GR: Store must remove steel shutters

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - It's a dispute that pits perception against protection, and it has reached Grand Rapids City Hall.

The city is giving Ms. Tracy's store, 1024 Franklin St. SE, until Wednesday to remove the exterior steel shutters that the store owner says help protect his business and customers.

With the flip of a switch, Ms. Tracy's management can quickly close the shutters -- to keep a fight or a criminal from getting inside.

"On weekends, sometimes fights happen," store owner Nader Kader told 24 Hour News 8 on Monday. "What I always tell my kids when they're working -- once you see anything going on outside, just shut the shutters down. It gets dark and everybody leaves."

And, they've shut them when the store closes at 2 a.m.

That is, until the city stepped in. City officials say the shutters, as well as bars on a side window, violate code. Shutters and bars are allowed for protection, but they must be on the inside of the windows -- where passing motorists are less likely to notice them.

"Those bars were put up in violation of the city ordinance, simple as that," said John Williams, who lives nearby and complained about the security divides at a public hearing.

The dispute came up in January, when the Zoning Board of Appeals denied Ms. Tracy's request to keep the shutters and bars. The city issued a Corrective Action Order on Aug. 3, demanding the store to remove them. The city since has denied a petition to allow the safety measures.

Crime has gone down in the neighborhood -- and the few businesses with exterior bars and shutters had them before the city ordinance changed, Williams said.

"Being in the inner-city, your assumption is that that is going to happen," Williams said. "It hasn't happened. This is Grand Rapids, not Lebanon. This is Grand Rapids, not Detroit. I moved from Detroit (to) here. I like this city."

Ms. Tracy's moved to the north side of Franklin from across the street in December -- a move the owner said cost him $500,000. That includes $14,000 for the shutters, he said.

"Once we got this building, I put so much money into it," he said.

In June, July and August, there have been 30 crimes in a 500-foot radius around Ms. Tracy's, including a nearby break-in, according to Grand Rapids police crime mapping data.

Customers said the security makes them feel safer.

"They should keep the shutters up, because they're protecting their property," customer Tyson Coleman said. "It ain't no different than someone putting a car alarm on their car. You're protecting your property. So, why should they have to take their shutters off just to please somebody else? It's not right at all."