Lucas Leverett

06/19/2026

Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free. Here's what to know about Juneteenth, how it's celebrated and what its flag represents: http://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/nation-world/when-is-juneteenth-2026-federal-holiday/507-b318d084-8600-4f98-bdfd-4cea1b953faa?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_13_On_Your_Side

06/14/2026

NYC just keeps coming out on top. I find joy in knowing who this frustrates. Congrats, New York Knicks!

06/13/2026

Watch, as Doug Sloan—a lawyer with Thompson Burton—poorly attempts to mitigate the well-earned skepticism over rampant and wanton datacenter expansion and construction by the tech-bro oligarchy playing out in my home town of Nashville. A professional lawyer should know better, and should have rehearsed his remarks to remain within time. When you're the privileged corporate-class manipulator trying to get more than your fair share on the clock, you deserve to get heckled by an angry and unheard citizenry when you try to cheat said clock.

Any datacenter by Nashville Zoo or any other sensitive natural space that we're still managing to cling to in our broken profit-above-all-life culture is not welcome. The Metro Nashville Planning Department and Freddie O'Connell, Mayor are doing right by the people by giving this due scrutiny.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, or maybe DC BLOX leadership should have the guts to come speak for themselves. The conduct of all of these companies, powering greed and fueling the loss of both humanity and ecological stability, is what generates the angry mob. When you cause the negative PR backlash and terrible public sentiment with your callousness, you will see a negative result.

It is past time for leaders in large organizations to stop rolling their eyes at community-first notions, and give a true seat at the table to those of us who seek to keep them honest. Empty lip-service is not fooling people anymore.

(Also who came up with "DC BLOX" and when do they turn 13?)

06/13/2026

More quality work from the "Trump Organization."

A few days after the $14 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool was completed, along came the algae in the D.C. heat.

It’s being removed, an Interior spokeswoman said, and measures are in place to prevent it from happening again. https://wapo.st/4vCFUxY

06/11/2026

There is probably no more important concern in The City of Grand Rapids leadership realm right now than who gets hired as the new Chief of the Grand Rapids Police Department. This person can and should be the one to turn a critical corner and be able to come across the table and co-create compromise, make peace in highly pressurized and longstanding conflicts with community, and force change where it has previously been avoided or surrendered—including cleaning house of lingering jingoists, racists, and bullies (including the police "union").

While some folks can't fathom it, people like me who are critical can have positive relationships with police leaders and many rand and file officers. I had a good relationship with Chief Winstrom. It is possible, when the discussion is a two-way street and not murky with brainwashing from inside the department or the outside police-groupie minority.

Now is the time to lean in, GR, and let's get this one right. Let's figure out how to break this impasse and stalemate and set aside toxic West Michigan Nice Syndrome to have hard conversations and render amicably sustainable results.

Take the survey. Be entirely honest. Make it clear what we want the issues at the forefront for this person to be.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Community-Questions

We're moving into the next phase of selecting our next Chief of Police — and we want you to be part of the process. 🚔 👮‍♀️

On June 17th there will be two public events to support transparency, open communication, and broad community involvement in the search for our next police chief. Our community will have a chance to meet the finalists:

Mark Bliss — Detroit Police Department
Rafael Diaz — Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety
Joseph A. Trigg — Grand Rapids Police Department
Eve Stephens — University of Texas at Austin / Austin Police Department

📆 Date: June 17
➡️ Community Meet & Greet | Calder Plaza Level at 5:45 p.m.
➡️ Public Forum | Commission Chambers, 9th Floor at 7 p.m.
📍 Location: City Hall, 300 Monroe Ave. NW

The public forum will stream on the City's Facebook and YouTube channel.

Shape the conversation by submitting topics and questions through an online survey now through 5 p.m. on Monday, June 15: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Community-Questions

06/11/2026

It must be nice to live in a city where the leadership is objective and willing to make necessary choices that diverge with their largest corporate constituents…

Home city of Amazon and Microsoft passes moratorium as backlash against energy-guzzling AI infrastructure grows

06/10/2026

Redundant. Unnecessary. Designed to stem rights and enhance control while make accountability and transparency even harder. This is yet another gross effort by the Police Industrial Complex to avoid reform.

The Michigan Michigan Democratic Party/Michigan Senate Democrats need to kill this bill, and if we see enough of them somehow selling out, we need Governor Gretchen Whitmer to veto. Make police rely on the laws they already abuse. Not new ones.

The Michigan House approved bills Tuesday that would allow police to establish 25-foot buffer zones around law enforcement and emergency response activities. Rick Pluta has more.

06/10/2026

This is an exciting headline to see. Reminds me of when I first heard of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey coming up, or Turner Haus Brewery. Great to see in Grand Rapids!

Wyoming soul food restaurant Southern Smoke is rolling out a line of alcoholic beverages later this year.

06/10/2026

But we are told cops can never do wrong by the police groupie crowd…

A former Grand Rapids police officer, Brian Casey, is accused by police of stealing sports cards from a Hudsonville store, months before stealing from another store.

06/09/2026

While the circumstances of the lead-up to this latest news are oh-so-typical of the dubious way things tend to be handled by Grand Rapids Public Schools and there are an array of legitimate gripes to be heard from the community about the promises and overtures made by elected School Board members, I am hopeful that we can cut out the sloppiness and noise.

I see an opportunity here for The Commonwealth Companies and West Grand Neighborhood Organization to partner with clarity once problematic operators like Larry Johnson are no longer involved, fiddling behind the scenes and ambushing stakeholders. There are many good paths to a large impact to the community that can be explored, and that's worth something.

The discontent and frustration today, however, is well-founded and was avoidable. Not surprising at all, but avoidable. And I will rememember that factor this fall at the ballot box—as will most of our neighbors.

Grand Rapids sold two former school buildings for $1M each to developers planning housing, childcare, and community spaces.