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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The Jean Klock Park located on lake michigan was a gift to the residents of Benton Harbor. It will become a private golf course and golf course residential project that will destroy the dunes and take away the communities best asset. A 99 year lease at $40,000 per year. Rachel maddow exposes this travesty.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Whirlpool golf course engulfs town park. The black, white and gray of that -- keep those links coming. They're a huge help.
What's at stake in Benton Harbor
maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com
The first thing you folks note about the story of Benton Harbor, Michigan, is that the state has picked a very black town for its first action under the new and so-called financial martial law.
Yesterday at 11:26am · Share264 people like this. |
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:23 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Mon Apr 18, 2011 at 07:59 PM PDT
Benton Harbor, MI; The Political Story of the Decadeby EquityRoy
As I watched the last story on Rachel Maddow tonight I was left with a true sense of disbelief and rage. The governor of Michigan and his corporate toddies in the state house have enacted and executed a law that suspends democracy in Benton Harbor, MI. This is just the first action taken under what is called "financial martial law."
I had to share this, write about it, scream about it, do something to vent the outrage I feel toward what I perceive as nothing less than a fascist corporate movement building and gaining real power, if not credibility, in the American political landscape. If you missed the story on Rachel's show I will provide links after the jump.
In #Michigan, 'financial martial law' in action. Report says #Wisconsin's next
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/...
What's at stake in Benton Harbor
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/...
The same guy that has promoted a golf community for years in this economically beaten down community is the same guy handed all political power stripped from local elected officials. It is a corporate coup d’état pure and simple. They do it to a poor community only because they can. They think no one will speak up. This is the moment to stop this lunacy in its tracks.
Rachel also provides the text for the entire Langston Hughes poem, “Let America Be America Again” taken so cynically out of context by Santorum and his idiot friends. Here is that link:
http://www.poets.org/...
Watch these stories about the political power grab in Michigan and then read the poem, all of it. Good God I'm mad at these thugs.
Originally posted to EquityRoy on Mon Apr 18, 2011 at 07:59 PM PDT.
TagsBenton Harbor MI Governor Rick Snyder Michigan Michigan State House Rep. Al Pscholka
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:27 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Benton Harbor residents have fought the takeover of their park for years. In 2006 Granholm told them to work with their local government official. Their local officials have now been disenfranchised, as have th residents.
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:40 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Jean Klock ParkFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
It needs sources or references that appear in third-party publications. Tagged since January 2010.
An editor has expressed concern that it is unbalanced. Tagged since May 2009.
It may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since May 2009.
Jean Klock Park is an historic city park along Lake Michigan in Benton Harbor, Michigan, United States. In 1917, J. N. Klock and his wife Carrie bought a significant stretch of lakeshore including tall dunes and 2,950 feet (900 m) of shoreline from E. K. Warren, donor of Warren Dunes, and deeded the land to the City of Benton Harbor. They gave the land in memory of their daughter, Jean, who died in early childhood. The Klock deed stipulates that the property be used for bathing beach, park purposes or other public purposes. At the park dedication, Klock stated,
"In taking an inventory of life, we all take stock of the circumstances surrounding the happiest moments. The giving of this park to the city of Benton Harbor has been to Mrs. Klock and myself, the happiest moment of our lives. The deed of this park in the courthouse of St. Joseph will live forever. Perhaps some of you do not own a foot of ground, remember then, that this is your park, it belongs to you. Perhaps some of you have no piano or phonograph, the roll of the water murmuring in calm, roaring in storm, is your music, your piano and music box. The beach is yours, the drive is yours, the dunes are yours, all yours. It is not so much a gift from my wife and myself, it’s a gift from a little child. See to it that the park is the children's.”
Although the recent conversion of the park's center to three holes of a championship golf course (The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, part of the Harbor Shores development) is described by proponents as a "public" golf course, it is a privately owned golf course with daily fee usage available to anyone with $150.00 to spend per round at peak hours. Residents of Benton Harbor can play for about $40.00 off peak, as can all residents of Berrien County.
Development vs. Preservation
Jean Klock Park is one of the oldest public parks in the state of Michigan and predates the formation Michigan's state parks, which occurred in the early 1920s. In 1952 the city of Benton Harbor purchased an adjoining parcel of land along the northern border of the park to be added to the park acreage. Mr. Klock had tried for years with no success to buy it himself, but his death in 1938 and then WWII deferred the long-sought acquisition. The addition extended the beach shoreline by 300 feet (91 m).
In 1990 the city commissioned a master plan for Jean Klock Park, funded by a Coastal Zone Management Program grant, and the report concluded:
"Two general areas comprising the majority of the site are particularly sensitive to human impact. The sand dunes and the wetlands on this property are of a level of quality that they require protection from overuse. Their importance as a resource cannot be overestimated."
The golf course development has severely damaged the natural resource values on the park property.
