Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Shut-Off By DTE Energy: Moratorium NOW! Press Statement on the Plight of the Residents at Highland Towers

For Immediate Release

Press Statement on the Plight of Residents at the Highland Towers on Woodward Avenue

Event: Organizing Meeting to Declare Economic State of Emergency in Michigan
Location: Central United Methodist Church, Saturday, Sept. 12, 11:00am
Sponsors: Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions, Utilty Shut-offs
Contact: 313.671.3715 or 887.4344
e-mail: moratorium@moratorium-mi.org
URL: http://moratorium-mi.org

Highland Towers Residents Left in the Dark by DTE; Children, Seniors, Infirm Imperiled;
Demand a Moratorium on Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs Now!

Members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs deplores the actions of DTE Energy for shutting off the electricity and natural gas services at the Highland Towers apartments located on Woodward avenue near Glendale in Highland Park, Michigan. This action by the major power company in metropolitan Detroit has endangered the lives and well-being of hundreds of residents.

According to DTE Energy, the owners of the building owed tens of thousands of dollars in back payments claiming financial difficulties. However, this was not the responsiblity of the residents who had paid their rents in which the cost of utilities were included. This respresents a growing problem in the metro Detroit area as slum landlords refuse to pay bills leaving tenants, who are unaware of the difficulties, facing power cuts and evictions without notice.

Inside the Highland Towers there are children, people with disabilities and those suffering from serious medical conditions. At least one dialysis patient resides in the building. When a representative of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition visited the building on September 1, residents were shocked and overwhelmed. One elderly man walked out into the street and laid down before oncoming traffic. He was soon retreived by residents of the building before a bus drove through the lane.

This situation and others throughout the city and region illustrates the failure of city, county, state and federal government agencies to protect the health and lives of the population. DTE Energy has refused to impose a moratorium on utility shut-offs despite the deaths of four people in June in northwest Detroit and the current situation involving the residents of Highland Towers in Highland Park.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition is calling on the people to come out to an organizing meeting on September 12 to demand that Governor Granholm declare an economic state of emergency in Michigan and consequently impose moratoriums on foreclosures, evictions and utility-shutoffs. This meeting will be held at the Central United Methodist Church, located on Woodward and Adams in downtown Detroit on Saturday, September 12 beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The city of Detroit is facing a near 30% unemployment rate, while hundreds of thousands more are under threat of eviction and the shut-off of their utility services and water. This represents a state of emergency for the millions of residents of the state and should be acted upon immediately. Failure to take corrective action is endangering the health and welfare of people throughout Michigan.

Interim Mayor Dave Bing has demonstrated his total disdain for the working people of Detroit by proposing massive lay-offs and service cuts including the large-scale reduction in bus services. The city lay-offs and cuts in transportation will only create more foreclosures, evictions, utility shut-offs and job losses. Make no mistake about it, Bing is not working for the people of Detroit but for the banks and corporations whose policies have created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Only the people organized into a mass movement can mobilize the energy and resources to fight the banks, corporations and their paid agents in government. The thousands of people who came out to public hearings to oppose the bus service cuts during the week of August 24 represent the true face of the people of this city. Bing represents the thieves of Wall Street who only wish to push the people backwards and exploit them even further.

Members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition are available for comment at the numbers listed above.

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