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GR Commissioner David Allen resigns to focus on Land Bank efforts

allen4gr.com

Serving two years as the Commissioner of the City of Grand Rapids’ Third Ward, Commissioner David Allen announced to the City Commission Tuesday that he would effectively resign from his position this summer.

Allen, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Kent County Land Bank authority cited the need to focus all of his attention on the Land Bank’s efforts to address both the affordable housing crisis, as well as lead contamination in a number of area homes as the key reason in his decision.

“We will soon announcing a large collaborative that will bring hundreds of new housing opportunities,” Allen said. “As well as a new program, a new way to fund lead remediation from homes. And so the sheer volume of those two initiatives as it related to my job at the Land Bank, just required me to make a decision one way or the other, and just so it just seemed to me after much conversation with family and prayer, I need to stay focused on where I can make the most impact and the so the decision was made to step down.”

Allen was elected to the city commission in 2016, and chaired the Fiscal Committee. No decisions have yet been made on finding a replacement.