Detroit

Despite Calls For Humanity, Detroit Resumes Water Shutoffs

August 28, 2014 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Educate! Detroit, health, Human Rights, Water

Despite widespread public outcry and international condemnation, the city of Detroit on Tuesday resumed shutting off the water supply to thousands of city residents. Ending the month long moratorium on shutoffs, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) public affairs specialist Gregory Eno confirmed to Common Dreams that the city turned off the water to roughly 400 households that are delinquent on their water bills and have not yet set up a payment plan. More shutoffs are expected. According to the citizens group Detroit Water Brigade, the only thing that changed since shutoffs began in March is that the city has lowered the required down payment water bills from 30% to 10%. "The water is still too expensive for Detroit," they said. Detroit is one of the poorest cities in the United States with over 38% of the population living below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau statistics. Members of the Detroit Water Brigade are calling on the city to halt the shutoffs altogether and consider alternatives for helping people pay their bills, arguing that restricting access to water for the city's poorest residents is "doing nothing more than hurting people," DWB volunteer DeMeeko Williams told a local CBS affiliate. "Today it is 90 degrees in the city of Detroit," Williams continued. "Elderly people need water, children need water to hydrate themselves—to stay cool."

Detroit Water Brigade To Gather Water From River

August 22, 2014 Staff, http://detroitwaterbrigade.org/ Resist! Detroit, Protest, Water

The Detroit Water Brigade will gather on the Detroit Riverfront this Friday at 5pm in front of the International Underground Railroad Memorial statue in order to fetch public water from the Detroit river. “Water is a public commons that belongs to all of us,” said Detroit Water Brigade Spokeswoman and Creative Director AtPeace Makita. “People need water to live, and Detroit is surrounded by it: 21% of the world’s surface freshwater sits in the Great Lakes. We are going to the river to remind ourselves where our water comes from.” The Detroit Riverwalk is technically private property owned by Riverfront Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of General Motors, Inc., and managed by the Detroit Riverwalk Conservancy, a 501(c)3 non-profit. All organized events must be approved "between January 1 and November 1 the year before the event will be held", and must be insured, have sponsors approved beforehand, and be catered exclusively by RiverWalk Cafe/Diamond Hospitality. The Brigade will have legal observers on hand to ensure that our right to informally fetch water from the river is upheld.

Detroit Water Protest Escalates Actions And Demands

August 19, 2014 Victoria Collier and Ben-Zion Ptashnik, www.truth-out.org Resist! Corruption, Detroit, Protest, Water

Protesters Gain Detroit Water Shut-Off Moratorium, Demand Investigation of Suspected Rampant Corruption A new mass rally in Detroit is planned for Friday, August 29, the day the state-enforced city bankruptcy trial begins. Democracy activists throughout the Midwest are again urged to come demonstrate against the water shut-offs and the hostile takeover of Detroit's assets. In this period of mass despair over rampant political corruption and economic injustice in America, many people ask, "Does protest really make a difference?" The answer is yes, and it is being proven right now in Detroit, the frontline battleground in the growing resistance movement against the hostile corporate takeover and looting of American cities nationwide. Detroit is the model for a nascent democracy mass movement. On July 18, thousands of demonstrators from around the country linked arms and marched in downtown Detroit, past the City Emergency Manager's office and the JP Morgan Chase Bank, in a show of solidarity against the ongoing corporate-led assault on city worker's pensions and most recently, the indiscriminate shut-off of water, without notice, to more than 15,000 families, mostly African American.

New Work New Culture Conference

August 18, 2014 New Work New Culture Conference, www.reimaginingwork.org Create! Alternatives, Conference, culture, Detroit, Work

From October 18-20 in Detroit, Michigan several hundred activists, organizers, theorists, farmers, culture creators, builders, inventors and entrepreneurs will meet to exchange ideas and experiences. A vendors and exhibitors area will feature new machines and new ways to use them. It will also include displays on global communication and community based production of food, energy, housing, transportation, education, recreation, art and durable goods. Featured presenters, facilitators and dialogue leaders include, but are not limited to, Frithjof Bergmann, Blair Evans, Emmanuel Pratt, Rebecca Solnit, Gar Alperovitz, Grace Lee Boggs, Kathi Weeks, Tawana “Honeycomb” Petty, Mischa Schaub, Frank Joyce, Kim Sherrobi, Michael Hardt, Judith Snow, Adrienne Marie Brown and Halima Cassells.

Groups Tell Obama ‘Declare Detroit Water Emergency’

August 16, 2014 Food & Water Watch, www.foodandwaterwatch.org Organize! Children, Detroit, Human Rights, Poverty, Water

Today, a coalition of over fifty social justice organizations including Food & Water Watch urged President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to declare the ongoing water crisis in Detroit a public health emergency. The groups have asked the Obama administration to make money available from the Public Health Emergency Fund to restore water service to residents affected by the shutoffs. “Thousands of Detroit families do not have running water in their homes for drinking, hygiene and sanitation,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “This is a growing public health crisis that the Obama administration has the power to stop. It is completely unconscionable that anyone would be forced to endure these conditions.” In March, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, under the direction of state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, announced an aggressive campaign to disconnect the water service of thousands of households that are either $150 or 60 days behind on their water bills. In Detroit, 38.1 percent of residents, including more than half of children there, live in poverty. Over the last decade, residential water charges have more than doubled.

