November, 2006

Fight continues to stop inhuman water shutoffs!

45,000 or more Detroit homes still without water

BY MARIAN KRAMER

Demanding the right to water in Highland Park, Mich. PHOTO/SYLVIA ORDUNO

DETROIT -- Every call we get at the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization is from people on the verge of getting their water shut off or from those who have already had their water shut off. Many callers have a payment arrangement, but can't keep up because the price of water is constantly on the increase. In early November, one woman who lives alone said she works 16 hours a day. Her water bill is almost $120 a month! That's a lot of money for one person. She said she has no leakage. Another person complained that she consistently pays $100 a month, but the amount of her arrears bill never goes down, it keeps going up.

But still, the Water Department is privatizing sections of the water by contracting out certain services. Michigan Welfare rights, and other Coalition organizations, have an agreement with the Water Department, negotiated in the Water Affordability Plan passed by the Detroit City Council. We agreed that residents would contribute $1 and businesses would contribute $30 or more for the plan. The plan was supposed to be implemented July 1, 2006.

The Water Affordability Plan protects households through the following:

1) Shut off protection allows a low income person to pay at the level that is reachable.

2) Arrears bills are paid on as well as their future bills. It lays out cash capital for both. It builds up a capital flow because more people are able to pay for their water and enjoy a necessity that should be protected by the law as a right.

But, Victor Mercado, CEO for the Water Department, is constantly throwing up barriers to the implementation of the Water Affordability Plan. He sent a notice to the public to deliberately confuse the Water Affordability Plan with the City's plan (Wave Program) which has residents donating 50 cents and businesses donating only $1. If you don't respond by a certain deadline, they automatically will deduct the amount from your bill, effectively enforcing the wrong plan. People were confused. As a result, some 35,000 people responded saying, "No," they will not support the program, thinking he was talking about Wave Program. Confusion is really out there.

Mercado and his administration were against the vote of the City Council in the first place. Yet the City Council gave him a direct order to implement the Water Affordability Plan. They wanted it in place by July 1, 2006. That was in March. Here we are in November with no plan.

We ran into the mayor of Detroit two weeks ago and he asked if we were happy about the Plan. We said, "No. Victor Mercado, your man, is constantly sabatoging it." The mayor asked them to meet with the Michigan Welfare Rights two weeks ago. Meanwhile more people are getting water cut off, more people cannot afford to keep up with the payment arrangement and human rights are being violated.

The Water Affordability Plan challenges privatization of water. Corporations have no right to own our water!

Send letters, email or phone the Mayor of the City of Detroit demanding that the Water Affordability Plan be implemented ASAP, just like the Detroit City Council ordered:

Mayor Kilpatrick
City of Detroit, Executive Office
Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
2 Woodward Ave., Ste. 1126
Detroit, Michigan 48226
(313) 224-3400, if people want to call direct.