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Protesters Tap Water Supply At Detroit Mayor’s Mansion

August 6, 2015 Gus Burns, www.mlive.com , ,
By Gus Burns in M Live - A group of more than a dozen activists wanted to make point about water access Monday. Wearing ventilation masks and carrying signs that read, "Thousands of kids w/o water" and "Water is life," they walked up the circle drive to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's' home, the Manoogian Mansion, hooked hoses to the tap and filled up water jugs. Daymon Hartley, who photographed the protest for the People's Tribune, said the activists spent about 10 minutes filling jugs and took group photographs on the front lawn of the 4,000-square-foot riverfront home without being approached by Duggan's security detail or Detroit police; although Hartley said he saw an unoccupied, unmarked police car in the driveway. The Detroit Coalition Against Tar Sands, who are environmental protection advocates, helped organize the protest in response to the growing number of Detroit and other area residents who are forced to live without water because of shutoffs.

In Detroit, Safety Is A Privilege Enjoyed By The White & Wealthy

July 5, 2015 Patrick Sheehan, www.alternet.org , , ,
By Patrick Sheehan for Alternet. Detroit's public electric company, DTE Energy, that the local government was forced to decommission all streetlights on its residential streets. Not only did DTE cut the power to street lights in Highland Park, it sent out workers to physically dig up and remove nearly 1,000 light-poles from the neighborhood. Highland Parkers now live in permanent, debt-induced darkness. Six miles away, in Detroit’s rapidly gentrifying downtown area, DTE Energy runs a very different public policy. The same company that repossessed 1,000 streetlights from Highland Park, condemning its residents to permanent darkness, has recently launched a pro-bono security program in the increasingly white area. Safety is a privilege in Detroit. Like all privileges, it gravitates toward the white and wealthy. Decades of budget cuts to public safety services alongside concentrated investment downtown has created two Detroits: downtown, white and professional, bathed in state-of-the-art private security; and the “neighborhoods,” poor and black, where public safety has become a do-it-yourself endeavor.

‘This Is Not A Revival’: Detroiters Reclaiming City’s Image

June 30, 2015 Derrick Broze, www.mintpressnews.com , ,
By Derrick Broze in Mint Press News - Detroiters have always taken care of themselves, Caprice Wood told MintPress. She added: “It might be new for the younger generation but the older generations have been doing this their whole life.” Jaleel Muhammad, the education assistant with Earthworks, agrees, but goes a step further. He told MintPress, “There is a synergistic relationship that forms around having a garden in the center of the community.” Muhammad develops urban farming- and gardening-related curriculum for young learners at the James and Grace Lee Boggs Educational Center. He also works with a parent committee that is attempting to get healthier foods into school cafeterias. While there are legitimate criticisms to be levied against Detroit, Muhammad says more people should dig a bit further beneath the surface.

People Power Defends Detroit Homeowners

June 7, 2015 Patrick Sheehan, www.occupy.com , , ,
By Patrick Sheehan for Occupy.com. Antoinette Talley stands on a makeshift podium in the common area of a gray stone church on Detroit’s east side. As she addresses the audience, Talley is flanked by several of her neighbors, each of them recent homeowners in the new Gratiot-McDougall housing development just a few blocks north of the church. She and her neighbors have been fighting a dubious eviction notice from the project’s developer for months now. Today they are guests of honor at a fundraiser held on their behalf by the activist organization Detroit Eviction Defense. “Those houses are a part of us,” Talley tells the supporters, “That’s our family. And it would destroy me to have to leave my family behind and go somewhere else. You have all warmed our hearts, so thank God for fighting with us day in and day out.”

Detroit Is Starting To Shut Off People’s Water Again

May 31, 2015 Rob Wile, www.fusion.net , , ,
By Rob Wile at Fusion. The City of Detroit began shutting off water access to residents behind on payments Tuesday, with thousands at risk of losing access. According to the Detroit Free Press, 64,769 delinquent residential customers owe the city’s water department a combined $48.9 million. The city started sending out shut-off warnings May 11. According to theFree Press, Mayor Mike Duggan is proceeding with the shutoff orders over the wishes of city council members, who voted on May 12 to freeze the shutoff until an assistance plan to help affected residents was enacted. Last year, the United Nations warned the city that the shutoffs were violations of residents’ human rights, and called on the city to stop them and reconnect their houses. “None of those things happened,” Kauchek said. Detroit residents are not the only ones facing water shut-offs: In March, Baltimore residents began receiving turn-off notices; according to theBaltimore Sun, 25,000 water customers are delinquent.

43% Of Detroit Homes Could Lose Water Service

May 12, 2015 Curt Guyette, www.aclumich.org , ,
Last August, after Detroit's mass water shutoffs had attracted international condemnation, Mayor Mike Duggan implemented a 10-point plan he said would provide significant help. "It's taken a lot of effort to get to this point, but I truly think we're in a situation now where if you want to pay your bill we've made it easier, and if you're truly in need we're going to get you to the right place," Duggan said at the time. "I think for the great majority of people in this town the whole process will get a lot better.” More than nine months later, here’s what “a lot better” looks like: Of the city’s 170,493 residential customers, 73,457 were at least 60 days past due as of the end of February.

The Truth About The Detroit Water Shutoffs

April 20, 2015 Matthew Kovac, www.occupy.com , , ,
Ever since the City of Detroit started shutting off water to low-income residents last summer in what United Nations investigators denounced as a human rights violation, city officials have maintained that they are simply responding to Detroiters’ failure to pay their bills. Now it’s looking like that’s not the case. The independent investigative outlet Motor City Muckraker recently revealed that the city had shut off water to residents with up-to-date bills, including a Detroit Free Press editor. When called on it, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) told Muckraker that a clerical error resulted in 11 such shutoffs.

