Gov. Snyder using new ‘Emergency Financial Managers’ law to assist corporate land grab

Benton Harbor, MI is 10,235 population town. 85.5% of the residents are African-American. The per capita income is among the lowest in the state: $10,235.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently castrated the city government of the struggling town, using his controversial “Emergency Financial Managers” law. The law, as Raw Story previously reported, allows Snyder to “take over municipalities that don’t pass a financial stress test.”

On Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow made the case that Snyder, Whirlpool (global headquarters in Benton Harbor), Harbor Shores (a developer) and assorted political cronies are using the newly enacted law to grab prime beachfront property deeded to the city’s residents in 1917 in order to develop it into a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and luxury “signature” homes.

This is shameless. Not only do some of these people have deeds that proclaim the land is theres, it's been that way for decades. This is not the time to pander to corporate interests. While everyone else is struggling, they're planning to build beach front condos.


Click here to read the article.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Sadly it doesn't surprise me in the least..
Not many get into politics to help others..
They do it to help themselves.

Well Snyder is apparently an inspiration character
because the governor across Lake Michigan
apparently loves his ideas so much he wants to
implement them in Wisconsin.

Link

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is reportedly following the lead of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) by preparing a plan that would allow him to possibly take over municipalities that don't pass a financial stress test.
"[T]he Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so," according to Forbes.

Are these Republicans intentionally trying to guarantee
that their party never makes it back into power in those
states for the next 2 decades? Or is their appetite for
helping their corporate buddies so horrid that it knows
no ends?

I am not anti-business because business is actually
an amazing thing, it drives the economy, employees
millions, and is a great model for making real wealth,
but I am however opposed to cronyism of any sort. The
state judiciary needs to launch an immediate
investigation into the governor, his connections, and
these actions.

I really love this State. I actually voted for this man dammit! I am going to have to look into this more.

Thanks for the post!

Benton Harbor is a dump and has been run into the ground by successive generations of short sighted ignorant politicians. The Michigan State Police had to reorganize the BH police department because of rampant corruption that the city government wouldn’t/couldn’t do anything about. Teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, a bankruptcy that the rest of the county as well as the state government will have pay for, the town still wants the “right” to run its own affairs?

A town run this poorly for so long needs massive reform to straighten out its finances and since the locals have proven so inept at performing the most basic functions of government they have shown themselves incapable of doing it themselves.

reply to post by SirMike


That doesn't justify the land grab of private property, especially for corporate interests.

The supreme court does back it, however. Although, I don't agree with it.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


ITs not private property! Benton Harbor has limited assets and lots of liabilities. The "beautiful" lakefront park is a dump like the rest of the town and development will provide much needed property tax revenues.

[[snip]]

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


There is already a thread on this. Second the law has been on the books for some time now. Third Gov. Snyder is not the sole problem here, as Gov. Granholm also used the Financial Manager quite a bit under her term.

Invluding Benton Harbor... in addition to many other cities near detroit, as well as the detroit school system. Pontiac, River Rouge....

Where was Maddow when the Democratic Govenor was doing this?

Smacks of partisan politics....

reply to post by Misoir


From Forbes Blogs link:

The story first came to public attention yesterday during an interview with Madison, Wisconsin attorney and activist, Ed Garvey, on Wisconsin Public Radio.

I spoke with Mr. Garvey today to gain insight into his information, which led me to Mr. Nate Timm – a Wisconsin based political organizer who is a leader in the effort to recall eight GOP Wisconsin State Senators who voted in favor of Gov. Walker’s anti-collective bargaining legislation.

While Timm was unwilling to reveal his source, he was able to confirm that he had received the information regarding Walker’s plans from a highly placed GOP source, very much in a position to know what the Governor has in the works.

blogs forbes

I have heard nothing of this, and need a bit more proof than "I heard this one guy saying".
If true, not good.

Oh yeah, Ed Garvey," Wisconsin's Progressive Voice" hails from the same small town I grew up in, and everyone knows he's a joke.

reply to post by SirMike


I refer to that whole area as the "armpit of Chicago".
Chicago southside, Gary, East Chicago, Michigan City, and Benton Harbor.
Nothing but gambling, strip joints, and abandoned factories and mills.

I used to commute from Wisconsin to Paw Paw/Kalamazoo and that was the most depressing drive.
New Buffalo was nice, though.

True about Granholm using an emergency manager with Benton Harbor. info
Snyder added to the emergency manager the power to change or dissolve contracts. This is where he went too far; whose ox is gored, whose contract eliminated, plus, the outright elimination of a binding legal document does not seem right. info

Wh at Rachel missed was an enlightening read.

Now this was sad

In 2006 the city agreed to lease 22 acres at the center of the park to developers for 105 years. The city was given contaminated former industrial parcels in trade for the park’s lakeside dunes.

source

It may be in the case of Benton Harbor that the furor over the Snyder bill acted as a spotlight to show how business and govt collude to give business what it wants from the public good. Corruption American style.

Originally posted by Oaktree
reply to post by SirMike

 

I refer to that whole area as the "armpit of Chicago".
Chicago southside, Gary, East Chicago, Michigan City, and Benton Harbor.
Nothing but gambling, strip joints, and abandoned factories and mills.

I used to commute from Wisconsin to Paw Paw/Kalamazoo and that was the most depressing drive.
New Buffalo was nice, though.

Michigan City's nice enough ... they got the Lighthouse Mall and Sullair.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0

This is shameless. Not only do some of these people have deeds that proclaim the land is theres, it's been that way for decades. This is not the time to pander to corporate interests. While everyone else is struggling, they're planning to build beach front condos.

It was given away in 2006, under Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Jean Klock Park, with its half mile of Lake Michigan frontage, was donated to Benton Harbor in 1917 by John and Carrie Klock as a memorial to their daughter. In 2006 the city agreed to lease 22 acres at the center of the park to developers for 105 years.

Link