Latest / Chuck Douglas / New water meter issues

Transcript

New water meter issues · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right off the bat tonight. You know, I've told you
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: before when it comes to utilities, those things you need
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to live, to exist, to survive. I'm not crazy about
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the fact that they, you know, most are publicly traded.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: That genie is out of the bottle, can't do anything.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: It is what it is. I just don't necessarily like
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the uh the idea that survival elements are profit generators
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: for stockholders. Worse though, our government owned utilities. You see,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: if you need it to live, and the people that
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: govern you control it and they can take it away
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: from you, something just seems morally not right about that.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I'm speaking of locally, at least water in the city
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: of Columbus. If you don't pay your bill, they will
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: cut you off. Now, you need water to survive. You
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: have to have water to drink. Your body must have water.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: You need water to flush. Sanitation depends on access to water.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: But the government that will hold you to sanitary standards
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and say, hey, you can't have you can't have chicken
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: poop in your backyard if you got chickens or you
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: gotta you got, can't have that flaking paint on your house.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: That's a health hazard. But they will cut off your water.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: But it's not only if you don't pay your bill.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's because you don't check your mail. Oh man,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: I wish I was making this up, but I am not.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It got a couple of people standing by here. First off,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: let me get him on. I got to make sure
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I don't mess anybody up. I hit the button and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: he's not there. Do I need to hit the other one?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: How about that one? Eric Delvert? Are you with me?
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Is he there? I don't know? Is this is this
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: other other? I can't say your name? Is this the
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: other person? This is other guy? Okay, Now I want
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: him to stay on there because I also want to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: get Eric on. So how do I do that? I
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: think I pushed that again. And now I've got both.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Of you right, yes, sir?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: All right Eric? Because he received a similar threat at
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: nine ninety nine Bethel Road home vel EPD firearms and
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: range and uh. And I'm just gonna say, mister X,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: because I don't want to. I don't want to get
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: anybody in trouble here because he didn't get just the threat,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: he got the action. Yeah, because he failed to you
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: didn't check your mails. What it came down to isn't it? Apparently,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and the City of Columbus had informed you via mail
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: that you had to make an appointment with him.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: For what O Well, apparently last September I was supposed
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to receive a letter about upgrading the water meter, which
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I never saw.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: And since you did not see it and you didn't
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: make an appointment to upgrade your water meter, you got
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: a bit of a surprise. Was yesterday?
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yesterday morning. You know, I got a wife,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: two small kids, you know, Wipe goes to work, two
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: kids on the bus, go inside, getting ready to leave
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: for work, myself go to rinse out, you know, my
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: coffee cup, and there's no water. So I'm thinking. My
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: first thought is, you know, the buill didn't go through
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: or the payment didn't go through. So I checked, you know,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the website. Everything's current, everything's paid. So I'm thinking, what's
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: going on? You know, maybe they're working outside on a
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: water line or something like that. So I go out
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: front and I don't see any trucks anything like that.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: But when I turn around, there's a red tag on
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: my door. And on this tag it says termination notice.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Water is off. And then I look down through the
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: checkboxes and it says reason failure to keep make arrangements
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: for meter service. So it said please contact to make
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: a access for meter service. So then when I call,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm like, hey, I think there's a mistake.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: You know, my bill's current, everything's paid, but the water's
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: shut off. So, you know, the lady very nice on
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the phone, she puts me on hold, comes back a
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: couple of minutes later. She says, yeah, your water's shut
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: off for non compliance. And I said non compliance for what, Like,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: you know, the only way I couldn't comply with a
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: water bill is not paying it and it's paid. Then
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: that's when she starts to explain that I should have
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: received the letter, you know. I think she said September
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: about upgrading the meter. We had to make an appointment,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: you know, so I never received that. I never received
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: a final notice or even I'm sure if they're going
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: to shut off your utilities, like especially water, they would
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: leave you some kind of note or send something the
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: mill that says hey, if you don't contact by this date,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: the water is going to be shut off on this date.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Didn't receive any of that.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: The term non compliance bugs me right off the bat.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that was a weird one.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Secondly, you came home the night before. You've got two kids.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming you had dinner. May maybe at least the kids,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: if not, everybody in the family bathed at in the evening,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: So this had to happen in the middle of the night.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, it was had to be in the morning, because
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I remember, you know, everyone brushed their teeth and everything.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Wednesday morning, I made coffee. It's when I went to
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: rinse my mug out before I left that I noticed
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the water was off.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: So you were home and at no point, at no
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: point you were home drinking your coffee. Did you hear
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: from anyone?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Not at all.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Zero didn't even come to the door and say, excuse me,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: mister X. But you didn't make an appointment, and nothing.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Correct correct, all right, And it's it's cameras And it
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: was just a guy that walked up, tagged the door
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and walked away.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Two days now, yesterday and today without water. Do you
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: have an appointment?
