As I wrote about last week, Jonathan Mahler published an excellent piece on Benton Harbor in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine titled “Now That the Factories Are Closed, It’s Tee Time in Benton Harbor, Mich.” My review is HERE.
After it was published, I sent Mahler an email, putting the Emergency Manager law, Public Act 4 into some perspective as it relates to the history and current situation in Benton Harbor. I was gratified when he published my letter on the New York Times Magazine blog, The 6th Floor Blog. Here is his intro. Click through for my letter.
While I was in Benton Harbor, Mich., reporting this week’s cover article, I met a guy named Chris Savage and his wife one night for some pizza and beer. (We also went the beach and watched a pretty spectacular sunset on Lake Michigan.)Chris is a scientist, but he also writes an indispensable blog on the Michigan political scene, eclectablog.com. He’s written a lot about Benton Harbor, particularly in the context of the state’s emergency-manager legislation, known as PA 4 (Public Act 4). Over the weekend, he wrote me a characteristically insightful e-mail about the legislation that I think makes great supplemental reading to the story itself. It follows, only very slightly edited, for space: [click here for the letter]
