need workers, maintenance, etc - AND the process of hiring and contracting for these things wouldn’t take up additional city resources as they would be handled by private companies). And, in private hands, the city could generate significant income and property tax revenues well into the future.

In my opinion, privatization of these garages is an idea worth pursuing.

Best of luck to you.