OntheWilderSide

In the week that ushered in the New Year, at least eight people died in four Detroit fires.  Why does this happen every winter in Detroit, over and over again?

Detroit Green Party spokesperson Derek Grigsby stated:

Detroit is a city with poor people often unable to pay their utilities. If they get behind in their payments; it’s pretty difficult to get caught up. So when water or gas or electricity is turned off, they have a choice of doing without or rigging something up. This kind of access to power leads to fires every winter. DTE should be prevented from shutting-off electricity in the middle of winter. We should put the needs of ordinary people before the profits of a wealthy few.

In the latest case, the three people who died were using walkers. They weren’t nimble enough to exit the house. By the time firefighters pulled two of the three out of the house and rushed them to nearby hospitals, they were pronounced dead. 

While the immediate cause of the fire remains under investigation, the underlying cause is that in the midst of a deep economic crisis, where effectively half the city’s adult residents are unemployed, utilities are shut off for non-payment. Instead of a business-as-usual approach to people’s needs, we need to adopt a strategy of saving people’s lives by having a moratorium on the shut off of utilities and foreclosures.

In the latest case, Marvin Allen, 62, and his brother Tyrone Allen, 61, both handicapped, along with Tyrone’s girlfriend, Lyn Grier, 59, died without any insurance. The family asked that donations be made for funeral services to the Allen Memorial Fund at any Comerica Bank Branch. The Detroit Greens has made a contribution, and encourages others, including DTE, to do so.

Detroit Green Party, a local of the Green Party of Michigan

www.detroitgreens.org
www.migreens.org

Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, Green Party Tagged: | detroit, Michigan, shutoff, utility