I would recommend watching Rachel Maddow's town hall in Flint about the water crisis.

[iandhr]

It very informative. And it's infuriating that it has happened for so long.

[femmocrat]

1. K & R

It is excellent!

[winterwar]

2. It's been great so far

She's really good at what she does.

[femmocrat]

3. Wow. No school nurses in the Flint school district.

The pediatrician said that Michigan is dead last in the country in the ratio of nurses to pupils.

[valerief]

4. Snyder really "skinflinted" the city of Flint. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

5. It's not that I don't have sympathy and empathy for the people of Flint, but . . .

the people of Michigan DID elect Snyder governor.

[mythology]

8. Michigan yes, but not Flint

and Snyder was elected in off year elections where turnout is lower.

That said, yes after his first term it should have been obvious what a shittastic governor he was, but Flint sure didn't vote for him and they are the ones bearing the worst cost of Snyder's criminal acts.

[LittleBlue]

11. Good point. I would also like a discussion of what we do with failing cities

Wikipedia says the population of this city has decreased from 196k in the 1960s to 103k today. How do cities that lose their industries expect to pay for city pensions, roads and other expenses?

The city has seemingly elected one bad leader after another. Which is the reason that a moron like Snyder had any say whatsoever. Apparently in Michigan, when a city gets so bad that it becomes essentially insolvent, the state government steps in to administrate the city. Today it is in the midst of its "second financial emergency", the first of which occurred 10 years ago.

[valerief]

6. NAACP's first request for the state is that the Emergency Manager Law be repealed.

Everyone in Rachel's town hall got up and cheered for that.

[femmocrat]

7. Yes! It is a lie that local leaders voted for the bad water.

Local elected leaders had been replaced by the "emergency managers" who reported only to the governor. The mayor wants democracy to be restored to Flint.

[longship]

9. I hope MS/NBC puts it up on Rachel's audio podcast feed. R&K nt

[FrenchieCat]

10. So very sad....that the damage done cannot be reversed!

and the fact that it didn't have to happen at all!

I've been following this story for weeks, and everytime I hear it,
it hits me exactly in the same way; despair for the people of Flint,
especially those children affected!