Don't let them divide you in both cities. One is less fortunate than the other but both of them are having their rights removed and have big financial problems.
The citizens of both cities (their majors and trustees) should go to the Justice Department and demand their rights as Americans to pick their own local government. This is not the Dark Ages of kings and lords.
It is obvious that the governor and representative are stealing your land for their own profit.
The city park is an economic plus now. The citizens might try to get the doons protected. Most the sand doons have been removed for building, etc.
Development may not be helpful depending on those who do it. Apparently these guys are crooks.
They built bad homes on the lake where I used to live promising "upper income" would come to the area. Guess what? By the time it was finished along with the "re-development plan for the village" by three contractors, they were in debt $3 million with anything to show for it. Many businesses left town saying they didn't like the plan and did not approve of it. The condos on the lake went bankrupt. It is not near a rail line to the city so the young wouldn't buy there. The old didn't like it since it was designed poorly for them, etc. You bet the local bank with the developer were involved in fraud. Anyone go to jail? Nope. It is Illinois after all.
The Republicans are trying to privatize and steal everything we have for themselves and their cronies. To say this is legal by either party is treason.
As Maddow also reported on her show, Representative Al Pscholka, who's district includes Benton Harbor, sponsored the Emergency Financial Manager bill. Pscholka was the former vice president of a development company responsible for building Harbor Shores and was on the Board of Directors for a nonprofit involved in the Harbor Shores development. More information [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/19/968278/-MI-Gov-Rick-Snyders-takeover-of-Benton-Harbor-tied-to-shoreline-development-for-the-wealthy here].
I watched The Rachel Maddow Show stunned by this new type of eminent domain. Typically in the South, Blacks have lost their land through some nuances in laws or because the property owners were illiterate. Here in NC we have a Partition Law which allows a "co-owner" to have a shared property sold on the Courthouse steps in a bidding process. Ratio of mortgage payments by each co-owner has little to no bearing on the division of the spoils.
It seems relevant that the party with the most money (vis-a-vis St. Joseph) comes out ahead with no justice for the other party who has little (Benton Harbor. This is another way to transfer wealth.
With the current makeup of the SCOTUS, there is little chance of SCOTUS declaring the act by the Governor to be unConstitutional. This sort of activity has been the near-end game of some in our society for the past 60 or so years. None of this could have been initiated 10 or more years ago without much outrage.
If i didn't know any better i'd say this looks like a dictatorship. If 1 person can change the laws and strip all elected officials of their power then that says it doesn't matter who you voted for. Does this sound like america? How can one person take a state and hand it over to a special interest group? Our democracy is broken. Republicans and their morally corrupt ways have taken control and no one seems to be making an effort to challange them.
Maybe you should take the potatos out of your ears and pay attention. This govener was willing to lay off workers and use them as pawns to get his way - and you defend them? You need to wipe the sh** off your nose
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