Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

UPDATEDx2 The Czar of Benton Harbor gets right to work. Rejiggers 2 development-related commissions.

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 board membership from nine to five.

The commission and board were reorganized to make them more effective, Harris said. The changes were made "to include people who are interested enough and knowledgeable enough to show up and to make a contribution."

Eight members of the brownfield authority were removed from office: Mary Adams, Eddie Marshall, Willie Williams, Charles Yarbrough, Don Mitchell, Willie Bledsoe, Mathew Bradley and Juanita Henry. Only authority member Emma Hull made it onto the new, smaller authority.

Darwin Watson, Ted Hanson, Sandra Dudley and Debbie Popp, all city employees, were appointed to the new brownfield authority.

He also removed four people from the Planning Commission and replaced them with four others.

Since these two commissions will make crucial decisions on the future development of this community on the shores of Lake Michigan, it will be important to watch how they operate in the coming months and years. Shoreline real estate is extremely valuable and who ends up with development rights there plays a big role in who is able to capitalize on that. As a former Planning Commission member in Michigan, myself, I'm keenly aware of the power these groups have in the future of real estate development within a given municipality.

I just have to wonder where the anti-czar Republicans and tea partiers are in all of this. Also, here's my tweet from this weekend:

Will tea partiers fight the Big Govt takeoverTM of Benton Harbor? Hahaha! Just kidding. BH is 90+% black. http://nblo.gs/... #racism

By the way, in case you missed it yesterday, I had a diary up for a time that showed how Governor Rick Snyder is setting up other communities to become future Benton Harbors. It uses hard numbers from his proposed budget to show how already precariously-perched cities are about to be pushed over the edge:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/18/967974/-UPDATEDx2-The-Czar-of-Benton-Harbor-gets-right-to-work-Rejiggers-2-development-related-commissions