Entry for September 19, 2007

Entry for September 19, 2007
This is a revised version of an entry I posted on www.topix.com under the Radcliff, KY forum.

It looks like Radcliff wastewater department may be turned over to Veolia. Why???? People when you have problems with your sewer lines you won't be able to call the city for help...forget it, they won't have anything to do with it. This is the only money making operation the city has, why would they want to give it up? Wonder what this means for us? Could it be higher taxes in the future or maybe even additional taxes? Perhaps it is because our city government has been negligent about replacing clay pipes and they're too lazy to take care of the drainage problem and let’s not forget that the money you've been paying for storm water drainage is helping to finance new programming at the Challenger Center. Radcliff's priority has been to take care of making things look "pretty" such as helping out Cardinal Health with landscaping, new street signs and the mayor's program of "beautification" that has lead to overspending and putting the city in debt. Remember a few years ago when the city finances were so bad that there wasn't ANY money in the budget at the beginning of the fiscal year? Well, the only way the city was able to meet payroll until they straighten things out was to borrow money from the wastewater department. Where will we be if this happens again?
Veolia is up and running to become not only a local monopoly but also a global one too. In an online article found at one of Veolia's own websites it reads http://www.veoliawaterna.com/municipal.government/default.htm “We serve more than 600 communities and 14 million people through public-private partnerships." That's in the U.S. alone folks.
On another one of Veolia's own pages it reads "Veolia Water is the world's No 1 provider of services in the field of production and distribution of drinking water and draining and purification of wastewater.
110 million people and 40,000 industrial businesses in over 56 countries worldwide use our services."
Kiss small town service good bye friends. They don't care about YOU only their European/(Swiss????) bank accounts. Remember they are a French company NOT American and the French have shown themselves NOT to be friends of the United States.
Read about their integrity and concern for their clientele in an online article that contains this interesting little tidbit of information "On June 30 (2005), the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission presented Veolia officials with a list of 30 questions. Days later, a lawsuit was filed against Veolia by former employee Roger Edlin charging that Veolia Water Indianapolis fired him in retaliation for speaking out on matters of public safety. According to the suit, Edlin “repeatedly warned water officials that their decision to cut back spending [and thereby increase profits] by delaying needed repairs, decreasing staff needed to maintain filtration equipment … and taking other corner-cutting steps would eventually lead to a dangerous situation.” Veolia fired Edlin after 23 years at the utility in response to the Jan. 6 boil-water advisory that closed schools and restaurants." The article this is from can be found at http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2005/07/27/more_bad_news_for_veolia.html .
Without even checking out the company and its reputation, let's use a little common sense. Veolia wants us to turn over the resources of the wastewater department for $1! That is laughable!
That fancy truck (vacuum truck) the workers use to suck out clogs in the lines costs almost a quarter million dollars a few years ago! Then, take into consideration the buildings, other vehicles, tools, land and whatever else is owned by the wastewater department. This is "crappy" business dealings folks, no pun intended.
Despite the fact that Veolia is set to become not only a local but also global water concern Radcliff is making a HUGE mistake. My question to all the folks in Radcliff is "would you have a new home built without looking at different builders and models?" The answer, I am sure, is a resounding NO! Then why does this on its way to becoming a global monopoly company merit such blind trust from us? IT DOESN'T!!! For those of you who remember the Bell Telephone monopoly, remember how high long distance service was? Could this happen here with our waste water services? You bet it could! Call your mayor and councilmen folks--even your county and state officials. Let the people decide NOT city council! This company has played dirty in the past, what will stop it from playing dirty with us--we're a small Kentucky community not a community of major world-wide interest. Be smart; ask questions.

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 260 blog)