From: "Andrea Miller and Conor Boylan" <info@pdamerica.org>
Date: Jul 11, 2014 5:33 PM
Subject: The 1% is Turning Off the Water in Detroit
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:
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Help Stop The Hostile Takeover of Detroit
Dear Daniel,
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A few months ago, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) shocked residents by announcing it would begin shutting off water to homes with outstanding balances as low as $150; people are reporting water is being turned off for oustanding balances of $40. Meanwhile Red Wing Stadium, Ford Field, golf courses, high rises and industrial buildings have outstanding balances greater than $30 million, yet they still have water. By summer DWSD plans to have turned off water for 150,000 Detroit residents.
The Guardian.com reported on "Detroit's Water War: a tap shut-off that could impact 300,000 people," saying a "right-wing state and corporate push to cut off water is economic shock therapy at its most ruthless and racist, but resistance is growing."
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) is joining the resistance. It's unthinkable that in 2014, people in America would find themselves shutoff from water. This is a local man-made emergency, but a national issue.
If this ALEC-led effort succeeds in Detroit, these tactics will be coming to your community next. That's why PDA is convening a series of emergency actions. Will you join our growing coalition to help save the residents of Detroit?
- Sign our Credo petition to turn on the water, end the shut offs and enact the Water Affordability Plan
- Join the national call-in day starting on Tuesday July 15th demanding Michigan Governor Rick Snyder end the water shutoffs, restore water to all residents and implement the Detroit Water Affordabiity Plan.
- Call all of these numbers between 1 and 3pm every Tuesday, (517) 373-3400 (Main Office) (517) 335-7858 (Constituent Services) (202) 624-5840 (Washington, DC office) Send a FAX: (517) 335-6863
- Join the phone bank team - alert local Detroit residents that their water is scheduled to be turned off; tell local residents where they can find a "free" water station in the city, help locate all Detroit residents who have had their water turned off; contact Mike Fox to make calls.
- Join the rally on July 18th starting at 1pm in Hart Plaza, Detroit; use the link to RSVP.
PDA Advisory Board Member Rep. John Conyers, explained, "Detroit's water crisis did not happen in a vacuum. Over the past decade, Detroiters have seen their water rates increase by 119 percent. Over this same period, forces beyond city residents' control–including a global financial crisis that left one in five local residences in foreclosure and sent local unemployment rates skyrocketing–severely undercut Detroiters' ability to pay."
According to Guardian.com: "There are people who can't cook, can't clean, people coming off surgery who can't wash. Adding to the outrage, "children risk being taken by welfare authorities from any home without running water."
The Progressive magazine reports, many Detroit residents understand "aggressive foreclosures and water shutoffs are a deliberate scheme to drive longtime residents out of the city center, seize property, and gentrify downtown Detroit and the waterfront." This would follow an established pattern of hostile takeovers targeting minority communities. "Detroit is not the first predominantly African-American city subjected to this kind of exploitation. Post-Katrina New Orleans (60 percent African American) was also abandoned and exploited by the political class. In Birmingham, Alabama (74 percent minority), JP Morgan was convicted of bribing local power brokers and extracting millions in fees that turned a $250 million dollar sewer project in Jefferson County into a $3 billion debacle."
This isn't even the first 1% power grab in Michigan! In Benton Harbor, state-imposed emergency management facilitated a corporate takeover of prized waterfront property to build a golf course. These deliberate efforts to exploit local communities are part of an alarming pattern.
Today, the people of Detroit need you. Next month or next year, the vultures might well be circling above your community. Help us stop this shock doctrine exploitation in its tracks!
Don't forget to Sign our Credo petition to turn the on the water, stop the shut offs and implement the Water Affordabiity Plan!
Conor Boylan and Andrea Miller
PDA National Co-Executive Directors
P.S. Will You Be At Netroots? Meet Conor Boylan! Email him at conor@pdamerica.org for more info.
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