than two hours berating Council members over their backing of the
proposed Vista Ridge Water Supply project, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Why
should I go to City Council meetings," one young woman said as she
pointed her finger at individual council members, calling them out for
talking on the phone or chatting with staffers during the Citizens to be
Heard portion of the meeting. "Why should I call them, why should I
tweet them, why should I vote? They don't listen to us! They don't
care about us! They don't care about us!"
Objections to the
$3.4 billion water plan ran the gamut, from complaints that the plan
will eliminate conservation and other water supply plans, to a common
fear voices by veteran activist Graciela Sanchez that Council has been
pressured by wealthy special interests to approve this plan. She said
the last time the city had the right to vote on a water plan was the two
Applewhite Reservoir votes back in the mid 1990s, and they were both
rejected.
"And then what happened is that people realized,
don't let the community vote, because if we let them vote, they're going
to vote against the development we want over our Aquifer."
Sanchez and other spoke out about the negative impact that rate hikes
starting out at 16% and adding up to 50% by 2020 will have on the poor
and the working class.
Two Bears, a prominent Native American activist, suggested that if the plan is approved, he will appeal to the 'World Court.'
Another opponent complained that the water billing structure has been adopted to discourage conservation.
"So it's starting out with a very unfair structure, of giving the cheapest water to businesses that are guzzling the most."
Others asked why people who live in San Antonio today, when there is
ample water, should have to pay extra to insure that people who won't
even move here until the 2030s will have plenty of water when they
arrive.
City Council will vote on the new rate structure next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment