People's Tribune: Residents win victory in park battle in Benton Harbor, Mich.

"The National Park Service has rejected the conversion proposal for Jean Klock Park! We anticipated that Harbor Shores would immediately begin preparing a revised proposal for the Park Service. The City of Benton Harbor, who submitted the conversion request, should be working with the National Park Service, instead they are relying on Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Congressman Fred Upton to aggressively appeal the decision. The Park Service denied the conversion proposal for many reasons. One was the recognition that the public was not provided a minimum 30-day period to provide comment on the environmental and community impact the proposed development would have on the park and replacement lands. We expect a 30-day comment period will begin shortly and are working to inform residents of the issues so that they can submit knowledgeable and accurate comments to the Park Service."

— Carol Drake, Friends of Jean Klock Park

We won the battle, now we must win the war

"How do you compare 22 acres of beautiful Park dunes along Lake Michigan with 47 contaminated scattered acres designated wetland in a flood plain area along the Paw Paw River? That's what Whirpool and their Harbor Shores Development Company offered the residents of Benton Harbor. The 22 acres in Jean Klock Park, are 1000% better, and by the way, the city of Benton Harbor already owns this land. How can the city replace the property that they are giving to Whirlpool, Harbor Shores Development and Jack Nicklaus with property that the city of Benton Harbor already owns? In my mind, that is called stealing. Whirlpool has been stealing from Benton Harbor for many years and now they have dragged Harbor Shores and Jack Nicklaus in with them so they are all nothing but a group of thieves. The proposal was rejected because the land was contaminated and the city of Benton Harbor owned it anyway. We won the battle, now we must win the war."

— Rev. Edward Pinkney