Background

Highland Park is known as the heart of Detroit, the birthplace of mass production, and the former headquarters of two of America's biggest automakers: Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Corporation. The city's disputed plant is the same Henry Ford build to fuel his automobile industry. Once a thriving community of 60,000 people, Highland Park was known as the city of trees, an attractive bedroom community for working class people with jobs in the automobile industry. It was also the home of radical black labor organizers who devoted their lives to improving conditions in the factories and in their communities.

The exodus of the automobile giants, Ford and Chrysler, combined with a steady decline in population have contributed to the financial crisis the city faces today. Today the city's mere 16,000 residents, a majority of whom are low income, female-headed households, and senior citizens are burdened with an oversized and aging city infrastructure and the consequences of years of financial mismanagement. On every block sit abandoned houses and the city is riddled with open lots and piles of uncollected garbage. There is no tax base to support a fire or police department, pay pensions, or even keep the public library open.

Along with four other cities in the state of Michigan, the city of Highland Park is under a state take over. An emergency financial manager has been appointed by the governor to get the city out of crisis and this woman has the authority to override the decisions of elected city council members and the mayor.

Her remedy to resolve the city's problems is to downsize departments, replace local workers with corporate consultants and to make money from the water department by raising rates and enforcing collection. The first phase of the emergency's managers program resulted in an unprecedented number of water shut-offs and water bills as high as $10,000. The manager then began attaching bills to property taxes which puts low-income citizens at risk of losing their homes.

Citizens are frustrated about these new policies and turning over resources and decision making to outside corporate experts. They are outraged by the huge discrepancy between the salaries of public officials, water workers, and these consultants. Local workers have been asked to take pay cuts and have had benefits cut, while outside consultants are making the highest salaries in town.

Citizens, welfare advocates, workers, and the financial managers all agree that the water department is Highland Park's most important economic resource. For the emergency managers of Highland Park, privatized management of the water department is an obvious solution to a desperate financial predicament. For citizens and workers, privatization is a short-term fix and will only worsen an already desperate situation. They believe privatization will lead to union busting, job loss, further increases in rates, and the loss of democratic control over this valuable and life sustaining resource.