All in the metro Detroit area are invited to attend this rally tomorrow, Th. 7/24, starting at 3:30 PM, in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building. Here is the text of the press release:
For Immediate Release
News from The People’s Water Board
Wednesday, July 23, 14
Contact: Priscilla Dziubek (313) 492-0000; Tawana Petty, 313-433-9882
**Media Advisory*
Rally With People’s Water Board and Council of Canadians Bringing Hundreds of Gallons of Water Across the Border to Detroit
Clergy delivers thousands of faith leaders’ signatures demanding end to water shutoffs
DETROIT – In a convoy of nearly a dozen vehicles, the Council of Canadians will deliver more than 200 gallons of tap water for Detroit families to a rally held by the People’s Water Board on Thursday, July 24 to help thwart the inhumane policy of depriving Detroit families of water. Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones will accept petitions with the signatures of thousands of clergy from Detroit and around the country demanding an end to the water shutoffs. The petitions are to be shared with Mayor Duggan and the rest of the Council.
The rally comes on the heels of 2,000 protestors chanting, “Water is a human right” in the streets of Detroit last Friday. On Monday, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department retreated in the face of overwhelming international opposition to their mass water shutoff policies in violation of the human rights of the poorest and most vulnerable Detroiters.
This historic multi-national Great Lakes gathering will provide some water to besieged families and will highlight how the Water Affordability Plan can avert both a major health crisis and continued human rights violations in Detroit.
Maureen Taylor of the People’s Water Board will present the plan, which was approved by the Detroit City Council in 2005. Maude Barlow, an internationally renowned water rights activist and chair of the Council of Canadians, will also speak. Barlow helped draw international attention to the water crisis when she helped file a successful human rights complaint with the United Nations. Paul Moist, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, will bring support and solidarity from the Canadian labor movement.
Who:
Brenda Jones, president, Detroit City Council
Bill Wylie-Kellerman, pastor, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Patricia Jones, senior program leader, The Human Right to Water, Unitarian Universalist
Maude Barlow, chair, Council of Canadians
Maureen Taylor, People’s Water Board
Paul Moist, president Canadian Union of Public Employees
Detroit families, community leaders and faith leaders
What:
Rally – Keep the Water and the Revenue Flowing. The People’s Water Board will:
• Deliver the signatures of thousands from Detroit and around the country demanding an end to water shut-offs to City Council President Brenda Jones
• Receives hundreds of gallons of tap water from Council of Canadians
• Present the Water Affordability Plan
When: Thursday, July 24, 2014 from 3:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Where:
Spirit of Detroit Statue, Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI
**
Hope to see area Kossacks there!
(NEW material below the jump.)
An important statement on the water crisis has recently been issued by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU of Michigan. It is in the form of a letter directed toward Mayor Mike Duggan, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, and the Chair and the CEO of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, cc-ed to Judge Rhodes and Governor Snyder.
The link here takes you to the NAACP-LDF press release about the letter, which is embedded at that site. It's a long, thorough takedown of the city and the DWSD, well worth the read.
These are the first three paragraphs of the press release:
The city of Detroit’s fifteen-day moratorium on water shut-offs, announced yesterday nearly four months after the shut-offs began, is welcomed but inadequate relief for a city in which thousands of residents either have lost or face the continuing threat of losing access to water.
The ACLU of Michigan and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who last week wrote a letter [see below] outlining the multiple ways in which the water shut-off violates both civil and human rights, urge the city to indefinitely restore full access to water for those customers already affected by shut-offs and reform its financial aid program for the city's neediest residents so that no one goes without water because of an inability to pay.
The groups call upon the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) to articulate a fair and workable definition of affordabililty and a plan for notifying all of its customers about the opportunity for financial assistance. Any process must, at a minimum, give sufficient notice and opportunity to those facing the threat of shut-off to be heard and to retain water service through a workable, affordability-based financial plan.
Orr, Duggan, and Snyger, all alumni of the U-M Law School, are taken to school once again through this critique of their egregious behavior. We can hope that this, too, will add to the pressure on them to do what is right.