Pending National Park Service Decision
Save Jean Klock Park

    On June 17th a press release was issued regarding the MDNR's
    fast-track decision to approve the revised conversion proposal
    and send it on to the National Park Service. The citizens of
    Benton Harbor and the general public did not have access to the  
    proposal, (which had been revised again at the after the
    public comment period) prior to the Benton Harbor
    commissioners voting on it submitting it to the MDNR, and  were
    not able to give their input.

    There were over 400 comments submitted during the comment
    period that were not personally responded to as promised by the
    city manager. Instead there was a "Public Comment and
    Response Document" in the materials that were voted on,
    materials that were not made public before the vote.   

    Since the National Park Service (NPS) could make their decision
    any day, we ask that the public write letters to the NPS to urge
    them to not approve the revised proposal that was submitted to
    them last week by the Department of Natural Resources. This is
    still not a done deal so Please write to the NPS as soon as
    possible! Their address is listed below.

    In addition to the information in the press release link
    above we have provided some possible talking points:

  • The revised proposal was given to the Benton Harbor city
    commission on Friday afternoon, June 6th,  prior to when many of
    them left for a  
conference in New Orleans.

  • At the city commission meeting on Monday, June 9th, several of
    the commissioners admitted they had not read the revised
    proposal, but  voted to approve the proposal anyway.

  • At the commission meeting, the public was not allowed to
    comment  until after the city commission had approved the
    proposal.

  • The citizens of Benton Harbor and the general public never saw
    or had  access to the revised proposal until Tuesday, June 7th.  
    Most had to  wait until late Friday, June 14th, or Monday,
    June16th to get a copy of the revised proposal.

Please mail your letter to the following address:

    Mr. Bob Anderson
    National Park Service
    US Department of the Interior
    601 Riverfront Drive
    Omaha, NE  68102