I can’t figure this out. You’ll recall that I recently blogged about Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph Harris restricting access to Jean Klock Park by changing the hours of operation. The change happened in May but flew under the radar until Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Jane Melzer reported on it. Now, it turns out, Joe Harris has changed the park’s hours […]

THIS seems rather arbitrary. Which probably means there’s some underlying reason for it that will raise your hackles. Locals are no longer allowed to take early morning walks in the park under an order issued by Benton Harbor’s Emergency Manager Joe Harris. Jean Klock Park, the city’s public waterfront which has already been partially privatized as a Jack Nicklaus golf […]

Note: to find all of my coverage of the Benton Harbor situation, click HERE. The most recent posts are at the top. Benton Harbor Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) Joseph L. Harris took further steps to reconfigure the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the group responsible for directing how brownfields, former industrial sites, are developed. Note that there is a great deal of […]

When I think of Benton Harbor these days, I think of a ripe, juicy plum, hanging in the sunshine, ready to be plucked off the tree. But Benton Harbor is a plum with a “bad spot” in the minds of some. A bit of rotten fruit that needs to be cut off and discarded. Once that’s done, those that would […]

I have received information that Michigan Democratic Party chair, Mark Brewer, met with at least some Benton Harbor City Commissioners this week. By now, you’ve probably hear that these Commissioners have been relieved of duty by Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) Joseph Harris. At that meeting, I am told, Brewer stated that the MDP will not be supporting any of the […]

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NOTE: This entry was lost in the Blogger crash on 5/12/2011. I am restoring it now (on 6/17/2011). In October of 2010, the city of Benton Harbor granted the Whirlpool Corporation a nearly $3.9 million tax abatement. Why did they do this? Because, without it, Whirlpool would have taken their marbles to some other state. Monday’s approval was the last […]

You know Whirlpool, the large corporation that is an integral part of the city of Benton Harbor and who received $3.87 million in tax breaks from the city last year as a bribe so they would build their new headquarters there instead of leaving Benton Harbor altogether? According to Business Week, they haven’t paid a dime in corporate taxes in […]

As I reported yesterday, the Benton Harbor City Commission passed a resolution, declaring the takeover of their city by Emergency Financial Manager Joseph L. Harris to be unconstitutional. Joe Harris doesn’t give a damn. He’s going to rescind their resolution. Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph Harris tells [WSJM] that he plans to issue an order rescinding this week’s city commission […]

Yesterday, by a vote of 6 to 2, the Benton Harbor City Commission and Mayor declared the appointment of Joseph Harris as the Emergency Financial Manager and his subsequent stripping of the Commission’s ability to govern the City unconstitutional. Whereas, The City of Benton Harbor declares the appointment of an Emergency Manager a violation of Article I §1, which states […]

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 […]