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Thousands go without water as Detroit cuts service for nonpayment
LA Times ^ | 28 June 14 | Alana Semuels

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: detroit; economy; gibsmedat; water
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To: kearnyirish2

Two words people: Rain barrel!


81 posted on 06/29/2014 5:53:06 AM PDT by skams19
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To: leapfrog0202

You live in a desert and should expect your water to cost a lot.


82 posted on 06/29/2014 5:53:42 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin.)
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To: miss marmelstein

Maybe there was no goof at all, but an attempt to let the reader draw his own conclusions from the facts — which includes photos.

A picture is, after all, worth a thousand words.


83 posted on 06/29/2014 5:53:43 AM PDT by Jedidah
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To: Ouderkirk

“There is a depression going on...that is indisputable fact. However, persons such as this member of the Free Shit Army have no motivation, and an expectation that because she chose badly that we taxpayers (the ones who still have jobs for now) should bear the costs for her and her offspring.”

The system is buckling because a lot of people are being forced into the Free Shit Army by the horrible economy; the government can’t give Precious $900 per month while giving formerly productive people only $300. As the ranks of the public-dependent swell, there is no new revenue to offset the costs.

I’m actually shocked that welfare gibsmedats even get water bills; do they simply transfer part of their cash benefits to the water utility?

Good luck in your search; it is scary out there. Here in northern NJ there has been an exodus of skilled workers as the jobs disappeared.


84 posted on 06/29/2014 5:54:06 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: SkyPilot

Oh the Horror! The Horror!


85 posted on 06/29/2014 5:54:25 AM PDT by baddog 219
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To: SkyPilot

Let the Hilab*tch pay for it.

I do not give a smelly Obama.


86 posted on 06/29/2014 5:57:55 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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Comment #87 Removed by Moderator

To: Ouderkirk

Yes, there seem to be two tiers of unemployed!


88 posted on 06/29/2014 5:59:03 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: cripplecreek

My bill is 75 a month.
Not only does that include water service it ALSO includes stormwater collection as well, that would be the curb inlet at the end of your driveway sucking up all the stormwater so it doesn’t flood the road. This is typical since the city handles all water management.
But even at 75 a month that’s still only 2.5 dollars a day for service. Our utilities dept charges 10$ the first day past due, 50 everyday after that AND your water is shut off right away,AND a charge of 50$ on top of the regular bill is assessed for the next THREE MONTHS,added to the regular bill.
I pay my water bill 2 weeks early every month.


89 posted on 06/29/2014 5:59:41 AM PDT by snappahead (if your gonna be dumb, you better be tough.)
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To: SkyPilot

Nicole Hill used her water money on nails, hair & tattoos.


90 posted on 06/29/2014 6:00:30 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: kearnyirish2

I’m retired, not out of work, lol. I didn’t mean me.


91 posted on 06/29/2014 6:01:44 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: leapfrog0202

“The tattoos may be from a while ago “

So you think that “a while ago” she was on firm financial footing with ample savings and retirement accounts to splurge on tattoos?


92 posted on 06/29/2014 6:02:30 AM PDT by all the best
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To: skams19

Rain barrels are generally illegal. Acid rain, don’t you know.


93 posted on 06/29/2014 6:02:49 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: samtheman

Its why I wish conservatives would step up and seize control of Detroit. In a sense, this is actually what is driving this. The water department is being privatized and while the squealing is loud right now, things will be better for the people in the long run.

There’s a privately owned bus company operating and growing in competition with the city service right now.

I see Detroit as an ideal proving ground for urban conservatism. Much larger cities are headed for collapse and we need a plan so we can draw those cities to sensibility.


94 posted on 06/29/2014 6:04:55 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin.)
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To: miss marmelstein

The ticket to disaster is to keep having the people that do pay their own way also cover more and more cost for people that wont pay their own way.

Taking money from people that do work to cover the cost of people that don’t work simply creates more poverty.


95 posted on 06/29/2014 6:05:37 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: CIB-173RDABN

The United States of America, one step closer to third world status.

**********
The U.S. used to be an esteemed country. “Made in USA” was a mark of the highest quality and valued worldwide. Not so much anymore.

The national decline continues apace. That’s just the reality.


96 posted on 06/29/2014 6:06:53 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: SkyPilot

The pig in the picture should use the money she spends on her nails, to pay down some of her water bill.


97 posted on 06/29/2014 6:06:55 AM PDT by Old Yeller (Anything is possible, if you don't know what you're talking about.)
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To: Gritty

“At least she is trying to do something to improve her lot. “Homeland security” is a genuine growth industry as are all the other government teat-sucking jobs that got us into the terrible state we now find ourselves.”

We are paying for her schooling, and she opted for studies in a fabricated industry which will keep her on our dollars for the rest of her life anyway. There is no more money for these redistribution shenanigans, and millions of white Americans are going to be joining her for their share of the freebies. As much as I’m surprised by the dearth of white children in my area, I’m even more surprised how many of the few that are born are welfare bastards.

There are now a lot of gibsmedats, illegals, and newly-impoverished whites fighting for their shares of the freebie pie...


98 posted on 06/29/2014 6:07:02 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: skams19
"Two words people: Rain barrel!"

Except that in some areas you can go to jail for catching rain and storing it...

No, I am not kidding...

99 posted on 06/29/2014 6:07:33 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: leapfrog0202

Yuck, low flow toilets! I remember the 1950s when high-powered toilets blew you right out of the stall. Hospitals still have them, thank God.


100 posted on 06/29/2014 6:08:15 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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