Now that that's done, I have to admit one more thing. It's sometimes difficult for me to say "I grew up in Flint, MI," because I didn't exactly entirely grow up there. In the same vein as Michael Moore, who is often criticized by people from Flint, because he grew up in Davison (a small town outside Flint), I didn't spend my entire childhood there. This can sometimes make me feel like a fraud. I did, however, live there during the crucial years of birth up to second grade, at which point I moved a whole three miles away to little Mt. Morris. And while I don't remember a lot about it (see: my age at the time), and I will never look back on it as a bad time, I didn't exactly have an easy life during that time in Flint. Do not get me wrong, though: my "non-easy" life was not a result of my time in the city, though I'm sure it didn't help. Also, most of my family still lives in the area, with nearly all of my mother's side in the city itself. Whenever I'm home, I make damn sure that I go into the city and enjoy the view of downtown and take in the slow changes that Flint has had. I really do love my home.
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| Downtown Flint from the bricks May 19, 2015. (photo taken by myself) |
Through everything bad that has gone on in Flint in the past 25 years, one thing we've prided ourselves on is our hardy nature, able to pull through anything thrown our way. The past two years, that resolve has been pushed to the limit. To understand why, I have put together an explanation to the best of my ability.
Michigan used to have this thing called an Emergency Financial Manager. The idea was that cities that are having issues financially will have a state-appointed accountant-type that would help the cities make decisions to make the city more financially solvent. Cities often didn't listen to what the EFM would have to say, so naturally a few years ago our governor and the legislature came up with this idea to restructure the position as the "Emergency Manager" and give more powers to the newly created EM. This sounds okay at first, but they kinda went too far. See, they ended up giving all the powers of the local government to the EM, and that's really not hyperbole; you can look up the law and see for yourself. Quite literally, the EM becomes the sole decision-maker in any city considered in an emergency management situation—which is determined by the governor—without local officials having any real say whatsoever. There's more to all this, but in the interest of space, I'll move on to the situation in Flint.
Michigan used to have this thing called an Emergency Financial Manager. The idea was that cities that are having issues financially will have a state-appointed accountant-type that would help the cities make decisions to make the city more financially solvent. Cities often didn't listen to what the EFM would have to say, so naturally a few years ago our governor and the legislature came up with this idea to restructure the position as the "Emergency Manager" and give more powers to the newly created EM. This sounds okay at first, but they kinda went too far. See, they ended up giving all the powers of the local government to the EM, and that's really not hyperbole; you can look up the law and see for yourself. Quite literally, the EM becomes the sole decision-maker in any city considered in an emergency management situation—which is determined by the governor—without local officials having any real say whatsoever. There's more to all this, but in the interest of space, I'll move on to the situation in Flint.
So here's the set up. Flint has had financial problems for a long time, ever since GM (mostly) moved out. GM is not entirely out of the city, and actually has been investing big in the city in the past couple years, including making a couple thousand jobs, so it's not all bad. I'm a fourth generation shoprat, so I know this quite well. Anyway, back when the EM law came into existence, Flint was being considered for emergency management. Shortly thereafter, in 2011, we got one. Again, this entails a person appointed by the state coming in and taking all powers of the local government. Flint had an EM from December 2011 to April 2015. During that time, there were three different EM: Michael Brown from December 2011 to September 2012, and July 2013 to October 2013; Ed Kurtz from September 2012 to July 2013; and Darnell Earley for the rest of that time.
In Eastern Michigan, many municipalities get their water from Detroit. Detroit has a big operation that gets its water from Lake Huron. North of Detroit, a region around the thumb area—Genesee (where Flint is located), Lapeer, and Sanilac Counties—decided they wanted more local control of their water source, and came together to form the Karegnondi Water Authority in 2010. In September 2011, a report came back saying that of the three water supply choices for Flint, Detroit was most expensive, followed by the Flint River, with the Lake Huron source as the cheapest, so they were going ahead with the Lake Huron source. In March 2013, during the weird limbo period with Ed Kurtz as EM, the Flint city council voted 7-1 to buy water from KWA when it was finished. Of course, the vote was largely symbolic, because the EM would have to sign off on it. Note that no vote, however symbolic it would have been, was ever taken by the city council to get water from the Flint River. As a result of the vote, Detroit gave Flint one year from the approval date (April 2013) and would cut it from its source. There was always a possibility of renegotiating at a higher cost staying on the Detroit water source. We know this, because the rest of the municipalities in the KWA did just this. Anyway, April 2014 rolls around and Flint switched to its backup source, the Flint River. Work had been put in to tell the city what needed to be done to use the Flint River full-time, and one of the recommendations was to treat the water properly, because we know that river water is more salty than lake water. To save money, this wasn't done, and this was the fatal flaw.
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| LeeAnne Walters of Flint shows water samples from her home Jan. 21, 2015, to Flint emergency manager Jerry Ambrose after city and state officials spoke during a forum discussing growing health concerns about the drinking water. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press) |
From Day 1, the water looked like shit, and honestly at first, everyone thought it was just pollution from the 100 years of the auto industry being located right on the banks of the Flint River. Ironically, in October 2014, the first shots signaling the problem with the water were shot by GM complaining that the water was corroding the engines at GM's Flint Engine Operations plant. Since the plant had a small portion located in Flint Township, they were able to switch to the township's water source, Detroit. Around the same time, a water sample was sent to Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor known for uncovering lead problems in the water in DC. Sure enough, the water sample came with nearly 900 times the recommended max levels of lead in water. Now, to be fair, this one sample was much much higher than most in the city, but when Prof. Edwards came to Flint with an army of grad students, they found that 42% of home samples had higher lead levels in their water than the "worst case" homes, as defined by the EPA. That's insane! The state government tried to silence this. At first, I think they really thought they were right, but fast forward to now and it turns out that the state administration acknowledged (in internal emails) that there was a problem in July 2015, while simultaneously the spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Brad Wurfel, said that "anyone who is concerned about lead in the drinking water in Flint can relax." September rolls around and a report is released by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Hurley Medical Center, showing elevated lead levels in blood of children in Flint. This is devastating, because lead is not only linked to skin lesions and rashes and hair loss, but also to irreversible neurological issues, especially in young children. This can, in turn, lead to loss of IQ, ADHD, delinquency, and a host of development problems. It is one of the very worst poisons.
On top of all this, it took an unreasonable amount of time to switch back to Detroit water. And then, when the mayor declared her own state of emergency just before Christmas, it took the governor until last week to follow suit. And only just last week did the state start actually helping the city. Today, President Obama has stepped in, declaring a federal state of emergency for the City of Flint, authorizing FEMA to step in to provide water, filters, filter cartridges, and anything else necessary. The cost in the near term is around $100 million, with the long-term cost ranging as high as $1.5 billion. And all to save a couple bucks. It turns out that it would have cost $100 a day to treat the water correctly. Yep.
I guess at this point, I'm just glad things are happening, but as far as I'm concerned, the next steps to take after the crisis is dealt with is that anyone in any position to have done anything that had information needs to be prosecuted or at least lose their jobs. Fucking poison my hometown. And just as Flint was starting to become a nicer place again, we've been set back again. But, my people rise up, like we always do. And I'll continue to stubbornly and devotedly love the place I call home.
