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. Benton Harbor checks in at 92.4 percent African-American, with per capita income of $8,965 -- the state's lowest. But Benton Harbor doesn't stand alone. It's one half of the local "Twin Cities," the other being St. Joseph, across the St. Joseph River. That town is almost the mirror opposite, with a population that's 90.3 percent white and a per capita income of $24,949.
The second thing you noticed about Benton Harbor is that it's home to Whirlpool. Among the heirs to that fortune are Republican Congressman Fred Upton, whose grandfather was a company founder. This year marks Whirlpool's 100th anniversary, and St. Joseph is preparing to celebrate Upton Week in June.
Benton Harbor is maybe not so excited about the Whirlpool anniversary. That's because Whirlpool is a major partner in a luxury golf and residential project that spans both St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. Harbor Shores, as it's called, engulfed Benton Harbor's park on Lake Michigan, its residents' primary access to the waterfront. The Harbor Shores development started under Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm, whose office told protesters this was a local matter (pdf). Legal action over the development continues today.
Above, a video protesting Harbor Shores, from 2007. Below, a video promoting it, posted just last month. Note the disclaimer at about 00:10: "Images are not from Harbor Shores subdivisions."
And after the jump -- your letters about Benton Harbor. It's clearly a tough place to be, with real problems and a real need for help. The question is what kind.
@Sherry writes:
I grew up in that area and have family that still live there. Benton Harbor has its share of problems and nobody has been able to fix them. Very poor neighborhoods that are destroyed, high unemployment, few businesses are there. Whirlpool Corporation has its world headquarters in Benton Harbor, yet, few residents from BH work there. It has had a very high crime rate including murders. This is not surprising under marshall law of Michigan.@Jack in GR:
I grew up in St. Joe, on the other side of the river. Benton Harbor's business district was essentially a teardown when I was a kid in the late '70's. Pscholka's line about the new law giving them the ability to help before it's too late is laughable in the case of BH. BH was sunk 30 years ago! The people in the city have been given no support. They have no reason whatsoever to trust the establishment or to get involved in something that's been a festering s-hole their entire lives!@Tracey Rodell writes:
I grew up in Benton Harbor while visiting my Dad on weekends and summers. I watched it change from a city in bad shape to a modern day ghost town and slowly to a place you didn't even want to drive through without the doors locked and the windows rolled up.
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Hey now, this is what Republicans ran on last year. This is will create jobs! I mean it doesn't matter that whole communities will be leveled in the process, its a jobs creation project in the long run. Right?
One of the new powers that Michigan emergency managers have is to disincorporate a municipality. No doubt real estate is cheaper in Benton Harbor than across the river in St. Joe, so it would certainly be convenient for the developers who want to attach themselves to Jack Nicklaus' new golf course & Harbor Shores resort to be able to buy up disincorporated county land with no pesky city council to stand in their way, now wouldn't it?
I have a great idea for our government...pay tax breaks to "job creators" after thet create a job...no tax breaks for "just in case". That might be good for everyone....jobs first...then tax breaks.
As the maker of the video "Save Jean Klock Park," I want to provide an update that the show did not mention: there is pending legislation in US Court of Appeals (Weiss et al v Salazar) and that the people of Benton Harbor are still fighting to kick the Whirlpool-backed Nicklaus golf course OUT of Jean Klock Park. Please go to the website www.protectjkp.com for more information and read the briefs in the case. This is a travesty of the Land and Water Conservation Act that protects parks in perpetuity. Democrats and Republicans have had an equal hand in grabbing this park from the public trust and ruining a park law that is designed to protect all parks.
Dear Rachel Maddow show producers:
On your coverage on Benton Harbor, you embed my YouTube video called "Save Jean Klock Park" on the Rachel Maddow Blog. You use some of the footage on the air.
I have
The next time I hear a republican campaign on less government I'm going to stand up in the mist of the crowd and call him/her a "LIAR !!!!!!" and shout out "Free Benton Harbor". Anyone noticed Benton Harbor, MI is primarily an African American community? Is this community the worst in the state or the best place for this golf course? Governor's should not have the power to delete local elected officials.... This is a threat to Democracy....
I like the creation of new jobs but not at the expence of Michigans natural shore lines and dunes, or around Democracy. This is wrong. We already have too many Golf cources and too many Republicans, However, if they insist on this project then maybe it is an easey target to get rid of some awful polatitions! or polute-atitions.
When you have something they want, they will just take it and push you out of the way. When you start fighting back they call it class war.
That's how you siege castles too... starve them out, take their land.
What is happening to Benton Harbor is nothing but a glorified land grab. And once again, "It's Not About The Budget." But "the budget" is always the cover story.
Land Snatching: Haley 7, United States 0
I am sure The Nerd doesn't see himself this way but it is beginning to look like the White Massa' sending in overseers to fix predominately black cities. I bet Flint and Pontiac are next. There HAVE to be far better ways to solve financial crises in cities than overturning the democratic process. It seems all tyrants use "emergencies" as the excuse to grab power, then never let go. Watch out. The loss of freedom to one person or city is the loss of freedom to us all.
Pontiac and Flint already have emergency financial managers (the old title under Granholm). In Pontiac, the police department has just been dissolved. In Flint, fire stations are being closed and employees demoted. "Cities that had services privatized to prevent deficits are back in deficit mode." All to implement the Mackinac Center's playbook.
http://lindardrobinson.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-effective-are-mi-emergency.html
Correct Dutchie in that the plan is to force even more cities to give up their rights to govern themselves as they see fit. When Snyder states that cities MUST abide by his terms to cut services, force employees to take pay cuts and pay towards their benefits what HE feels is fair, along with cities having to combine services with each other or else he will cut off their revenue sharing and place them on the slope of insolvency, he has gone too far.
