“There are severe consequences,” said Bill Johnson, a spokesman for Detroit's water and sewerage department. “People are making things worse for themselves. The penalties may be more than the actual bill." (read more)
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
"It's a life-or-death situation"
“You're going to do what you have to do to get water back on in your home,” said Valerie Blakely, a community organiser and mother of five whose overdue bill stands at more than $1,000. “As far as I'm concerned, what the city is doing is the illegal activity. You're not going to come and put us in a life-or-death situation and not have us act like we are fighting for our own survival.”
“There are severe consequences,” said Bill Johnson, a spokesman for Detroit's water and sewerage department. “People are making things worse for themselves. The penalties may be more than the actual bill." (read more)
“There are severe consequences,” said Bill Johnson, a spokesman for Detroit's water and sewerage department. “People are making things worse for themselves. The penalties may be more than the actual bill." (read more)
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33 comments:
Socialism leads to shortages.
Who knew?
Interesting race baiting agit-prop piece.
I especially liked when the writer slipped into Porgy & Bess vernacular when he quoted a black speaker.
No mention of the role play by Kwame Kilpatrick, former mayor now doing time for robbing Detroit blind. Of course, he's black.
These are the same people that you saw telling everyone how happy they were about Obama being elected POTUS and now they wouldn't have to pay for their mortgages and gas...
Remember the black woman who said Obama was going to get the money "from his stash"?
Here we go, and this is from Michigan. Who knew?
Everything for free!!!!!
Well, except for us poor schlubs who work, pay taxes and actually pay our bills.
I've been paying for water since I left home decades ago. If the costs are onerous, look into it. But it never ever occurred to me that water brought to your door is free.
Oh the inhumanity of Detroit - the only place in the world where people have to pay for water.
Even a freakin' well has associated costs, but that fact is lost on the commies.
What did socialists use for light before candles?
Electric lights.
Same thing here - go fetch your water in the Detroit river, walk back to your hovel carrying it on your head.
FORWARD!
These unfortunate people have my sympathy because I think I'd just shoot myself if I ever had to choose between a hot shower and premium cable TV.
Detroit needs to be renamed Thunderdome. There are millions of people who die annually from drinking non potable water. Hundreds of millions of people in the world have no potable water.
Why don't they just print more Obama bucks to pay the water bills?
The Madison School District has let kids eat "on credit" when there was no money in their school lunch accounts for years. It now faces over $100,000 of unauthorized and uncollectable debt. Of course, being Madison, the proposed solution does not involve firing the union staff and their school administrators who facilitated the loss or even having people actually pay for the services they receive going forward, it's just "raise taxes" as always here in the Moscow of the Midwest.
ndspinelli said...
Detroit needs to be renamed Thunderdome.
You mean it isn't already? It is one tough town if you come in here and act all uppity. Not a place to act the fool, let me just say that. Yet, an idiot like me can navigate in any ghetto here and do so with reasonable confidence.
I always carry a pistol on my hip, but yet, short of some white fucking red neck thieves in the 1980's, I've never had reason to reach for it, let alone draw it. Or use it. Other than getting dressed in the morning and undressed in the night, I forget the pistol is there. That said, within the past two weeks I had a mouthy "brudder man" flash his pistol at me....it really ruined his day when I laughed out loud in his face. You must know when to holdem' and when to foldem'.
It's a behavior that matters, hell, I stumbled in the Chicago's Cabrini Green, by accident, long ago and actually had a damn good time with the folks there. I'm too dumb to be offensive perhaps?
If you realize that among the shit-heads who scream this and that there really are families with problems, then you might survive the encounter. Kevin Orr and Bill Johnson (both black BTW) have tried mightily to solve what they can and it really is working...really is working, if I may repeat. It is helped along hugely by business men like Dan Gilbert (Rock Financial and Quicken Loans) and others, but lately Dan perhaps the most....IMO anyway. I have reasons I won't discuss why I respect that guy as an honest man. The central downtown district (where my daughter lives now) and the mid-town district (near Wayne State University and the burgeoning medical centers attached thereto) are thriving and it can and will continue.
This water issue is far more complex than any of the media pundits will admit. The water department is a administrative and fiscal wreck, the scammers know it and can get away with deliberate non-payment for a while, then both meet head on and ho boy big BOOM!
Several years ago now my brother and I owned a piece of property and building in Detroit, that when we went to sell it Detroit H2O showed up (at closing) to demand $2500 for estimated readings on a unknown meter under a main city street that was attached to the building, as a secondary fire sprinkler support system (never tested as the main had always been tested for the sprinklers), and had not worked for decades...but was discovered when we asked for a shut off. Say what? I had to write out a personal check to get rid of Detroit H2O...so I do understand the frustration of the citizens, even the scammers to some extent. When it comes to a realistic evaluation of your Detroit H2O bill and usage, including "sewage" (twice as much as that for simply H2O) good luck...it is NOT possible.
However, I'd note that that land of milk and honey called Chicago has surpassed us in gratuitous violence and murder. Yay Rahm and Barack...you fucking WIN!
BTW...I am always going to support Detroit because it is where I was born and have lived most of my life.