Advocates for the luxury housing development, centered around an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature championship golf course using Jean Klock Park, depict the plan as transformative of the entire area surrounding Benton Harbor. Mr. Nicklaus hopes his involvement in the development will buttress the fortunes of southwest Michigan.
Until recent years, Jean Klock Park was considered untouchable for commercial development. The deindustrialization of the very industrial town of Benton Harbor opened the way for desperate measures. In 1986 the city sought to add the eastern part of Jean Klock Park, excluding the dunes, to a Downtown Development Authority (DDA), but that brought howls of protest from nearby residents who claimed to be enraged by the city's disregard for the Klock deed restrictions and community understanding of acceptable uses for the park. In answer to the challenge the Michigan Attorney General's office issued an opinion that land not contiguous to a city's downtown area could not be incorporated into a DDA.
Then in 2003 the entire park was threatened by a luxury housing development called Grand Boulevard Renaissance. Once again nearby residents banded together to prevent the city from actually selling part of the park. Six people filed a lawsuit claiming that such a sale would violate the terms of the Klock deed. The resultant settlement agreement was memorialized in a Consent Judgment stipulating that:
"The Court permanently enjoins the City from using any portion of the property depicted as Jean Klock Park in Exhibit to this Consent Judgment for any purpose other than bathing beach, park purposes or other public purposes related to bathing beach or park use except for recreational vehicle park campsites provided however that the City shall for all time be authorized and empowered to operate its water treatment facility located at the south end of the park including but not limited to capital improvements and expansion. The restrictions in this paragraph shall run with the land and shall be binding upon the City and its successors."
Unbeknownst to the plaintiff group at the time, the city of Benton Harbor was represented by an attorney who simultaneously was representing a constituent member of the Harbor Shores development consortium, then named Edgewater-River Run. This is significant because the city and the Harbor Shores developer entered into the subsequent contract, executed in 2006 and again in 2008, allowing the Harbor Shores developer to lease Jean Klock Park acreage for 35 years with 2 automatic renewals, or allowing the developer quiet enjoyment of the land for up to 105 years.
Further, the plaintiff group believed that the settlement they had reached with the city, allowing the sale of about 4 acres (16,000 m2) in exchange for the agreement quoted above, would ban any further invasive development in the park. However, the Harbor Shores developer has used the Consent Judgment language to justify construction of a portion of a golf course in the park, because Michigan law allows that a golf course is a public park use. See "Benton Harbor Sees Boon, Bust in Resort Plan,", Detroit Free Press, August 7, 2007.
Ongoing Litigation
Two plaintiffs in the 2003 litigation filed another lawsuit in 2008 claiming that a privately owned and operated golf course is not a use contemplated by the Klock deed and violates the Consent Judgment entered in 2004. In August, 2008, the Berrien County Circuit Court sided with the developer, citing very expansive uses to which public parks in Michigan have been subjected, including runways and nuclear reactors. Clearly, the plaintiffs in the 2004 litigation did not anticipate this possibility, and they immediately appealed the circuit court decision. The Appeals Court affirmed the lower court's ruling. A petition for leave to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court was declined by the Court, but Justice Stephen Markman dissented saying, "The only issue in this case concerns whether a "championship Jack Nicklaus" privately-owned golf course constitutes a park use consistent with J. N. and Carrie Klock's deed to the City of Benton Harbor ..."
Seven other people filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Benton Harbor, the National Park Service, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Golf course construction required permits from the Corps of Engineers and the State of Michigan, as well as permission from the National Park Service. The golf course development covers over 500 acres (2.0 km2) and adjoins federally regulated wetlands, two rivers and Lake Michigan, all regulated waters of the United States.
Land outside of Jean Klock Park is the subject of the federal litigation, because parks covered by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act cannot be converted without mitigation. The offset land replacing Jean Klock Park acreage consists of seven scattered parcels along the Paw Paw River which are supposed to be developed as part of a trail system, but as yet remain unimproved. All but one of the scattered parcels is contaminated from legacy industrial wastes and illegal dumping. It is believed that this is the first instance of the National Park Service allowing contaminated land to be used as mitigation since the Land and Water Conservation Fund's inception in 1965. Numerous communications from the state of Michigan advise that the NPS will not approve contaminated land as mitigation.
Support by Proactive Environmental Protection Organizations
Plaintiffs in both lawsuits as well as many others continue to defend the Klock deed and the public's right to accountable government contained in federal laws enacted to protect the land and the water and precious ecosystems. Other organizations have supported the efforts to preserve Jean Klock Park since 2003 including the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Michigan Environmental Council and Freshwater Future. The parks protection organization, Defense of Place, founded by Huey Johnson of the Trust for Public Land, is also a supporter.
