Monday, April 21, 2008

PROPAGANDA PIECE IN THE WHIRLPOOL COMPANY PAPER

[This leaves a reader with any level of humanity speechless. Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment a non-profit? Laughable if it wasn't sickening. More will be coming out about how "non-profit" this group is.]

Harbor Shores tours
4/20/08

Self-guided discovery tour available to those who want to get a better feel for project

By Herald-Palladium staff

BENTON HARBOR — People who want to get a feel for what the Harbor Shores project is all about can take a self-guided tour of the project area.

Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, the nonprofit organization behind the project, said a discovery tour of the 530-acre site is now available.

The tour consists of outdoor signs placed at various sites within the development.

To begin the tour, three gateway entrance signs list general project information. From each gateway, signs are posted at various locations to provide information about past use of the site and the proposed future use, including potential architectural renderings and infrastructure improvements such as road connections.

Also listed is the environmental impact the project is having on each location.

Each sign guides people to the project’s Web site, www. harborshoresdevelopment.org. Wendy Dant Chesser, Harbor shores trustee and president and CEO of Cornerstone Alliance, said officials found that people who drove around to look at the project had trouble understanding it without signs.

“They could see land being cleared but would not know why,” she said. “Now, everyone is able to see how each parcel plays a part of the overall Harbor Shores project.”

Marcus Robinson, Harbor Shores trustee, said smaller signs at places around the community tell how the partners in the Harbor Shores project are involved in many other projects and initiates.

“When you look at the history of the organizations that are partners in this project, you see groups that are dedicated to changing the community,” said Robinson, who is also Community Development Consortium president and CEO.

The Harbor Shores project is a mixed-use development on 530 acres in Benton Harbor, Benton Township and St. Joseph.

The development aims to revitalize the area with a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course that would become the catalyst for $400 million in residential and commercial development.

Major environmental cleanup has taken place in preparation, and the development over the years is expected to create jobs and increase tax base.

Harbor Shores is a cooperative venture of three nonprofit organizations – the Alliance for World-Class Communities, Cornerstone Alliance and Whirlpool Foundation – and the cities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Benton Township, Berrien County and the state.