Pay your damn bill. If you own a cell phone, get your nails done, and have extensions put into your hair, you can pay your water bill.
If you go to a bar, or buy beer at a bodega, you can pay your water bill. If you buy cigarettes, you can pay your water bill.
Pay your damn bill. Like everyone else has to do.
Haz...I agree.
But Detroit H2O is a cluster fuck that cannot be analyzed. At time, too often, the bill is bullshit.
In Brooklyn about twelve years ago the water department began reevaluating the meters and installing new ones. The building where the shop is now did not have a working meter so the water department "estimated" the bill to the tune of about $50,000.
They had to get a lawyer to fight it and finally made a settlement. Now it is true that they were paying a much lower fee for water for many years but how was that their fault? They didn't put in the meter the city did and they were the ones who made the mistake. It is totally unfair to come and demand so much money after the fact in one lump sum.
I can sympathize with some of these people. There should be some way to work this out without shutting off their water.
If paying my water bill means I can't get my keeds Air Jordans I won't do it!
Yeah, wearing jewelry and fancy clothes and carrying printed signs is not a good look when protesting one's financial obligations.
But, having dealt with city water departments, and having read a thing or two about Detroit over the years, I have a feeling they are not coming to court with clean hands, so to speak.
Oh well, we got some rain here so at least my dogs have some free water.
In my home state of Maryland even rainwater is taxed. Just tossing that out there - if yours is not taxed, count your blessings.
I expect some federal court to rule that the Congress meant to include mandatory free water provision under Obamacare. Problem solved.
If you read up on the history of municipal corruption...the water department has been at the center of it since the dawn of the Republic.
There have been countless bribery and corruption scandals in NYC with the Water Department so I bet Detroit is the same way. Urban city life is rife with corruption in the utilities. It is a way of life.
Few people have less sympathy than me for welfare queens trying to scam the government but taking water away from children is a little over the top. No matter how fucked up their parents might be. Just sayn'
but taking water away from children is a little over the top.
So..if the parents decide that they would rather spend their money on cable television, cell phones....we are expected to give them free other stuff because they can't prioritize. If I don't pay my utilities bills, I live in the dark, have no heat and have no water. Why is that different because you live in Detroit? It isn't free to provide water or anything else. There are a lot of expenses and costs.
There ARE programs for those who are truly unable to pay their utility bills. All they need to do is prove that they are among those in need.
If the parents can't provide the basic things of living, food, water.....perhaps we should remove the children from them. I mean if we are going to have to be mommy and daddy in our pocket books, why not just go the whole nine yards and let the government raise the kids?
I'm not advocating that(necessarily), but it is the ultimate result of deciding to provide everything for free....the government owns you.
Listen I agree with you DBQ. It is just that I don't trust the municipal bureaucracy. Especially in an Urban setting run by the likes of people who run Detroit. Water bills are out of control and a corrupt racket. I know this from NYC. Sure there are people gaming the system. Shut them down. But I bet a lot of people who are down on their luck in Detroit legitimately can't pay.
I mean they can provide water for the Monkey House in the Zoo for a reasonable price. There is always enough dough for the seals and polar bears and other mindless animals to swim in big pools of water for our amusement. Think of it as the same thing. It is little enough. We can spare it.
Maybe people figure that water is an entitlement?
There'd be no better way to create a water crisis than to make it free.
I mean it is a cultural thing. As Hillary says it takes a village. If they have to shut off the water to the individual houses maybe they can set up communal wells or watering holes or something. Then they can carry the water back to their houses in big jugs that they can balance on their noggins.
I saw something like that in a Johnnie Weissmuller movie once.
Did anyone read about Ben Stein being destroyed by an ex-hooker, who claims the emails he sent her asking for a cuddle were horrendously creepy? C'mon people, that's more important (and surprising) than schvartzes refusing to pay for...well, for anything.
Meanwhile.....in the State of California, the Water Board Authority is shutting off some small water districts ENTIRELY from their source of water. Their systems are being depressurized and the only recourse is to haul in water. Some of them have been given an exemption but with a quota of 50 gallons per day per household.
But...that seems to be OK because it is just a bunch of white Okie redneck farmers. Bunch of dumb hicks.
Trooper York said...
...they can set up communal wells or watering holes or something. Then they can carry the water back to their houses ... I saw something like that in a Johnnie Weissmuller movie once.
Hell, in the 60's I was deployed in places like that, even lived in one as an uppity westerner with running cold water....that I had to pay for like the others who had it did.
Johnson enraged the audience further by repeating the claim that no one who couldn't afford their bills was being cut off. “No matter what you're saying, that is not happening,” he said.
You have to read 2/3 of article to get to that part. Wow, he really knows how to piss people off.
These people are homeowners, aren't they? How the hell do you qualify for a mortgage w/o being able to pay a fuckin' water bill?
OMG! I hope those homeowners don't have to pay for their electricity, because, who couldn't live without electricity?
Please, oh please, don't ask them to pay property taxes, because that would be racist, or NOT FAIR!
Maybe the best PI flick ever, Chinatown, had a subplot about water.
What I want to know... How many of these protestors own a smart phone?
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