[edit] References[edit] External linksDeed conveying the park to the City of Benton Harbor
Friends of Jean Klock Park
Protect JKP federal litigation site
Coordinates: 42°07′32″N 86°28′18″W / 42.1255949°N 86.4716899°W / 42.1255949; -86.4716899
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Klock_Park"
Categories: Parks in Michigan | Berrien County, Michigan
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:50 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 08:55 AM PDT Daily Kos
Why Democracy Must Die in Benton Harbor, MIby Deep Harm
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Yesterday, we learned from Eclectablog that the first action of Joseph Harris, newly appointed by the state to take over management of Benton Harbor, was to reconfigure the city's Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Planning Commission. Harris' authority comes from a new law, described as "financial martial law," introduced by state representative (Republican) Al Pscholka.
It will seem odd to many people that a law proposing to address fiscal management issues would be used to make sweeping changes to a commission that overseas reclamation of contaminated lands. But, the move is surely music to the ears of supporters of a massive, taxpayer-subsidized project to provide housing and amusements for the wealthy; supporters who include Rep. Pscholka.
For years, a legal battle has been raging in Benton Harbor over the disposition of a community asset, Jean Klock Park. Local residents of the city--largely low-income African-Americans, are pitted against the largely white, wealthy supporters of the Harbor Shores Development, a multimillion dollar project that wants to turn the public park into a private asset by making it the jewel in the crown of a private luxury housing development that will feature a luxury golf course in addition to "a 350-room hotel, conference center...60,000-square-foot indoor water park [for members only]; a second hotel; 27,000 square feet of commercial space; and two marinas. "
Jean Klock Park is a very special place, a gift from John Nellis Klock and his wife Carrie who bought the land fronting Lake Michigan and gave it to City of Benton Harbor in 1917 . In a 1932 memoir, Mr. Klock described the reason for the gift.
“There is little joy in piling up money that you do not need, and so the majority of my earnings have been spent in providing beaches, parks, churches and schools. Our first major gift was Jean Klock Park, a half mile of Lake Michigan frontage, which was given to the city of Benton Harbor. I say “our” for my wife was very anxious to give this park to the city in memory of our little child. Her untimely death made possible the giving to other children the share of our earnings which belonged to her, but which she could not use."
Clearly, the Klocks, grieving for the loss of their infant daughter, wanted the park to give joy to other children--the children of Benton Harbor. Groups like Save Jean Klock Park argue that the Klock's plan for the park is inconsistent with the developer's plan to create a playspace for wealthy, adult corporate executives. And, it's hard to argue with that.
The Harbor Shores Development had other plans for the park.
The Harbor Shores developers and the City of Benton Harbor have tentatively reached an agreement to maximize the use of 22.11 acres of existing Jean Klock Park, presently used mainly for parking. This area is proposed for three holes of a public golf course that will serve as a catalyst for community improvements. In exchange for the use of the existing park area the park system will be expanded by over 40 acres.
[snip]
Golf is a requirement for Harbor Shores. The golf course will serve as catalyst to stimulate development of land that has been barren for more than 20 years. Without an outstanding golf course, Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, Inc. sees no way to bring needed investment into the Benton Harbor Community.
Harbor Shores adds that the proposed three golf holes "have been designed to fit into the landscape and enhance the natural beauty of this magnificent parkland."
But, Hugh McDiarmid Jr., communications director for the Michigan Environmental Council, writes:
The “compensation” land that the developer proposes in trade includes several unconnected patches of swampy brushland, and some access points to the St. Joseph River. Some of these parcels are contaminated with toxic chemicals, and others are already owned by the city.
Photos and videos provided by Friends of Jean Klock Park show a result very different from what was promised: extensive destruction of park vegetation, including mature trees, and reshaping of its natural terrain. (Note: Google Maps documents the changes, as well.)
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/...
Park supporters claims the development expanded well beyond the original boundaries. Their claims are supported (and exceeded) by a Harbor Shores development map gives the impression that the entire park, including the beach, is part of the development. Indeed, the Cornerstone Alliance, the "501(c)(3) investor driven economic development organization" behind Habor Shores and other local development, promises a series of improvements and additions to the park, while also promising, "As intended by the Klock family, the entire park, including the beach and bluff, will remain open for public enjoyment." Cornerstone also makes this claim:
Jean Klock Park will be expanded by over 40 acres that will connect to the beach by a linear path and trailway system. This linear system will enhance the overall recreational viability of the park and the community by creating world-class park amenities that will be free to the public and easily accessible.
But, an annual pass to the golf course for one person will set you back $4,000. A "discovery" tour of the development is a compartive bargain at $299. But, it's hard to imagine the average resident of Benton Harbor enjoying the three holes that dominate the center of the park except as a caddy for one of the well-heeled golf club members.
What does all of this have to do with the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Planning Commission? Answer: money and control. Massive financial support in the form of state and federal taxpayer dollars and tax credits have been offered to the developers to clean up brownfields, properties contaminated by the hazardous substances typically left behind by manufacturing facilities.
The state of Michigan provides numerous financial incentives for developers of brownfields.
