A city park in Benton Harbor is being renamed in honor of a former mayor.
City commissioners on Monday night voted unanimously to rename Britain Play Park, located at Britain and Pipestone, as Mayor James Hightower Play Park after the Second Ward commissioner who later served as mayor from 2011 to 2016. Mayor Pro Tem Duane Seats recalled when state emergency management of the city ended under Hightower’s leadership.
“You called us into a meeting and you said, ‘Can we get together to do what’s best for the city?’ Then we called the treasurer’s office together and the emergency manager was out of here the next few days,” Seats said. “It was through your leadership that brought that about.”
Current Mayor Marcus Muhammad said that as Hightower’s predecessor, he’s grateful for those who have served before him.
Commission meetings during Hightower’s tenure were often tense, but Hightower told the current commissioners that’s all part of serving the citizens.
“You don’t come up with the best product until you have differences of opinion, where you can air things out and come to a conclusion which is best for everyone,” Hightower said. “And I can say that was done. And many of the things that you see happening around the city, I have to take my hat off to them for carrying the torch forward.”
The commission’s resolution approving the park’s name change notes that Hightower has shown great concern for the small space over the years, often cleaning and maintaining it himself.
In addition to being a former mayor and commissioner, Hightower is the pastor of Word of Truth Ministries in Benton Harbor.
