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 ...
Potable water consumption- a base monthly fee + additional fee charged by the rounded 1000 additional gallons used.
Sewer fee- based on the Potable water consumption in gallons.
Drainage fee- rain water running into the sewer system.
Garbage Service
City/State/Fed Taxes
It don't take long to make a $200.00 + bill out of that.
Then start tacking on Late Fees, Disconnect & Reconnect Fees.
Most high use is due to: leaky faucets and toilets that leak and do not get fixed.
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.
However, after observing her expensive tattoos, fancy nails, ample wide-load Moochelle physique, and musing on the fact she is a "single mother" with 3 kids and all that implies, it is obvious she has made bad life choices... a lifetime of them.
Bad choices have consequences, and are probably a lot if not most of the reasons she finds herself with her water shut off (but not completely without it). It is obvious, though, she still has plenty of food so she will survive until she gets hired into her permanent affirmative action government job where her gravy train will really get rolling with a head of steam.
Looks like she certainly had money for lots of food and a few tattoos on that bodacious body.
“5 years, a phone call to the water department, and the problem ain’t fixed”
____________________________________________________________
How about a phone call to the water company, EVERY SINGLE WEEK, until she gets an answer. If she does not get a satisfactory answer / actions from the water company, she should move out and find a better place. Why in the world wait for 5 years with this situation??
BTW, I grew up in the surburban Detroit area. The tap water there was historically the best on overall quality compared to other metropolitan areas. But that was long ago and things probably have changed for the worse.
Her manicurist should be fired. I could buy nail polish that looks like that for .50¢, and have enough to do both hands, not just the one nail.
Here’s your problem, this is from the article.
“The last time Detroit began shutting off water for unpaid bills a decade ago,”
It’s been 10 years since they last shut off water for unpaid bills!!!! This woman is probably paying the bill from years ago, from the previous tenants
Pay your water bill instead of your drug bill and you will have water.
no doubt in my mind there is a Depression, a big one
I agree with you. Economists will one day look back at these times and write in those terms.
Among other things, they will point to the current, continuing high (disguised) employment of those who have given up looking for work, employment unemployment levels which are on a par with those in certain years of the Great Depression. It is amazing to me that the American public seems so indifferent to this phenomenon, which they surely must be aware of from just their interaction with others.
Not to mention a perm and acrylic nails.........
The democrats have owned Detroit since 1967 and yet Oates says the problems of Detroit are exclusively caused by the conditions in 1967.
You’d have to try very hard to be stupider than Oates.
Detroit People's Water Board
http://peopleswaterboard.blogspot.com
Food and Water Watch
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org
Blue Planet Project
http://www.blueplanetproject.net
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
http://michiganwro.blogspot.com
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.
There are a great many who are unemployed who simply cannot find jobs. At least ones that are in the same pay ranges they are accustomed to. I am presently looking for a new job, and it is near impossible to get another job. You get an interview, but then there is always someone just as qualified, or even more qualified, that they can hire for less than my current salary.
well the water company does have a problem
my sprinkler company discovered a long term leak on the water company’s old crappy pipe and the water company came out and fixed it, but of course I had paid for all the water that ran through.
The sad thing is that there are investors lined up who say they can bring the cost down to a median rate of $40 to $45 and implement sliding scales and metering plans but the debt has to be eliminated first.
$75 per month is insanely high but so is $40 in my opinion.
I sold vacuum cleaners door to door for a while. I would go in some houses and the parents would sit there in front of the “new” 80” TV and deal drugs/smoke pot & crack while the kids are in the other room on the “old” TV. New Caddy in the driveway, sometimes 2 of them.
All while I did My sales pitch.
(I had no choice of the area I was told to sell in, got dropped out of the van and told to go sell. it was about 3 weeks of that job!)
How well do you imagine Nichole will follow orders if she ever lands a job in Homeland Security (her field of study)?
Hair highlights - manicured finger nails - studded bra - tattoos - over weight, which means she is eating more than her body can burn - and expecting everyone else to pay for he basic life support needs...uhm, grow and join the rest of the productive society that plans and works responsibility....oh yeah - RESPONSIBLE and ACCOUNTABLE are two words liberals know nothing about!
Piece of crap - just like what’s in the White House!
“Nicole is the problem..... single mother, student loans, poor field of studies. loser, loser, loser gibmedat loser”
In countries where people have real problems with access to clean water, Nicole and company would be dead.
The certainly wouldn’t be 852 pounds.
“Elections have consequences.”
They sure do. Sue the Democrat Party. They caused this and they have lots of money.
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