The private golf-centered luxury housing development that took over Benton Harbor’s public lakefront as part of an economic development scheme endorsed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm received $12.6 million in new tax credits last week, even though a state board has begun pursuing the company for failed commitments.
{snip}
The Harbor Shores development is backed by the appliance giant Whirlpool, which maintains its corporate headquarters in Benton Harbor despite having moved most of its manufacturing jobs elsewhere, leaving the city one of the poorest in the state.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also provides financial incentives, under a 2002 law signed by George W. Bush. Those include a $195,000 EPA grant to Harbor Shores in 2006 to clean up land parcels "contaminated with metals and polysteel and malleable iron foundry from 1917 to 1978." According to the EPA, "Brownfields pose health risks through soil and groundwater exposure, especially for young children and teenagers who use the sites for recreation." EPA says of Harbor Shores, "The development will capitalize on the community‘s greatest asset: its waterfront. [Note: Emphasis added.]
Because the project makes extensive use of local brownfields to fund its development, the local brownfield redevelopment authority is critical to the project's success. A fact sheet states that the brownfield authority "reviews proposals for the redevelopment of eligible property and determines what financial incentives are necessary to assist the redevelopment." Signing over Jean Klock park conceivably could be treated as a necessary financial incentive. It might even prove to be a successful end run around current litigation by park supporters.
The project is wrapped up in political entanglements. On last night's broadcast, Rachel Maddow points out that Rep. Pscholka is a former staffer for Fred Upton, a local congressman and heir to the Whirlpool fortune. Pscholka is also "a former vice president for one of the major entities involved in building the luxury golf development," reports Maddow, "and now the first town in Michigan to feel the teeth of the Pscholka emergency manager financial marshal law Rick Snyder bill is Benton Harbor." Maddow adds, "The power of BH's elected officials has just been taken away by the same people who had already been working to strip BH of the one civic jewel that they have...the one thing they have left...their beautiful waterfront park."
The people of Benton Harbor are upset about the takeover of Jean Klock Park, "the only place in the city that provides public access to Lake Michigan" being turned into "a golf course for the very rich." But, that's only the beginning, some fear.
Whirlpool, Governor Granholm, the Benton Harbor City Commissioners, Mark Mitchell, of the Alliance for World Class Community, and others supporting this take over of a city cannot hide from the truth forever. Harbor Shores will drive the residents of Benton Harbor completely out. There will be no training and few jobs, directly or indirectly, nor renovation of homes for the citizens. There will be a direct take-over of Benton Harbor, a city that is 96% African American.
Environmentalists and others are concerned that the takeover of Jean Klock Park could make some people think twice about donating land for a park and may provide a precedent for commercial development of other parks throughout the country. Indeed, that's why democracy in Benton Harbor must die: so that the dreams of wealthy industrialists can live.
Public resources turned into private gain. The needs of poor children subordinated to the desires of privileged adults. Citizen participation voided by executive fiat. It's all sounding eerily familiar. It sounds like the Republican vision of American, and, if the rest of us do nothing, Benton Harbor could well become the prototype for an America that few Americans could enjoy.
TagsBenton Harbor community Environment Michigan Park
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:57 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 05:12 AM PDT Daily Kos
MI Gov. Rick Snyder's takeover of Benton Harbor tied to shoreline development - what Rachel missedby Eclectablog
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Last night on her show, Rachel Maddow connected some very important dots in the situation that led up to the Big Government TakeoverTM of Benton Harbor, Michigan by Joseph Harris, aka "The Czar of Benton Harbor".
But she didn't connect ALL of them.
In her piece we learn these facts about Benton Harbor and its twin city next door, St. Joseph.
St. Joseph Benton Harbor
Population 8,508 10,235
Demographic 89.5% white 85.5% black
Per capita income $33,034 $10,235
We also learn that one of the best parts of Benton Harbor is Jean Klock Park, donated by wealthy benefactors years ago with the stipulation that it be used for the public good and that it remain "the children's" park.
We also learn that Whirlpool, in an effort to recycle some old manufacturing land on the shore of Lake Michigan, a brownfield, if you will, decided to build a $500 million golf course & residential development, Harbor Shores, on its land, part of which would heavily impact Jean Klock Park. Note that Whirlpool pulled its last manufacturing out of Benton Harbor in March of this year, driving the final economic stake into the heart of this otherwise depressed area.
We also learn that the Emergency Financial Manager bill (pdf) that allowed Governor Snyder to take over Benton Harbor's government was sponsored by Al Pscholka. Al Pscholka has some interesting characteristics:
He is the former aid to Congressman Fred Upton who is a Whirlpool heir
He represents the area that includes ... wait for it ... Benton Harbor
He is the former vice-president of a development company responsible for building Harbor Shores.
