Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. LAURA SCHINAGLE EDITOR IN CHIEF MELISSA SCHOLKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR DEREK WOLFE MANAGING EDITOR 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 4 Thursday, May 7, 2015 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com OPINION FROM THE DAILY Too little too late Impending shut-offs highlight inadequacies in aid programs O n Monday, during a Detroit City Council meeting, offi- cials and activists convened to form a workgroup to evaluate the effectiveness of the city’s current water bill assistance programs, and to begin proposing an affordability program. These assistance programs arose in response to an out- pouring of public outrage and critique after the city implemented extensive water shut-offs throughout its residential areas last year. These programs were created to alleviate the financial bur- den of unpaid water bills and prevent future infringements upon residents’ basic human rights. However, concerns about contin- ually delinquent accounts and another set of impending water shut-offs set for later in the month demonstrate that Detroit’s efforts to remedy the situation — while well-intentioned — are precariously delayed. Initiated by an announce- ment from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department in March 2014, 46,000 shut-off notices were issued to resi- dents with delinquent water payments and water service ceased for roughly 4,531 cus- tomers in May of last year. A similar scenario of water shut-offs is expected to occur later this month. Even with the creation of these assis- tance programs last year, 20,000 to 25,000 house- holds in Detroit have been declared delinquent on their water bills, which means their payments are at least 60 days overdue or residents are in debt by $150 or more. Residents are then given a mere 10 days to respond by seeking assistance or mak- ing a payment before losing service. The re-emergence of shut-offs and of citizens’ continued inability to afford their water bills highlights the city’s failure to find a way to address this long-standing problem in a timely manner. Concerns about this year’s delinquent accounts should have been addressed far sooner than just a few weeks, or even a few months, before the shut-offs. Yet, measures from existing assistance programs — as sug- gested by Detroit’s Chief Oper- ations Officer Gary Brown — seek to ensure financially struggling residents won’t have their water shut off sim- ply because they are unable to pay. Financially strained cus- tomers can avoid losing service and begin decreasing their debt by enrolling in a payment plan. Since last year’s shut- offs, assistance programs have provided some aid to residents beneath the poverty line who are struggling to pay. Accord- ing to DWSD Deputy Director Darryl Latimer, approximately 31,000 citizens are enrolled in payment plans, touting an increase of 11,700 individuals since last year. The current program, which underwent revisions in April, assists financially burdened custom- ers by paying 50 percent of overdue charges and covers 25 percent of future bills. A more comprehensive assistance pro- gram is expected to be enacted in July. However, due to the fact that 30 percent of more than 1,800 individuals who were enrolled since September were incapable of maintain- D emonstrations and protests ensued in Baltimore as a result of the death of Freddie Gray due to alleged police brutality. Gray, a 25-year-old African American man, suffered a spinal cord injury while in police custody on April 12, and died as a result of the injury seven days later. Although much is still unknown about the incidents that caused the injury, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts revealed that the “police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely man- ner.” He also commented “We know he was not buckled in the transporta- tion wagon as he should have been. No excuses for that. Period.” On Tuesday April 28, Mayor Stepha- nie Rawlings-Blake enacted a city-wide curfew, and Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency, deploy- ing the National Guard. Johns Hop- kins University went through several precautions due to safety concerns and encouraged its students to stay in their dorms by closing some of the school. Curious as to how members of Hopkins were affected by these inci- dents, I interviewed Kidist Ketema, an African American senior at Johns Hopkins University studying pub- lic health and economics, and Sharif Braxton, an African American Johns Hopkins alumni and an employee at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In the midst of peaceful demonstra- tion, some individuals in Baltimore began rioting, burning cars and, as headlined in the media, looting a CVS drugstore. News sources circulated the words “Baltimore Burning” and “Baltimore Erupts,” disregarding the many peaceful protesters and the rea- soning behind their frustrations. This created a skewed idea of the real issues the majority of the protesters were coming together for—a stand against police brutality across America. Both Ketema and Braxton stressed that the demonstrations that they attended were mostly peaceful, con- trary to the media portrayal. Braxton attended some of the pro- tests and commenting on the demon- stration on Tuesday, he stated, “There was a very peaceful protesting and in terms of trying to preach the impor- tance of community and the impor- tance of togetherness and everything in between that were there. It was about being concerned for black rights, but human rights as well, which you haven’t seen that as much in the media. Especially since the peo- ple who were doing the looting and the rioting weren’t really concerned with the initiative as a whole.” Social media created a direct source to highlight some of these incon- sistencies and gradually, the public began criticizing the media for not paying attention to the protests before the riots began and their general cov- erage of the events. Ketema said she found social media “helpful (in kind of) breaking down the situation and understanding what’s actually going on.” Social media has been a way to bring awareness and support of other movements, such as the protesting in Ferguson allowing for a national con- versation. Both the protestors and the police department attempted to rally support on Twitter, in realization of the importance of social media in swaying public opinion. Ketema explained how when she opened her Yik Yak on Monday, what she found were racist comments from Never again RABAB JAFRI ing their payments and dropped out of the program, a more sustainable method of assisting Detroit’s low- income populations needs to be imple- mented. As discussed by the work group committee Monday, efforts to address the delinquent water accounts must shift in focus to the systematic issues surrounding overall water affordability rather than solely providing assistance. Avoiding discussing affordability will only allow the issue to stagnate, and will worsen some of Detroit’s other existing problems. Water pric- es in Detroit have continued to rise with an 8.7-percent increase last year and an expected increase of 3.4-percent this coming July, aggra- vating the current situation. Many delinquent accounts are expected to belong to vacant residences once the shut-offs commence later this month. However, rising water prices — in combination with residents’ strained economic situations — may lead to an increase in abandoned proper- ties as residents negotiate between expenses and choose to vacate prop- erties with no water. While the city’s response has been delayed so far, it must act promptly from this point to address the issue of affordabil- ity and make necessary changes in order to prevent the exacerbation of this problem.