Early April 2016, in an attempt to improve his approval rating amongst Michiganders and show that the filtered water in Flint is safe to drink, Governor Snyder pledged to drink and cook with the water for a month. The actions of Governor Snyder’s and the State’s broadcast of ongoing criminal charges was an attempt to fulfill the public’s need for transparency and accountability. Other elected officials throughout history have used a similar tactic to try to bring their point home. In the 80s, Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne moved into Cabrini-Green public housing during a wave of gun violence. Governor Hugh Carey of New York, known for being able to handle himself exceptionally well during a crisis once offered to drink a glass of …show more content…
Not only was it publicized in the news and radio but social media as well. Most of the criticism came from public Twitter rants and Facebook posts. Flint residents took to the streets in protest. This would eventually lead up to the formation of the Community Development Organization. This forum allowed individuals to share information with communities affected by the Flint water crisis. Governor Snyder was faced with a PR nightmare. So much so that he need hired public relations firm Mercury LLC to help with communication while the rest of his staff focused on helping Flint residents. The firm would provide assistance by helping Snyder formulate a response to the state on the Flint crisis. Furthermore, Snyder’s website Moving Michigan Forward would be updated. Previously the website focused on helping raise funds for social welfare organizations. The website had added an additional logo and slogan, “Taking action on Flint.” This section will provide viewers with up to date information and an opportunity to make donations to ensure the people of Flint receive the resources they need. Prior to taking office in 2011, Gov. Snyder was a former computer company executive. His PR team suggested his tactical approach be that of a corporate CEO. “Snyder needs to lay out the facts of the crisis, provide reassurance by telling what is being done to help and to assure nothing similar can happen in the future, and express concern for the
Who knew that Flints water could be deadly? Everyone should be allowed to have the same clean water to bathe in, drink, cook with, and to have fun in. Unfortunately, residents in Flint could not do this for quite some time. These residents were bathing and drinking from this water before the founding of high lead levels in it. Not only was it because of the high lead levels, but the pipes were very old as well. Due to actions made by the city council this caused a lot of problems for the residents in the city of Flint. This effected children, pregnant women, and the elderly the most. Many lawsuits were filed against the city of Flint. It was so serious to the point that Governor Snyder had to declare a state of emergency. This took place January 5th of 2016. High levels of lead in the water and old pipes lead to lawsuits, the sickness of Flint residents, and the city of Flint not doing their job.
On December 3rd, 2015, the mayor of Flint, MI Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency because of the high levels of lead in the water supply. Two weeks later President Obama directed FEMA to help provide equipment and resources to the citizens affected, including providing bottled water and local water stations around the city. On March 21st, 2016, Governor Rick Snyder came out with an outline that addresses the agencies goal to help fix the crisis. It focused on providing professional support for children under 6 with elevated lead levels, replacing water fixtures in public facilities, replacing the city’s 8,000 lead service lines, and increasing resources for schools. (Michigan.gov. 2017). Through April to July 2016, nine state officials and employees face criminal
The contamination began in April 2014 after the source of the town’s water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint river in order to reduce governmental costs. This was done despite the fact that the Flint River had a strong history of pollution. Among this pollution included car parts, a dead body, and high levels of chemicals. (Semules par 5). Once the pipes were switched there were several complaints of the water having a foul smell and metallic taste (Foley par 4). In the beggining the government denied that anything was wrong despite the fact that lab examinations of the water proved otherwise. Two years after the Flint water crisis gained media attention, the Senate passed a bill that would provide Flint residents with water, but this is
The city of Flint is 70 miles away from the costs of the Great Lakes which hold the greatest sources of fresh water, yet there residents still can't get clean tap water. 15% of homes in Flint Michigan are boarded up ,40% of the people are in poverty , high unemployment rate, and consistently on a list for most dangerous places to live in the nation .In an attempt to cut budget cost in 2014 Flint stop getting pre treated water from the city of Detroit . Problems began when the city started using water from the Flint river .Flint River is 19 times more corrosive than Lake Huron (Detroit water source) . City and state officials denied for months that there was a serious problem by that time, supply pipes had sustained major corrosion and lead
The Flint Water Crisis has quickly joined the ranks of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance, Kwame Kilpatrick, and the state of Michigan’s highways as nationally televised disappointments to come out of Michigan. This paper will look at the facts surrounding the causes, current situation, and remedies for the Crisis while also confronting the ethical and unethical acts of key figures associated with the Crisis.
The Flint water crisis is an issue that has been plaguing the state of Michigan for over two years and has no feasible end in sight. The neglect of various government officials and employees has culminated in a public health danger for thousands of Michigan residents, by way of consumption of water with high levels of lead. Though the individuals deemed responsible for this deplorable situation have lost or resigned from their positions, and some criminal charges have been brought about, there is still a lot that has to be done to try and repair the damage that they did.
