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Flint residents warned they could face foreclosure over refusing to pay water bill

B

Boke1879

Member
These people have every right to riot in streets imo. This is a disgrace and it's amazing how this gets no coverage.

It's Flint though. So it's no shock why this doesn't get attention.
 
S

Seth Enosh

Member
It feels like some important information is missing from the OP. The water in Flint is meeting federal limits for lead and is 100% safe to drink if a filter is used, as of January of this year. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne.../2017/01/24/flint-water-lead-levels/96995682/

The water is no longer "poison" as suggested by several people. The state has been providing free bottled water and filters to the residents as well. Filters are being provided for free for the next 3 years http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2017/02/state_says_no_to_water_relief.html

A letter dated Feb. 7 to Flint's interim Finance Director David Sabuda from Richard Baird, a senior adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder, says the state will no longer issue water relief credits to Flint water customers, but it will continue to provide the filters and filter replacement cartridges while the city replaces water lines throughout Flint -- a plan officials have said could take at least three years.​

As far as the water bill goes, someone has to pay for it if they are going to spend money fixing the system. Even if the money comes from the state, it's ultimately the people's money taken from them through taxes.

Edit: the whole Mlive article is worth a read. Lots of interesting info and it mentions the initiative to collect on overdue bills as well as the justification for ending the state payments due to the water now meeting federal standards.
 
G

Gallbaro

Banned
jph139 said:
It's easy to blame the Republicans here (and they deserve the shit they're getting) but, end of the day, it's not easy to completely replace an entire city's water system. Even with A+ local government, they would still be years away from "fixed."

It's almost as if ignoring our infrastructure for decades was a bad idea?
Click to expand...

Flint does not have much to do with ignoring infrastructure.

Flint's problem was being in financial receivership at the state level and paying attention to their infrastructure.

If they had ignored their infrastructure, they would be fine.
 
H

Hazmat

Member
Most of us either have to exorbitant black market prices for our poison or, for the least advantaged among us, have no access to poison at all. The residents of Flint have cheap poison on tap 24/7. These people need to cough up what they owe.
 
W

WedgeX

Banned
jph139 said:
It's easy to blame the Republicans here (and they deserve the shit they're getting) but, end of the day, it's not easy to completely replace an entire city's water system. Even with A+ local government, they would still be years away from "fixed."

It's almost as if ignoring our infrastructure for decades was a bad idea?
Click to expand...

The only reason their infrastructure now needs to be replaced is because a GOP-appointed financial manager moved Flint from the Detroit Water System to its own inadequate plant using water from the Flint River that could not be treated to a safe level. Thus irreparably corroding pipes throughout the city. Instead of waiting for Flint's eventual transition to the Karegnondi Water Authority.
 
M

Mesoian

Member
So the plan is for these people to be forced to leave so they can continue fracking in the area right?

That's always been the plan?

Vital Tundra said:
Absolute disaster situation. How in the world do they expect these people to pay for poison water? Shits going to go down.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they expect them to leave.
 
M

McLovin

Member
If I lived in flint and the bank took my home I would just leave. Why even stay at that point? Bank would take the home and nobody would move in, the whole place would turn into a ghost town. Edit-Oh wow if that was their plan from the start thats seriously fucked up.
 
J

Jmanunknown

Member
Seth Enosh said:
It feels like some important information is missing from the OP. The water in Flint is meeting federal limits for lead and is 100% safe to drink if a filter is used, as of January of this year. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne.../2017/01/24/flint-water-lead-levels/96995682/

The water is no longer "poison" as suggested by several people. The state has been providing free bottled water and filters to the residents as well. Filters are being provided for free for the next 3 years http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2017/02/state_says_no_to_water_relief.html

A letter dated Feb. 7 to Flint's interim Finance Director David Sabuda from Richard Baird, a senior adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder, says the state will no longer issue water relief credits to Flint water customers, but it will continue to provide the filters and filter replacement cartridges while the city replaces water lines throughout Flint -- a plan officials have said could take at least three years.​

As far as the water bill goes, someone has to pay for it if they are going to spend money fixing the system. Even if the money comes from the state, it's ultimately the people's money taken from them through taxes.

Edit: the whole Mlive article is worth a read. Lots of interesting info and it mentions the initiative to collect on overdue bills as well as the justification for ending the state payments due to the water now meeting federal standards.
Click to expand...


