MWRO Protests Censorship by WHPR

As reported in the Michigan Citizen, MWRO has ceased its weekly television and radio broadcast on WHPR-TV 33, 88.1FM in Highland Park, Michigan.

On Tuesday, April 21, 2009, the station owner, RJ Watkins, informed Marian Kramer and Maureen Taylor, co-hosts of the popular, "Ask Welfare Rights Show," that they would not be allowed to criticize former Highland Park Emergency Financial Manager, Arthur Blackwell--a friend and investor of Mr. Watkins.

The previous night, Marian Kramer attended the City of Highland Park City Council meeting where Mr. Blackwell and his supporters tried to distract from the firing of Mr. Blackwell who paid himself nearly $300,000 from the city--after agreeing to oversee finances for his native town for $1 per year!

MWRO and other community shows on WHPR pay an hourly fee for broadcast and production assistance. Following this censorship, the Michigan Citizen interviewed Mr. Watkins as saying that MWRO could talk about Mr. Blackwell "at home or on the telephone, but I have a right to say they don't talk about it on the air."

Marian Kramer retorted: "Maybe that is so, but it is our right to stop people from supporting the station."

Read Marian Kramer's full story about these incidents at the People's Tribune. Ms. Kramer is consulting with an attorney about reporting the matter to the proper authorities, and possibly boycotting the station.

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization broadcasted the "Ask Welfare Rights Show" on WHPR for over eight years. It provided regular updates and information about available public assistance benefits, "Know Your Rights" facts, and commentary on issues pertaining to low-income and poor people in southeast Michigan.

For more information or to voice your concern, call the MWRO office at (313) 964-0618.

(Image from MWRO)

What Is To Be Done?

‘Cipients Speak!!
By Maureen D. Taylor, State Chair, MWRO

Many cities across the country are experiencing economic declines like Detroit is going through, but we have the distinction of being “first” on many painful lists. We are in the top five in housing foreclosures, in unemployment, in tax foreclosures, in infant mortality rates, in school closures, in dropout rates, etc.

Some things, however, you can’t make up. Highland Park, Michigan, was one of the most beautiful small cities located entirely within the boundaries of Detroit. The trees stretched across the streets to touch each other, providing shade in the summer and giving all residents a panoramic winter view of deep and lasting beauty that all of us enjoyed. Along the edge of Highland Park was one of the Chrysler auto plants that employed 1000’s. It gave both a solid standard of living and a tax base that helped operate the local government.

Chrysler moved to upscale Auburn Hills, Michigan and took that tax base with them. The decline in Highland Park started. The population dwindled from a high of 66,000 residents to less than 16,000 today. Tough times in H.P.

Knowing this history, knowing about the 1000’s of residents who lost their jobs, knowing that water was disconnected because residents couldn’t pay the rising costs, a series of no-vision politicians vied for elected seats until the juice ran out. A disappointing Governor Jennifer Granholm, not allowing H.P. to declare bankruptcy on her watch, instead appointed a financial manager who took the place of an elected body. The first pirate crew was lead by a now defunct Ramona Pearson & Associates who were dismissed after some 20 months. They took more than $1 million dollars out of Highland Park in salaries. No improvements to turn the crisis around during that reign of terror were made except to benefit themselves at the people’s expense. Now we come to this.

Native son Arthur Blackwell shed tears when he was appointed to serve as the next Financial Manager of cash-strapped Highland Park in 2007. He was so touched by this appointment, and declared his love for the city that raised him & his family. The ‘HONOR” was so great, he vowed to work for $1.00 a year. After a series of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests were filed, we find that he collected since 2007, $495,000.00. Of course, he has an explanation for this, suggesting that it may only be an accounting error, plus noting that he has written back to the City $66,000 that he may have collected unwittingly. He was fired two days ago, and a 3rd Financial Manager from an upscale community has been appointed. Wonder how this is going to turn out?

Just losing his job is not enough. Blackwell should be the focus of a citizen’s arrest, and taken from his nice home kicking and screaming and off to jail where we decide how long he should stay there after stealing from poor people. Class war continues. Who pays for destroying the lives of working people? No one!

(Image courtesy City of Highland Park)

Detroit's Water Czar

While Congress and the White House toss around the fate of thousands of auto workers, and discuss the creation of a "Car Czar," we thought we'd mention another local czar in the news, Judge John Feikens.

Thirty-seven years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sued the Detroit Sewerage and Water Dept (DWSD) and the city to stop polluting the Detroit River. Judge Feikens was charged with overseeing local efforts--as the de facto water czar--and requiring local governments to respond to the lawsuit. Snow, rain, and widespread development created massive storm drain run-offs that contributed to water contamination in rivers and the area's watershed.

Many local groups have applauded Judge Feikens' heavy-handed efforts to comply with this Clean Water Act ruling, and there are noticeable improvements in the areas rivers, lakes, and beaches. In fact, his Detroit efforts have caused some to believe that this could be a national model for other cities.

But during this time, residents of two local water depts--the DWSD and Highland Park Water Dept--had another set of crises that the water czar did not include in his regional remedy plan. Since 2002 in Detroit, thousands of low-income residents had their water shut-off for lack of payment. In Highland Park, nearly half of the city's 16,000 residents had their water shut-off by cash-strapped local officials.

For several years, MWRO has worked in concert with local residents and grassroots leaders to have the water departments address this wide-scale public health and human rights problem. On several occasions, Judge Feikens' name came up by local water and city council officials as we pressed for relief or a moratorium on shut-offs.