He was on the Board of Directors for a nonprofit involved in the Harbor Shores development
There is one dot, however, that Rachel Maddow did NOT connect. As I wrote about yesterday, one of the first things that Joseph Harris did was to fire a number of people on both the Planning Commission and the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority in Benton Harbor and replace them with people he hand-picked. These two commissions are the ones most intimately involved in decision-making about real estate development in Benton Harbor. They will decide who gets permits, what developments will look like and who gets to pick the ripe plums present in Benton Harbor. And they are now staffed largely by people chosen by the Czar of Benton Harbor.
This is where the rubber meets the pavement. If you are looking for motivations for Snyder and his Republican friends to take over Benton Harbor, watch who gets development rights of the Lake Michigan shoreline. They are already setting things up to ensure that it is not the local residents of Benton Harbor.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Tempers flared at last night's Benton Harbor City Council meeting:
"Somebody is about to go and it about to be Joe,” one Benton Harbor resident vocalized to commissioners.
"He’s not even an elected official and he's going to fire the mayor? How are you going to fire a mayor,” another resident questioned over Joe Harris’ newly established power.
“Adolf Hitler was a dictator. Now we have a dictator in Joseph Harris. We have allowed this man to be too comfortable in our home, in our city,” one man screamed out loud.
Whirlpool is dangling a $200,000 bribe over the heads of the city residents.
Despite holding an open meeting to garner public input on how to use the $200,000 donation, Whirlpool officials will hold off on awarding it until Benton Harbor city leaders and Emergency Financial Manager Joseph Harris are able to agree on how to use it.
I'm just sayin'...
Cross-posted from Eclectablog.com.
Originally posted to Eclectablog - eclectic blogging for a better tomorrow on Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 05:12 AM PDT.
TagsBenton Harbor Czar of Benton Harbor Joseph L. Harris Michigan Rachel Maddow Recommended
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:03 pm |
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Future plans discussed in Benton Harbor town hall meeting
December 16, 2010|By COLLEEN FERREIRA, WSBT-TV Reporter
On Wednesday, Benton Harbor’s Consortium for Community Development invited residents to gather together for a town hall meeting to discuss the city's future.
From hiring an emergency financial manager to education cuts and consolidations, times seem grim at best for Benton Harbor locals. But on Wednesday night, community leaders addressed the city on how they plan to transform it in this next year.
"We are, in fact, cleaning the alleys, the streets, the bridges,” said EFM Joseph Harris. We are doing the type of things with part-timers that are doing the work when needed, instead of having people that are not fully occupied.”
Harris told the Benton Harbor locals that they wouldn't recognize the city a year from now with all the improvements on the way. He said he's reducing the cost of government while also enhancing city services.
For example, he plans to cross-train firefighters and police officers. He says right now firefighters sit around waiting to fight fires, but once they're trained in law enforcement, they can get out in the community and fight crime. If approved, the merge will cut down city costs by this downsizing of staff.
The vice president of Whirlpool, Jeff Noel, also addressed the $80 million Harbor Shores project. He said with the success of that project, Benton Harbor could possibly bring the 2012 or 2014 senior PGA championship to the city.
This golf event would have the potential to bring $20 million to the city in just a few days.
Long-term, Harbor Shores would bring 700 housing units to the community as well.
“In the end, it's a big vision, a big project. It takes a lot of money to get it up and running, but it will pay dividends for this community for a long time,” Noel said.
The locals WSBT spoke with Wednesday night said they would like to see the possible changes become reality.
Superintendent Leonard Seawood stressed the importance of education, saying success of the entire city starts with the children. He said Whirlpool and the city can create jobs, but kids need to enroll in school now so they can go to college and bring their education back to Benton Harbor. |
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Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:35 pm |
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El Supremo
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from the Michigan Messenger blog. This individual makes a vaid point!
HRS_lll
You miss the entire point of the problem. The point is that we have checks and balances so that no one person will be too powerful. The same man who signed the bill into law is now the only man who has authority to call any town he wishes in "financial distress" at his own discretion. We now have a situation where one person in our state can take over any city, township, town, village, municipality, etc and disband the whole shebang and do what he wants with it. Did you not notice that Al Pscholka is the former vice president of the company that wants to develop Benton Harbor. He is also the person who pushed the EFM bill through the system. He is a lying snake who had Benton Harbor in his sights when he introduced that bill. He doesn't care whats good of Benton Harbor. He cares for whats best for Cornerstone Alliance. What are you going to do when he and the Snyder start licking their chops at your real estate? Still going to be a fan of development? What needs to happen to the corruption in BH is a matter for the courts. Letting one man have as much power as our governor has right now is extremely dangerous and historically has ALWAYS turned out badly. |
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Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:49 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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MIchigan Messenger
grrrfren 18 hours ago
I think what's going on in Michigan is even more appalling than what has been going on in my state of Wisconsin. It is fascism pure and simple. Don't Americans and Michiganders or Michiganians(or whatever you call yourselves these day) read any history. I doubt it from some of the comments here. Wake up Michigan or you'll soon be a state that doesn't belong in this country. Recall your governor. What a disaster and what a disgusting display of ignorance.
