Posted on 06/29/2014 4:54:35 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Nicole Hill holds up her past-due water bill at her home in Detroit. Her water has been off for about six weeks.
It has been six weeks since the city turned off Nicole Hill's water.
Dirty dishes are piled in the sink of her crowded kitchen, where the yellow-and-green linoleum floor is soiled and sticky. A small garbage can is filled with water from a neighbor, while a bigger one sits outside in the yard, where she hopes it will collect some rain. She's developed an intricate recycling system of washing the dishes, cleaning the floor and flushing the toilet with the same water.
"It's frightening, because you think this is something that only happens somewhere like Africa," said Hill, a single mother who is studying homeland security at a local college. "But now I know what they're going through when I get somewhere there's a water faucet, I drink until my stomach hurts."
Hill is one of thousands of residents in Detroit who have had their water and sewer services turned off as part of a crackdown on customers who are behind on their bills. In April, the city set a target of cutting service to 3,000 customers a week who were more than $150 behind on their bills. In May, the water department sent out 46,000 warnings and cut off service to 4,531. The city says that cutting off water is the only way to get people to pay their bills as Detroit tries to emerge from bankruptcy the utility is currently owed $90 million from customers, and nearly half the city's 300,000 or so accounts are past due.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Your posts cheer me up, truly!
Little children in African countries have to walk several miles with a bucket to watering holes shared by water buffalo to get water for the day. Git yer buckets Detroit.
And mine costs whatever electricity it costs to pump it from my well. I don’t even think about it because its so minimal. I paid $200 to drain my septic tank for the first time in the 15 odd years I’ve been here.
Sorry; I was responding to “Ouderkirk”.
Enjoy your retirement; I still have a few decades to go myself...
Freeper's you need to listen to CrippleCreek on this. We are in the "Detwaa" burbs, but this is a multilayered problem.
* The Regions water source is Detroit and their system.
* He is right, mismanagement etc, although their is some evidence they are trying to clean up their act.
* As an Asset, and depending upon how or if you believe their numbers, it maybe a cash generator at some point, but as an Asset it is part of the sticky Detroit Bankruptcy. What to do with it, sell it? keep it? etc etc.
* The potential for the burbs to get hit with huge rate increases are their and CC might know some Municipalities maybe already looking towards getting off Detroit's water and finding their own solution.
The only answer is inner city jobs...bring manufacturing back. Then people will have paychecks instead of freebies.
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I just don’t see a nation of industrious people anymore. Work is not honored and respected the way it once was. If you give people jobs they won’t be grateful and probably won’t show up everyday.
America used to be the Land of the Free. Now its just the Land of the Freebie. I’m entitled to my benefits and I want them now! /sarc
Water is not a right, it’s an element. It comes 2 ways, clean or dirty. If you don’t want to PAY for CLEAN water, then I suggest a trip to the arctic where one can find a glacier and post up under it for a drink. If however you live in say Detroit, you might want the water to be managed, cleaned filtered, pressurized, and delivered via faucet to your sink, that’s IF you need CLEAN water.
Dirty water can be found in your local street puddle for consumption at your own risk
In one glance it is obvious she has money for abundant food, tattoos and hair styling. She has money for the things that are important to her.
I don't know how things can be turned around. Maybe the federal gov has to collapse in its present form. Some, not all people, would never report for work. I'm okay with them given a bed, a shower, and a nutritious inexpensive meal...that's it. After that it's survival of the fittest.
Anything beyond that would have to be in exchange for work. It's the only way to turn things around.
“The only answer is inner city jobs...bring manufacturing back. Then people will have paychecks instead of freebies.”
What role do you see for uneducated, undisciplined people in such a manufacturing economy? In fact, they are a barrier to such jobs, as the employer would be asked to pay their workers along with the city’s non-workers and their welfare bastards.
Thank you! I do know Jersey is a mess; what has the gov done about it? Nothing!
I heard on FNC that a majority of those whom had their water turned off paid in full within a couple of days to get the water flowing again. Just a bunch of losers trying to game the system.
“I do know Jersey is a mess; what has the gov done about it? Nothing!”
He has stabilized the property taxes by capping the increases at 2%; this was a huge step that resulted in a lot of government layoffs. Before that cap taxes could go up over $500 per year while good jobs were disappearing. Now when teachers get 4% raises, government workers in other areas lose their jobs and taxes only go up 2%; the parasite class has to look elsewhere for work because most of NJ won’t be hiring any time soon.
My combined water and sewer bills are about 75 bucks or so. I don’t understand why you think that’s high.
I hadn't thought about it, so lets go to the definition of 'Depression': A severe and prolonged downturn in economic activity. In economics, a depression is commonly defined as an extreme recession that lasts two or more years. A depression is characterized by economic factors such as substantial increases in unemployment, a drop in available credit, diminishing output, bankruptcies and sovereign debt defaults, reduced trade and commerce, and sustained volatility in currency values. In times of depression, consumer confidence and investments decrease, causing the economy to shut down.
1. Prolonged downturn - yes
2. Increased unemployment - yes, if we look at labor force participation
3. Drop in credit - yes for businesses (not for banks)
4. Diminishing output - yes
5. Bankruptcies - yes, plenty
6. Sovereign debt defaults - Greece? Spain?
7. Reduced trade - ?
8. Investment decrease - yes
9. Consumer confidence down - definitely
Okay Miss Marmelstein, maybe an objective opinion is yes, there is an economic depression.
We need to incentivize “welfare to work”. Welfare in its current form punishes any attempt to get off. We start them at high numbers and any earned money results in a large loss of benefits.
We should start all welfare at the rock bottom and increase benefits in relation to earned money up to a certain cut off point. Keep comfort just out of reach of those taking benefits so they’re always encouraged to earn more on their own.
And now we have the added delight of people in Detroit bathing in the river ‘cause they ain’t got no water! Somewhere, Bill Ayers is smiling.
“What role do you see for uneducated, undisciplined people in such a manufacturing economy?”
One need look no further than the crap quality of the cars being built in Detroit in the 70’s and 80’s. I suspect the work force at that time was better educated and disciplined, what an unmitigated disaster it would be now.
Yeah, but I gots mie tats, purdyee painteds nails, 0 bummer phone and ain't missed no meals.
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