The Truth About The Detroit Water Shutoffs

April 10, 2015 Matthew Kovac, www.progressmichigan.org , , ,
Ever since the City of Detroit started shutting off water to low-income residents last summer in what United Nations investigators denounced as a human rights violation, city officials have maintained that they are simply responding to Detroiters’ failure to pay their bills. Now it’s looking like that’s not the case. The independent investigative outlet Motor City Muckraker recently revealed that the city had shut off water to residents with up-to-date bills, including a Detroit Free Presseditor. When called on it, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) toldMuckraker that a clerical error resulted in 11 such shutoffs. But that story didn’t hold up, either.

This City Could Become The Next Detroit

April 6, 2015 Carl Gibson, www.thinkprogress.org , , ,
Starting this week, 25,000 households in Baltimore will suddenly lose their access to water for owing bills of $250 or more, with very little notice given and no public hearings. Rita, a renter in Southeast Baltimore who asked to remain anonymous for this story in order to protect her two children from being taken away, told ThinkProgress she was served with a shutoff notice last week. Maryland law states that a child that is “neglected” may be taken out of his or her home and put into foster care. One characteristic of “neglect” as defined by the Maryland Department of Human Resources is a child with “consistently poor hygiene” that is “un-bathed, [having] unwashed or matted hair, noticeable body odor.”

This Year Let’s Not Let Detroit Shut Off The Water

April 2, 2015 Justin Wedes, www.justinwedes.com , ,
This year, let’s not let them just concede minor points. We have the opportunity to fundamentally restructure the way water is distributed and governed in metro Detroit, and we need to seize it. It is time to seriously consider both income-based rate structures and a meaningful debt amnesty program for long-delinquent accounts. Treating water as a commodity or luxury item that must be paid for or it will be withdrawn leads to the illogical conclusion that those who can’t find work can’t have water. If the city can’t guarantee a job to all of us who want to work, how can it demand a water bill? The only possible answer is: it can’t, and we won’t let it. Solving Detroit’s water affordability crisis isn’t just about more financial assistance, it’s about job creation. Detroit is in desperate need of fixing, but can’t seem to come up with the funds to fix itself.

Regime Change In Detroit

March 27, 2015 Thrasher, www.planeideas.blogspot.com , ,
There were no loud explosions nor chaos in the streets,troops did not flood the avenues and enclaves of the city. A manifesto was not distributed by air drop nor was there a state of martial law issued. A coup took place in Motown a ' regime change' in the post industrial rust belt has been installed. In the post industrial era of America political, cultural, and economic realities are unlike anything our country has experienced. The very fabric of life in this era is altered by the forces of technology and the global marketplace. Traditional platforms of interaction with elected officials has been fundamentally altered. The State has now replaced the local elected legislatures ( city councils) and the core of power.

Detroit Resistance To Neo-Liberal Assault

March 24, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.clearingthefogradio.org , , , ,
In March, 2013, Detroit was placed under the control of an appointed emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, despite protests from local residents. Facing a severe financial crisis, the city later filed Chapter 9 Bankruptcy. Several years prior to the emergency manager for the city, the Governor replaced the school board with an appointed manager, Robert Bob, who made cuts to the budget and closed schools. The Detroit public school board members continue to meet ‘in exile’ and protest these school cuts. We’ll speak with Lamar Lemmons, a past president and current member of the school board in exile. We’ll also speak with Miss Beulah Walker, an amazing volunteer who works with the Detroit Water Brigade bringing water to those who have had their water turned off and helping to pay their bills. Miss Beulah also volunteers helping homeless people in Detroit.

Detroit Stops Residential Water Cut-Offs

March 18, 2015 Christine Ferretti, www.detroitnews.com , ,
The city’s water department this week plans to step up enforcement of overdue business accounts to collect tens of millions in lost revenue, but it won’t shut off residential water until a proven safety net is in place. Although there are 26,000 residential accounts with outstanding balances, officials said they will target commercial accounts first. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is seeking compliance from 2,044 delinquent commercial accounts to avoid shut-offs. Those customers owe DWSD about $20 million, said Bill Nowling, spokesman for a new regional water authority set to go into effect in July. The department will also go after some 8,355 accounts that have been deemed illegal hookups — in which the water has been shut off at a meter but is still showing water usage. The water thefts account for about $13.6 million owed to DWSD, he said.

Detroit Water Brigade Part Of Larger Struggle

February 9, 2015 Demeeko Williams, www.detroitnews.com , , ,
The largest nurses union in the country declared Detroit in a “public health emergency,” with an infant mortality rate higher than Mexico. The Irish Parliament brought us to Dublin to testify. Even The Hulk himself, actor Mark Ruffalo, came to Detroit to turn the water back on. Occupy Wall Street stands behind the people of Detroit because Wall Street bondholders stand behind the water shutoff program. In reality, we’ve been on the front lines of this real crisis, bringing emergency relief to thousands of Detroiters pushed to the brink by utility cutoffs, foreclosure, crumbling public services and mass joblessness.

Photo Essay: Detroit Violates Human Rights To Residents

January 19, 2015 Balazs Gardi, www.azdarya.com , ,
Although Detroit sits next to one-fifth of the world’s freshwater supply, earlier this year the city decided to cut the water off from its residents who cannot not afford to pay for it. I have travelled to almost all continents in the past decade photographing stories of conflict over water and I have witnessed vicious violence between people struggling for survival. Yet the unnecessary violation of the human right to water in the world’s most powerful country shocks me the most. “Rather than forcefully displacing people in these outer areas we have convenient policies and systems in place that are doing it anyway.” says Michele Oberholtzer, a writer, engineer and environmentalist and founder of the Tricycle Collective.
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