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earthwormparty 18 hours ago
I believed we still lived in a democracy until this. They are training 200 more financial managers in Michigan so takeover may be coming to another property near the lake soon.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/...
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marianne 18 hours ago
http://www.uppermichiganssourc...
recall snyder.
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Nathan Lindberg 14 hours ago
The scary part is the precident that this sets as it relates to democracy in this county.
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Shannon Browne Bertuch 8 hours ago in reply to Nathan Lindberg
Its only a precedent until challenged and quashed. That is why it is out there fishing for challenges. Of course if a city official has to go into a city on an emergency basis, it does not turn it into a developer's bidding war; it should remain in a status quo, while any problems are articulated, documented, agreed and then the city council - the correct body in charge of the problem should proceed with solutions
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Betsy Rose 11 hours ago
This has nothing to do with Benton Harbors finances. If the city government is failng a new election of competent candidates should happen, Not some private take over! Dissolving a town stealing the land. They(big money) took so many homes in foreclosures. Now their taking cities. What next? The camps? I really think thats where were eventually headed if this isn't stopped.
Makesense1 I hope you enjoy being in the camp. This is so not about money but it is about power. |
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Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:55 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Maddow on Benton Harbor EFM takeover MIchigan Messenger
By Ed Brayton | 04.19.11 | 9:31 am
View Comments Share396 Rachel Maddow had a segment on her show last evening looking at the controversy over the Emergency Manager in Benton Harbor nullifying election results and forbidding elected bodies in that city from taking any actions whatsoever. She specifically cited the Michigan Messenger.
Maddow specifically mentioned the Jean Klock Park situation, a story that the Messenger has been following closely for years — and most of the media in the state have been ignoring. A large chunk of that park, deeded to the city on the condition that it remain a public park forever, was leased to private developers to be made into a golf course.
The land was swapped for land owned by Whirlpool, property that turned out to be highly contaminated; taxpayers are now paying for the cleanup of that land through a Brownfield redevelopment credit worth millions of dollars.
Though that situation took place before the new Emergency Manager law went into effect, this is exactly the sort of thing that an Emergency Manager would have the power to do. Faced with a deficit, the EM might decide to sell off public property to developers — and there’s nothing that local residents or their elected officials could do to stop it because, as this situation shows, the EFM can simply order the local elected boards not to do anything.
Local groups fighting privatization of the park here and here.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Fireant100 1 day ago
Are you two from another planet!! It makes little difference what city is being taken over,,,,,This facist move is completely unacceptable. Read your history and weep -- Martin Niemoller. 'First they came for the communists,' he wrote, 'and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out." If you think for one minute you are immune to Synder's moves, then you are really really stupid! So sit back and let it happen because you think Benton Harbor needs a dictator for its own good....Trash our Constitution and God help us all!!!
Flag jgee55 and 8 more liked this Like ReplyReply
actually go down. Oh yeah, they would have to go off welfare, what was I thinking.
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Bullbrakes 1 day ago in reply to makesense1
Wonderful! People that have used the park all their lives will now be faced with "No Trespassing" signs. Unless you can fork up the 5000 dollar club fee.Fascism is alive and well in Michigan.
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jgee55 1 day ago in reply to makesense1
I don't golf, but I like to vacation in my state as well, walk along OUR beautiful beaches and enjoy the lake. You should try it sometimes. A quiet stroll along a naturally beautiful lakeshore, it is quite calming.
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kahmadi68 15 hours ago in reply to makesense1
You are the one that is ignorant! Where exactly should those 10,000+ people who call St. Joseph their home go? Just anywhere, as long as you don't have to look at them, right? 85% of those residents are black and while I am sure you, and the rest of your privileged, conservative, republican cronies, wouldn't mind if a few dozen of them stick around to "fetch yeh gulf bawls, feh yeh," and "take out da trash," you certainly don't want them just living there, in their self-induced poverty, on that prime spot of land that is just screaming to become yet another opportunity at capitalism, and marginalization of those "other" people. You make me sick with your "point-another-finger-down politics." So happy to hear that you are able to "vacation every summer in parts of Michigan," that certainly makes you not only an expert on the state, but entitled to turn it into your personal playground, at the expense of people you don't know, and don't give a damn about. Where exactly are all the jobs at in Michigan for all those people that just need to "get off their rear ends?" You are out of touch with reality... that is what I was thinking.