That is not being given a choice, it is being ordered what to do by a dictator who feels that the local governments have no right to rule as they see fit. With his threat to withhold funds unless his demands are met, he places close to 60 cities and school districts right at the very level where he can say they are at enough risk that he can appoint an EFM. That is tantamount to extortion at the least and outright fascism or worse, by anyone with any decency and common sense.
More of the r/tp plan to disenfranchise the poor so that the rich can take their assets and dispose of any dissenters as mere wastes of space on this planet. Their plans are the fast track to anarchy, and they are not going to be too happy when vigilantism is the response from those they continue to demonize, berate and steal from. They are taking most of the money, most of free choice, anything of value, and telling the people that they are worthless scum for feeding off the government teat.
When people have been beaten down and broken, when they have nothing left including their dignity, they have nothing to lose by taking action against those they feel are oppressing them. There is a lot of resentment building against the r/tp currently and it will take very little additional to push those people into action. It will not be a pretty sight, for any of us, if it comes to that. This bill is just more huge step towards the inevitable push back by the downtrodden.
They already have a emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb in Detroit Public Schools. His solution to fix public education there? End it! Recently, he laid off 5,714 teachers and told them his plans are to turn them into charter corporations...which are charter schools run by corporations. Wake up folks, what is next? Segregated schools too?
They DO NOT CARE about Democracy...just the bottom line and how much goes in their pockets and the pockets of their cronies. What they are doing on the state level is setting a precedent so the oil companies and people like Trump can land-grab our national parks. Perhaps President Obama should declare "fiscal emergencies" in states like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida and "fire" the governors of those states in the name of "fiscal responsibility". It would be just as valid for him to do it as it is for the governors...which is NOT AT ALL.
And just FYI re charter schools...they ARE segregated. They don't have to take any students they don't want. Gee, I wonder who that will be...
Coming Michigan ballot measure to roll back this kind of thing are going to be in a little trouble if enough Local Election Officials have been dismissed.
I am not really worried about the immediate difficulties from the Deficit, nor from our involvement in another Middle East Conflict. This Authoritarian kind of over reach from the state Governments truly does worry me more than I can ever recall, and I lived through he Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Viet Nam movement, and fear of a nuclear holocaust during the cold war.
I think that it is interesting that the 2nd video shows predominantly white folks enjoying the area. I'm sure that Whirlpool thinks they are improving the area for all. I wonder how many local residents will be able to enjoy the new facilities?
At $5,000 a year to enjoy the course by a populace with an average annual income of maybe $10k a year... yeah I wonder how many local residents will be able to enjoy it...
I grew up in Benton Harbor. My family is still there, and I visit frequently. As others say, Benton Harbor's social and economic problems are very old--shared more or less by any other small rust-belt town since about the mid 70s. The economic and racial divide between Benton Harbor and St Joseph has often been noted. The de facto segregation is somewhat better now than it was a couple of decades ago, though the ingrained racial attitudes probably aren't.
My hometown friends and I are definitely very troubled by the martial law in Benton Harbor. But there's been some misrepresentation in some of the comments here about the larger situation. Benton Harbor isn't just a heap of devestation. There's also a small but thriving arts culture--artists, musicians, small business owners, liberal activists, etc, who have dedicated themselves to revitalizing the downtown area in a non-corporate way. There's an award-winning brew pub that hosts genuinely excellent musical events as well as various community activities--some of which are definitively countercultural and progressive in nature (think local food movement), some of which are just fun (trivia nights and fantasy football).
But more important, the Harbor Shores development didn't simply 'engulf' Benton Harbor's beach park. That is flat-out incorrect. The beach is open to everybody. In fact, a long and sadly neglected park was carefully restored: planted with native grasses and otherwise restored to the beautiful place it once was. The beach recovery was carried out under strict environmental standards, and in fact improved the ecosystem.
The golf course is probably more controversial, as its development involved tearing down existing (derelict) housing and some marshland. As far as I know, this was also done with attention to local ecology, and I have heard no complaints about displacing homeowners (though I may be incorrect in this). The purpose of the development was to bring some kind of economy to a devastated area--not just the golf course but also existing local businesses. Most of the local progressives I know were/are in favor of the project.
Tensions, inequality, blatant racism, most certainly exist in the community. But it is my opinion that much of the negative reaction to the Harbor Shores development represents long-entrenched and long-unresolved hostilities and resentments about an ongoing situation rather than real problems with the project itself.
Great comment. I know nothing about Benton Harbor and it was refreshing to read something so rational. One thing I couldn't glean from this, though. What's your take on what's going on now?
This area would make a great history lesson. Listening to the folks in the first video I have to infer that public education in that area has failed or that the populace has failed to take advantage of it. If that community has been there and decaying for such a long period, why didn't the residents ban together and create something? I am a progressive, but this feels to me like a town which allowed itself to fall apart or became too dependent on outsiders for their prosperity or lack of it.
Schools are pretty much fully funded from property taxes. If the residents of Benton Harbor did not get an education, I seriously doubt it was their own damned fault. When property is severely devalued to the point of being demolished, there is nothing from which to raise taxes for schools.
Everything has been going from the have-nots to the have-mores for over three decades, and I simply cannot believe that the poor are the ones to blame for that.
Shannon, I appreciate your comments. I live across the Lake in Racine, but I spent long summer vacations at my great grandfather's farm on Coloma Road just west of Riverside, about 7 miles north of BH. We often went to the beach at Jean Klock Park.
