Benton Harbor; Separating Face From Fiction

[Casandia]

This was on the Dailykos website by heartlandrevolution:



"Some who support the dictatoresque takeover of Benton Harbor say some awful things such as the citizens there created the financial crisis and are unwilling to help themselves. They also say that individuals who are against the hostile takeover do not have any other solutions other than to complain. I would like to take just a minute to clarify a few things concerning these lies that are being perpetrated.

First off, the citizens of Benton Harbor have been fighting for years to have their voice heard and have been willing to be a part of the solution. In fact, when this all broke loose we at Heartland Revolution called into the community to discuss a plan of action. The great part is that it was the citizens not Heartland Revolution who pushed for a rally and subsequent actions after. They are tired of being left on the sidelines and furthermore disgusted that their rights as citizens have been flushed down the toilet. They just needed allies that will stand with them to fight back, which Heartland Revolution is dedicated to and in fact, many Americans across this great nation have voiced their support as well.

The solutions I am about to list are a start and need fleshing out, but we need to open the dialog of what happens next. Truly, Benton Harbor is ground zero and just a starting point and it must stop here. Some ideas of moving forward:"


Read more here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/23/969600/-Benton-Harbor:-Separation-Fact-from-Fiction

[Scuba]

1. When our Public institutions are broken, we should fix them, not....

...turn them over to a bunch of corrupt capitalists.

[Enthusiast]

2. Exactly........nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Another ingnorant article devoid of facts

- The city manager asked for this intervention in 2009
- The law in question passed 20 years ago by Democrats
- Thing were so bad that the city was unable to make its payroll

Has the author actually read the problem reports or the get well plan? It does not seem like it.

While I do not like the EFM concept, it or something like it is in place in most of the states for when local municipalities and districts fail.

[kickysnana]

4. Thanks I was just looking for any updates and ran accross this

RM usually does a good job of fact checking. I hope we hear more on this and I hope that things do get better for Benton Harbor.

Makes me wonder if Rachel was set up on this one.
:shrug:

Link to newspaper article that dailykos article was taken from:
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/04/column.html

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Truth is a hard commodity to find in the Benton Harbor discussion

As the article you cited pointed out:
- The city was in total financial shambles
- The EFM was appointed by a Democratic governor

Additional points not mentioned:
- The EFM process was started at the request of the Benton Harbor city manager
- There was an extensive study done prior to the appointment
- There is a published get well plan http://www.bentonharborcity.com/newsletter/Benton%20Harbor%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf http://www.bentonharborcity.com/CoBH%20Financial%20Plan%202010.pdf

The media has a responsibility to fact check. Rachel (and her staff) clearly did not do that adequately in this case and few others. Happens to the best of them, and I still consider her a highly credible despite the occasional misstep.

Nothing in the published docs indicates that the Benton Harbor EFM is seriously considering selling off the lakefront public park land. However, there is enough buzz about it, that I have to wonder if there is at least some validity to that. However, no hard evidence has surfaced, but given the hyperbole, it would be hard to tell.