Keep the Water Running: No Water Cutoffs in a Pandemic!

Greensboro City Council

At the start of the Covid-19 crisis the City of Greensboro paused water utility shutoffs due to a lack of payment - the humane thing to do for its residents. On September 29th, 2020, residents across the City started receiving phone calls for repayment, learning that repayment and shut offs are resuming in October - the next day! We are in the midst of a global pandemic, with many people still unemployed, jobs far and few between, and now facing the threat of their water being shut off. This is an inhumane act, the Greensboro City Council must stop the shut offs, or eliminate all the debt.

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Greensboro, North Carolina

To: Greensboro City Council
From: [Your Name]

At the start of the Covid-19 crisis the City of Greensboro paused water utility shutoffs due to a lack of payment ​- the humane thing to do for your residents. On September 29th, 2020, residents across the City started receiving phone calls for repayment, learning that repayment and shut offs are resuming in October - the next day!

We are in the midst of a global pandemic, with many people still unemployed, jobs far and few between, and now facing the threat of their water being shut off. This is an inhumane act, seeded with deep irony given the "Water is Life" themed mural on the Mitchell Water Treatment tank. The Greensboro City Council must stop the shut offs, or eliminate all the water utility debt.

Residents were given an inadequate amount of time to learn of the shut offs, and we know that this will disproportionately affect low-income and working class Black, Indigenous, refugee, Latinx, other people of color, and working class white residents. This will bring a public health crisis onto the hands of the City, the hospitals, and the school systems, one that will worsen the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic locally.

Protect the residents of Greensboro, stop the shut offs, eliminate the utility debt!