Michael Moore visited his hometown of Flint and helped to draw the national attention that this sorry situation deserves. As readers of this blog know, Governor Rick Snyder got a law passed allowing him to appoint emergency managers to take over cities and school districts that were in financial distress. The voters overturned the law. The legislature and the governor re-created it through some devious maneuver, giving Snyder the power to override democracy whenever he chooses.
Snyder’s EM for Flint was Darnell Earley. He decided to save money by cutting off the supply of safe water from Detroit and to have the residents use Flint River water instead. There are high concentrations of lead and other pollutants in the Flint River, and 10 people have died of Legionnaire’s Disease. Untold numbers of children may have suffered lead poisoning, which can cause irreversible brain damage.
This series of events is shocking. It is criminal. Governor Snyder should resign, as should all of his emergency managers. He should be charged with criminal neglect and tried for endangering the lives of the people of Flint by action and by negligence. An elected mayor would never had risked the health and safety of Flint’s citizens.
Of course, Darnell Earley is now in charge of the Detroit public schools. We should fear for the children.
And on Wednesday, Gov. Rick Snyder announced that the Flint area saw a spike in Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, around the time the city switched its water source — a spike in illness that proved fatal for 10 people. Officials did not confirm the water switch had to do with the spike, but a drinking water expert has said there was very likely a connection.
The situation has drawn rebukes from Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has said there is “no excuse” for the crisis, and from Bernie Sanders, who had similar statements and said Flint residents “deserve more than an apology.”
In response to the intense criticism, Snyder said at a news conference Wednesday: “We’re taking every action within reason, and going beyond reason to address this,” he said. He also said, “This is something you wish that never happened, and let’s see that it never happens again in the state of Michigan.”
At the protest on Saturday, Moore also pinned the city’s water conditions on governmental neglect because of the city’s income level and racial makeup.
“They would never do this to West Bloomfield,” he said. “They would never do this to Ann Arbor. They would never do this to Farmington Hills. Let’s call this what it is. It’s not just a water crisis. It’s a racial crisis. It’s a poverty crisis… That’s what created this.”
I don’t think the problem is/was lead in the Flint River. The problem is/was that the pipes are lead and unless a special balance is added to the water, the lead pipes corrode.
The EM cheaped out on getting the right balance for the water, so the pipes corroded and carried contaminated water to the residents.
True. Flint River water was known to be so corrosive that GM wouldn’t use it for industrial purposes – it should have been predictable that the corrosiveness would cause leeching of lead from the pipes into the water.
And anyway, if the water is that corrosive, and they have to add other chemicals to make it not corrosive, how can it ever be healthy to drink?
To quote a post I saw on Facebook from Dylan Miner: “…water has become the modern smallpox blanket in a majority Black city.”
True, any public official that puts the safety and well being of the community in jeopardy to save money needs to be replaced, drummed out of office. Then, to put the same idiot who changed the water supply in charge of public schools is down right stupid. All these people need to be charged with dereliction of duty.
Apparently Marco Rubio said he hasn’t heard enough about this to comment. Walter “Sandy” Silvers
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From: Diane Ravitchs blog To: sandysilvers@yahoo.com Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 9:04 PM Subject: [New post] Flint Water Crisis: Governor’s Emergency Manager Kills 10 #yiv2122330120 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv2122330120 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv2122330120 a.yiv2122330120primaryactionlink:link, #yiv2122330120 a.yiv2122330120primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv2122330120 a.yiv2122330120primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv2122330120 a.yiv2122330120primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv2122330120 WordPress.com | dianeravitch posted: “Michael Moore visited his hometown of Flint and helped to draw the national attention that this sorry situation deserves. As readers of this blog know, Governor Rick Snyder got a law passed allowing him to appoint emergency managers to take over cities an” | |
The media reports list the lead as leaching from the pipes due to improper water treatment, as the first post stated.
Will there be a real investigation and accountability, I wonder, or is the (legalized) corruption too deep?
Resign? He needs to be prosecuted, an so do they for reckless endangerment.
I just keep going back to Bob Herbert’s book, Losing Our Way, which I went out and bought after reading Diane’s review here back in November 2014. https://dianeravitch.net/?s=Bob+Herbert%27s+losing+our+way
Herbert spent a lot of time talking about the willingness of the power elite to let vital infrastructure crumble to the ground, in Flint and all around us across the country.
Michigan used to have so much pride in their public universities- I don’t know if it’s still true but that was always part of the Ohio/Michigan rivalry. It wasn’t just football 🙂
How did it happen that researchers from Virginia Tech ended up saving Flint, Michigan?
They couldn’t send the water to Michigan State to be tested prior to pumping it into homes and schools?
Don’t think the suburbs are immune. The DEQ, which the Michigan TEAGOP created as a corporate lapdog because our former DNR (Dept of Natural Resources) was historically too environmentally conscious for them) is allowing fracking leases in residential subdivisions, sometimes with the connivance of local Repub officials, sometimes overriding local ordinances.
In this regard it is important not to overlook the Water-Oil connection. For example, see this story:
http://markmaynard.com/2016/01/could-the-flint-water-crisis-have-its-origins-in-a-desire-to-increase-fracking-in-michigan/
More history —
http://michiganradio.org/post/reporter-s-notebook-some-state-officials-still-denial-or-misinformed-over-flint-river-decision#stream/0
Darnell Earley and the governor should have to drink bottled Flint water for the next year as punishment…nothing else, just Flint water…good luck with that.
Flint water pumped through a lead pipe — and no, they can’t use a filter.
But actually, those two are already brain dead.so I doubt it would make much difference.
This was interesting on Sunday’s PBS Detroit channel at 11:30. https://youtu.be/hC7jHmO2Y80 It’s the overtime discussion, but I’m sure you can get the entire thing. Just can’t find it right now.
Let’s try this one – the first part before the overtime. http://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/2365645007
Diane Ravitch, you purposely worded the lead to your story to be inflammatory and to make Snyder out to be a murder. I live in Michigan and am no Snyder fan by any stretch of the imagination. But to say he “killed” 10 children in Flint is wrong. Here is another story that comes from the Canada Free Press.
http://canadafreepress.com/article/78333?utm_source=CFP+Mailout&utm_campaign=65e4414733-5_20_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d8f503f036-65e4414733-291127029
There is more than enough blame to go around for Flint. If people were so worried about the water when Flint unhooked from Detroit, then somebody should have put morality before a job and gone public with the story.If nobody listened, I am sure there were other news outlets around that would have LOVED to have run with it. HuffPo and Daily Kos come to mind. Why did the ACLU have to help break the story? Our state AG is only paying lip service saying that he will “investigate” the water problems, Won’t be much of one though, because he wants to run for governor when Snyder is done and can’t afford to burn his bridges.
There WERE people concerned, Kevyn Orr, the EM in charge at the time, also Dennis Muchmore, Unfortunately their complaints went nowhere.
The water in Flint will never be the same even though they are hooked back up to Detroit. There are all sorts of people falling all over themselves to help the citizens of Flint with bottled water, etc. However, Flint will need bottled water until the end of time because they can’t wash with it, drink it, do laundry with it, nothing. Where will the money come from?
As for the Hollywood crowd making Flint a cause celebre’, Michael Moore hasn’t been back to Flint in years. Cher hasn’t got the good sense to come in out of the rain. And Jesse Jackson is doing what he does best…riling people up even more. I wonder when Rev. Al is going to show up.
All in all, it is a bad situation, but to claim that Snyder “killed” children is uncalled for.