Teacher Writes Open Letter To Students After Arrest

August 9, 2014 Kim Redigan, www.ncronline.org Resist! Detroit, Education, Protesters Arrested, Water

Dear students: Some of you have contacted me after seeing news of my arrest for a nonviolent action around the water shutoffs here in Detroit. While I am touched by your concern, I implore you to reserve your support for those being affected by the shutoffs and your own generation, which, unless things change, is on track to inherit a commodified world in which beauty, nature, life itself will be sold off to the lowest corporate bidder, an affront to all that is good, decent and human. The action in which I and several others engaged was only a small gesture of loving resistance, a humble offering of our own bodies against the dehumanizing and democracy-crushing effects of life under Detroit's state-appointed emergency manager. Pope Paul VI once said the world needs witnesses more than it needs teachers, and in times like these, to be a teacher may mean to move the classroom to the street in order to bear witness to the grave injustices that are harming our neighbors. The glaring disparity between the rich and the poor in Detroit and the breathtaking rapidity with which that gap is widening is downright biblical.

Detroit Water Brigade: Statement On Extension

August 6, 2014 Detroit Water Bridage, www.detroitwaterbrigade.org Resist! Detroit, Organizing, Water

We are glad to see that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department have decided to extend the moratorium on residential water shutoffs 3 more weeks, until August 25th This past Saturday, over 30 volunteer Water Advocates from the Detroit Water Brigade took part in the city’s first-ever Water Affordability Fair from 8:30am-5pm at 13303 E McNichols Rd on the East Side. Our trained volunteers – clearly identified by their orange safety vests – transported residents to and from the event, assisted residents in understanding their water bills, and provided refreshments and music outside of the Customer Service Center. In total, over 400 Detroiters attended the event and many left reporting positive experiences. While the Brigade acknowledges these important first steps towards ending the shutoffs and revitalizing the Water Department, we must also report that several of our Water Advocates were routinely denied entry into the Customer Service Center, threatened with arrest, and even ejected from the center. The specific incidents where our Advocates – and the residents they accompanied – faced intimidation are [documented here]. It is essential that our Water Advocates are allowed unimpaired access to residents to ensure that this shutoff moratorium will be honored by the Water Department in full.

Control Of Water Returned To Elected Detroit Government

August 3, 2014 Detroit Water Brigade, www.detroitwaterbrigade.org Resist! Detroit, Human Rights, Water

We commend the move by Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, City Council and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Rhodes to return control of Detroit’s water to the democratically elected leadership of the city of Detroit. This is a positive step in the direction of popular control of Detroit’s water and other common resources by the people of Detroit. This decision comes after months of sustained pressure from a broad cross-section of Detroiters and their international allies: protest marches, direct action blockades, hundreds of thousands of petition signers, and a recently-filed injunction in U.S. Bankruptcy Court calling for an immediate end to the shutoff program. We are proud to work hand-in-hand with Detroiters of all stripes to affirm the human right to access to clean drinking water and sanitation and get a long-term Water Affordability Plan. We also look forward to a day when all of Detroit’s public services are returned from privatization and mismanagement to full popular control by accountable and democratically elected officials.

Will Banks Gain Will Workers Lose In Detroit Bankruptcy?

July 29, 2014 Diane Bukowski, www.voiceofdetroit.net Organize! Bankruptcy, Banks, Detroit, Inequality

Despite celebrations in the skyscrapers of Wall Street and the U.S. regarding Detroit bankruptcy active and retired employee votes announced July 21, allegedly in favor of huge pension and health care cuts, the sordid story is not over yet.Detroit remains far from a resolution of its state-imposed bankruptcy. Major banks and bondholders have rejected the plan, insisting that they be PAID IN FULL. According to figures released by Kurtzman Carson Consultants (KCC) of El Segundo, CA, Detroit police and fire workers and retirees voted to approve the 4th Amended Plan of Adjustment (POA) by 82 percent, general workers and retirees by 73 percent, and holders of Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) by 88 percent. (See chart above.) Meanwhile, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, claiming to represent the City of Detroit, filed a FIFTH AMENDED PLAN OF ADJUSTMENT July 25 subsequent to the vote, with no plans for a re-vote. (See link below story.)