Even though you pointed out
The water in Flint is meeting federal limits for lead and is 100% safe to drink if a filter is used, as of January of this year.
Click to expand...
Your wording of the situation makes this
Despite the state's claims the water is meeting safety guidelines, Flint residents are still being advised not to drink the city's water supply unless it has been properly filtered.
Click to expand...
Look like the problems are not as bad they are. Also has the state government In Michigan given the citizens of flint any reason to trust them? I mean this whole nightmare happened under the same government leadership that is still currently in power. Would you personally trust someone after they poisoned their own citizens and then tried to cover it up?
 
9

99Luffy

Banned
The water is fine.
oYVOjZg.jpg
Click to expand...
 
O

O_Atoll

Member
Malreyn said:
this is incredibly stupid...if you foreclose everyone's homes because the water is too poisonous to drink to pay for it, who's gonna move in to replace them knowing the water is too poisonous to drink? they'll never get tax revenue and the town will go bankrupt.
Click to expand...
The plan is for them to move.
 
HoodWinked

HoodWinked

Member
i think a few people here may simply be speaking based on what they think is going on rather than just reading about what happened and the current situation. its expensive and time consuming to replace pipes in residential areas of course its not going to be fixed overnight but even now the situation with the water is much better than it was a year ago. i think if people just reading the first paragraph of wikipedia would clear up alot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
The Flint water crisis began in 2014 when the Flint River became the drinking water source for the city of Flint, Michigan. Due to insufficient water treatment, over 100,000 residents were potentially exposed to high levels of lead in the drinking water. A federal state of emergency was declared in January 2016 and Flint residents were instructed to use only bottled or filtered water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing. As of early 2017, the water quality had returned to acceptable levels; however, residents were instructed to continue to use bottled or filtered water until all the lead pipes have been replaced, which is expected to be completed no sooner than 2020.
Click to expand...

as for not paying your bills as a form of protest is a terrible idea because of interest and late fees. any legal council will always recommend paying then disputing the charges or suing this is far more effective anyways.
 
S

Slayven

Member
Adam_Vania said:
the other side is no better. Clinton didn't bother going to Michigan during her campaign and in fact ordered a bus of volunteers on their way to go to Iowa instead because they already had the numbers
Click to expand...

I can understand being wrong, but flat out lying.? How can you be so full of hate?
 
M

Malyse

Member
HoodWinked said:
i think a few people here may simply be speaking based on what they think is going on rather than just reading about what happened and the current situation. its expensive and time consuming to replace pipes in residential areas of course its not going to be fixed overnight but even now the situation with the water is much better than it was a year ago. i think if people just reading the first paragraph of wikipedia would clear up alot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis


as for not paying your bills as a form of protest is a terrible idea because of interest and late fees. any legal council will always recommend paying then disputing the charges or suing this is far more effective anyways.
Click to expand...

residents were instructed to continue to use bottled or filtered water until all the lead pipes have been replaced, which is expected to be completed no sooner than 2020.
Click to expand...

But they should totally pay for water they can't use, right?
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Are these motherfuckers serious? They should be getting free water for the same length of time it's been fucked up.
 
C

Chumley

Banned
Adam_Vania said:
the other side is no better. Clinton didn't bother going to Michigan during her campaign and in fact ordered a bus of volunteers on their way to go to Iowa instead because they already had the numbers
Click to expand...

How is bullshit lying like this not against the rules.

The fuck outta here.
 
W

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
This is still a town in America. What a goddamn embarrassing situation. I hope it continues to speak volumes to other countries around the globe. America ain't shit.

I'll continue to donate or help in whatever way I can because the only people the folks of that town can rely on is their fellow citizen. It's sure as hell not anyone with any actual power.

Fucking embarrassing.
 
W

WedgeX

Banned
HoodWinked said:
i think a few people here may simply be speaking based on what they think is going on rather than just reading about what happened and the current situation. its expensive and time consuming to replace pipes in residential areas of course its not going to be fixed overnight but even now the situation with the water is much better than it was a year ago. i think if people just reading the first paragraph of wikipedia would clear up alot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis


as for not paying your bills as a form of protest is a terrible idea because of interest and late fees. any legal council will always recommend paying then disputing the charges or suing this is far more effective anyways.
Click to expand...

