NYT Magazine on the 2nd life for Benton Harbor, Mich: Golf destination

[Howard Riefs]

From the upcoming NYT Magazine...   7,300 words on the 2nd life of Whirlpool factory town Benton Harbor and the Nicklaus-designed Harbor Shores.

"Now That the Factories Are Closed, It’s Tee Time in Benton Harbor, Mich."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/magazine/benton-harbor.html?ref=magazine

[Jud_T]

I know there were lots of environmental issues, but it would have been nice to be able to employ some of the locals as caddies instead of building another high-end cart-ball course amongst the scores of unemployed.  Wonder how many local juniors are taking advantage of that $75 bargain rack rate (cart included!)...

[Ross Harmon]

I know there were lots of environmental issues, but it would have been nice to be able to employ some of the locals as caddies instead of building another high-end cart-ball course amongst the scores of unemployed.  Wonder how many local juniors are taking advantage of that $75 bargain rack rate (cart included!)...

Yeah, they certainly didn't do too much to help the community get access. I know a retired guy in the area and asked him last year if he's played the course yet. "Nope, can't afford it." Should be better access for local youth, as well as retirees. But, that's business, I guess.

[Tom_Doak]

Isn't this just really good corporate p.r. being facilitated by the NY Times as editorial content?

[JC Jones]

Isn't this just really good corporate p.r. being facilitated by the NY Times as editorial content?

Don't be so cynical, Tom.  Our "media" outlets would never serve as PR mouthpieces for the corporations who support them as paid subscriptions plummet. 

[PCCraig]

I must of read a different article than Tom & JC, because I don't know how that article resembles anything close to Corporate P.R.

I've spent a fair amount of time in Benton Harbor and the general "Michiana," and it's very sad to see what's happened to the area. While people can say what they want about the whole Harbor Shores development, I shudder to think what the area's future would look like without it. It's a horrible time to be selling weekend homes, obviously, and personally I think the development is way overdone and the home styles don't look great...so it might be a few years before the development comes close to taking off. It does have plenty going for it though in that the area features some amazing Sand Dunes and beaches along Lake Michigan, and it's only 2 hours from downtown Chicago.

Either way, I thought it was an interesting read.

Jud,

As to the golf course and it's "walkability," I walked it carrying my bag the one time I played the course, despite the warnings of the course's employees. To be honest, it's not a walking course at all, because the green to tee hikes are close to a mile long. However, it's hard to knock Jack's firm for the routing considering they were given literally random blocks of torn down warehouses and industrial waste to route a golf course through. No golf course architect in the world could of made the routing walkable with the land given.

[Howard Riefs]

It's even the cover story, with a bold design:

I must of read a different article than Tom & JC, because I don't know how that article resembles anything close to Corporate P.R.

You're right, Pat. I talked to a friend in the PR dept at Whirlpool, who said the NYT reporter pursued the story on his own.

[Andy Troeger]

Pat,
I think that's a very good post. I didn't love the golf course, but I think given a bunch of rather "random" parcels of land that its about as good as could be expected. I also think its an improvement in a community that needs it, so even if its not perfect its good to see the effort being made to improve the area and I certainly hope it works for them. I do wish they'd offer some kind of a discount to the locals to play the course, however, especially during slower times.

[PThomas]

I also agree with Pat's post re the routing, but I just wonder how the course will make it at the current prices.

I also thought it was a VERY difficult course, both tee to green and on the greens.....I wonder if that will scare away repeat play

[Tom_Doak]

That cover seems REALLY weird to me.  Perhaps if Jack just built a ton of golf courses, the economy would recover nationwide?

[Jud_T]

Perhaps if Jack just built a ton of golf courses, the economy would recover nationwide?

He has.  It hasn't. 

[Ronald Montesano]

A) Typo...they meant "Jock Nicklaus."

B) When J.C. smells a conspiracy, he runs with it. Checked online subscription advertising and sales lately, Mr. Jones?

C) The retirees and the juniors should be the support structure of the entire golf sales operation. What attraction to Benton-Harbor-As-Resort-Town exists beyond the golf course?  Enlighten me...

D) How many years open? Isn't this about the time when the three-year plan at bloated subscription rates drops to a more manageable green fee? That's what I've seen in WNY during our boom, from 2001-2010.

[Terry Lavin]

Alex Kotlowitz would probably be cynical.

[Ken Fry]

I don't live far from Benton Harbor.  I

have played about a dozen rounds at Harbor Shores.  After reading the article and the posts thus far, I have a few comments.

