Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

There’s Nothing Fair About Detroit’s Massive Water Shut Offs
Shea Howell
11 May 2016

by Shea Howell

The corporate rulers are relentless in their drive to push the poor out of Detroit. With tens of thousands more households facing water shut offs, the authorities held – of all things – a water fair. The author was there: “Almost everyone I talked to said the same thing, ‘The city doesn't care about us. They want us out of here.’”

There’s Nothing Fair About Detroit’s Massive Water Shut Offs

by Shea Howell

This article previously appeared in the web site of D-REM – Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management.

“Every time someone is shut off, fewer people have to pay the fixed costs of the system, so prices go up.”

Last week Director of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Gary Brown announced that water shut offs would accelerate in Detroit. He is threatening to shut off as many as 20,000 homes as quickly as he can. In preparation for these shut offs Brown announced a Water Assistance Fair. The Fair was surrounded with publicity touting the innovative Assistance Plan (WRAP), pushed by the Mayor. Brown said the WRAP is “the most robust, compassionate and comprehensive program of its kind to help low income customers keep their water service.” He said, “We have a responsibility to our customers and citizens of the City of Detroit to make water affordable.”

I went to the Fair. There was nothing “fair” about it. Nor was there any compassion or comprehensive effort to help residents.  Here is what I saw.

People were lined up around the block. The first woman I met coming out the door was upset. Her bill was coming to “resident,” as most of our bills do. The worker inside told her that she needed to pay $150 to get the bill in her own name before they would consider a payment plan. She didn’t have $150 dollars. So she left, still facing a shut off.

The next woman I met had recently had a new meter installed. She has always paid her bill on time. Her last bill was $$4,966 dollars. She was told that her bills had been estimated for the last 7 years and she now owed the full amount.

A bit further back in the line was a young woman in similar situation. Her January bill showed a $250 credit. In February she got a bill for $3,400.

“Everyone had experienced increases in their bill of between $100 and $400.”

Of the 22 people I spoke with directly, more than half had bills of over $1000, in some cases even after they had turned off water in part of their home to save money. Everyone had experienced increases in their bill of between $100 and $400.

Most people got little or no help from the city.

Moreover there was no compassion from the city. It was cold morning, with small children bundled up against the wind. Elders leaned on walkers. The only chairs were those the more experienced in dealing with the city brought with him. People stood in line for over three hours.  One young, pregnant woman brought her two small children to the front of line, asking to use the bathroom. Her littlest child needed to go. Too bad. She was turned away, as was everyone else.

This is what compassion looks like from Gary Brown and the Mayor. Almost everyone I talked to said the same thing, “The city doesn't care about us. They want us out of here.”

Brown re-enforced this antagonism when he once again tried to pit one person against another. In perverse logic, Brown repeated those who don't pay, cost the rest of us more money. “Customers pay an average of $10 more on their bill each month to cover the cost of uncollectible accounts,” he said.

A more truthful statement would be that until the city adopts a water affordability plan based on income, its shut off policy will continue to drive prices up. Every time someone is shut off, fewer people have to pay the fixed costs of the system, so prices go up. Every time prices go up, more people are shut off. This is an unsustainable downward spiral.

There is a robust, compassionate way for us to ensure Water is Human Right. But it wont be found coming from the Mayor or his henchman, Gary Brown.

Follow Shea Howell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sheash13

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • INTERVIEW: Randall Robinson: Third World Advocate, 1983
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: Randall Robinson: Third World Advocate, 1983
    29 Mar 2023
    Remembering Randall Robinson: Black internationalist, anti-imperialist, and friend of Haiti.
  • Uganda LGBTQ Law Obscures Crimes Committed on Behalf of the U.S.
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Uganda LGBTQ Law Obscures Crimes Committed on Behalf of the U.S.
    29 Mar 2023
    Uganda's anti-LGBTQ legislation has elicited worldwide condemnation. But that nation's history of invading, pillaging, and killing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with U.S. blessings, is…
  • 2023 Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize Awarded to John Williams Ntwali and Kambale Musavuli
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    2023 Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize Awarded to John Williams Ntwali and Kambale Musavuli
    29 Mar 2023
    The Victoire Ingabere Umuhoza Prize for Democracy and Peace is awarded to people who work for democracy, peace, and freedom in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
  • Saturday Mornings
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Saturday Mornings
    29 Mar 2023
                                                                                                                        Saturday Mornings                                              
  •  BAR Book Forum: Hugo ka Canham’s Book, “Riotous Deathscapes”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Hugo ka Canham’s Book, “Riotous Deathscapes”
    29 Mar 2023
    This week’s featured author is Hugo ka Canham. Canham is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand and coeditor of Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience.…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us