Except that the first paragraph of that article contains absolutely no citations. Which is clear as the Flint River could not be cleaned to a point to meet federal standards.

http://flintwaterstudy.org/2015/08/...-cannot-be-treated-to-meet-federal-standards/
 
G

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Adam_Vania said:
the other side is no better. Clinton didn't bother going to Michigan during her campaign and in fact ordered a bus of volunteers on their way to go to Iowa instead because they already had the numbers
Click to expand...

FFS.

Over 90% of republicans in the house just voted to take health care away from tens of millions of Americans today. Not 1 democrat supported the measure.

The Republican government of Michigan fucked up the water supply of ~200K residents TWO OR THREE FUCKING YEARS AGO AND IT STILL ISN'T FIXED.

I repeat: THEY'RE TAKING AWAY HEALTH CARE AND CLEAN WATER.

Do NOT give me this bullshit. Do NOT. Republicans kill you. Democrats..... what, ask for the government to pay for and provide basic fucking infrastructure that works?
 
Â

∀ Narayan

Member
Adam_Vania said:
the other side is no better. Clinton didn't bother going to Michigan during her campaign and in fact ordered a bus of volunteers on their way to go to Iowa instead because they already had the numbers
Click to expand...

Just FYI, you can get banned for this.

EviLore (Terms of Service) said:
NeoGAF is a forum for holding civil, evidence-based discussion. Do not post disingenuously, or in an inflammatory manner for the sole purpose of upsetting others. Negative commentary and minority opinions are not frowned upon, but members are expected to be able to substantiate their positions. At the same time, do not derail threads around yourself or attempt to respond to every single reaction among dozens after posting a comment that is reacted to severely en masse.
Click to expand...
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
Absolutely astonishing that this can happen in America. But considering the recent election, maybe I shouldn't be all that astonished.
 
B

Bronx-Man

Banned
Being forced to drink poison or get your home foreclosed on, there's truly nothing better than living in the united states of amerikkka
 
A

Az

Member
Never going to happen. Still sick that it has got to this.
As far as I know Michigan you can only foreclose on property tax liens. Don't remember exactly though.
 
HoodWinked

HoodWinked

Member
Malyse said:
But they should totally pay for water they can't use, right?
Click to expand...

you're being irrational, do you only use tap water for drinking? if you ever paid a water bill sewage usually makes up at least half of that bill, and then a large portion of water that is used is from toilet usage.

also scientists have said that bathing with flint water is safe, likely because water is cohesive so lead will stick to it rather than on the skin and lead probably cant be absorbed though skin very well.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/scientists-say-flint-water-quality-ok-for-bathing-showering/

for consumable water they are providing filters and bottled water.
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
Leondexter said:
$800 water bill? For how long? I think that's more than I pay in a year, and I live in Las Vegas. I wonder if a lot of that is late fees and such.

Their government needs to fix this. No one should have to pay their water bill when it's not potable water being provided. It's amazing that this continues to snowball even under national scrutiny.
Click to expand...

Flint's water issue has been fucked up for 3 years now. I imagine many of them stopped paying midway through the first year when the signs were there that their state government wasn't going to do shit.
 
V

Vincent Alexander

Member
N

NintendoRev

Member
Angelus Errare said:
Flint's water issue has been fucked up for 3 years now. I imagine many of them stopped paying midway through the first year when the signs were there that their state government wasn't going to do shit.
Click to expand...
That's about 6 months worth of water bills without the water credit the state was giving us, which they took away in February and the prices went back up to pre-crisis levels. For our household of 3, with us taking showers every other day or longer between them to limit exposure to the water, it's still $189 for ONE month of poison water we can't drink.

and also, bathing in the water might be safe from a lead exposure standpoint, but they've dumped a shit ton of extra chemicals to combat further pipe corrosion, and people are having horrible side effects. For instance, my mother's having some pretty awful skin problems due to it.
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
NintendoRev said:
That's about 6 months worth of water bills without the water credit the state was giving us, which they took away in February and the prices went back up to pre-crisis levels. For our household of 3, with us taking showers every other day or longer between them to limit exposure to the water, it's still $189 for ONE month of poison water we can't drink.
Click to expand...

Jesus, I can't even begin to imagine man :(
 
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