I haven't spent any time in Benton Harbor for many years, but I was moved by the video from 2007 that laments the possible loss of the community park to private development. Lakefront property is valuable and commercially desirable all around the Lake. A public park is an irreplaceable resource, and should be preserved for public use at any cost. Losing that park would be like losing the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone to private commercial development -- smaller scale, but just as irreplaceable. If the local government is "broke", selling off public resources, especially a park, should be the last thing they do. It would be like selling Grandma's wedding ring to make Snidely Whiplash go away.
Transferring public property into private hands is one of the goals of the modern conservative agenda, although it's been going on for a long time. Here in Wisconsin, Governor Walker wants to sell state-owned power plants to private parties without competitive bidding -- the state would choose the buyer, and it would certainly be to a crony to repay a favor. The degree of difficulty doesn't seem to matter much to the real estate developers -- "impossible" just takes longer. Consider the case of Kelo vs. City of New London CT, in which eminent domain was used to condemn private houses so the land could be used for private commercial development. In Benton Harbor, if the opponents of lakefront development could not mount sufficient opposition, it was a whole lot easier for the developers than taking an eminent domain case to the US Supreme Court.
Jean Klock Park should be preserved in perpetuity for everyone to use. Although it may be seen as a stretch of the imagination, perhaps we could make a case for adding several stretches of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which is administered by the National Park Service. Sleeping Bear already has discontinuous elements, although they are relatively close to each other. Anyway, the spirit of the idea is that what's left of the lake shore should be preserved in something close to its natural state, for everyone to enjoy. It is cynical and depraved for commercial interests to take it away from the public so that a privileged few can have it for themselves.
Shannon,
Great summary of the issue. Also, The Harbor Shores project cleaned up an incredible amount of trash...I believe it was in the neighborhood of 50 tons. The golf course and Whirlpool have contributed greatly to the improvement on both sides of the river, and both towns are better off for their improvements to the community.
To respond to the school tax issue: Michigan public schools receive a set amount for each student that attend their community schools. This school tax received for each student is distributed under Proposal A, and was created to eliminate the disparities in funds available in school districts; i.e. a school district with a wealthy donor would of course receive more funds, thus proposal was created.
I'm originally from the twin cities and have been back the last 2 summers because I have family there still. What I grew up with in the 70's, the ghost town of Benton Harbor and the lack of tourists in St, Joe were devastating for the area.
Now, since the cleaning up of downtown Benton Harbor, a project that was started in the 80's, has greatly enhanced the look of the town with all the little artsy places and many reopening of bars and eateries has made that area less scary. At night it seems as if all the people who have lived in that down-trodden area are gaining new respect for the improvements and keeping the area clean. Jean Clock beach used to be a place you avoided, now it's a place that everyone can enjoy.
Also as I remember, when the streets rolled up in St, Joe..so did the people. Now with the new Harbor Shore Course, the carousel and other additions, the stores still close early but there are people walking the streets until midnight. It actually looks like a tourist area again.
The area needs jobs, that's what destroyed BH and SJ to start with. Taking all the factories and industry away from the area killed it. Without industry and tourists you have a lack of money that helped fund so many projects, schools, etc.....
That's where they need to start....that's where the entire country needs to start...
I'm impressed with all the changes between the twin cities and I think the Harbor shores developement is a plus.
Shannon, thank you for saying "as far as I know" about environmental standards; it appears you do not.
I was involved from the beginning in reviewing wetland and habitat impacts of the project. The dishonesty of Harbor Shores' documentation for environmental permits was intense and unrelenting. I'll limit my comments to ecological issues, but I've seen few signs of moral behavior anywhere among Harbor Shores' development or management team.
For example, "The beach recovery was carried out under strict environmental standards, and in fact improved the ecosystem."
Unfortunately, that is not a fact. "Beach recovery"? Did you mean "dune destruction"? The dune was the core of the ecosystem, and that dune is essentially gone -- obliterated under turfgrass and tees. It was among the rarest of habitats on Earth. Now it's just an ordinary golf course like any other, contaminating soil and groundwater with more fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides per acre than virtually any other use.
Whatever standards were in force were those Harbor Shores was obliged by law to follow. Judging from the activities I observed -- such as their destroying wooded areas before permits had been issued, to avoid the possibility that protected species might return to the site, thus blocking the permit -- they did not meet the spirit of those obligations, and likely skirted the letter of the law as well.
"...its development involved tearing down existing (derelict) housing and some marshland."
The original proposal intended to dredge or fill over twenty acres of wetland they described in technical reports as "trash" areas and "wasteland." That impact would have been so enormous that Harbor Shores and Jack Nicklaus were required to reduce the amount of wetland destruction significantly.
They then revealed their hidden goal of taking over the dune and parkland (admitting that a water view had been a Nicklaus requirement from the outset). In trade for that natural waterfront feature, they offered the very same "wasteland" sites they had been prevented from filling, suddenly describing those areas as "quality" wetland. I can't blame the technical consultants (the same people wrote both descriptions); they were simply making up rationalizations for whatever their bosses told them to conclude.
"As far as I know, this was also done with attention to local ecology..."
It would be more accurate to say "through destruction of local ecology." The project also involved the unnecessary burial of an entire perennial stream under deep fill, and the obliteration of a beautiful wooded ravine -- line with majestic trees over two feet in diameter -- and state threatened species underfoot. Well... now under sunny turf and fifteen feet of dirt.
Yes, some remediation of contaminated land was required by law. However, people more familiar than I am with site activity report that not all required work was done. This should be of great concern to anyone living near or using the golf course, or considering building or living there.
