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A proclamation honoring Heinz Endowments and Point Park University for their efforts to educate our community in offering a public forum "From Flint to our Faucets" to discuss water quality issues in local communities.
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WHEREAS, Point Park University and the Heinz Endowments have provided for a community forum entitled “From Flint to Your Faucets” which will feature Curt Guyette, named “Journalist of the Year” by the Michigan Press Association for his work on reporting toxic water in Flint Michigan; and
WHEREAS, Curt Guyette has been commended for his work with Flint residents, shining light on the lack of oversight and attention paid by the local government to problems with the lead-contaminated water from the Flint River; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Guyette’s expose’ was made possible by his partnership with local residents and Virginia Tech, which conducted the independent testing proving there were higher levels of lead in the water than originally thought; and
WHEREAS, such a partnership highlights the opportunity that communities have to take advantage of educational institutions and their expertise when faced with technical questions; and
WHEREAS, in Allegheny County we are blessed with many excellent educational institutions, including Point Park, who, with the support of foundations such as Heinz, contribute to the education of their students as well as the communities in which they reside for the betterment of our citizens and their health; and
WHEREAS, the Flint Crisis has sparked a dialogue about water quality affecting communities throughout this nation and what we can do to prevent such disasters by paying closer attention to our own water sources; and
WHEREAS, the health of our citizens and the drinkability of water is a bi-partisan issue that we should all get behind as elected officials and educate ourselves to protect against environmental disasters that happen when government officials ignore problems or delegate decisions to person...
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