Did I say Cliven Bundy? I meant to say Detroit.
KoKo (76,266 posts)
WTF? Cutting Off Water to Citizens of Detroit?
Published on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 by Common Dreams
Groups Appeal to UN for 'Humanity' as Detroit Shuts Off Water to Thousands
'By denying water service to thousands, Detroit is violating the human right to water.'
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
(Image: Wikimedia / CC)As thousands of people in Detroit go without water, and the city moves to cut off services to tens of thousands more, concerned organizations have taken the unusual step of appealing to the United Nations to intervene and protect the "human right to water."
“After decades of policies that put businesses and profits ahead of the public good, the city now has a major crisis on its hands, said Maude Barlow, founder of Blue Planet Project and board chair of Food & Water Watch, in a statement. “By denying water service to thousands, Detroit is violating the human right to water."
The Submission to the Special Rapporteur was released Wednesday by the Detroit People’s Water Board, the Blue Planet Project, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Food & Water Watch.
It calls for the "state of Michigan and U.S. government to respect the human right to water and sanitation" and for shut-offs to be halted, services restored, and water to be made accessible and affordable.
The report comes on the heels of the Detroit's city council's Tuesday approval of an 8.7 percent increase in water rates, part of a long-standing trend that, according to Food & Water Watch, has seen prices increase 119 percent over the past decade.
This rate hike follows an announcement in March by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department that it would start turning off water for accounts that are past due. According to a late May Director's Report from the DWSD, there were "44,273 shut-off notices sent to customers in April 2014" alone, resulting in "3,025 shut-offs for nonpayment, and additional collections of $400,000."
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who was appointed to power by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in March 2013, has aggressively pursued privatization and austerity measures across the city. "Nothing is off the chopping block, including water utilities, which are being considered for regionalization, sale, lease, and/or public private partnership and are currently subject to mediation by a federal district judge," reads the report.
"The Detroit People’s Water Board fears that authorities see people’s unpaid water bills as a 'bad debt' and want to sweeten the pot for a private investor by imposing even more of the costs of the system on those least able to bear them," the report continues.
struggling with high unemployment, a poverty rate near 40 percent, and a foreclosure crisis that has devastated and displaced people across the city, hitting Detroit's African American community especially hard.
"When delinquent corporate water lines are still running without collection of funds, it demonstrates a level of intentional disparity that devalues the lives of the people struggling financially," said Lila Cabbil, President Emeritus of the Rosa Parks Institute, which is part of the People’s Water Board. "Where is our compassion? Where is our humanity?"
_http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/06/18-7
The UN, huh?
That's be a good way to get a bunch of blue hats filled full of holes.
gollygee (15,011 posts)
3. How the people of Detroit are being treated
and how they have been treated for decades is nothing short of shameful. And state-wide I don't think people in Michigan overall have much compassion for the people of Detroit. It's really painfully sad.
Because the people of Detroit willingly and greedily gobbled up the bullshit fed to them by the Dems.
Demo_Chris (6,183 posts)
6. I must be missing something. Everywhere I have lived, you don't pay your water or power...
They cut it off. Why should the people of Detroit be an exception?
truth2power (7,714 posts)
7. What I would like to say to you would get my post hidden, for sure...
<sigh>
Demo_Chris (6,183 posts)
24. Control yourself answer the question...
Every place I have lived, every single one, you either pay your utilities or they cut you off. No exceptions. I've had them cut off myself. I have a friend who loses his seems like every winter. It's not unique to Detroit, it would be weird if it wasn't that way.
So what do you propose? Should the citizens of Detroit be on the "Pay if you feel like it" plan?
Ed Suspicious (2,670 posts)
44. When your city is gutted by fleeing industry, you have to make some exceptions. The government
should be in service of serving the people. People need water. What happens when one's water is cut off. I've had my power cut off, but you live days without water, that's it. It could literally be a death sentence to the destitute.
And of course water just magically materializes.
WCLinolVir (757 posts)
47. How about they manage a public resource and charge accordingly.
And with this model in mind, corporations pay more since they are making profits off of a public resource. And we have a system that takes into account the ability of people to pay.
Gee, you make corporations sound so necessary to the life of the people.
Maybe you should stop chasing them away.
Demo_Chris (6,183 posts)
68. So your solution...
The corporations that haven't fled to pay more (thus encouraging them to leave), and the non-existent taxpayers to pick up the slack, all so that Detroit can implement a "pay if you feel like it" plan. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
And when the last remaining water line fails because there's no money to repair it, what magical solution will you offer? Detroit's problem is that they have a major city's worth of streets and plumbing and wires and vacant buildings, but little money to do anything but slow the inevitable collapse. They can't even afford to put out the fires. The city, just like the people who live there, is broke.
WinkyDink (40,577 posts)
79. "there's no money." I love that one! Especially when I think of the Pentagon!
The only thing the Pentagon should do about Detroit is put it out of its misery.
Welibs (157 posts)
8. That's TREASONOUS!
What?
WinkyDink (40,577 posts)
9. And this, folks, is why the 1% want to own our water.
Why would anyone want to own a resource the consumers don't pay for?
joeglow3 (4,985 posts)
28. There is a significant cost that goes into getting purified water to your house
To expect it to be free is not reasonable.
I would like to see general taxes pay for more, but there needs to be a cost based on usage. If not, people would water the shit out of their lawn, waste water while showering, etc. by charging something, it provides an incentive for people to not be wasteful.
WCLinolVir (757 posts)
50. Really, it's filtered? I suppose technically it is.
With all the crap that is in our municipal supply, it has been deemed not safe for people with immune disorders.
joeglow3 (4,985 posts)
55. Then I invite you to drink directly out of a river or pond
Good luck with that.
WCLinolVir (757 posts)
69. If it had not been polluted, I would.
The polluting industries provided union jobs.
Buzz Clik (30,627 posts)
21. This thread is truly ridiculous.
What would be the monthly bill for water and sewage? $25? $50? Even if it were $100 per month, those who are delinquent have chosen other things as higher priorities. These customers are not being denied the "human right" to water, they are being denied free water.
Pay your bill, and the water comes on. Do without something that won't kill you if you don't have it -- you cannot live without water, so pay your bill.
This is not difficult.
And on it goes.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025118923Remember: Cliven Bundy was a traitor who deserved to be gunned down by US troops because he didn't pay a million dollars for grass growing in the wild but people expect water treatment plants, piping infrastructure and the manpower to keep it all running to be provided for free.