What I've observed suggests that most of the development of Harbor Shores has been as misleading and irresponsible as their approach to the environmental elements. If destruction of this scope been caused by dune buggies or timber rustlers, for example, the community would be up in arms, and the perpetrators would be going to jail. What was done to create Harbor Shores may not technically be a crime... but it should be.
She IS right about the destruction of the manufacturing sector however.
It has been my observation from the beginning that the EFM is aimed straight at African-American cities in Michigan. Benton Harbor, Flint, Detroit...just wait and see if any overwhelmingly white cities get EFM's. I know the Tea Party doesn't want to hear it, but it reeks of bigotry.
The bigotry I see here is that you would refuse to admit that these "African-American cities" as you call them have run themselves into the ground. If you don't have enough pride or common sense to take a stake in your community, and thoughtfully elect your representatives rather than just vote by party or race, you have doomed yourself to massive decline. I don't care if a city is "black" or "white", if it seals it's fate through ignorance, something needs to be done.
CommonSensePlease!, Llogic please! To run for city government, you have to reside in the city. If the city is 92.4% African-American one could deduce that 92.4% of the candidates were African-American.
A city with a per capita income of $8,965 would be likely suffer from lack of sufficient funds to properly govern. Your claim that they are simply ignorant does not appear to be backed up by any facts.
*Common sense is not logic as it relies wholly on experience rather than data.
Grrrl, there is an important point totally being missed in all the sturm und drang. What exactly does all of this mean for future elections? The FML doesn't just disenfranchise communities that vote democrat, it goes the whole distance in destroying them. Why bother with destroying collective bargaining to attack democratic fund raising when you can discorporate entire districts of democratic voters? Ominious, ugly, and it can't be constitutional!
I'd be willing to bet that there are at least 4 votes on the Supreme Court who are willing to pretend that it is constitutional.
Its sounds like a good enough excuse to exercise that second amendment...and that is something I very nearly NEVER say.
As I just noted elsewhere, pacifism is an idea whose time has gone.
I grew up in a small town called Watervliet, which is near St. Joe/Benton Harbor. I remember as a small boy hearing all kinds of stories about, Benton Harbor. It's a living model with history of not only extreme race relation problems, but of the destruction of the once heavy blue collar factory worker and the American dream. When we would drive through Benton Harbor my mom would point out the great houses or what was left of them and she would tell us stories of a once vibrant, pretty Lake Michigan city. I haven't been there is 10 years, but it sounds like it has only gotten worse, if that's possible.
Its just as clear as black and white. Shame on them all. What I wonder, being from Wisconsin, is how can we (the public) help Michigan so that our White "TP" Governor here doesn't start martial law in our state, as I have heard rumor of? Is the public as outraged as in Wisconsin, because I don't hear a lot of outcry coming from the Michigan State public?
The public is - but the protests aren't nearly as large. If you are on facebook there is a lot of information there - various groups - Stand up, Michigan is a good one. And there is a big movement to recall snyder, but we have to wait until july to do that.
All republican governors across this nation is on a mission to make themselves K I N G S......... they have ALL power and the peasants have NONE!! If synder can take away your local vote, I guarantee he's working on a way to take your vote for the presidency. (peasants= people that voted for him)
Thanks for the information - i will pass it all along to everyone i am involved with and send an email blast to the groups i work with!
I know the Native American's can give you a history lesson on this kind of power for greed........ King George will come for you. Be careful what you wish for. The kings destroy first. Then take what is left for nothing and build their world. If you are not one of them ( most of us are not) they will come for you and yours next. It has been a slow process but now they are picking up speed.
Benton Harbor is poor & run down, but the surrounding area here in SW Michigan is not all that much better. Benton Harbor/St Joe is the only bigger town in the area, the rest being mostly rural and dotted with small towns. The only money in this area comes from 2nd home owners from Chicago spending their summer money here. The "locals" depend on them for a lot of their income. Those that don't either farm or run small local businesses or are retired. My town of Galien about 25 miles from Benton Harbor has seen their school, grocery store and bank all close in the past few years. This whole area was once a farming & lumber economy - that's largely gone now. There isn't much opportunity for the Benton Harbor poor either there or in the surrounding area.
Funny how in the Harbor Shores video, the people and community in no way look like or represent the citizens of Benton Harbor! People in Michigan need to stop talking and get up off their butts from everywhere and march on that capitol not 5,000 but 200,000. cause this very thing is coming to a town near you.
This is about taking advantage of places that need help, not about responding under some "emergency" to fix problems. This is a systematic process to hit the most vulnerable people the hardest, the ones who can not defend themselves. K-12, college students, elderly, low income, no income.
Since I like to see where things are here is the Wikipedia link for Benton Harbor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benton_Harbor,_Michigan
Please note the description (on the right) ALREADY has the emergency manager, Mr. Joseph (imported from Detroit) Harris listed!
And a side note: The St. Joseph River is the same river that flows by S. Bend, IN and Notre Dame -- just thought I'd note that for no particular reason at all except I know it. :)
Hang on a second here. This all sounds very much like a fascist takeover with strong racist overtones, but we are way short on facts. Show me a detailed map of what is where, and what is being changed. Who exactly is being screwed out of what exactly? What does the EFM have to do with the golf course issue, and the associated ongoing litigation? How about some financials on the justification for having the EFM in the first place? I am prepared to be as outraged as anyone over this, but not on the basis of emotion relating to previously existing problems. This report seems pretty muddled to me.
please go read the EFM bill the Governor has the sole discretion to determine that a municipality is in financial distress he does not have to disclose his criteria and I am not sure it has to even be the same from one situation to the next. This is as sinister as it appears and may have very much to do with breaking up predominantly democratic party voting blocks among other things.
