Don't look for Netroots Nation, the progressive group that met in Detroit last week, to give Nolan Finley of the Detroit News any awards any time soon -- at least not any laudatory ones.
The group took a sympathetic stand regarding those who were behind on their water bills and had services shut off. People around the nation also expressed concern.
Finley sees it differently.
He writes in a column:
Just as Detroit was starting to gain some positive traction for its image, it walked off the dock by bungling an overdue attempt to end the city’s pay-if-you-want culture.
For years Detroit adopted a lackadaisical approach to collecting its debts. Half of city residents are delinquent on their property taxes. Half ignore their water bills. Up to 20 percent steal electricity. And even in the best neighborhoods, squatters are living for free in abandoned homes.
Why pay for anything if you can get away with not paying?
That’s been particularly true for water, where payment is such an alien concept that the city of Highland Park stopped even sending out bills to customers of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Conscientious residents had to come downtown to City Hall to figure out what they owed.
Finley called it a "positive and necessary step" when Detroit recently cracked down on scofflaws who owe the water department money.
He noted that the threat of shut-offs was enough to make some pay their bills.
So, needless to say, he was critical that the city, under pressure because of the bad publicity, announced a moratorium on shut-offs for 15 days to allow people to pay or make arrangements so their water service wasn't cutoff.
He writes:
Of course, restarting the shut-off initiative will be a fraught enterprise. It’s hard to imagine the water department can do anything that will satisfy those who view free water as a basic human right. There will be renewed protests for sure.
