TU TOPG6
VOL. II O. 16
ARCH 26· APRIL 1, 1980
SERVING TRI-COUNTV SOUTHWESTERN ICHIGA
lOC
Will m e opening remar s
folIo ed by David Turner
o the Economic Develop­
ment Office, ichigan
Dep rtment of Commerce
ho�will pe on "Down-
town De elopment echan-
sultant for the ichigan
Tr vel Bureau will h ve
'Tour' m a Downtown
Developm nt Tool' for
his topic.
George Dunn, execu­
tive director of th Cereal
City Development Corpor -
tion, Battle Creek will d­
dre the group on "Super­
bloc " and Bill Lilly f the
city' economic d lop­
men t office will conclude
the program.
"Organizing for Down-
own Action - Confer-
ence on Do ntown De­
velopment in Benton Har­
bor" is th biect of a
city spon r d m ting,
Friday, arch 28, from 1
to 4 p.m. at th library.
public is invited
to he four er on
topic re ting to planning
d fmancing rede elop­
ment of the central busi­
dl trict.
Joel P tter n
ism ."
Char Schrenk, of the
Twin Citie Area Chamber
of Commerce will pe on
Financing Downtown Pro­
. ct ."
J arne Bunce a con-'
n y and member of the
credit union board i also
cretary of the River . de
group, non-profit corpor­
tion.
Th que tion of a
po lble conflict of inter ..
e t h been bmitted to
ttomey Ge ral for
a ruling.
Officer of the group
include Lou' J ph,
to Ii t
city cler
the mem­
group
3
Former Benton Harbor
Mayor Charle F Jo ph
hit h rd at the present city
dmini tration in a spe ch
Saturday, arch 2� before
the ichigan Coalition of
Citizen Particip tion Orga­
nizations meeting at Ram -
da Inn, Benton Harbor.
Jo ph di u d the
ill affecting government
that ignore citizen parti­
cipation rangin from th
local to th n tional level.
He parti ularly bi-
ting in reference to the
recent action of ayor
Joel Patterson.
Joseph ed "Ho
can any politician say to
the people, I don't want
to t ith you? Ben­
ton Harbor h t en that
position."
In an obvious reference
to th P tterson's dumping
of Citizen Advi ory Board
member ho h ve been
critical" of him Joseph id,
l f f h d inve ted thousand
of dollar to educate citi­
zens I would count on
them, confide in th m and
encourage their support.
'In Benton Harbor, if
they don't like you, th y
get rid of you' Jo ph
said.
Joseph ho no own
and man g th Chari
F. Jo ph, In an import­
export company began his
ddre by ying, "I'm
pie d to be here. I feel
I'm a part of you.
ex perience in Ben­
ton Harbor h b n good
it's n bad' it been
indifferent - but it shorn .
T re my friends, th t'
hy I ould r tum.
'Citizen particip ti -
th t' here my heart .
that where go ernment is
that' here chan
"I n teU you if an
elected official doe not
elcome citizen participa­
tion, he i 'c or ha an
o out of control, or orne-
thin t hide. ar
citizen f r if tlC t to insure
that rn nt unction
nr:
"There' an
area in this state - Ben­
ton Harbor - that's j.n a
chaotic condition. Some
of you h ve ondered if
you had employees in city
hall or if you ere th em­
ployee.
, aybe that' hy citi-
zen don't trust governm n t
e peciaUy the poor, the
di nf ranchised the elderly
-t y fe I alienated.
itizen particip tion
is a righ t. It is not me­
thing to be pa d out hen
an official gets re dy.
"If you are excluded
from particip tion you
can be Uf1 d tha t all
intere ts but yours re pro­
tected.
"Incompetent i a key
w rd to pro t ct the con­
trolling intere t Jo ph
continu d. He e plain d
that citizens can e -
eluded on th basi tha
a non-per
Iy in nt
JOS
H p e