Waterless residents were told that before any public policy changes could be made to help vulnerable populations restore their water service or establish affordable payments options, the water czar would first require payment and compliance with his legal orders by the water depts. In Highland Park, this made matters worse. Residents were receiving bills in the thousands of dollars (see film, The Water Front), and the city was nearly under receivership by the Governor because it could not pay its own bills.

For the past six years, MWRO members and local residents have sought a Water Affordability Program that would prevent shut-offs and allow low-income households to make modest monthly payments. We reached out to Judge Feikens for assistance and guidance and not once did we receive a response. If the Detroit water czar is truly interested in improving the area's quality of life through clean water then, we believe, part of that entails ensuring that the poorest members of the community are included and safeguarded against the harm of water shut-offs.

Lastly, a local study found that the cost of modernizing the Detroit region's sewage treatment plants and system pipes could be over $50 billion in the next 25 years. This could also double the cost of water bills within 15 years, which are already rising twice as fast as inflation. Low-income residents cannot manage this increase. What will the water czar do to avert this crisis?

Tragic Poverty Fires in Highland Park...and the MWRO Utility Summit

The nights have started getting colder in southeast Michigan and low income families are struggling to keep warm. With the socioeconomic crises in Detroit and surrounding areas--no jobs, layoffs, home foreclosures, wide-scale poverty, very low food security, illness--many poor and fixed income households often have to decide between which bills to pay.

Low income families living in large, old, poorly insulated homes in Detroit and Highland Park more often than not are unable to pay altogether for electricity, natural gas, and water. So they make small payments hoping that it will suffice but it doesn't.

Early this morning, another family in Highland Park became victim to poverty fires--dying in one's home because you can't afford to pay for the utility(ies) you need to properly heat it. A beloved grandmother and her three young grandchildren (5, 8, and 10) burned in their home while the children's mother and other relatives luckily managed to escape. According to the Detroit Free Press, the fire department confirmed what neighbors already knew: the fire started from a small space heater used to keep the children warm while they slept.

Yesterday, a neighbor shared information with the grandmother about getting help with her heat bill through THAW, an agency that assists low income families with high bills and getting utilities turned back on. THAW is largely funded through redirected funds from DTE--the Detroit-based utility company that shut-off the family's natural gas in the first place!

Corporations should not be making profits off of the utilities needed for supporting life. We all have the right to shelter, heat, food, water, clothing, and other human rights...and no corporate bottom line should determine who stays warm or who dies. This tragedy, along with neighboring burned homes, never had to happen if low-income families had better assistance, better resources, better information about how to protect their families!

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization is organizing its annual Utility Summit to help families and individuals learn how to avoid utility shut-offs and get assistance. Please encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to attend as we try to put an end to the horror of poverty fires!

MWRO UTILITY CRISIS SUMMIT
Wayne County Community College, Downtown Campus
1001 W. Fort St, Detroit, MI 48226
5:00-7:30pm
Thursday, Oct. 23 for surnames beginning A-L
Friday, Oct. 24 for surnames beginning M-Z

Learn how to avoid utility shut-offs and home foreclosures!
Bring your bills...Show your voter registration card and get a free meal!
Register at (313) 258-6826

Water Front Movie "Remix" Competition

Among the many community gems in The Water Front film is Joe L. Carter's song, "Mr. Waterman." Set in the background of the Highland Park residents' fight against water shut-offs and high water bills, this little ditty captures the essence of troubled times in Michigan.

Filmmaker Liz Miller is hoping to reinvigorate this classic song by inviting songwriters, DJs, rappers, and other artists to take part in The Water Front Remix Competition. Using online software at RelabMusic.com, "you can add your own drums, a new bassline and even edit the vocals as you like."

The winner will receive $400 and international acclaim for his or her work. A runner-up chosen by Facebook and MySpace voters will receive $100. Check out The Water Front Remix Competition site for more information!

Listen to "Mr. Waterman" by clicking on the link's blue play button.

"Can anyone really own water?"

That's the premise behind, FLOW--an award-winning documentary that interviews scientists and activists alike about the growing water privatization crisis and the world's dwindling fresh water supply. FLOW investigates the insidious $425 billion a year private water industry, and the short-sighted decisions by local governments and nations to sell their most basic and precious resource.

Like many others, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization believes water is a human right that no one has the right to profit from or own. In a region with nearly 20% of the world's fresh surface water supply, we know the irony of what it means to be without water in Michigan. In Detroit and Highland Park alone, thousands of families have had their water shut off for days, months, and even years (see The Water Front film on Highland Park, and Detroit Water Dept Pickets). The conditions that these persons have lived under mirror those found in third world nations--yet politicians don't want to tackle the tough questions of human rights, affordability, and infrastructure.

See FLOW's website for a list of cities where the film is screening along with more info on what you can do to protect this precious resource. Here's the FLOW trailer:

"The Water Front" Film Great Lakes Tour

Water bills costing several thousand dollars...low-income people without water in their homes...a city taken over by the state...and all of this taking place in the U.S.!

"The Water Front" documents the story of residents in Highland Park, Michigan--a neighboring Detroit town once envied for its beautiful homes and streets, and heralded as the birthplace of Henry Ford's automotive assembly line. Now it is a city on the verge of bankruptcy after the exodus of Ford Motor Company and Chrysler, and with a population unable to meet the costs of maintaining local services and needs.

This award-winning film by Liz Miller is touring the Great Lake states--30 cities (including east coast) and 40 universities--to bring attention to the plight of one community's struggle with economic collapse and aging infrastructures, and the remarkable resolve of its residents.

For the tour schedule and more see Food and Water Watch or The Water Front website. The Water Front trailer: