U.S. bankruptcy judge allows Detroit water shutoffs to continue

[IDemo]

Source: Reuters

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes ruled on Monday that Detroit can continue shutting off water service to non-paying customers, saying his court does not have jurisdiction over the issue and that suspending disconnections for six months could hurt the city's finances.

"Detroit cannot afford any revenue slippages," the judge said, before resuming his ongoing hearing on Detroit's plan to exit the biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy.

"As it prepares to show the court its plan is feasible... the last thing it needs is this hit to its revenues," he said, adding there was a strong correlation between disconnections and the city's collections of delinquent bills.

Detroit's bankruptcy plan includes a $4.5 million water affordability fund and a cap on rate increases. It also creates a regional water authority, which Rhodes said could be put in jeopardy by a revenue drop from unpaid bills.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/29/us-usa-detroit-water-idUSKCN0HO1DS20140929

[YarnAddict]

1. Has anyone been tracking

whether the golf courses, sports venues, and other businessess have paid up?

[yeoman6987]

2. I wonder how many are paid up by now.

I am sure the number is getting smaller as they see the company is being serious. I bet most are paying now.

[INdemo]

10. Just had to say this

This sounds like something a Republican would say

[yeoman6987]

12. You seem to be an expert on the subject!

[INdemo]

16. AHHHHA !! There are two Demo's posting here

Idemo and INdemo,so which one are you giving that "expert" distinction too?
If its me.... Thank You

LOL

[jtuck004]

11. Can't decide if this is sarcasm or what the Koch brothers would say. n/t

[davidthegnome]

3. One thing we can't live without...

You can go without food for several days, even without sleep for a couple, but without water... is there a fund somewhere where we can donate to help these people pay their water bills? I don't have more than a few bucks, but I wouldn't mind helping with something like this.

I don't understand why the federal government isn't stepping in here. These are American people without water... we can spend a trillion dollars for building new weapons and upgrading our nukes... but we can't keep the people in Detroit with running water? What the fuck is wrong with our priorities here?

[closeupready]

4. +100. When the inevitable public health emergency emerges

from the ashes here, Republicans will say, 'who could have predicted this?'

If this isn't a 'compelling state interest' to keep the water on, I honestly don't know what is.

[arikara]

18. Yes there is a fund that matches donors and people who need help

I sent $50 last month.

http://detroitwaterproject.org/

[davidthegnome]

22. Thanks for the link, arikara

I'll do what I can to help out.

[still_one]

5. what a terrible inhuman decision. Who says we aren't a 3rd world country?

[cstanleytech]

13. Ya it sucks but if people dont pay their bills

how are is the water utility to pay the workers who maintain the system as I am sure they probably arent willing to work for free.
Plus there needs to be a way to pay for the materials to repair the system as parts of it like any other major system are always breaking down and need to be repaired.

[notadmblnd]

17. In the Michigan community that I live in, if your water bill has an outstanding balance

It is added to your taxes. If your taxes aren't paid, eventually you will lose your home to the city and then the city will sell it for the back taxes and unpaid water bill. Why Detroit can't implement this solution is beyond me.

[Michigan-Arizona]

23. I thought it was that way in all of Michigan about water bill's going on taxes.....

I know Wayne County was that way & Monroe County as well... How about the house's that go back to the bank's are they paying the overdue water bill's that may have came with the home..... What a mess hey

[notadmblnd]

29. I live in Oakland county.

And yes, if the home goes back to the bank all out standing taxes and water bills go back to the bank too. So if the bank does not pay the bills, then the city auctions off the home to recoup taxes and outstanding water bills.

[cemaphonic]

25. I'd say it's because the scale of the problem is way beyond what a typical city gvt has to deal with

It's really widespread, and includes some big commercial accounts. Also, consider the real estate situation in Detroit - If the city forecloses on occupied houses, they don't have a valuable asset to sell - they have a soon-to-be stripped and rotting husk to deal with.

It's a thorny problem - on the one hand, there's a massive humanitarian and public health crisis brewing if Detroit can't deliver services like water and sewage, but on the other hand, Detroit seems to be facing down the fundamental arithmetic of having to maintain an infrastructure for a city with 3x its population. Even if short-term aid is available for its current problems, Detroit is going to have to figure out how to function as a smaller city.

[notadmblnd]

28. You know, I used to think that they wanted to keep all the poor trapped in the city

Now I think their goal is to get rid of them in the manner New Orleans did after hurricane Katrina. Poor people don't own the homes there, poor people rent. That means that the landlords are not paying the water bills. What better way to get the poor to move than to shut off their access to water?

[freebrew]

6. Let them drink wine...nt

[ColesCountyDem]

7. Absolutely inhumane! n/t

[Stryst]

8. So I guess

Detroit is about to have another wave of arson fires and maybe some riots. Because you can starve people for a long time, but in a day or two with no easy access to water, and people will kill each other for a bottle.

[former9thward]

9. This has been going on for months.

No arson, no riots.

[Stryst]

14. Detroit has one of the highest arson rates in he country

Population: 713,239

Total arsons: 957

Arsons per 100,000 residents: 134

Percentage of vacant housing units: 29.7



And there might be no riots at the moment, but the violent crime rate is skyrocketing.

[former9thward]

15. Long, long, long before any water was cut off.

[Stryst]

24. My point is that

A bad situation is getting worse. The city is already having problems and now there's more pressure on more poor people. People who cannot afford to leave, and who will get increasingly despirate. Property crimes, including theft, are on the rise.

If my partner decided to shoplift some bottled water because we had none, my reponse to prosecution would be rage.

We already know that the people of Detroit are angry enough to be starting fires and shooting each other. Am I really he only person who thinks the good people of Detroit are going to get angrier? That the murders and arson and theft are only going to get worse now?

[former9thward]

26. This all misses the bigger issue.

Detroit was once a city of 2 million. It built up an infrastructure of highways, water pipes and pumps, sewage, electricity, etc. to support 2 million people. It now has 700,000. 700,000 can't support an infrastructure made for 2 million. It is unsustainable.

[notadmblnd]

30. Well Devil's night is coming and Detroit is famous for it's Devil's night arson fires.

We'll see what happens this year.

[blkmusclmachine]

19. People can roll over and take this and take everything else TPTB can dream up, or we can start fight

-ing against the sociopathic 1%.

Yeah, they've got 30,000 drones surveying us every day in our neighborhoods, and a blood-thirsty corrupt Police State, and the Constitution/Bill of Rights has been stripped badly since 9/11, and they own the Media and most of our Congresspersons, ...

[EX500rider]

27. Municipal water shut-off's have little to do with the 1%...

...and more do do with that's how every place I've ever lived handles it.....don't pay your water/light/cable bill and it gets turned off.

[Nihil]

31. "don't pay your water/light/cable bill and it gets turned off"

Funny ... when people said exactly the same about the gas bill in Ukraine, it suddenly became
a far more serious problem ...

[quadrature]

20. better solution... rewilding ...nt

[Earth_First]

21. I bet the water at Ford Field (Detroit Lions) is still running...

...I mean after all they are only $82,255 behind on their share of the bill.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/180603/no-water-motown-why-detroit-denying-its-citizens-basic-human-right

Yet ordinary citizens are having their water shut off for less than $200 in back usage fees...

[Orsino]

32. I guess it's our move, creeps. n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

33. people can't flush their toilets - no problem there at all

People not being provided with water is a HUGE health hazard.

I always found it disgusting that clean water had to be paid for in the first place. It should be provided to everyone through taxes.

The fact that this country has epidemic homelessness is a fucking disgrace.