Nearly Half Of Detroit Water Customers Can’t Pay Their Bill

[Ptarmigan]

Nearly Half Of Detroit Water Customers Can’t Pay Their Bill
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/06/23/nearly-half-of-detroit-water-customers-cant-pay-their-bill/

DETROIT (WWJ) – It’s a basic human right: water. But could the United Nations soon help the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department provide the service to struggling customers?

Water department spokeswoman Curtrise Garner says it’s a possibility — but for now, the water bills must be paid.

“We do have programs that do help those that are just totally in need; can’t afford it — but we also know that there are also people who can’t afford it would can not pay and we know this because, once we shut water off, the next day they are in paying the bill in full. So we do know that that has become a habit as well,” said Garner.

Well gees, it is Detroit  and UN has to get involved. No wonder why that city is so broke.

[Big Dog]

DETROIT (WWJ) – It’s a basic human right: water.

The article begins with a lie.

[thundley4]

The DUmmies blamed republicans for this. 

[JohnnyReb]

Can't or won't pay......there's a $75 charge to turn the water back on here. I know because they tried to charge me that for their mistake.
I pay 2 water bills with one check. The girl put the entire amount on one bill leaving me with one bill paid in advance and one bill unpaid one month.

Does Detroit have a "turn it back on" fee?

[Eupher]

The article begins with a lie.

Yup. That's the first thing that jumped out at me.

We need water to survive. But water isn't a right.

WWJ in Detroit used to be the NBC affiliate back in the Sixties. They appear to have gone over to the See BS network, which is just as bad.

[obumazombie]

The scope of basic human rights is expanding.
Some would say exponentially...

(CNSNews.com) --
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member Michael O'Rielly says it is "ludicrous to compare Internet access to a basic human right."

“Human rights are standards of behavior that are inherent in every human being,” O’Rielly said Thursday in a speech to the Internet Innovation Alliance, a coalition of business and non-profit organizations.

“They are the core principles underpinning human interaction in society.
These include liberty, due process or justice, and freedom of religious beliefs.

“I find little sympathy with efforts to try to equate Internet access with these higher, fundamental concepts,” O'Rielly stated.

Internet access is not even a day-to-day necessity, the commissioner added. 

“It is important to note that Internet access is not a necessity in the day-to-day lives of Americans and doesn’t even come close to the threshold to be considered a basic human right,” O’Rielly said.

“People do a disservice by overstating its relevancy or stature in people’s lives.
People can and do live without Internet access, and many lead very successful lives,” he continued.

“Instead, the term ‘necessity’ should be reserved to those items that humans cannot live without, such as food, shelter, and water.”

His comments come shortly after the commission’s June 18 vote to extend the “Lifeline” telephone subsidy to Internet access.
The $9.25 monthly subsidy was originally enacted in 1985 to subsidize landline telephone access for low-income Americans.
A proposal to expand the subsidy to help pay for Internet access passed on a 3-2 party line vote.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said at the time that applying the subsidy to Internet service was necessary to “ensure that all Americans have access to vital communications services.”

He also bemoaned the fact that around one-third of Americans do not have high speed Internet and described it as a class issue, saying, “Nearly 30 percent of Americans still don’t have broadband at home, and low-income consumers disproportionately lack access.”


Polling data suggests that while some Americans may not have access to broadband Internet, most do have access to some form of Internet.

A study published by Pew Research in September found that just 15 percent of Americans reported not using the Internet at all, while only three percent reported that they did not use the Internet due to financial reasons.

And one-third of those without any access to Internet simply “are not interested, do not want to use it, or have no need for it,” Pew reported.

full article...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/rudy-takala/fcc-commissioner-internet-access-not-basic-human-right

[libertybele]

Yes the conservatives of course will be blamed; it's the liberal way.  Meanwhile many liberals are attached to all the "socialist perks" that they now have... they get food via food stamps ... assistance on housing ... so...why in the hell should they have to pay for water?  This is only the beginning of convincing the liberal leftist mental midgets that the GOP doesn't want the poor to have water or food.  We are on a pathway by this administration to not only redistribute wealth but redistribute our natural resources by more regulations and taxes.

[Eupher]

it's easy to see how the proglodytes and obamaphonites see internet access as being a "basic human right" when you see how these people, who are on SNAP, welfare, and other types of government assistance, live in a decrepit trailer or Section 8 housing, yet drive a late-model car with lots of bling and never go anywhere without their new smart phone.

They don't feed their kids properly (or feed them junk food) and don't understand how even to balance a checkbook.

But access to the internet is a "basic human right."

Uh huh.     

[obumazombie]

it's easy to see how the proglodytes and obamaphonites see internet access as being a "basic human right" when you see how these people, who are on SNAP, welfare, and other types of government assistance, live in a decrepit trailer or Section 8 housing, yet drive a late-model car with lots of bling and never go anywhere without their new smart phone.

They don't feed their kids properly (or feed them junk food) and don't understand how even to balance a checkbook.

But access to the internet is a "basic human right."

Uh huh.     

And plenty of money for tattoos,
Cigarettes, and any other form of tobacco,
Weed, and other illicit drugs,
Alcohol,
Cover charges at any club,
Numbers,
Rims and wheels,
And just about any other vice you can imagine.

[the county]

Water isn't a basic human right but it's a basic human need. The city should find a way to subtract the due amount next time the EBT is loaded up.