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Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:03 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Emergency manager's autocratic power puts Benton Harbor in national spotlight
1:41 AM, May. 15, 2011 | 440Comments
A man walks down Broadway street pass abandoned homes near downtown Benton Harbor, which has been taken over by an emergency financial manager on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. A new law has given emergency financial manager much broader powers over cities and school districts for which they are appointed. The law has become a national cause for liberal critics. has become a national cause for liberal critics. WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press Show Caption
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
DETROIT FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF Filed Under
Local News
Michigan
Downtown Benton Harbor has many empty storefronts. Whirlpool is building a new $68-million headquarters in the city. How Benton Harbor's budget deficit is being whittled
Benton Harbor in the Spotlight
BENTON HARBOR -- For more than a generation, this city on the shores of southern Lake Michigan has been the state's poster child for poverty, racial division and dysfunctional government.
Now, it's starring on a national stage.
Benton Harbor's emergency manager and the new state law that gave him sweeping, autocratic powers have become liberal rallying cries of Republican injustice for unions, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, national news media and even a Kentucky blogger. Lost in the political maelstrom is how fraught the city's finances are and what emergency manager Joseph Harris, a longtime City of Detroit auditor appointed last year by former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, is doing to fix them.
"A sideshow" is how Harris describes the national attacks. He says he'll produce an operating surplus next year for the first time in anyone's memory, with better city services. Still, a deficit will remain for years, he said.
Mayor Wilce Cook calls the emergency manager law an attack on democracy because it nullifies all decision-making by him and the elected commission. He and others vow to get it repealed.
But City Commissioner James Hightower, who'll challenge Cook in this year's election, says the role Harris plays is a necessary step toward solvency for the shrinking city of 10,800.
"No one wants to come to a community with an unstable government," he said.
Emergency manager puts Benton Harbor in the middle of a national shouting match
BENTON HARBOR -- City Commissioner James High-tower got a jolt in 2008 when a bank rejected his $85 city check for insufficient funds.
"I knew things were bad. I didn't know things were that bad," said Hightower, an executive at Lakeland HealthCare hospital in neighboring St. Joseph.
A lot more of the city's financial tangles unraveled. The result -- appointment of an emergency manager in 2010 -- inflamed old political grudges and has put the city in the middle of a national shouting match over accusations of Republican conspiracies and government overreach.
Emergency manager Joseph Harris, Detroit's former city auditor, said he's trying to pare a $4-million deficit. That doesn't count the employee pension fund that is owed millions of dollars.
Harris is an accountant with a straightforward manner. He said he'll produce a $500,000 operating surplus for the next fiscal year, in part by eliminating 30 jobs -- almost a third of the city's workforce. He said "opportunist" politicians, more interested in political gain than solvency, failed to correct the financial mess.
"I've turned the city around 180 degrees by doing what they could have done," said Harris. "Granted, the new law allows me to terminate labor contracts. They can't do that. I have not even terminated a contract."
He said he may have to nullify the firefighters union contract if they don't go along with his plan to combine police and fire services into a single department. Harris said the consolidation would save $900,000 a year. That's big money in a poor city with about 10,800 residents.
"People tell me the streets have never been cleaner," said Harris, whose $132,000 salary is paid by the city. He said the attacks are a political sideshow.
'A little out of whack'
To Mayor Wilce Cook and others, Harris represents a corporate-state scheme to deny Benton Harbor voters rights to elect their own leaders. Benton Harbor's mayor leads the commission, but executive duties normally are carried out by a city manager.
"Things have been a little out of whack. I don't think it took extreme measures," said Cook, who was also mayor during 1982-89, another period of financial strife.
"Too many people died to have a right to vote to have it taken away with the stroke of a pen."
Cook said it's no coincidence that virtually all the cities in Michigan where emergency managers have been appointed have large African-American populations. He said corporate interests have taken jobs out of Benton Harbor, and he especially blames longtime resident Whirlpool, which is building a new $68-million headquarters in the city but with no new net jobs.
Nearly 90% of the city's residents are black. From 2005-09, unemployment in the city averaged 31%, according to the U.S. census.
Cook said casinos would create jobs; others say a bottled water plant is the answer. All the news media attention on Benton Harbor might lure developers, and he proudly points to the city's expansive, planned $500-million Harbor Shores development, with its Jack Nicklaus golf course, big new homes and a beautifully redeveloped lakefront park. (The golf course will host the PGA Seniors Tour tournament in 2012.)
"We've got the eyes of the nation on us," Cook said with a glint in his eye.
It's not the first time Benton Harbor has attracted unwanted attention.
In January 1997, then-Gov. John Engler ordered state police to take over patrols and other functions of the city's police department, which was in disarray after 11 homicides in 10 days. The state troopers left after seven months.
In 2003, a race riot followed the death of a black motorcyclist who crashed into an abandoned home during a high-speed chase by police officers from outside the city. The incident provoked two nights of civil unrest, cars and homes were set afire and other vandalism occurred. Then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm sent hundreds of state troopers and other officers into the area to keep the peace.
National symbol of oppression
State auditors and Harris found the city's books were more than a little out of whack.
A state review in 2009 found a long list of financial problems and accounting irregularities -- enough to prompt the appointment of Harris as emergency manager.
