Three years ago Whirlpool flew all of the Benton Harbor city commissioners to Atlanta where they were wined and dined for a weekend. ?After this junket, the commissioners agreed to sell Whirlpool 530 acres of Benton Harbor land for less than one million dollars. ?

On May 21, 2007, Governor Granholm came to the city of Benton Harbor, Michigan to give Whirlpool her blessing to the development project. As reported in the May 22 Herald Palladium, David Whitwan, the former CEO of Whirlpool said, "Today, we are pleased to announce the real beginning of a project called Harbor Shores."?

'It is more than bricks and mortar and a Jack Nicklaus golf course,' Granholm said at the evening celebration. Indeed it is. ?Harbor Shores is to consist of the 18 holes Nicklaus Signature Golf Course; about 860 units of high-priced housing; a 350-room hotel, conference center and 60,000-square-foot members-only indoor water park; another hotel; 27,000 square feet of commercial and retail space; and two marinas."? ?

Jack Nicklaus' design involvement in the Harbor Shores gentrification project began over four years ago. ?Nicklaus' company reviews dozens of potential projects worldwide every year and does not engage in all of them, but Harbor Shores was very appealing.?First of all, the project involved 530 acres of beautiful, cheap land. Second, three holes of the course would be on Benton Harbor's Jean Klock Park beach. Without these holes, the course and overall development would fall short of being able to be marketed as a world class destination.

The development project in Benton Harbor, a city controlled by Whirlpool, will convert our Jean Klock Park beach, the only place in the city that provides public access to Lake Michigan, into a golf course for the very rich. Jean Klock Park beach provides the only place where the African-American residents of Benton Harbor can freely enjoy the environment, open space dunes and on the beautiful beach of the Lake within Benton Harbor city limits. The environmental impact of the proposed private golf course will be devastating to the African-American community. ?Filling wetlands will likely have a negative impact on the environment of the community. Golf courses are notorious for their use of pesticides and herbicides. That usage, along with the runoff from the golf course, would have a detrimental impact on city residents, waterways, and wildlife. ?

My question to the governor: ?what if the governor of Michigan spent a fraction of the taxpayers' dollars she is pouring into Harbor Shores on employment and education for the residents of Benton Harbor? ? Corporate greed is placed ahead of the peoples' need. ?Let us fight this takeover.