I'm looking for more information as well, but my quick take is that the new governor-appointed city administrator could sell the public lakefront park to a private developer, with no way for any member of the community or of the nation to object or get a redress of grievances. That is un-democratic in the extreme, and I'm betting it's unconstitutional. But by the time that case is settled, the land will have been sold and Nature obliterated. It's probably time to take to the streets.
he can do all that and more, and he will. Benton Harbor, also votes all democratic. it's a good place to dismantle as we are getting the vote out more & more, and the repugs are starting to get pissed that their dynasty is getting challenged.
again, snyder can't get recalled until july, but there is a big push for it. There will be a huge push for it in berrien county.
Thank You for asking the right questions Tom Thomas-3268159! I am a resident here, and while I don't know what the future holds for other towns or if even I agree with the bill...I do know that Benton Harbor was and still is in dire straights. There has been almost 40 years of decline, and something needs to be done.
Ive lived in the area for 20 of those years, and have watched the decline. I've also watched many small areas, like the growing Art's district downtown, become an asset to the city.
The fact remains though, many people in the area don't care enough to vote. Many are low income because they don't seek work, many are uneducated, because of the poor school system. In 2006, only 33.6% of 8th grade students met the standards for reading. This does not produce a very good voting pool for a healthy government. Change needs to start in schools, and I hope the state will turn this into a positive example for their agenda.
I'm not saying I agree with it yet, and their should be healthy caution, but how about a little positive attitude. It goes a long way!
You write that change needs to start in schools. I don't know about the quality of education in Benton Harbor, but I don't accept that test scores can solely be attributed to what is happening in the schools. As income declines, so do test scores. Blaming the problem on schools simplifies the issue. The best way to get those test scores up? Figure out how to get people out of poverty.
As I keep endlessly reiterating...yes, I do get sick of repeating myself...Oklahoma is third in the nation on per student expenditure. The reason is because we hate property taxes. Consequently public education suffers = high rates of high school drop outs, teen pregnancy, child abuse and death at the hands of parents and caretakers and the 4th most well fed prison industrial complex in the nation. Those are conservative values in action.
As a resident of St. Joseph, I know how bad the situation is on the other side of the river. So much of this discussion is around the state government using powers that people find objectionable-disenfranchising voters, disbanding local government, "fascism", bigotry. The blogosphere has made this a racial subject when in fact it is not.
Benton Harbor has been run by individuals elected by the people. The people they have elected have been inept and unable to govern. They have fought publicly over the school board-I can't tell you how many signs I have seen calling for the recall of the school board. There has been patronage, graft, clout, etc. for decades. The fact that the people who where duly elected are African-American is meaningless. This is about an absence of legitimate government.
In the absence of legitimate government, you have anarchy. Drive yourself through Benton Harbor and you will see what anarchy looks like. Burned out houses, people drinking beer at 9am on their front step. Once beautiful homes, architectural masterpieces, destroyed. Dirty streets, crime, no recreational events, failing schools. Go across the river and see what a legitimate government can do.
Is the EFM needed in Benton Harbor? Absolutely. There will be no progress towards fixing what is wrong in Benton Harbor until someone stops lining their and their friend's pockets with what little money there is in BH. Is this a racial issue? $20,000 a month in bounced check charges for the city is not a race issue.
In the absence of legitimate government, anarchy rules. The state is not destroying democracy in BH. There never was a true democracy to destroy.
The BBC and I would both love to dispute your opinion on that notion.
There's even a nifty graph that illustrates the point all too well at the bottom of the BBC's article.
"...Legitimate government..."? If the government was elected in a legal election, it is legitimate. You probably mean "effective" or "successful". Here in Racine, Wisconsin we struggle with many of the same issues. We have successes and failures, and I am guessing that the same is true in Benton Harbor. Good people strive to improve the local situation against great odds. That they have problems is obvious -- but everybody has problems. Now we're directing a spotlight on them, and maybe some good will come of it. Maybe we can all help the people of Benton Harbor to improve their community. I'm guessing they haven't had much help from you folks in St. Joe.
It's funny how you have the audacity to place Benton Harbor in such a negative way and raise Saint Joseph, Michigan at the same time. Saint Joseph is full of hidden crimes, drugs that go unreported. Berrien County has teamed up with Cornerstone Alliance, Whirlpool, The Courthouse, and a gang of non profits to get over millions of dollars in grant monies based upon economic status that never benefit the citizens of Benton Harbor . Please believe, the nerve of you to even comment. Saint Joseph pulls over every black person that drives in their neighborhood and gives them bogus tickets to suspend their license and they killed a young black man over there by the name of Eric McGinnis and covered up his death with a bogus crime.
Gee, Mich Resident, if I didn't know better I'd think you were describing a whole group of people as shiftless, lazy, corrupt and stupid.
NO one in this country should be surprised at the bigotry in this place. Republican governors have been rerouting money from the minorities communities to white communities since, forever. That's why the white schools always have more.
This is an example of systemic racism and white privilege. If a neighboring town has been drowning for a long time and people knew it, what prevented them from working with Benton Harbor?
Why do people think that the only way to "help" is to take over? Why can't the state just give Benton Harbor emergency funding that would allow them to help themselves? Let me guess, they don't trust the people with the money. And why would that be?
