THE CITIZEN DECE
3
By DeW.yoe Keller base a well. .
BENTO HARBOR - The Little said ·the county' pre-
regular meeting of the Citizens ent vigorou conomy is due in
for Benton Harbor large me ure' to' past con-
open d in the Library by tribution fr m Benton H r-
Commissioner-elect William bor's healthy industrial base.
Wolf, Wednesday night, He aid that at e time Benton
December 11. Wolf expressed a Harbor provided perhap "one-
de ire to open clear line of com- balf of the county' in ome.
munic tion between the busi- Commi loner - ike
11 people and cirize of Govato uggeste that Benton
Benton Harbor and their city Harbor i mi ing a bet by not
I officials. , utilizing th resources of i ..
Other commissioner welfare recipients; Accordin
incumbants re-elected and to Govato ,welti recipien
m wly elected - pre nt in- of the city shoull be given
eluded Ralph Crensha, vouchers that co ld be re-
ichael Go atos, George deemed only in the-city.
Wy ing r and Dorothy Die ey. Govato said such a move
Oth r city official and ould ge erate 12-15 million
department head pre nt in- ly 'into the city's eco-
dud d Alex Little, Director of nomy. It ould re ult in a surge
Economic Development nd of n busine overnight, he
Carl Bro n of the recr ation declared. Such a tion ould
department. require tate legislation. But,
R poDding to que tions with the pending enterprize
r garding the pr nt amount of zone efforts under way it would
tax revenue coming into the city b a real shot-in-the-arm for
of Benton Harbor, Wolf'd; th city.
"The property b is about In other matter , the bust-
1.3 million. But, actual collec- 0 people expr ed concern
tio are only about over ch things the high tur-
800,000." nover rat of city financial
Asked if Benton Harbor' officer declining ater
b . comparable to other 4epartment, lac of proper
ci tie of irnilar ize, Wolf id: pjo and street repair ,
" e are under mo t citi our ���.JeUl"l2!r�_� bomilkthe
ize." Benton Harbor has a P9P"
ulation of bout 14,000.
Royc G. Clemen ,0 ner
of Sonitrol, Inc., ed ho
much money come into the city
in th firm of fed ral gran .
And, of th t amount, he ked:
" h t percentage. goe for
dmini tration?"
Ale Littl re ponded that
dmininstr tion cos are rit
ten into each grant on a p r
pplic tion b is; "u ually from
15 to 20 percent of the total
amount of the grant," Little
id.
Clements said he feels:
"There hould be more accoun
tability in the adminWtration of
federal grants."
Little answered that: "Every
penny of (I deral funds must be
accounted for to the federal
gov roment. However, it it
important for u to be viPnt in
requiring strict accountability."
He added that: "If HUD fmds
that any grant monie have been
mi pent, it will require the
money to be refunded by the
r pon ible parties."
According to Little: "In the
future federal grant will no lon
er be a problem, for th y ill
no longer e . t,"
Spe ing to n audience of
some 50-60 people, Little
declared that the s te of
ichigan and Berrien County
hould provide Benton Harbor
. th a direct sub idy of • 3-'
million over the ne t 5 years.
Accordin to Little, such an
infu ion of money into the city's
coffer ould not only allow it
to provide a r onable level of
me ,but it ould help to
make Benton Harbor a 1£
reliant community. And, in
turn, it ould improve the tate
and county portion of the tax
Little admonished tho e pre
sent not to waste time trying to
allocat blame for past mistakes
of city officials. "Hi tory has its
importance in terms of not re
peating mistakes," Little ser
ted. "But, recriminations about
what happened 10 years ago are
orth about 50 cents, and that
will buy you a cup of coffee."
Robert Jack on, chairman of
the Benton Harbor Enterprize
Zone Council, relayed the status
of the enterpriz zone legisla
tion in the state House of Rep
resentatives. The main enter
prize bill has been reported out
of committee de ignating Ben
ton Harbor as a pilot zone, he
id,
According to Jac on, enter
prize zone are et up to revital
ize depressed urban areas
through tax breaks and regula
tory relief.
Michigan State Univer ity
( SU) profe or, Dr. John
Sweitzer, ho heads the MSU
Benton H rbor Demonstration
Project, said that the number of
people attending the meeting
(of the CNBH) is an encour g
ing ign for the city of Benton
Harbor.
Wolf do ed the meeting on a
note of optimi m, telling his
udience that aving Benton
Harbor ill not be e y. "But if
e ttack our problems rather
than attack individuals we can
ork it out."
�:'I'ftmi mith named
ional group
E T
mie S
and �:ret:ary
To nship ( Ich.) Housing
Commi 'on, has been named to
rve a two- 'at term on the
Housing Committee of the
atio ciation of Hous-
ing R velopment Offi-
cials. _
'AMRO, � 'a non-profit
association, -: 'p�e nta mor
than 2,200 1 public housing
anc!. co U:Jlity development
encie , more than 5,000
individual professionals work
ing in the \ housing and com
munity development field
throughout the nation. The
as!lOCIlati main' i head
quarters'in Washington, D.C.
Smith has served Execu-
tive Director of the Ho ins
Commi ion I for the last n
year .
A a member of the AHRO
Housing Coinmittee, Smith will
play ,a role in developtng
NAHRO's policy in housin -
related issues.
CItizen read ra.
IRACLE OF THE
LEAD POISO ING HITS BLAC KIDS
HARDEST
AFRICAN DOCTORS CHALLENGE
AIDS ORIGIN THEORY
During arc nt confer nce on AID (Acquired Irnrr unc
D fici ncy Syndrome) in Bru el, n angry r up 0 tri an
d ctor chall ng d th theory that th fatal dis a. had It"
origin in cen tral Africa. Th doc r i ued a pa p r hi h read
in part that rec nt studi ' did nth . any
evidenc that AID originated in fri ."
BLACK SECT
BERS INDICTED
BIG JOE TUR ER DIES
Blue singer BigJoe Turner is dead. He died December 2,
at the ge of74. Turner as best known for the rock and roll
classic "Shake, Rattle and Roll."