Canadians Decry Detroit Shutoffs, Plan Water Convoy

July 25, 2014 Robert Allen, www.usatoday.com Resist! Canada, Detroit, Human Rights, Water

Detroiters without running water have a special delivery coming Thursday from Canada, if it can get past the border guards. Eight cars, adorned with Canadian flags, will be loaded with 1,000 liters (about 264 gallons) of Canadian tap water in a convoy through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, said Sujata Dey of the Council of Canadians. "We needed to show solidarity with our neighbors," she said. "How could we not do something for them?" The City of Detroit, in a ramped-up effort, shut off thousands of residential taps in the past few months because the bankrupt city is owed tens of millions of dollars in overdue bills. The shutoffs were put on a 15-day hold Monday, to give people a chance to pay up or demonstrate why they can't pay their bills. Many people remain without running faucets, flushable toilets and running spigots, and the Canadian convoy is the latest of many public demonstrations opposing the shutoffs. But whether the delivery will get past the border checkpoint is uncertain. Any water carried across the border that exceeds what is needed for personal use requires approval from the U.S. government to help ensure it is safe, and a number of laws, such as those in the U.S. Bioterrorism Act of 2002, would apply, said Ken Hammond, chief officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Landslide Votes: Detroit Workers/Retirees Approve Pension Cuts

July 22, 2014 Ed White, www.AP.org Organize! Detroit, Pensions, Retirement, Worker Rights and Jobs

Pension cuts were approved in a landslide, according to results filed shortly before midnight Monday. The tally from 60 days of voting gives the city a boost as Judge Steven Rhodes determines whether Detroit's overall strategy to eliminate or reduce $18 billion in long-term debt is fair and feasible to all creditors. General retirees would get a 4.5 percent pension cut and lose annual inflation adjustments. They accepted the changes with 73 percent of ballots in favor. Retired police officers and firefighters would lose only a portion of their annual cost-of-living raise. Eighty-two percent in that class voted "yes."

Protests Stop Detroit Water Shut-Offs

July 22, 2014 Brent Snavely and Matt Helms, www.freep.com Resist! Detroit, Water

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is suspending its water shutoffs for 15 days starting today to give residents another chance to prove they are unable to pay their bills. The decision comes after the city has put into national spotlight for a policy that has been framed as a human rights issue for low-income residents who can’t afford to pay their bills. It also was announced n the same day that a group of Detroit residents filed a lawsuit in the city’s bankruptcy case asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to restore water service to residential customers. The residents, backed by a coalition of activist and community groups, allege that the city is violating the constitutional rights and contractual rights by shutting off water for those who owe back payments.

Water Rights March In Detroit

July 20, 2014 Ruth Coniff, www.progressive.org Resist! Detroit, Water

Located near two great lakes and the Detroit River, Detroit has access to the largest fresh water supply in the nation. But thousands of the city’s poorest residents no longer have water for drinking, bathing, cooking, or flushing the toilet, since the city’s unelected emergency manager began seeking to reduce the Water and Sewerage Department’s debt, cutting off residents who don’t keep current on their payments. Meanwhile, General Motors and the city’s two sports arenas, which owe millions in unpaid water bills, have not had their water turned off. The United Nations has called Detroit’s actions “a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights.”

Testimony By Kristen A. Hamel, Detroit Resident And Homeowner

July 18, 2014 Cancel Detroit's Debt To The Banks, www.detroitdebtmoratorium.org Educate! Banks, Debt, Detroit, Water

In recent weeks, Detroiters have been experiencing the inhuman austerity agenda of Gov. Rick Snyder and Emergency Dictator Kevyn Orr. Thousands of families have had their water cut off, and tens of thousands more face imminent shutoffs if a mere $150 is owed. The situation is so outrageous that a United Nations commission has condemned Detroit’s water shutoffs as a violation of international human rights. Freedom Friday marches starting at the water department building have been going on for weeks because no one should have to face forced deprivation of water, the most basic necessity of life and health. The Detroit Free Press reported Orr’s office calling the water shutoffs “a necessary part of Detroit’s restructuring.” The real agenda is to make the water department more attractive for privatization to union busters like Veolia Corp., known worldwide for its crimes against humanity, especially against the Palestinian people. While the poorest Detroiters have their water cut off for owing $150, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Loop Financial and Morgan Stanley were paid $537 million in termination fees on interest rate swaps out of $1 billion in bonds issued from 2010 to 2013, bonds that were earmarked to fund repairs of the water infrastructure system, not line the pockets of these four banks.

Detroit Rallies Largest Turnout For Palestine In Years

July 18, 2014 Jimmy Johnson, www.truth-out.org Resist! Detroit, Human Rights, Palestine, Rally, Water

Over 1,000 people turned out for a demonstration and public outreach campaign in Detroit on Sunday outside the annual Concert of Colors on Woodword Avenue near the Wayne State University campus. The day focused on both Israel’s ongoing military attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the recent water shut-offs by the Detroit Water and Sewage Department. Tens of thousands of primarily black, working class residents are going thirsty because of this move by the bankrupted city of Detroit. It has been condemned as a public health disaster in the making by the largest professional association of nurses in the US. An informal working group, which is part of a black-Palestinian and black-Arab solidarity effort, mobilized the largest local turnout for a Palestine event in recent years Rather than choose symbolic or concrete places of oppression for the protest, organizers (of which I was one) decided to bring the message directly to the people. Demonstrators initially gathered outside of the Max Fisher Theater on Woodward Avenue, where the annual high-profile Concert of Colors was to begin. The marchers engaged people they encountered in conversation, with leaflets calling for solidarity and joint struggle between Palestine and Detroit. At both the gathering spot and along the march demonstrators chanted, “Free Palestine! Free Detroit!” while numerous cars drove by with large Palestinian flags.

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