Posted on 01/20/2016 2:51:34 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder apologized to the residents of Flint for a water crisis that has prompted outrage, federal scrutiny and lawsuits, vowing to seek long-term assistance for the city’s residents.
In his State of the State address on Tuesday night, Snyder said he was asking state lawmakers for $28 million to help residents reeling after Flint’s drinking water became contaminated with dangerously high levels of lead. He also vowed to release his emails related to Flint from 2014 and 2015.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The stupid party strikes again. The Democrats are running to town on this one. Since it involves a city with a significant black population you can guess the racism angle is being hammered home big time.
Thanks for the ping/post; posts. BUMP!
Interesting reporting on Flint water
http://www.infowars.com/plan-to-protect-flints-water-discovered/
Tell him to try the patented “Rahm Emanuel crying” bit.
Absolutely, NBC has featured it prominently the past two nights; they would love a GOP scalp. “See, we knew Whitey didn’t care about you!” And then follow the formula of barely mentioning the MAYOR in passing. And no mention of the city council at all, of course.
As I understand it, the state took over this part of city management (forced the city to stop using expensive Detroit water) and is directly responsible for what happened. But I could be wrong. I heard this on NPR. ;-)
Amen. Water systems, although state and/or federally permitted, are self-managed and self-reporting.
Sorry but you are wrong the state oversight required Flint to do the the city had no choice in the matter. Folks responsible for this need to go to jail, or better yet be locked in rooms with the parents of the children they poisoned for 10 minutes.
I don’t care what letter is beside their names.
If Rick Snyder had any aspirations for any other political office after his governorship they’re done now with this apology. He just saved the Dems some time by “Katrinaing” himself. Who’s gonna want to vote for an evil White man who allowed Black people to drink tainted water? Has he no shame? As you and others have rightfully pointed out the incompetence of the mayor and the Flint city council is responsible for this mess, but as usual a member of the stupid party takes the blame instead because he’s worried about having a racist tag pinned on him which takes the real culprits off the hook.
...but from everything I've heard this could have been completely avoided if...
A. Detroit water(with it's own "questionable" issues during the Kwame era)wasn't gouging(particularly the 'burbs)with rate increase after rate increase to make-up for it's own shortfalls(perhaps corruption), but also including many in Detroit who simply felt they didn't need to pay their own water bills...the resulting increases pushed(particularly bankrupt cities like Flint)to look at alternatives, thus the Karegnondi Water Authority(new water source)was born.
(more importantly)
B. Detroit water could have offered a short term extension of Detroit water(after the previous 50 year contract expired)until the new line was ready for use. I understand there were negotiations for such, what issues prevented all sides from coming to an agreement for the best interest of the residents of Flint?(my guess....Detroit wanted extra $$$ Flint didn't have)
From what I understand the Detroit water dept. was angry that Flint(others)decided to go with the new water source(as opposed to signing a new 50 year deal), as they felt(rightfully so)it would compete with their own, and as such, lose needed revenues for it's own financial security/issues.
I'm about 30 miles from Flint. Couple of years ago our City manager had the option to pipe into the new water source(suppose to be completed June of this year), but with the added cost of infrastructure(connection/treatment) decided...better to just sign a new 50 year agreement with Detroit.
I don't claim to know the facts of this fiasco, but the media and their friends in the 'rat party see an opening to smear the Rep.'s with it not only locally but nationally(yes, it's a failure of Gov.....but only when it's REPUBLICAN controlled gov.).
I'd just like the facts to lead to...wherever they lead. Couldn't care less about political affiliation. Somebody has to be held accountable as the lawyers are I'm sure flooding into Flint looking for $$$, and it's going to cost perhaps hundreds of millions in lawsuits and infrastructure repair after all is said and done.
Aging infrastructure(and how to pay for repairs)are going to be YUUUUGE topics in the NEAR future. These kinds of events are just the beginning. Gov. officials/others cannot afford to continue to kick the can down the road, solutions must obviously include reining in wasteful spending at ALL levels, not to mention putting crooks and cronies in jail.
The stupid party lives up to its label. This is one of the reasons why I think Trump resonates with so many on our side. Imagine if it had been a Trump factory that was accused of poisoning a river and polluting the water making people sick? Instead of a Rick Snyder type capitulation Trump would of fired back and told them to go stick it, and then file his own countersuit.
Their are some great slide shows of the timeline of this crisis. The Mayor and City Councils decisions caught my eye on the one I found today that I can’t find now. Political football, and a pissing match with Detroit not to mention getting cheap on the water treatment. a lot of blame to go around for sure....
Seems that Flint was looking for their own source of water which would cut the umbilical to Detroit but it would take 2 years so Detroit was going to cut them off and leave them without water for a year.
The city was not forced to stop using Detroit water, it chose to do so.
Yes that was part of it. But when Detwaa said they could hook back up it seems the city council balked at least twice. Was it the $ given their long term pension liabilities and the fact that Flint is broke? who knows....
Interesting...
You go cheap, and you don’t have experts and you’re gonna get this every time with a big water supply. Unless you know what you are doing and prepare for it, changing the flow in the pipes will cause all hell to break loose (literally) in an old system. The natural corrosion is laminar to the flow that has been going over the surface for 50 years, it is how it has self-healed naturally ... reverse it and it is like rubbing a bird’s feathers the wrong way, they stick up and they come loose ... (idiots).
But take it a step further and blame it on politics? ... I shake my head in wonder.
This guy is doing the same crap Bush did with Katrina. Thought he’d be the adult and take the blame and think he was going to earn some kind of credit for doing so. Instead, he literally is now to blame for this and should suffer the consequences. More stupid GOP.
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