Frustrations grow over city's response after water main break in Southwest Detroit
Nearly three weeks after the major water main break in Southwest Detroit, residents say they are frustrated with the city's response.
Jaime Carrillo owns the Ballet Folklorico Moyocoyani Izel dance studio on Rowan Street. The building looks like dancers just walked out, with their hats, scarves and shoes waiting to be put back on.
Carrillo says the entrance still has the last day his students practiced marked on the wall, three days before the water main broke.
"I know they're working with, like, about 400 homes, but I think that the main complaint from the neighbors and the residents around is just that everything is taking way too long," said Carrillo.
Carrillo says he is not alone in the community's growing frustrations with the city on what he calls a complicated and lengthy claims process.
"There's no reassurance or anything that they know they're going to get their stuff back or replaced," he said.
CBS News Detroit decided to take Carrillo's concerns, along with those of his neighbors, directly to those who could provide some answers.
"When you go fast, sometimes things drop through the cracks. We want to be transparent. We want to communicate well, but we're doing a lot very fast," said Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners.
Brown says the city has spent the last three weeks trying to work directly with the nearly 400 households impacted by the flood.
"We know that it can be confusing for people that don't normally deal with this type of a process. So, we want to make help available to everyone that needs it," said Brown.
That includes partnering with leaders like District 6 manager Eva Torres, who works directly with volunteers on the ground to bridge the gap.
"We have community leaders that are providing as much assistance as they possibly can. We've been door-knocking constantly from the very first day that the flood occurred," said Torres.
For residents like Carrillo, who feel city leaders only make appearances to tout their progress, Torres says the clean-up is a true group effort.
"Although we might not be seen, we're definitely working to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible for these families. They deserve to be back in their homes," said Torres.
Carrillo says he appreciates the city's willingness to listen to his concerns and is grateful to his fellow neighbors for banding together.
"For their dedication and for the love of our community stuff. Without them, like I said, a lot of these people will be a lot worse hands or situations," said Carrillo.
City leaders encourage impacted residents to file their claims by the deadline of April 3.
