Save Jean Klock Park | Governor Granholm's Role

On Easter weekend of 2006, Governor Granholm visited the

Benton

Harbor area.

At one of her stops she was approached by

a member

of the Friends of Jean Klock

Park who gave her a

that detailed

the seriousness of the threat to Jean Klock

Park

This FJKP

member

requested an

opportunity to speak

with her

on the

matter.

From that

day there

could be no

mistaking that the

information she

received

alerted her to

the

opposition

the

proposed development

in JKP.

followed

up with

an e-mail

request but received no reply.

On September 13, 2006 a letter

signed by Benton Harbor City

residents

and

members of the Friends of Jean Klock Park was

sent

to Governor

Granholm

asking her to play a role in

preserving

Jean

Klock Park.

Members of the

community were

completely

ignored.

The letter may be

read below. We removed

the

signatures in order

protect the

privacy of

residents who

signed

ead the letter

On September 19, 2006,

Dave Dempsey,

a former

environmental

advisor

Governor James Blanchard and

environmental writer

sent

the

following

letter to

Governor

Granholm requesting that

she

would;

"immediately

withdraw

your

support of the part of the

Harbor

Shores plan that uses

Jean

Klock Park."

ead the letter

In November of 2006

a citizen of Benton Harbor wrote to

Governor

Granholm

urging her to talk to the residents of the

city,

not the

elected

officials, about how

many of them were in

favor

of giving

away their

parkland. Governor Granholm's

office

replied

December stating that it

was a local issue, to contact

local

officials.

Letter to Granholm and her reply

Early in 2007 we discovered evidence of Governor Granholm's

direct

involvement

in the development in the form of a memo

dated

May of

2006, written to the CEO

of Whirlpool, and

signed

by the

Governor and

the heads of state regulatory

agencies. The

letter

commends the Whirlpool

Corporation for its

acquisition of

Maytag.

In turn the Governor and agency

heads

pledged to assist

Harbor

Shores

with permit approvals,

committed to

state funding,

and

promised to solicit support

from

federal agencies for

both

financial

and technical support.

Read the

emo

Over a several year period $1.74M in state and federal grants were awarded to the

City of Benton Harbor for improvements to JKP. These funds come from

everyone's tax dollars which makes this anything but just a local issue. The many

grants, especially the federal Land Water and Conservation Act Fund grant, have

restrictions that should have required the project area to remain public parkland in

perpetuity. But thanks to Governor Jennifer Granholm's guarantee of every state

regulatory agency's

ooperation

and the heavy leaning on federal regulatory

agencies by Congressman Fred Upton, corporate interests once again won out over

the public's interest and stake in its own land.

In March of

007,

we learned that

Governor

Granholm had

declared

March

20th

“

No Child Left Indoors Day

. In the

article

obtained, the

Governor

is quoted as

saying:

"One of the great gifts we can give our children is to make

sure

they

connect

with the ama

ing natural resources we have

Michigan,"

Granholm said.

"Whether we take them fishing,

hunting, hiking,

mountain biking or simply let

them discover

the

beauty of nature in our

state, helping our children connect

with

the

outdoors is essential to

making sure our natural

resources

are

protected and respected in the

future."

But in the case of Jean Klock Park

Governor Granholm believes

it's

acceptable to

take from

children natural resources that were

deeded

and

dedicated to them

build a golf course for

an elite

few

How

does this

teach

children

respect and

protect their

natural

resources?

Save Jean Klock Park

Our legal challenge is continuing - our fight is not over!

Governor Granholm's Role

"We obviously
want to
preserve the
dunes...."
Governor
Jennifer
Granholm -
July 29, 2008.

Gee...
thanks Governor
Granholm,

We certainly
appreciate your
commitment to
preserving OUR
publicly owned
natural resources

FALL 2008

MARCH 2009