Will the water shut offs effect Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's Term?

[mikeg19]

Only in this city do people get riled up and protest water shut offs FOR NOT PAYING YOUR BILL. Do you want free electricity and internet too? Is cable television a birthright as well?

Pay your bill, you get water. Don't pay, you don't. Where did that philosophy ever change?

And for those who have been plunged into hard times for whatever reason, there are assistance programs to help pay the bill. Basically ANY utility will work with the customer on a payment plan to catch them up on late bills.

[Wesley Mouch]

Only in this city do people get riled up and protest water shut offs FOR NOT PAYING YOUR BILL. Do you want free electricity and internet too? Is cable television a birthright as well?

Pay your bill, you get water. Don't pay, you don't. Where did that philosophy ever change?

And for those who have been plunged into hard times for whatever reason, there are assistance programs to help pay the bill. Basically ANY utility will work with the customer on a payment plan to catch them up on late bills.

They are protesting because it works. People listen. Look, we're talking about it.

The future of Detroit will only come when protesters for absurd things are ignored.

[erikd]

They are protesting because it works. People listen. Look, we're talking about it.

The future of Detroit will only come when protesters for absurd things are ignored.

It seems that there is a huge gap between the perception that large numbers of Detroiters are marching in protest, and the reality that very few Detroiters are actually protesting.

The water shutoff protest was mostly about the ACLU, National Nurses United, and the Netroots conference that was being held at Cobo. A significant amount of the protesters were Netroots attendees, and not even Detroiters.

I live in the city, and the only people that I know who were at the protest were from NYC and LA. They were attending the Netroots conference and participated in the protest. I don't know any Detroiters who actually protested.

We have seen the same thing with the media frenzy around the EM protest at city hall, which drew tons of media, but only about 30-40 actual protesters, and the Belle Isle protest, which also was widely publicized and covered, but only drew 20-30 protesters.

The perception and the reality are completely different.