Myth #7: Duggan Stopped Water Shutoffs
150,000 people without running water over the course of six years...activists and organizers have been publicly pleading with Duggan and badgering him to do something about the unfair water shutoffs in the city for YEARS, and he has ignored the entire issue (and everything to do with poverty, really). You may have lost track of that debate in all the noise over the water crisis in Flint.
When Coronavirus and the Biden campaign came to town (literally on the same night, if you remember Whitmer's suspiciously-timed announcement of the first cases), and suddenly the nation was looking at all the thousands of impoverished people in Duggan's city who couldn't wash their hands to stop the spread of a virus that was killing people left & right. Duggan knew he had to do something fast or face the worst thing that could happen to a politician: bad press. The result was a half-assed temporary fix where you could call the DWSD and pay a $25 fee to get your tap turned back on, but you still owed the arrearages, and they would cut your water back off as soon as Covid was over with, unless you paid up.
"We’ve seen this play by Duggan in the past," warned one article, noting that in his 2017 reelection campaign he made a similar ploy regarding the much hated drainage fees. Just like with this water shutoff moratorium stunt, Duggan also claimed he was going to suspend the drainage fee, but in the fine print it was only suspended until the next election:
The drainage fee threatened hundreds of financially struggling Detroit churches, many of which have expansive roofs and parking lots, making them subject to higher drainage fees. Knowing that currying favor with the Detroit churchgoing community is always essential to reelection for any mayor, Duggan was quick to lower fees for some churches (the ones with pastors who kissed his rings), and he suspended fee collection until the following year. Once Duggan was reelected however, the fees returned. "Today, drainage fees are the primary cause of unaffordable water bills for Detroiters."
By the same token, Duggan’s current plan on water shutoffs is not permanent, doesn't stop exorbitant fees, or offer any help paying the notoriously unaffordable past due balances. "Duggan’s plan puts Detroiters that are in crisis on life support once again... In 2020, Detroiters are still being sold recycled political tactics, not policy solutions"...
"This is why Detroit activists and leaders cannot afford to allow political opportunists to publicize false hope without holding the person(s) accountable, because Detroiters quality of life and health depends on it. According to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, his influence on Duggan to end water shutoffs permanently came with a price for El-Sayed to endorse Duggan for reelection, which brings into question the real purpose behind the plan. Using a moratorium on water shutoffs as a political bargaining chip in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is unconscionable and morally reprehensible."
Dr. El-Sayed was appointed by Duggan to the head of the Detroit Health Department. He claimed during the announcement that he was aligned with the water rights organizers in the city who have been pushing for a moratorium for years...which ruffled some feathers because none of the activists could remember ever meeting him, or a single time when El-Sayed was a part of their movement.