My biggest complaint is the course can't be walked in normal play.  They had land constraints and the routing shows that.  Otherwise, I enjoy the course very much.

The course was NOT built to be played by locals.  There are plenty of affordable golfing options in the area.  Crying that the project doesn't allow local play is BS.  I doubt everyone that lives in Spartanburg, SC can afford a BMW just because they're manufactured there.

Harbor Shores will have a massive First Tee Program, one of only a few in this part of the country.  The project requires at least 50% of the staff at Harbor Shores must be residents of Benton Harbor.  Who else has brought jobs to the area like that?

People like to bring up East Lake in Atlanta as a great model.  Take a closer look at that project.  It pushed out the local residents to make way for high end housing.  It's a private club that few people even in Atlanta can belong to.  Was that project built for the betterment of the locals??

I laughed reading the article when the comment was made that all this project will bring in for jobs will be low-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, carrying golf bags or cutting grass.  As opposed to living off some government welfare program?!?!  There's a snapshot of the local beliefs in Benton Harbor.

What Benton Harbor is trying to do is smart.  Across a nondescript bridge sits the city of St. Joseph.  It's a beautiful small town with wonderful parks and tourist spots to enjoy.  It's been nationally ranked as a retirement destination.  Driving out the crime, drug problems and violence is the only way Benton Harbor has a future.  If the Harbor Shores project can be a catalyst to that, outstanding.

It worked at East Lake.....

Ken

[Terry Lavin]

My family had a summer home near Benton Harbor for many years. Ken is right in pointing out the dichotomy between BH and St. Joe. That's why I referenced Alex Kotlowitz who wrote a stunning book about the two towns entitled "The Other Side of the River.". Whirlpool is being a great corporate citizen and Nicklaus and First Tee will surely help but the malaise of Benton Harbor won't be solved by ANY golf course, much less Harborr Shores. It's not a destination course and Benton Harbor isn't a place that draws tourists. Plaudits for trying, but Benton Harbor needs manufacturing jobs not seasonal golf resort jobs.

[Jim_Kennedy]

The folks who work as "Team Assemblers", like those at an automobile plant or those making appliances, are used to fairly good wages that include benefits. For instance, new hires at the BMW plant in SC make $15.00 per hour, with room for improvment as time on the job increases. I'd imagine that building appliances for Whirlpool had the same sort of wage structure, instead of the "low-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, carrying golf bags or cutting grass" that developments offer.  If you expect people to be "opposed to living off some government welfare program" you have to provide them a job that offers wages which exceed those of such programs.

It's troubling that 146 million Americans are living at low incomes or at incomes below the poverty line.  That's nearly half of our population, and I don't think half of us are losers. 

[Mike_Young]

People like to bring up East Lake in Atlanta as a great model.  Take a closer look at that project.  It pushed out the local residents to make way for high end housing.  It's a private club that few people even in Atlanta can belong to.  Was that project built for the betterment of the locals??

It worked at East Lake.....

Ken

East Lake built plenty of section 9 housing and out of the 700 families that left almost 650 moved back with a zero tolerance policy for problems in the housing project.  And it was a complete socio-economic mix.  And on top of tht the Charter Drew School has been a success.
We must have read different outcomes...

[Brad Klein]

Tom Doak,

Read the article, it's a devastating account, more about the politics of the place than the golf course itself. I wrote a very critical account of the virtually unplayable golf course. That's just a small part of the liabilities of this plan. Nobody can come away from the article feeling good or optimistic about the place.

http://www.golfweek.com/news/2011/jan/25/community-hangs-its-revival-hopes-harbor-shores/

Brad Klein

 

[Terry Lavin]

Tom Doak,

Read the article, it's a devastating account, more about the politics of the place than the golf course itself. I wrote a very critical account of the virtually unplayable golf course. That's just a small part of the liabilities of this plan. Nobody can come away from the article feeling good or optimistic about the place.

http://www.golfweek.com/news/2011/jan/25/community-hangs-its-revival-hopes-harbor-shores/

Brad Klein

I totally agree, and it's a shame, but let's face it, trying to use a high-end golf resort to turn around a blighted community is a bit of a stretch, even if the economy was in great shape when it came to fruition.  Unfortunately for the planners, the economy went to hell just when this place was getting finished.  Unfortunately for us, we are left with this golf course, which by most credible accounts, is a bit of a disaster.  Seeing this development become fodder for carnival barkers like Sharpton and Maddow is tragi-comic, that's for sure.
 

