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Detroit tells judge: We can't give away free water
Yahoo News ^ | September 22, 2014 | ED WHITE

Posted on 09/22/2014 12:32:51 PM PDT by BradtotheBone

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit's water department defended its shutoff policy Monday and warned that free service to people with unpaid bills could be "very devastating" to the bottom line.

Judge Steven Rhodes set aside Detroit's bankruptcy trial to hear evidence in a controversy that has been boiling all summer. A coalition representing low-income residents is asking him to suspend water shutoffs and restore service to people who have lost it.

The water department would be violating Michigan law and breaking agreements with bond holders if forced to supply water and ignore overdue bills, attorney Sonal Mithani said.

The "humanitarian concerns are very compelling" but fairness is critical, too, Mithani said, noting that 60 percent of Detroit residents are paying for water on time.

Opponents essentially are arguing that "every resident has the inherent right to free water," she said.

The water department stepped up shutoffs in March, and about 15,000 customers had service cut from April to June. Criticism and protests followed, even appeals to the United Nations.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Government; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: detroit; michigan; welfareculture
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1 posted on 09/22/2014 12:32:52 PM PDT by BradtotheBone
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To: BradtotheBone

One solution: garnish welfare money from non-paying resident.


2 posted on 09/22/2014 12:35:19 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor (Socialists want YOUR wealth redistributed, never THEIRS!)
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To: BradtotheBone
Opponents essentially are arguing that "every resident has the inherent right to free water," she said.

In a democrat-infested cesspool like Detroit, isn't that just an axiomatic assumption?

3 posted on 09/22/2014 12:36:16 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: BradtotheBone

Maybe some investigative journalist could determine how it is that people almost invariably complaining about their shutoff have $50 manicures. Is there a division of Detroit or DC that covers nail art as a human right and social justice? I mean’ perhaps it’s a govt program and they were entitled to those claws. But since I don’t think that’s happened yet, I have to believe they were purchased with regular EBT funds that could have paid the water bill on time.

Does that make me a bad man? Because I don’t FEEEELLLL like a bad man noticing the obvious...


4 posted on 09/22/2014 12:38:02 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart (How's that 'lesser evil' workin' out for ya?)
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To: BradtotheBone

Why cant they give away free water?

The people get everything else , including housing, food, daycare, spending money, electricity, transportation, cell phones, computers and health care for free .

Why not water?


5 posted on 09/22/2014 12:39:04 PM PDT by rdcbn
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To: BradtotheBone

Who pays for infrastructure to deliver the water? Who do they think will pay for labor to run facilities that pump water? Why hasn’t that been brought up to these people who demand free water?


6 posted on 09/22/2014 12:39:25 PM PDT by SkyDancer (I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am)
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To: VRWCmember

Sure. Grab a bucket and go to the nearest lake ....


7 posted on 09/22/2014 12:40:10 PM PDT by SkyDancer (I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am)
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To: SkyDancer

Well you do silly! You are a white/other devil. Maybe an Uncle Tom devil. but you be da debil alright! Pay up!


8 posted on 09/22/2014 12:40:53 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart (How's that 'lesser evil' workin' out for ya?)
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To: BradtotheBone

Free Water To Us All!

Maybe a chicken in the pot too.


9 posted on 09/22/2014 12:42:28 PM PDT by tennmountainman (True conservatives don't like being rained on by their own party!)
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To: BradtotheBone

Must not be able to pay the water bill with EBT.


10 posted on 09/22/2014 12:43:28 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: BradtotheBone

Has anyone figured out the problem, you can’t pay for water with your EBT. Change the rules no problem. And by the way will need a little more in the EBT account too.


11 posted on 09/22/2014 12:44:27 PM PDT by Quick Shot
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To: BradtotheBone

Has anyone figured out the problem, you can’t pay for water with your EBT. Change the rules no problem. And by the way will need a little more in the EBT account too.


12 posted on 09/22/2014 12:44:30 PM PDT by Quick Shot
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To: BradtotheBone

From what I can tell from peeking in at the Governor’s race from time to time, the idea that water is a “human right” appears to now be the official position of the Democrat Party of Michigan.


13 posted on 09/22/2014 12:45:41 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: BradtotheBone

Most of my neighbors are white, like me, and if we don’t pay our water bills our water is shut off.
My municipality has a first-rate credit rating, but lawn gnome Robert Reich is probably right:
This is the white man’s fault for keeping Detroit down by asking them to pay their bills, like everybody else in the damned country.

The saddest part of this sarcasm is that the shaming would go right over the heads of its targets, the gibsmedat crowd.


14 posted on 09/22/2014 12:45:56 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: Quick Shot

Let me guess where this is going.

The 60% who are currently paying their own bills will end up paying
for the deadbeats. Not by choice, of course.


15 posted on 09/22/2014 12:47:06 PM PDT by tennmountainman (True conservatives don't like being rained on by their own party!)
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To: Springman; cyclotic; netmilsmom; RatsDawg; PGalt; FreedomHammer; queenkathy; madison10; ...
LOL "Restore service to people who have lost it".

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Michigan legislative action thread
16 posted on 09/22/2014 12:48:03 PM PDT by cripplecreek ("Moderates" are lying manipulative bottom feeding scum.)
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To: BradtotheBone

Tell them to take their buckets and go to Lake Erie and scoop up as much free water as they can carry.


17 posted on 09/22/2014 12:49:30 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (Bomb ISIS; bomb them again; bomb them again; kill all survivors; take no prisoners.)
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To: BradtotheBone
Detroit tells judge: We can't give away free water.

What are they talking about. Just make the other customers cover the cost. If they are still paying their bills they can afford to cover those that are not.

18 posted on 09/22/2014 12:49:54 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: BradtotheBone

Oh, now I see. Those greedy bond holders. Well, make them pay!


19 posted on 09/22/2014 12:50:35 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: Norm Lenhart
 photo il_570xN_zps9f461b5b.jpg

I'm mortified!


20 posted on 09/22/2014 12:50:45 PM PDT by SkyDancer (I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am)
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