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“Protestors make their way to city hall council chambers chanting for clean water at Flint City Hall in Flint, Mich. on Wednesday Oct. 7, 2015. (Christian Randolph/Flint Journal)”
The state of emergency declared in Flint, Michigan due to the lead poisoning of its drinking water, highlights the severity of the situation and the policies that precipitated this crisis. The background of this tragedy is presented by a magazine in the following manner:
The problem dates back to April 2014, when Flint was under the direction of an emergency manager appointed by the state to try to fix the broken city. (Michigan law provides for the governor to select managers, and the provision has been used in several places in recent years, most prominently Detroit.) To save money, the city began drawing its water from the Flint River, rather than from Detroit’s system, which was deemed too costly. But the river’s water was high in salt, which helped corrode Flint’s aging pipes, leaching lead into the water supply.
The move saved millions, but the problems started becoming apparent almost immediately. The water starting smelling like rotten eggs. Engineers responded to that problem by jacking up the chlorine level, leading to dangerous toxicity. GM discovered that city water was corroding engines at a Flint factory and switched sources. Then children and others started getting rashes and falling sick…”
The responsibility of Michigan officials and effects of this contamination are described here:
“Researchers at Virginia Tech who looked into the lead poisoning were even more damning, reporting last month that Michigan officials not only ignored complaints about the smell, taste and color of the water, but also lied about lead levels and tried to conceal evidence. And there have been reports that the city failed in its own lead-testing duties.
The state says it has identified 43 people suffering from elevated levels of lead, which poisons the nervous system and can stunt brain development in children. In addition, state officials disclosed this week that in 2014 and 2015, there was a spike in Legionnaire’s disease cases in Genesee County, which includes Flint, including 10 fatalities, coinciding with the contamination of the water supply. They said they were investigating whether there might be a connection.”
Prominent Flint native, filmmaker Michael Moore, in an open letter to President Obama states that:
We need
- The CDC here at once to truly assess all of the disease and damage that has been forced upon the people of Flint.
- FEMA has to supply large water containers in every home in Flint — and they must be filled by water trucks until the new infrastructure is resolved.
- The EPA must take over matters from the State (can the governor be removed and replaced like he did to the mayor of Flint?). Immediately.
- You must send in the Army Corps of Engineers to build that new water infrastructure. Otherwise, you might as well just evacuate all the people from Flint and move them to a white city that has clean drinking water — and where this would never happen.
One interpretation of the politics behind the appointment of emergency managers is the implementation of extreme austerity fiscal policies. Democracy at the local level is eroded, and profound negative impacts in the fabric of the communities are inflicted in the name of “fiscal responsibility”.
Well, the government in State of Michigan has damaged its ability to remain fiscally solvent in so many ways now it’s forced to do crazy things to avoid more bankrupt Detroits. Liberal fiscals who caused the mess have been transformed into conservative fiscals who take unsavory risks due to fiscal constraints. If you want to watch a great documentary on Detroit (and Michigan’s style of government) go watch CNN’s Anthony Bourdain’s documentary on the City of Detroit. It was like taking a tour through a 3rd world nation ravaged by war and civil unrest. It was terribly difficult to accept that those conditions existed in the United States of America.
The situation in Flint is a little more subtle than you suggest. There is plenty of blame to go around.
In particular, If the Detroit Water Board hadn’t tried to strong-arm Flint, this whole mess would have been avoided. Any guesses as to the party affiliation of the Detroit Water Board?
http://gregbranchwords.com/2016/01/17/the-real-tragedy-in-flint/
Well, based on the information communicated in Anthony Bourdain’s documentary on Detroit, a very large percentage of the Motor City’s residents refused to pay their water bills. That disrupted the incoming revenues. Undoubtedly this put added pressure on the Detroit Water Board to raise funds from other sources. And the rest is history. For every cause there’s an effect. For every action a reaction.
You mean a Clinton would exploit a bad situation and mischaracterize it for political gain?
Yeah! It’s like 1992 all over again!
Thanks for posting the link presenting a different interpretation of the events. As Governor Snyder said tonight, the “buck stops here with me”. There is no doubt that this was a cost-saving measure, and the release of his e-mails may clarify the extent of his knowledge of the crisis.
This bad situation is relevant from a policy making perspective, not to mischaracterize it for political gains, but for its impact on public policy. We criticize our local negative klepto-created policies for the same reason, bad situations that have a significant impact on the quality of our lives.
Over 30% of the City of Flint’s revenues go to pay their terribly unfunded city employee pensions.
*Let’s see…..if the City Council screws the pooch….they are supposed to call the County..and when the County does nothing…..they are supposed to call the State. So, when they call the State….the Governor says: (Secretly!)…”I’m the one that thought up
that dumb idea of using the river water….in the first place!” So, since the State is frozen in time….perhaps the Federal Government needs to take charge. Oh, that’s what happened…..hmmmmm…….. So, welcome to Snyderland……where everthing you drink has lead in it. Sounds like it is time for a new broom and a dustpan to take Snyder to the cleaners……..and a good thrashing.
