Alderman calls for hearings on water billing problems exposed by "Getting Hosed" series
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The CBS 2 Investigators have told you about all the people behind our "Getting Hosed" series for the past four years. They've gotten saddled with bogus water bills, often into the tens of thousands of dollars, and now, thanks to our reporting, the city is taking action.
Sadly the "Getting hosed" reporting has become a bit of a broken record, because the stories are so similar and sad. Families get ridiculous water bills. The water department won't help until we get involved.
We thought fixing the system would be easier and faster. But four years in, an alderman is calling for public hearings.
"This is something CBS has been talking about for a couple years now," said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th).
Four years into our inquest, Villegas introduced a City Council resolution calling for the Finance Committee to hold public hearings to question Water Department and Finance Department officials about water billing problems.
The proposal explicitly cites CBS 2 for bringing the issue to light, noting "concerning and shocking reports revealing unreasonable and inexplicable water bills for residents who have no plumbing issues or excessive water use, leaving many in distress and at the mercy of debt collectors."
"It's just nuts to me that we have this issue that continues to be reported on and the city departments are not doing anything about it," Villegas said.
The resolution goes onto outline three specifics to "ensure Chicago residents' fundamental rights to affordable and accessible water"
Not allowing the Chicago water system to be privatized, much like the much-maligned parking meter deal; ending water shutoffs due to non-payment, and increasing transparency, of which there has been near zero in the waning years of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's term in office.
"Help is on the way. We're going to make sure that the water department and finance get their acts together, so that we can put responsible bills out," Villegas said.
One victim, 93-year-old Beatrice Richie Patterson, a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher with dementia, got a nearly $60,000 water bill for water never used.
To that, Villegas said, "I was in shock that the city was just being callous, and just like, 'Look, that's the bill. We'll put you on a payment plan,' and that's just like business as usual. We've got to remember that we work for the residents of Chicago."
"And we've got to understand we've got to remind the bureaucrats that the residents on the other end of the phone, or the other end of the desk, we work for them. So we can't lose sight of that, and so we've got to figure out how do we be responsible, making sure that we're no gouging the residents of the city of Chicago," he added.
The hearings will mean the water and finance departments will have to answer questions for aldermen, after stonewalling during our four-year fight for those "Getting Hosed."
