Original Story: detroitnews.com
For the second time in recent months, the United Nations has looked at the fact that thousands of Detroit families are without water and determined that there are better, more humane solutions to the problem than those used by Detroit’s mayor.
A panel, which included two U.N. special rapporteurs, heard testimony on Oct. 19 at a hearing with hundreds in attendance at Wayne County Community College’s Fort Street campus. Having implemented his 10-point plan to deal with water shutoffs, Mayor Mike Duggan rebuffed the U.N. panelists who took testimony from Detroiters.
While the 10-point plan could be a starting point for negotiations (if the mayor were up for negotiating with anyone on this issue) both the plan and his response fail to recognize the reality the people of Detroit are facing.
Detroit is America’s poorest big city, with 38 percent of residents living at or below the poverty line and an unemployment rate of 14.6 percent. The United Way recently released a report that shows two-thirds of Detroiters can’t afford basic needs like transportation, housing and health care, even when people in their households are working full time. When you combine these dire numbers with the leaky pipes and bureaucratic foul-ups of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, you have a recipe for injustice and disaster.
The U.N.’s second condemnation of the massive water shutoffs is part of a chorus of public health advocates and officials that are demanding an alternative to depriving families of water. Those voices include National Nurses United, professor John Powell, co-chairman of the Population Health Council, and Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, county health officer for the Wayne County Department of Public Health. Hammami and Powell wrote an open letter calling the shutoffs a public health hazard and citing a double bind: People in poverty are already more likely to be in poor health. Being deprived of water only increases health risks.
In plain terms, the only humane solution is to create a plan where people at a certain income threshold pay for water based on their income. This would keep the water flowing to families that need it and the revenue flowing to a system that requires it. We would stop squeezing families struggling to make ends meet and instead make sure corporations who clearly have the ability to pay are no longer allowed to let their bills pile up without retribution.
We actually have a plan that was passed by the City Council in 2006. The Water Affordability Plan guarantees water and revenue based on people’s ability to pay. But one thing needed to implement the plan has yet to occur in City Hall — a paradigm shift. Recognizing how utterly crucial access to water is to families and embracing a practical plan to make sure families are never without it takes vision and courage.
It takes courage to acknowledge that you’ve been an accessory to devastating entire neighborhoods, as one North End Detroit resident said at the U.N. hearing. There is no one there to help when blocks of people are without water. Seniors that are housebound, renters who have to wait for landlords to turn the water back on, and children who have no control of family finances are among the hardest hit. But everyone needs water.
It may be hard for Mayor Duggan to hear and see the devastation continue to get international attention, but that’s not nearly as hard as life for thousands of residents who can’t afford the basics. The mayor’s plan needs to take that truth into account and adjust to fit the needs of the people, not the other way around.
Monica Lewis-Patrick is director of outreach for We the People of Detroit. Lila Cabbil is president emeritus of the Rosa Parks Institute. Both are members of the Detroit People’s Water Board.
Showing posts with label Water Shutoffs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water Shutoffs. Show all posts
06 November 2014
29 September 2014
JUDGE RULES HE CAN'T STOP DETROIT WATER SHUTOFFS
Original Story: freep.com
Detroit's bankruptcy judge today said he lacked the authority to issue a restraining order to stop water shutoffs over delinquent bills, saying that there is no constitutional right to water and a moratorium would be a financial hit to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
"Chapter 9 strictly limits the courts' power in a bankruptcy case," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes said as he read a ruling from the bench this morning.
While Rhodes' ruling made it clear he understood the scope of the problem of water shutoffs in a city with deep poverty, he said the plaintiffs in the case — advocates including Moratorium Now, the Peoples Water Board and the National Action Network — did not make the case that a six-month moratorium was necessary or within his powers.
He also noted that Detroit and Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties are in the process of approving a new Great Lakes Water Authority under which Detroit would maintain ownership of the region's water and sewer system but lease the pipes that largely serve the suburbs, in exchange for $50 million a year for 40 years dedicated to fixing aging water and sewer lines.
Given that Detroit is in bankruptcy and under intense pressure to make every operation in the city as cost-effective and efficient as possible, "the last thing it needs is this hit to its revenues," Rhodes said.
Alice Jennings, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs who sought a moratorium on water shutoffs, said she is disappointed in Rhodes' ruling and will look to appeal his decision.
"No one ever said the water had to be free," Jennings said. "Our position is the water had to be affordable. We're still looking for affordable water."
Jennings said the most important part of Rhodes' ruling was his admission cutting off water service causes irreparable harm. Jennings pointed out the city does not have specific data on how often water has been cut off at homes with children or disabled people.
Jennings said federal mediators and the state came up with a plan to save art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Why not a plan to save people without access to affordable water, she asked.
"We need to evaluate how many people are without water and the safety and health risks involved," she said. "Come up with the grand bargain to save the health and safety of the children and seniors."
The testimony came this morning in the hearings on Detroit's bid to get out of bankruptcy.
Rhodes also is likely to hear updates from city lawyers about the agreement reached last week to keep emergency manager Kevyn Orr on the job until the bankruptcy exit strategy is approved, yet restore power to run city government to Mayor Mike Duggan and the City Council.
During a meeting of the city's financial advisory board on Friday, Orr outlined the arrangement that will keep him in charge of shepherding Detroit through the final stages of its bankruptcy.
