Some of the many Detroiters who answered Councilwoman JoAnn Watson's call to deluge the Council with demands to stop Judge Sean Cox's takeover of DWSD
Union announces it will file for intervener status to oppose Judge Cox’s attack on DWSD
By Diane Bukowski
September 14, 2011
DETROIT – Residents packed the City Council chambers Sept. 14 to demand that its members act aggressively to stop U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox’s move to seize Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), announced Sept. 9. (Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/12/911-in-detroit%e2%80%94terrorist-judge-cox-strikes-water-department/ to read about Cox’s attack.)
Chris Griffiths demands that City Council take action against water takeover
The Council held a closed session to consult with attorneys Sept. 7 on the matter and is expected to hold more. Councilwoman JoAnn Watson and others have demanded that the Council hire its own attorney to file suit, in light of Mayor Dave Bing’s ongoing collusion with both Cox and retired Judge John Feikens in carving up the Department.
Tom Barrow, who exposed blatant fraud as a candidate in the 2008 mayoral election and has now formed the group Citizens for Detroit’s future to challenge this November’s election on the City Charter, boomed out a challenge to the Council.
Former mayoral candidate Tom Barrow, who opposed privatization of city assets and jobs
“A Republican judge using an embedded Republican facilitator sitting in the Mayor’s office has taken our water department, which we own and control,” Barrow said.
“This Council must act to file its own lawsuit. I urge this body to stand up . Cox is not himself above the law. Recall how they took our Cobo Hall and once they got it they took every minority vendor out of Cobo Hall. Councilpersons, Council president, you are our last hope. Fight back resist or we will as a city will be left to die.”
Whether the Council will vote to do so immediately is questionable. Cox designated Council President Charles Pugh and President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, along with one Water Board member, to conduct a 60-day study to address DWSD’s alleged failure to adhere to federal Clean Water Act requirements, or face a “more intrusive remedy.”
Local 207 President John Riehl, center, with attorney George Washington at right and Secretary-Treasurer Mike Mulholland, at earlier press conference announcing lawsuit against Synagro contract
John Riehl, president of Local 207 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), represents the majority of DWSD workers.
“We plan to file for intervenor status in federal court,” Riehl said. “We will be glad to meet with the Council to let them know what we know about problems in the department, and how to resolve them. We support the Council’s move to retain its own attorney to fight this heinous attack.”
Feikens earlier denied the union’s attempt to intervene in the case, but Riehl said Cox has now directly involved the unions, since he has ordered complete abrogation of DWSD union contracts.
Last DWSD Director Pamela Turner
Riehl told VOD earlier that despite Cox’s claims to the contrary, the Water Department is currently hiring dozens of new workers, including plant operators, to increase its capacity to comply with the Clean Water Act, and is functioning very well, even without a director. He said federal oversight of the department deliberately set it up to fail by cutting staff, not filling vacancies, and alienating capable administrators such as its last director, Pamela Turner, who ended up resigning.
Local 207 has long fought the decimation of the department, meeting constantly with City Council and submitting lengthy analyses and recommendations.
(Below is video of part of the meeting taken by Kojo, whose YouTube channel is at BBCUFI.)
“We oppose any decision by Cox to take away control and ownership of DWSD,” Dempsey Addison, president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), said. “That’s 5,000 city jobs at stake, 5,000 members who pay into our pension system. If we lose the Water Department, our bond ratings will go down the toilet and we will no longer be able to borrow money for the rest of the city.”
DWSD, which is an enterprise agency separate from the City’s general fund, has always had stellar bond ratings on Wall Street, until recent controversy over the takeover caused the ratings agencies to drop them slightly. Meanwhile, the city itself has been consigned to junk bond ratings for some time.
Raphael Robinson (center) tells Council DWSD can produce city's electricity too, as Cecily McClellan (r) listens
APTE Vice-President Cecily McClellan told the Council, “The Water Department has been under federal oversight for 34 years. It is ludicrous and disingenuous to believe that a 60-day study will do something that has not been done in that time. If we lose the water department, we will lose the city as a whole. The suburbs want the department’s revenues, its jobs and its contracts. But we need them, we OWN the Water Department, we PAID for it.”
Raphael Robinson, a DWSD professional retiree, said he trained Water Department operators and currently is an advisor for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the American Water Works Association.
DWSD North Service Center Booster Station
“DWSD produces one of the best products in the world,” Robinson said. “Its employees are some of the best trained in the world. Its huge systems of booster pumps and lifts at plants all the way to Port Huron are also capable of generating electricity, not only for the department but for the surrounding residential areas. We can sell electricity to DTE rather than pay them for it.”
Lynna Kaucheck, of the national organization Food & Water Watch, and also a member of the People’s Water Board, said regionalization of DWSD as planned under Cox’s proposals, is the first step to complete privatization.
Lynna Kauchek of the national organization Food and Water Watch (right) joins other speakers to demand action against water takeover
“We have found that a human necessity like water is far better owned and controlled by a public entity, not money-hungry private corporations,” Kauchek said.
Tyrone Travis called Cox’s move nothing but “ethnic cleansing” or “negro removal.”
“State genocide can only be fought outside the box, not within the system,” he said. “That was shown in India, China, Russia and in Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights movement. We have got to get out to the neighborhoods to mobilize the people.”
Mayor Dave Bing announces "Consent Agreement" under Judge Cox Feb. 11, 2011 giving away Detroit control of Water Board, as Macomb County Water Commissioner Anthony Marocco, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, and Oakland County Water Commissioner John McCulloch chomp at the bit for revenues, contracts and jobs