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if everytime our elected or appointed leaders screwed up – all of those who had a hand in it – Democrats and Republicans alike – appeared before the public and in unison said something like this:
“We are deeply sorry for our misjudgments and whatever harm it caused to your lives. We thought we were doing the right thing but it turned out wrong. We understand your anger and empathize with your pain. And we will do everything within our power not to repeat our mistakes. We aspire to learn from it. If our mistakes and misjudgments continue we are not worthy to hold the positions of authority that impact your lives. Please forgive us.”
If an elected or a group of electeds ever made a similiar statement they would be #1 picks on my next election ballot. But it never happens. That’s a integral part of American culture that we’ve lost, probably forever. Back when a handshake and a man’s word was as good as gold. God, I wish those days would return.
Government and governors never apologize. Sort of like most bloggers.
At a point when a blogger(s) has control over my quality of life it would be nice to get an apology from him or her too, if at all warranted (most the time it’s not). However, I certainly wouldn’t expect it. We should expect more from electeds and those who hold political appointments who do have control over the quality of our lives when they mess up.
I just pointed out a parallel: people who confuse acknowledging error with weakness. It’s a bad character flaw.
Of course you can always choose to ignore the political blogs. The taxman is a lot harder.
“Never apologize mister, it’s a sign of weakness.”
John Wayne –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hY4iqMfGU4
*First of all, John Wayne never served in the Armed Forces, even though he did a good job….in “She wore a yellow ribbon…” 2ndly, those were the days when the politicians that did apologize “resigned”. Those that didn’t were “Run out of town on a rail….tarred and feathered!” We should do that to Trump and see how it goes over!
That would just precipitate an explosion of pop-up schools (think DeVry and friends) to train them in ‘sincerity’ and delivery. The message would be better delivered extemporaneously — at a sentencing hearing. China does theirs with live ammo. Remember when WE were a government of rule of law ?
We were once a government of rule of law? Oh yeah. I faintly remember that. But it was so so very long ago. But don’t fret too much. Rule of law still applies to us little people. 🙂
Kind a reminds you of the angels Stadium deal don’t it? Or the gate tax theft by Disney. I bet the fat troll from Irvine is buddies with this Governor from Michagan’s Jordanesque-DINO puppet.
It is worst though in terms of the impact on the health of the people who drank the contaminated water, especially the children.
Bloated government pensions caused this lead poisoning.
*That Governor of Michigan is “razor sharp” …eh? The boy must be having his 10 year old daughter writing his Press Releases. We apologize to his daughter, because the Governor is probably still editing the final copy. How about, “We made a mistake two years ago and we have reversed our position!” Why does everything in politics have to take so long and be so boring to get a decent answer?
“Do Not Send Us Bottles Of Water. Instead, Join Us In A Revolt.”
A Letter From Michael Moore
Many of you have contacted me wanting to know how you can help the people of Flint with the two-year long tragedy of drinking water contaminated by the radical decisions made by the Governor of Michigan. The offer is much appreciated by those who are suffering through this and who have not drank a glass of unpoisoned water since April of 2014.
Unfortunately, the honest answer to your offer of help is, sadly, you can’t.
You can’t help.
The reason you can’t help is that you cannot reverse the irreversible brain damage that has been inflicted upon every single child in Flint. The damage is permanent. There is no medicine you can send, no doctor or scientist who has any way to undo the harm done to thousands of babies, toddlers and children (not to mention their parents). They are ruined for life, and someone needs to tell you the truth about that. They will, forever, suffer from various neurological impediments, their IQs will be lowered by at least 20 points, they will not do as well in school and, by the time they reach adolescence, they will exhibit various behavioral problems that will land a number of them in trouble, and some of them in jail.
That is what we know about the history of lead poisoning when you inflict it upon a child. It is a life sentence. In Flint, they’ve already ingested it for these two years, and the toll has already been taken on their developing brains. No check you write, no truckloads of Fiji Water or Poland Spring, will bring their innocence or their health back to normal. It’s done. And it was done knowingly, enacted by a political decision from a Governor and a political party charged by the majority of Michigan’s citizens who elected them to cut taxes for the rich, take over majority-black cities by replacing the elected mayors and city councils, cut costs, cut services, cut more taxes for the rich, increase taxes on retired teachers and public employees and, ultimately, try to decimate their one line of defense against all this, this thing we used to call a union…
…If you want to help Flint, sign the petition, demand that the federal government take action, and then get involved yourself, wherever you live, so that this doesn’t happen to you – and so that the people we elect know they can no longer break the law as they rule by fiat or indifference. We deserve much better than this. ”
For a better world,
Michael Moore
Damn, that’s powerful. Let’s run it as its own story before the Michigan primary.
And to think that this happened because Gov. Rick Snyder suspended democracy in cities politically dominated by African Americans.
It reminds me that the oft-quoted myth that a previous (Trump-like) strongman, Benito Mussolini, “at least made the trains run on time.” It turns out that the trains actually operated more poorly under Mussolini — but that no one was going to say that too loudly in public.
Conservative commenters — ball’s in your court!