Another Berrien County Slum Lord

The Other Side of the Ink

Above are photos of when the ceiling first started caving in from extensive water damage. Due to the landlord's failure to fix over [an entire year], the ceiling eventually caved in.

Princella Tobias 24.JUL.08
I would love nothing better than to write great stories about the Benton Harbor Baseball Team becoming State Champs, as featured on the Front Page or share the story of how Bruce “Bruno” Zech's family celebrates his remembrance (what a great story), featured on the Education Page.

But, today, after months; no, years, of working to provide a solution for our community through the Benton Spirit Community Newspaper -- print and on-line, I am forced to share the other side of being a small business owner.

Before you read the following, I want all of our readers to know about the disrepair that I have experienced at my business and the lack of cooperation that I have received from my landlord and leaders in our community. The photograph shown is one of hundreds we have in our files for the past several years and this story is yet another efforts in our attempt to get this resolved and a brief explanation of what we are still experiencing today.

I hope my story encourages others who are facing similar situations to not give up. I have not been available to some and unable to give of myself as in the past, please do not blame my heart, but try to understand the struggle of a small business owner refusing to give in and up.

I am still left with more questions than answers/solutions.

I was told by one of our community leaders that a resolution/closure would be coming my way soon. The photograph is a small fractic of seven years of running my business in substandard conditions. I have sent letters, e-mails, telephoned my landlord, his mortgage holder, the fiduciary of property where he has received grant dollars off of Benton Harbor residents' statistics, for over two years, to no avail.

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