The state of Michigan is in a serious crisis! The governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, seems to not care about the poor people of the state of Michigan. One of the state of Michigan’s urban school system, in the city of Detroit, is unhealthy, disorganized and is not equipped with the necessary supplies, equipment or resources to effectively or safely teach students. The water pipes in Flint, Michigan are filled with lead and citizens in Flint who drink, bathe, and cook with the municipal water have incurred lead poisoning.
By this time, the pipes are corroded and new infrastructure is needed in order to terminate the lead lepage. “ Given the very high lead levels found at one home and the pre flushing happening in Flint, I'm worried that the whole town may have much higher lead levels than the compliance results indicated.”-Miguel Tide. According to New York's time”Events that led to Flint's water crisis”, On January 16, 2016 , Barack Obama declares the Flint Water Crisis as a Federal State of Emergency and donated $5 million to the city. This catastrophe is far from being over , Flint natives still cannot drink the water without a filter, requiring most families to rely on bottled water. At the beginning of the year , the city received millions from the state in order to dig up old pipes and replace the
To begin with, the problem was the water contained elevated levels of iron and lead. The problem was such a huge issue because it affected every resident in Flint. Water is a major essential to one’s daily life and dozens of families were using the water supply for several purposes such as showering, drinking, cooking, washing one’s car or home, and watering plants. Furthermore, worried parents are going to the doctor because of rashes and hair loss, it also affected children by dropping their IQ, affecting their behavior, and it has also been inked to criminality and has multigenerational impacts. As a result, the fault of the problem lies with the state DEQ. It was said that the state ignored federal law and didn’t use an anti-corrosive agent to treat the water.
When looking at why the flint water crisis happened you must simply looked to who in the state government was running the water authority in flint. While as many people, especially in Flint, expecting who they voted for in the state elections to be their leader, this just simply didn’t happened. Through the workings of the very complicated subject of state governments and different legislations that took away power from the locals in Flint and gave that power to the state government. For anyone living in the United States, their directly elected officials should have protected them and many people see this as a failure of direct democracies that cities should have. This taking away of power from voters and put it into a govern office in which
According to the articles, Flint CNN Article and Flint Water National Geographic, I read the people of Flint blame the crisis on Rick Snyder and the state Department of Environmental Quality. The article states that Snyder noticed that he was being blamed for a lot of the problem. One reason they blame them is because they did not treat the water with an anti corrosion agent. Experts say that this would have solved 90 percent of Flint’s water problems. Not using the anti corrosion agent and the lack of concern from Snyder could
The source of Flint’s water crisis was in 2013 when the city decided to switch their water source and supplier from Lake Huron (Detroit’s water) to the Flint River in order to reduce costs, since the city was in a large deficit of $25 million. The switch was made by an emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder, Jerry Ambrose, and was said to be temporary until the two year construction of the pipeline from Lake Huron to Flint was complete. In the 1970’s, The Flint River had been badly degraded and had poor water quality, containing oils, toxics, fecal bacteria, and more harmful substances. By 2001, the state of Michigan ordered a cleanup of the river’s polluted sites, but the water was later found to not be properly treated by The Department of Environmental Quality with an anti-corrosive agent, a violation of federal law, resulting in the water
Flint, Michigan has a population of just over 10,000, 36.2% of its population is under the poverty line, and this isn’t even the worse of its problems. Since 2014, the residences of Flint Michigan have been cheated, lied to, and poisoned, all at the hands of its own government. Most consider the governor of Flint, Jerry Ambrose, to be the main culprit. He ignored research that proved Flint’s water was toxic to the body, and then went on to lie to the general population about the safety of the water, Michigan is settled between 4 of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, a fact that served them little in the crisis to come.
But many say his efforts came too late and there have been recent protests calling for Snyder to resign and face charges over negligence allegations - after an independent investigation by Michigan 's Auditor General that found state officials had failed to react to "numerous red flags" since the very early stages of the crisis.Michigan 's Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) had reportedly continued to tell Flint residents that the water was safe for drinking despite warnings from local doctors who had found alarming amounts of lead levels in people.
The water crisis in Flint is a man-made disaster that gave us a dire warning of our negligence on the very basic things we should care the most. There were multiple ways to avoid this disaster from the very beginning, unfortunately, the people who are responsible for this did not care at all. The city officials did not respond to the public requests and demands, the state took it as a political issue, and EPA was trapped in jurisdiction, technicalities and legalities. The New York Times said this as ‘a depraved indifference.’ Governor Snyder called this disaster as his hurricane Katrina.