Its really very simple. This ties in with the idea of municipal bankruptcy. Except, as in personal bankruptcy where the debt is dissolved and any remaining assets are confinscated to go toward the debt...it is more like the FAMILY is dissolved and everything is sold as in an estate sale. Except it is the emergency manager who decides what's dissolved, what's sold and to whom. Why help a family dissolve their debt when you can dissolve the family and get the house and everything in it as fire sale prices? Where does the EQUITY lie?
TRMS, please follow these developments with the same vigor you did the "kill the gays bill" in Uganda, make it its own tab on the Maddow channels (Ugandabekidding me etc.)
I grew up in Higman Park, a residential neighborhood that overlooks the lake and sits between two public beaches - one of which is Jean Klock Park. My family has lived in the area since the 40's until my Grandmother passed two years ago. Personally, I hate the new golf course, the land that was taken, and the rerouting of roads in the area to make it happen...as well as the houses that were built on the path that connected two neighborhoods in Higman Park, and the houses that are now on the beach blocking access from HIgman Park to the beach and the other neighborhood hill. I also miss all the grape farms and houses that were displaced although though few houses were displaced. The development has certainly changed the area I grew up in, and I think it's less a great place to grow up and more a great place to visit your summer home in Michigan from Chicago. That's a shame. But the area was also always rundown. It wasn't safe to walk from my neighborhood to the beach, and I never felt comfortable walking along Jean Klock beach either. And I don't scare easily.
Now...honestly, Jean Klock Park isn't a neighborhood beach. It's a drive from Benton Harbor to Jean Klock Park. It's not like they're blocking access to the "locals". This was a "cruising" beach and over the years it's always been run down. It gets fixed up every decade or so, only to get run right back down again due to lack of funds. And again, the beach is still accessible to anyone who wants to go.
The changes I've been in Benton Harbor over the years with the artist community, musicians, etc., is really promising, although it doesn't speak to the predominantly black community. There is no black enterprise, no businesses and investments to support a better lifestyle for those that live there.
I do think the gold course will bring tourism dollars to the state and help industry promote the area as a nice place to live (as new industry tries to pop up) because it has this golf course. Tourism and Whirlpool Corp are all the area has going for it currently. However, I'm pretty sure BH residents won't see those tourism dollars. St. Joseph will. That's where the hotels and restaurants are.
BUT...all that said...one promising development is the golf clubs at the high schools. They are allowed to use the course, and BH teens are learning to play golf, working as caddies, etc., and they're seeing a better life is possible. I believe a program for this was put together by the president of Whirlpool Corp. Just like in ATL at the East Lake Golf Course, I hope that they set up a scholarship program for these kids, so that maybe there is hope for a college education for those that excel in school as well as being a caddy and playing golf.
Linda, thanks for your contribution. It adds a lot to my understanding of the situation.
With all due respect Linda I work at Harbor Shores. I stumbled across this blog just researching what I believe to be a problematic situation with this devolopment. You grew up in Higman Park. Even though you may share a zip code with the folks of Benton Harbor, that's all you did. My guess is that you went to Lake Michigan Catholic School and spent most of your time in St. Joseph, not Benton Harbor. Higman Park is probably the most affluant neiborhood in the twin cities.
As far as job creation for the residents, no. There are very few African American caddies on the course because, quite frankly, white people really don't want to see back folks when their trying to enjoy a $150.00 round of golf. Yes they did set up the First Tee program for Benton Harbor youths but come on, some of those children don't know where their next meal is coming from.
I can say this. The servers make $2.65 an hour. None of them black by the way. The bartenders make $6.00 an hour. Again, none of them black. This falls way below the average pay for hospitality workers in the area. Daily, I hear single moms fretting about how their gonna pay rent, buy food, live. One would be hard pressed to survive on these wages.
Harbor Shores is nothing but a personal playground for the CEO of Whirlpool and his pals. I've seen them close the course for him and six of his friends. Can't really make any tips when seven people occupy the course none of wich tip and treat us like their personal servants. This place is not helping the community. My prediction is it will ultimately be sold to Whirlpool for their personal use.
I lived just "south of the border" in Indiana from '88-99 and it was common knowledge even then that Benton Harbor was treated as the "ugly step-sister" (apologies to all step-families) of the region. It was apparent that their rich(er) white neighbors in St Joseph were trying to figure out a way to make 'em just go away.
Another history lesson. Benton Harbor was once a thriving community. If you drive through certain areas you see amazing homes building in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Ferries used to transport tourists across the lake from Chicago daily. My great grandfather used to run a ferry from the shores of Jean Klock Park on Lake Michigan up the river into downtown Benton Harbor. It had great wealth from the farm land and canning business, and other industry. Fruits and veggies in the area grown locally to this day can't be beat for flavor. But with industry moving to cheaper locales, white flight, etc. Benton Harbor has steadily gone downhill since the 1950's with no chance at recovery due to the lack of jobs and industry. Tourism, farming, and small businesses are what keep St. Joe on life support, but SW Michigan as with most of the state has been in economic trouble for decades. Most of that side of the state is covered with very small rural towns, that depend on small summer tourism to live through the winter. Michigan as a state is screwed. Not just Benton Harbor.
Linda, thanks for sharing your history. I have a vision of paradise that looks exactly like our summer vacations at my great grandfather's cottage on Coloma Road west of Riverside, just north of Benton Harbor, in the 1950s and early '60s. As kids we would "sample" the delicious blackberries from the farm right next door. And we picked wild strawberries from our own meadow in back, and every time I taste a strawberry to this day, it reminds me of Michigan. We had no indoor plumbing -- we had an outhouse. And we carried water from a well outside Great Grandpa's house. Honeysuckle perfumed the air.