The city was spending upwards of $100,000 for checking overdraft fees. It wasn't paying vendors, or turning over tax collections to schools, the city library and even the Internal Revenue Service.
Harris said he found the finance director knew almost nothing about basic accounting, nor did her three assistants. He fired her, the city manager and personnel director.
And in March, when Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law giving emergency managers broader powers, it gave Harris complete control; the City Commission is forbidden from making any decisions.
That infuriated some commission members and ignited new recriminations. Benton Harbor became the left wing's national symbol of oppression.
During the commission's May 2 meeting, Cook showed recorded videos of MSNBC liberal host Rachel Maddow criticizing Snyder and Benton Harbor's emergency manager as an example of Republican tyranny.
A local lawmaker who sponsored the new law, Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, faces a recall effort. Pscholka said he's not surprised; recall attempts are standard politics in the city, which lies in his district.
At Benton Harbor's recent Blossomtime Festival Parade, Snyder was booed by about 200 protesters shouting, "Recall Rick."
Various groups, including the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, are considering a federal lawsuit to challenge the emergency manager law or repeal it by a statewide vote.
Commissioner Marcus Muhammad is the boys basketball coach at Benton Harbor High School. He refers to Harris alternately as a "despotic dictator," a political hit man and a "czar."
Muhammad and Cook said Harris' actions are part of a corporate and state plot to gentrify Benton Harbor at the expense of its poor residents.
"We don't want this to happen to anyone else. This is a principle we're fighting for," Muhammad said. "This is renegade law; it's almost as though Michigan has seceded from the union."
Not everyone agrees. A recent poll showed half of Benton Harbor voters believe the emergency manager will help shore up city finances. And 51% support nullifying city labor contracts if it decreased the deficit, while 27% do not. Pam Harris, a former school principal who lives in the city, said an emergency manager is what the city needs.
"Thirty years, they couldn't get it right. It's about time somebody did," said Harris as she crafted a decorative glass bowl at the Water Street Glass Works in the denuded downtown area.
The restored old building with a glass studio also has an ice cream shop, one of several small oases in a city battered by blight. Ice cream shop manager David Casper said it's understandable that some residents object to having an unelected outsider controlling the city's affairs.
"As far as cleaning up the money, most people don't have a problem with that," said Casper, who lives in nearby Riverside. "I don't think there's anyone against it except politicians who've been running it for the last 20 years."
'Tired of the rhetoric'
Resident Maurice McAfee had no problem with Harris' appointment by Granholm's administration last year. But he said the new law that Snyder backed gives too much power to an individual.
"If you're fighting for democracy in Libya and Afghanistan and Iraq, how can we come back to the United States and have one-man rule? To me, it's hypocrisy," said McAfee, an administrator at a Benton Harbor charter school and the local contact for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition
.
Supporters of the strengthened law say the state can't afford to have cities go bankrupt because it could damage the creditworthiness of surrounding cities and the entire state.
Commissioner Hightower said he was appalled at Benton Harbor's financial problems when he took office in 2007, his first run for elected office. He said complaints by Cook and other commissioners are meant to divert attention from their fiscal incompetence.
Hightower said he hopes he and three other new candidates can get elected to form a more fiscally responsible commission.
"People have really grown tired of the rhetoric," he said.
Harris said he fears the city will revert to its old ways after he leaves and authority is returned to the City Commission. Despite the political storms, he said he'd like to be an emergency manager elsewhere.
"Accounting is dull. I've never had so much fun in my life," he said.
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Mon May 16, 2011 6:01 am |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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In a city with a population of 10,235 with per capita income $10,235, Harris' salary of $132,000 as EFM seems exorbitant. Otherwise, these excerpts are encouraging and could apply to Flint and other cities in financial distress:
He said he may have to nullify the firefighters union contract if they don't go along with his plan to combine police and fire services into a single department. Harris said the consolidation would save $900,000 a year. That's big money in a poor city with about 10,800 residents.
"People tell me the streets have never been cleaner," said Harris, whose $132,000 salary is paid by the city. He said the attacks are a political sideshow.
** *
Harris said he found the finance director knew almost nothing about basic accounting, nor did her three assistants. He fired her, the city manager and personnel director.
* * *
A recent poll showed half of Benton Harbor voters believe the emergency manager will help shore up city finances. And 51% support nullifying city labor contracts if it decreased the deficit, while 27% do not. |
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Mon May 16, 2011 5:56 pm |
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Debunker1
F L I N T O I D
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| The people of Benton Harbor may not be seen in the best light with Rev. Jesse Jackson speaking on their behalf. That man has lost a lot of his political clout and relevance over the past few years. He simply is passe. |
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Tue May 17, 2011 12:33 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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If Jesse the clown comes to town you know something bad must be goin down.  Why anyone gives this guy any relevance is sure a mystery. Whos next Michale Moore? |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Tue May 17, 2011 8:24 am |
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