[bstark]

"I laughed reading the article when the comment was made that all this project will bring in for jobs will be low-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, carrying golf bags or cutting grass.  As opposed to living off some government welfare program?!?!  There's a snapshot of the local beliefs in Benton Harbor."   

Isn't the Times mindset amazing? Decades of failed public assistance programs have brought upon the current circumstances in Benton Harbor and they dismiss the stimulus as "not good enough". How do people with little or no education start out? By taking jobs that may be considered menial by the upper strata and working hard day in and day out. The liberal slant minimizes the importance of working and being employed. In my opinion the locals should be estatic that any development has interest in creating a foothold. There are many other municipalities that would kill for an opportunity like the one developing in Benton Harbor.

[Ken Fry]

East Lake built plenty of section 9 housing and out of the 700 families that left almost 650 moved back with a zero tolerance policy for problems in the housing project.  And it was a complete socio-economic mix.  And on top of tht the Charter Drew School has been a success.
We must have read different outcomes...

Mike,

Please excuse my overly general use of East Lake to prove my point.  The East Lake project has a complex mix of infrastructure and programs I wasn't about to get into detail.  I was sure when I prepared my initial post, I would get swift response about East Lake's success.

Transforming a neighborhood or area within a city is quite different than transforming an entire city.  There's more obstacles dealing with culture than socioeconomic issues in play.  Have kids and families been helped by the East Lake project Tom Cousins has developed?  Absolutely.  They've also been able to accomplish this feat by driving the people responsible for the problems out of East Lake to go somewhere else.  What if you have a small town with no where to force those people out to?

If the golf course was not there, would East Lake have been considered?  Why not try the same project around the Techwood Drive area off Georgia Tech's campus?  The flip side of my initial post is the investment and change were spurred on by a golf course, certainly one with a great deal of history, but a golf course none the less.

Ken

[Howard Riefs]

I finally got around to reading the article, which is a devastating account of the economic, crime and political struggles of Benton Harbor.

Most curious is that Nicklaus is referenced on the cover and the article's first paragraph -- and that's it. The obvious, unasked question is to Jack: "What is the role of a golf course in reviving a struggling community?" While the writer may have attempted to contact Nicklaus for a quote, he doesnt mention it (e.g., "Nicklaus declined to comment.") in the article. 

[Ken Fry]

The folks who work as "Team Assemblers", like those at an automobile plant or those making appliances, are used to fairly good wages that include benefits. For instance, new hires at the BMW plant in SC make $15.00 per hour, with room for improvment as time on the job increases. I'd imagine that building appliances for Whirlpool had the same sort of wage structure, instead of the "low-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, carrying golf bags or cutting grass" that developments offer.  If you expect people to be "opposed to living off some government welfare program" you have to provide them a job that offers wages which exceed those of such programs.

It's troubling that 146 million Americans are living at low incomes or at incomes below the poverty line.  That's nearly half of our population, and I don't think half of us are losers. 

Jim,

The problem is manufacturing has been gone from Benton Harbor for so long, expectations from previous industry jobs can't be used as an excuse.  The area needs jobs.  Whether people like or agree with the Harbor Shores project, it has brought jobs to the area.  Now those jobs are viewed as being beneath some of the residents?  That's a cultural view that needs to be considered.

Ken

[Jim_Kennedy]

Ken,
This isn't about cultural issues, it's about people's expectations for jobs from which they'll receive a reasonable compensation. Benton Harbor is in Berrien Cty., Mi., and the living wage in that county is pegged at $8.14 for one adult. For one adult who has one child it's $16.45, two adults with no kids can 'get by' if their combined hourly wage is $13.00,  that total becomes $21.31 for two adults w/one child, and for two adults with two children it's $28.06.

Families are seen as the backbone of our country, yet why is there is such a lack of opportunities that provide them with the incomes they need to provide for themselves, i.e., jobs that pay living wages? It isn't necessarily the type of employment that working folks consider to be 'beneath' them, it's the wages, and that becomes very apparent when you look at the above info and see the cost of having kids. A single parent w/one child needs a tad over twice the hourly wage that a single person w/out children needs, and that cost continues on down the line. An $8.14 per hour job on the grounds crew might be "OK" for a single person, but add in the cost of one kid and the need rises to $16.45 per hour unless   there are assistance programs to help with the shortfall.

[Jud_T]

Families are seen as the backbone of our country

That's what they said about home ownership too.