I hope that Michigan can find a way forward that benefits everybody.
linda, thanks for your comments. my family were the graham's of the steamship line and built the first lumber mill in bh and made the river navigable way back when. also built the pier at union pier and goudy beach was named for other line of family. everyone is buried in mh cemetary. i hope to move back to bh someday and think the gc was a good trade for super fund site. our earliest family home is under city hall in bh, and last one under krasl in sj. goverment is a mess, but the area will come back.
Please see later comment
Second thoughts---I was Inerviewed 3 times for the book about Eric and have my doubts about the whole thing. I ahve also had in class a large number of the past and present commisioners and think that there education and needs must be considered.
I just have a question here: doesn't anyone remember that the loss in revenue is due to the recession?
How dare you be so politically incorrect as to such such a thing!
Yes, Ideological Soundness is always supposed to trump objective reality! :-/
I live in saint joseph, mi. I have worked in politics in both saint joseph & benton harbor. Let me be clear - Benton harbor needs help, surely. There are plenty of us on the liberal side anyway, who have been working with people in benton harbor for many years. to say otherwise is just plain ignorant. we have had offices there during election cycles, but it has been impossible for us to maintain an office full time. we do not have the upton family's money. sorry, we just don't.
Benton Harbor is a situation that is really complex. The jean klock park issue one that is a no brainer - it was taken from the residents - and oh yes, if you live in the city you can go there, and pay five dollars to see the beach. I'm sorry but the beach i go to in stevensville is free. The harbor shores golf course & everything that comes with it is a giant pay off to the upton's & whirlpool & it doesn't take a genius to see that. We were promised an amazing amount of jobs & renewal for our cities - both Saint Joseph & Benton Harbor, when the proposal for that came. Last time i checked, there hasn't been a hiring frenzy for the golf course. Residents of Saint Joseph who don't know any better view it as a good thing because the park was a mess before it was bought up and sold out from under the residents of Benton Harbor. It looks nice & it's not an eye sore. They shrug it off. But what family who barely can make it can afford to pay out five dollars to go to the beach - not a family in Benton Harbor, and that's the point - isn't it?
On to the Emergency Fin. Manager - No one has the right to take away democratically elected officials - even if they are corrupt (i don't personally know if they are or not), even if they aren't "able to do their jobs" as a lot of people in Saint Joe on this board seem to assume, even if they aren't doing what you think should be done. They were elected by the people, to do the business of the people. That's how democracy works, folks. And this is beyond wrong. This bill - this disgusting bill - comes from people with money - think tank money - so they can destroy our cities and towns and use us as pawns in their chess games. Wake up! Figure it out.
What do you expect from a town that has no resources? And honestly do you think al pasholka cares that much about benton harbor? He didn't win there. He's not doing this for the people of Benton Harbor. Not in the slightest. Also -
There is a thriving arts district, a wonderful brewery, and great people who live there. the people i have met who work as part of the township and city boards are also intelligent & far from ignorant. The assumptions that people have are flat out wrong. I've been working in the area politically since '08. And i'm involved regularly...
I don't have a solution for the situation - because the situation is one of many unique to michigan. What do we do about our cities and towns that have fallen apart because there is no manufacturing? What do we do about education? How do we help the poor when the rich want to horde their money? How do we even begin to help the people who need the greatest amount of help? There are so many problems that plague Benton Harbor as a community that its like playing a game of wack-a-mole. You try to fix one, but nine more come up. Fixing the money situation won't even begin to fix the fact that there are no jobs, no hope, no way to eat - no hope of a future - won't help the gang violence or the drug problems - or the lack of health care....
Thank you for your perspective, corinne.
Thank you.
Corrine, thank you for writing.
I especially appreciate your description of the problem in Benton Harbor that so many communities face -- there are far too few jobs available -- so many people feel hopeless and helpless. It's no wonder people turn to drugs to find a moment of escape from relentless economic depression.
I hope you will continue to do what you've been doing. We need more of your kind of leadership. And we could use more leadership from Washington. There are millions of people in this country who are in more-or-less the same situation as the people in Benton Harbor. No jobs, nowhere to turn.
They will say there are jobs - but the jobs that are around are the kind that are at will & they are wage slave jobs. There is no future & no health insurance. The push around here is to go to the community college and then get yourself into debt to go into one of the fields that are supposedly going to do well - retraining and all of that... but i don't buy it.
There are a lot of us around here who are involved who are passionate who want to help - but we don't have the money to bring the answers & honestly this is a question that i don't think a lot of people know what to do with - there doesn't seem to be a ton of leadership from the white house, either. you have to be raised, i think, to care about those who are less fortunate than you are - you have to have had something awful happen to you so you have empathy. you either have it or you don't. a big problem in our society is that we don't value other people or their personal struggles - we only value ourselves. i don't know how to begin to change that, either.
Back in the day, Jean Clock park used to charge on weekends to enter. It was never a totally free beach. Silver Beach was always free until they put the condos up and revamped that area. Parking was always free....
Corinne, you are so right about the rich hoarding their wealth at the expense of the common good. I, too, have spent years volunteering in inner-city Cleveland. Our bishop (Diocese of Cleveland) issued a whitepaper about white flight and the abandonment of struggling areas by those who are "better off" (financially, if not morally) back in 1993, and that raised my awareness and determination to live my life in pursuit of economic justice for all.
What I have come to know is that too many of us live with too much excess, while others in our midst suffer. The inequitable distribution of resources in our society is the root cause of most of our economic woes. Jesus had it right in the Gospels ... taking the side of the poor and vulnerable. That's why I cannot bear to hear the false prophets (profiteers) who preach a "prosperity gospel" and who distort and obliterate Christ's real message.
