Trash in Benton Harbor - An Opportunity
I look around Benton Harbor, and I see a city with all the right pieces to be something really special. Frankly, I also see a lot of trash lying around.
Last Fall, every day when I walked home from work, I would pick up a handful of wrappers and empty juice bottles from the lot next to mine. It seemed to go away over the winter, until the snow melted. Voila! There was more trash than ever - it had just been buried. The stuff is everywhere, and more of it shows up every day.
Every day, there is new trash lying on the ground. I, at least, think that is pretty profound. I mean, more trash on the ground, every day! Where is it coming from?! When will it stop?! Not only do we need to pick up all the trash, someone is also going to need to deal with all the new trash. Sounds like a pretty big J-O-B to me.
Everyone always talks about creating jobs in Benton Harbor, and everyone always complains about the lack of jobs. I laugh at this a little, because I see jobs everywhere I look! What I don't see are the people who are either qualified to do the work, or willing to get their hands dirty doing it.
Nobody in Benton Harbor wants to talk about the unglamorous jobs. Nobody wants to work in fast food, and nobody wants to pick up trash. Jobs aren't fun. That's why you get paid to do them!
Picking up trash is kind of a crummy job, and I'm sure it won't pay particularly well. But it also won't take much education or experience to do - it's the sort of job that gives someone a chance to pay their dues and move on to something better. It's also the sort of job that we should be using tax money for, because it'll end up paying for itself.
It's pretty easy to toss trash on the sidewalk in Benton Harbor, because there's already so much trash blowing around. Nobody's going to notice if you drop that wrapper, and nobody is going to notice if you carry it in your pocket until you see a trash bin. Right?
Well, nobody will notice that you personally put that specific piece of trash on the ground in that place. But people definitely notice that Benton Harbor has seen better days, and they definitely notice the trash. People see trash on the streets, and they begin to steretotype, and make assumptions about the people living here. You all know the truth in this, probably better than I do. What's worse, they start to make assumptions about the local businesses, if they even bother coming across the bridge at all. The trash blowing around makes us all look bad.
This is the sort of little thing that seems a little superficial, but I think is profoundly important. It shows the world that even though we don't have all the answers to our problems, we're going to fix the things we can fix, and do the absolute best we can with what we have. It's the sort of little thing that can set us apart from the rest of southwest Michigan, and give our local business an advantage.
It's also the sort of little thing that raises property value. Higher property value raises tax revenue. That means more money for the City. Which leads me to the next phase of my plan, and how I think we should deal with Harbor Shores.
Love,
Japhy Bartlett
japhy@doublepaw.org
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