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I made the appointment, and it's all the
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: way out July twenty fifth.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Oh, meter, Now you're not gonna have to wait till
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: July twenty fifth to have water in your.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: House again, Are you no, No, it's supposed to be
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: back on today by five.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Uh huh, well it is it's six fifteen. Is are
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: your wife and kids home yet?
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm about to make a call here as I
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: get off the phone. Uh but yeah, they said when
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I talked to her, the lady yesterday, she said it
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: might be turned back on today by five. If not,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: it should be, you know, turned on Thursday by five.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. You know,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I knew for a fa it wouldn't be, you know,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: turned back on the same day, just because the word
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: that she used. Might. You know, I've kind of learned.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: That over the years and the appointment, after going through
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: all of this, they can't even get to you until
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: almost the end of.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: July, correct, July twenty fifth.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: This is ridiculous. This really is wild. In fact, I'd
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: love to know if it's on right now. I'm going
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: to go jump over to the other line and talk
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to Eric and Zach. Can you put him on hold?
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Make sure you put the right one on hold, since
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: we got their names in reverse order there. Put him
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: on hold while he calls home, because I want his
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: wife to confirm the water is back on. I need
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to know that. And again, this is ridiculous. Now, the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: reason Eric Delvert from LAPD Firearms and Range is on
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: with us is because you got something interesting on the
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: door at the shop.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, we got a letter in the mail. Actually it
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: was last week, so it was ironic when mister X
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: came in and said what he said, because our letter,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: addressed to us here at the store says this is
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: a final notice. Again, we had never heard about this
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: prior to this. There was no prior communication whatsoever. Within
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: the letter, it says we've tried to reach you numerous times, Chuck.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: You know I don't leave the place. They didn't try
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: very hard because I am always here. We had never
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: heard back from anything or heard from them whatsoever. And
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: of course the next line was we hate to shut
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: off your water, but we will if we have to.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Very I mean again, very threatening. That's like you know,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: non compliance now you got, but we will if we
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: have to. And again, this is something not only as
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: an individual as a family, you need water, but to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: run your business you have to have water.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and there's other tenants here within.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Our building, so this would affect the entire building, not.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Just hire building.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. All right, So did you call them
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and say, hey, you're idiots? I didn't get anything. And
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: do you have an appointment for some time in twenty
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: twenty nine?
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: Pretty much you summed it up. I called and I said,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: if you turn off my water, it's not going to
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: be pretty at which time they gave me some dates
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: and we have a date scheduled I think for some
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: time next month.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: The idea of putting in these meters is for what
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I mean? Do they do they measure your water more efficiently?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Do they make it easier for them to read the meter?
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: What's I think, Chuck? I think it is the ease
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: of reading the meter, you know, me though I've seen
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: this stuff come down, you know. Is this so they
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: can turn it off remotely? I don't know, but I
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: think it is for reading the meter. But you know,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: for us just getting this threatening letter, we do everything right,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: and to get a letter that says, hey, this is
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: your last chance. We've been trying to reach out. We called,
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: you know, no, no, no way have they been trying
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: to reach out. First time we were ever contacted about this?
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: You know, I think i'd honestly i'd go after like
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a public information request here. I need to see a
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: log I need to see where and how you contacted me,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: because if they're lying in that letter about these numerous attempts,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: how many other people who are not as diligent they're
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: swallowing it. Hey, you try to get me. I'm sorry
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: about that. You tried calling me eighteen times today. I'm
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: sorry about that when they didn't, But you just accept
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: it because Hey.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: It's the city, right, right, and Chuck, you know, you
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: know we've come to this point now we're outside of
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: first responders. Do you ever hear anyone say the City
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: of Columbus has exceeded your expectations on anything?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: No? Always this, there's nothing on disappointing residents. Maybe, I
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: mean talk about non compliance. You've got a city council
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: that could passed an ordinance to do something with the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: public park, a public land, tax payer funded park, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: then went back on it because somebody waives some money
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: under their nose to put a soccer's thing in there.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: You got the operation Blueprint supposed to install some pumps
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: around areas of the city. They come in, they assess,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: they make their promises, and some pumps never get installed.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: But you know your non compliance, so we're cutting off
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: your water, right And.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: You would think in the case of mister X here,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: you would think, and knowing how big of an impact
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: this has to families, I mean as little kids, you
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: would think they would maybe knock on the door he
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: was home, knock on the door and say, hey, look
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: you know this is you know this, we're here to
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: do this. Yeah, they shut it off, throw a tag
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: on the door, go about their business.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: That is absolutely crazy, All right, Zach, if you could
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: get him on hold as well, I've got to get
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: into the break and then I want to come back
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and find out if if there is indeed water in
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the ex household tonight, because if not, a stink shall
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: be raised