Thanks for speaking up and for everything else you do for the people of Benton Harbor.
Corinne, I've been searching all day for an even perspective on the issues in Benton Harbor. Thank you for yours. You have seen it from the inside out and expressed your views very well.
Connie, thank you for that input. That was an excellent read.
I live in saint joseph, mi. I have worked in politics in both saint joseph & benton harbor. Let me be clear - Benton harbor needs help, surely. There are plenty of us on the liberal side anyway, who have been working with people in benton harbor for many years. to say otherwise is just plain ignorant. we have had offices there during election cycles, but it has been impossible for us to maintain an office full time. we do not have the upton family's money. sorry, we just don't.
Benton Harbor is a situation that is really complex. The jean klock park issue one that is a no brainer - it was taken from the residents - and oh yes, if you live in the city you can go there, and pay five dollars to see the beach. I'm sorry but the beach i go to in stevensville is free. The harbor shores golf course & everything that comes with it is a giant pay off to the upton's & whirlpool & it doesn't take a genius to see that. We were promised an amazing amount of jobs & renewal for our cities - both Saint Joseph & Benton Harbor, when the proposal for that came. Last time i checked, there hasn't been a hiring frenzy for the golf course. Residents of Saint Joseph who don't know any better view it as a good thing because the park was a mess before it was bought up and sold out from under the residents of Benton Harbor. It looks nice & it's not an eye sore. They shrug it off. But what family who barely can make it can afford to pay out five dollars to go to the beach - not a family in Benton Harbor, and that's the point - isn't it?
On to the Emergency Fin. Manager - No one has the right to take away democratically elected officials - even if they are corrupt (i don't personally know if they are or not), even if they aren't "able to do their jobs" as a lot of people in Saint Joe on this board seem to assume, even if they aren't doing what you think should be done. They were elected by the people, to do the business of the people. That's how democracy works, folks. And this is beyond wrong. This bill - this disgusting bill - comes from people with money - think tank money - so they can destroy our cities and towns and use us as pawns in their chess games. Wake up! Figure it out.
What do you expect from a town that has no resources? And honestly do you think al pasholka cares that much about benton harbor? He didn't win there. He's not doing this for the people of Benton Harbor. Not in the slightest. Also -
There is a thriving arts district, a wonderful brewery, and great people who live there. the people i have met who work as part of the township and city boards are also intelligent & far from ignorant. The assumptions that people have are flat out wrong. I've been working in the area politically since '08. And i'm involved regularly...
I don't have a solution for the situation - because the situation is one of many unique to michigan. What do we do about our cities and towns that have fallen apart because there is no manufacturing? What do we do about education? How do we help the poor when the rich want to horde their money? How do we even begin to help the people who need the greatest amount of help? There are so many problems that plague Benton Harbor as a community that its like playing a game of wack-a-mole. You try to fix one, but nine more come up. Fixing the money situation won't even begin to fix the fact that there are no jobs, no hope, no way to eat - no hope of a future - won't help the gang violence or the drug problems - or the lack of health care....
Nicely said, Connie.
I didn't realize that i ended up posting the same thing on here twice, but this is my first time ever contributing to the maddow blog. watch the show every night... but i'm a n00b. Anyway, Thank you, Kitty.
Welcome to the team corinne.
proud to be a member.
The golf course has been years in the works. Why? Well, in the mid-1980s the city of St. Joseph, Benton Harbor's "twin" city, was saddled with a severely contaminated, bankrupt extensive foundry site immediately adjacent to Whirlpool Corporation's shuttered factory complex. The state of Michigan and federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation had a combined $10 million lien on the foundry site, and the foundry land had reverted to St. Joseph for taxes. Whirlpool wanted to develop a resort which included the defunct factory/foundry land. A golf course was always part of the plans, but expense, environmental remediation and natural resource protection issues complicated matters. However Whirlpool kept at it.
There is a long and rather troubling history of restrictive covenants, garden variety racial prejudice, and utter dependence on Whirlpool to save the day in the local area. Jean Klock Park's "problem" was by design. We never got over the 60s and white flight and racial misunderstandings. And then - the jobs went poof. The City purposely mismanaged the gorgeous lakefront park, a deed-restricted gift from nearly 100 years ago, although the maintenance problems are way overstated. The city kept the park locked, for example, in the summer, and one had to call hoping to find someone to open it. I was there literally hundreds of times by myself, and I never felt afraid one time. If I had, I wouldn't have gone there. The mismanagement, I cannot emphasize enough, was DELIBERATE, because Whirlpool wanted the lakefront for the long-planned golf course. End of story. Easier to take a "tattered, mismanaged" place than one well cared for and appreciated.
It was a beautiful park cut off from the city - true - as happened in many other places on the water - in the late 50s by a highway built for scenic travel and a massive cloverleaf built to transport industrial output. (now removed, as are all the industries). Most of the lakefront parks in the county are somewhat removed from the cites they're part of though.
The current development activity in Benton Harbor has little to do with addressing the root cause of Michigan's troubles. You can't pay the bills 12 months per year working for a golf course in Michigan, now can you? It's about changing the image of the state from former industrial powerhouse to ... what? Regardless of what happens to the little people, the powerful have helped themselves to some mighty nice real estate and the state government is lining up to maybe hand them some more.
But Benton Harbor is the warmup act for Detroit. They really want to eliminate Detroit, too. What a triumph that would be for the Mackinac Center. Detroit, the symbol of organized labor in America, gone.