Orr will technically remain emergency manager until the plan of adjustment is confirmed, but he relinquished control of city government back to elected officials in a deal announced Thursday. Without the powers of emergency manager, he told the board, it wasn't clear he'd have the authority to conclude bond deals crucial to the city emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Orr said he expects testimony to last only a couple more weeks.
"Hopefully sometime between the end of the trial and Thanksgiving we'll have a final ruling," Orr told the board.
Orr is among the next four witnesses Jones Day lawyers for the city plan to call this week. An amended witness list the city filed last week said that, before Orr appears on the stand — for what's likely to be some of the most critical testimony of the case — the city plans to call:
■ Gaurav Malhotra, a managing partner at the accounting firm Ernst & Young's Chicago office, who has been a key financial adviser to the city.
■ Ken Buckfire of Miller Buckfire, the investment banker who has been advising Detroit on matters like creation of a regional water authority.
■ James Doak, a managing director at Miller Buckfire.
Rhodes said last week, after a day and a half of testimony on the water shutoffs, that he would issue a ruling this morning.
Advocacy groups who sought a moratorium on shutoffs testified last week that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's policies of mass shutoffs — 19,000 in recent months — are leaving low-income households with seniors and children without water service.
They asked Rhodes to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the shutoffs until the city can come up with a better way to address the unaffordability of water service in a city where more than half of households live at or below 150% of the federal poverty level.
Also last week, Rhodes agreed to hear an appeal from labor activist Robert Davis. He asked the judge for permission to file a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court on allegations that the Detroit council illegally met in closed session to debate the agreement that keeps Orr on to manage the bankruptcy.
Detroit's bankruptcy judge today said he lacked the authority to issue a restraining order to stop water shutoffs over delinquent bills, saying that there is no constitutional right to water and a moratorium would be a financial hit to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
"Chapter 9 strictly limits the courts' power in a bankruptcy case," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes said as he read a ruling from the bench this morning.
While Rhodes' ruling made it clear he understood the scope of the problem of water shutoffs in a city with deep poverty, he said the plaintiffs in the case — advocates including Moratorium Now, the Peoples Water Board and the National Action Network — did not make the case that a six-month moratorium was necessary or within his powers.
He also noted that Detroit and Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties are in the process of approving a new Great Lakes Water Authority under which Detroit would maintain ownership of the region's water and sewer system but lease the pipes that largely serve the suburbs, in exchange for $50 million a year for 40 years dedicated to fixing aging water and sewer lines.
Given that Detroit is in bankruptcy and under intense pressure to make every operation in the city as cost-effective and efficient as possible, "the last thing it needs is this hit to its revenues," Rhodes said.
Alice Jennings, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs who sought a moratorium on water shutoffs, said she is disappointed in Rhodes' ruling and will look to appeal his decision.
"No one ever said the water had to be free," Jennings said. "Our position is the water had to be affordable. We're still looking for affordable water."
Jennings said the most important part of Rhodes' ruling was his admission cutting off water service causes irreparable harm. Jennings pointed out the city does not have specific data on how often water has been cut off at homes with children or disabled people.
Jennings said federal mediators and the state came up with a plan to save art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Why not a plan to save people without access to affordable water, she asked.
"We need to evaluate how many people are without water and the safety and health risks involved," she said. "Come up with the grand bargain to save the health and safety of the children and seniors."
The testimony came this morning in the hearings on Detroit's bid to get out of bankruptcy.
Rhodes also is likely to hear updates from city lawyers about the agreement reached last week to keep emergency manager Kevyn Orr on the job until the bankruptcy exit strategy is approved, yet restore power to run city government to Mayor Mike Duggan and the City Council.
During a meeting of the city's financial advisory board on Friday, Orr outlined the arrangement that will keep him in charge of shepherding Detroit through the final stages of its bankruptcy.
Orr will technically remain emergency manager until the plan of adjustment is confirmed, but he relinquished control of city government back to elected officials in a deal announced Thursday. Without the powers of emergency manager, he told the board, it wasn't clear he'd have the authority to conclude bond deals crucial to the city emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Orr said he expects testimony to last only a couple more weeks.
"Hopefully sometime between the end of the trial and Thanksgiving we'll have a final ruling," Orr told the board.
Orr is among the next four witnesses Jones Day lawyers for the city plan to call this week. An amended witness list the city filed last week said that, before Orr appears on the stand — for what's likely to be some of the most critical testimony of the case — the city plans to call:
■ Gaurav Malhotra, a managing partner at the accounting firm Ernst & Young's Chicago office, who has been a key financial adviser to the city.
■ Ken Buckfire of Miller Buckfire, the investment banker who has been advising Detroit on matters like creation of a regional water authority.
■ James Doak, a managing director at Miller Buckfire.
Rhodes said last week, after a day and a half of testimony on the water shutoffs, that he would issue a ruling this morning.
Advocacy groups who sought a moratorium on shutoffs testified last week that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's policies of mass shutoffs — 19,000 in recent months — are leaving low-income households with seniors and children without water service.
They asked Rhodes to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the shutoffs until the city can come up with a better way to address the unaffordability of water service in a city where more than half of households live at or below 150% of the federal poverty level.
Also last week, Rhodes agreed to hear an appeal from labor activist Robert Davis. He asked the judge for permission to file a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court on allegations that the Detroit council illegally met in closed session to debate the agreement that keeps Orr on to manage the bankruptcy.
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