I have been writing pretty intensively about the dismissal of the Benton Harbor City Commission by the Emergency Financial Manager, Joe Harris. Like many of you, I am incensed at this draconian step being taken, a disenfranchisement of the residents of Benton Harbor and an abridgement of what I think most of us understand as democracy. Taxation without representation is […]

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. […]

New Benton Harbor Emergency Financial Manager (EFM), effectively the “Czar of Benton Harbor”, Joseph Harris got right to work this weekend in his new capacity by reconfiguring the city’s Planning Commission and Brownfield Commission. In two directives released Friday, Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph Harris removed members of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Planning Commission, appointed others, and reduced brownfield […]

NOTE: I have an important update to this entry up titled “How Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is quietly & intentionally creating more Benton Harbors” that you may find of interest. NOTE 2: A second update is here: Benton Harbor Emergency Financial Mgr. gets right to work and shows how Harris is already at work, rejiggering two city development commissions. As […]