Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Jonathan Mahler publishes important piece about Benton Harbor

Michigan Stands for Democracy
www.eclectablog.com
Eclectic blogging for a better tomorrow
"For most of the summer, Jonathan Mahler has been working on an article for the New York Times Magazine about Benton Harbor. At one point, my wife and I met him there over pizza and beers to give him a bit of our perspective, primarily as outside observers unhappy with the new powers granted the city's Emergency Manager Joe Harris.

The piece will be published this weekend in print form and is now available online. It is titled "Now That the Factories Are Closed, It’s Tee Time in Benton Harbor, Mich."

I think it is a very well-researched and well-written piece. I'm certain that many of the players involved in Benton Harbor will be unhappy with it which may, in some ways, be a testament to how fair the article is.

Emergency Manager Joe Harris comes across as a both arrogant and happy-go-lucky. He seems aloof if not almost unaware of the desperation just outside his window as he goes on with his bean counter's task of balancing the books." Ecletablog