Cameron, I am going to ask you what I asked Gov. Bredesen, why are they giving all the free stuff to people who will not work, never have worked, they give them welfare, Medicaid, TennCare, food stamps and just about everything. We seniors who have worked our butts off in this city for myself forty three years, and I receive less than a thousand dollars a month to live on get NOTHING, ZERO, in other countries such as England, they give their seniors SS, free telephone, television, cable, ride anywhere they want to for free, and yes do not have to pay for dental, medical, glasses, prescriptions and so on.  My brother does not understand why  this country does nothing for its seniors.
Of course Gov. Bredesen did email me back to tell me how I could get my bill to where I could pay it in installments, well hell why do that I can use my credit card. People treat us older folks like we are not supposed to be on this earth, and only the younger generation who are doing nothing but having babies and getting paid for it count.

MLG&W is lousy, and the state of Tennessee does nothing for seniors.

Thanks,

Phyllis

hey cameron i think memphis needs a reality check on life cuz they think this is a big soap opera. they rather give money to this free-loaders and not the people who really needs it but it is always someone who mess up everything for every one. u got rapist, drug dealer, thieves, & other crazy peoples gettin away with every thing but the good people always have everything tooken from them life is really comin to a end. its sad but true. mlg&w have many people working for them and when one of their employees bills is late they can just go in the computer and change their bill but they cant change a mistake they made on a non-employee bill. they made a big mistake on my bill it came out to be $980.00 and i know i dont be @ home alot cuz im on the road. i turn everything off and unplug and i even bought them ego light to save on ur light bill but they r making things more harder then ever. when i address that with them they was so so so rude and mean. they know they made a mistake and when they apologize they apologize with a $50.00 credit to my bill now cameron what can $50.00 do with a $980.00 light bill it is ridiculous, crazy, and CHEAP. memphis do have rude customer service peoples. it really dont make any since @ all.

i think ALL SENIOR CITIZEN SHOULD GET MORE AND LIVE FREE. they work there whole lives and they should be able to relax and kick back and live life peacefully. they should enjoy life while they can not be pressure, house broken into, disrespected, or targeted they deserved better. if i was president i would make that happen to all senior citizens and run the world the rite way it should run without being in debt & crimed. the issues is the crimes, seniors, and children most of all. if u fix them 3 it would be a better world.

AS for what the UK and other countries in Europe offer, although it sounds good, you really don't know what you're asking for.  That's a whole other can of worms.  I work with a lot of people from foreign countries.  Everything isn't as good as it sounds. This is the US.  Things are done differently here.

I believe the question was, what would I ask the candidates, or new mayor to do?

Let's get to the real problem.  Management.  

(1)  Will you PLEASE shake up the board of Commissioners?  No more cronies.  We have an MLGW Board of Commissioners who are all mayoral appointees.  They aren't elected or hired....APPOINTED.

(2)  PLEASE make sure that a new QUALIFIED president is also appointed.  I want someone with a proven track record.

(3)  STRONGLY recommend another shake up.... this one being the VP's & Directors that Joseph Lee brought into MLGW.  Although VP's & Directors need to know something about managing the funds of a big company, that cannot be their only qualifications.  If you have a VP of Water (Electric or Gas) Maintenance and Construction, then that person needs water experience.... REAL water (Electric or Gas) experience.  Someone who can make an experienced decision in case of a catastrophic accident.  It doesn't just need to be some CPA who as a manager has been riding on the expertise of his or her guys in the field.

(4)  Make MLGW an entity unto itself and quit trying to tie it to the city so that the city can get its hands in MLGW pockets, such as profits, pension, and insurance plans.  

(5)  Pass appropriate legislation so that the company which is publicly owned cannot be sold without a public referendum.

Now, if you agree with this, then you need to know that the only one really qualified to do what I have asked is the man who ran it from 1997 to 2003--Herman Morris.  If you get the appropriate leadership in the city, it will get fixed.

I am an MLGW retiree's wife.  While Morris was at the helm of MLGW, he did more for the senior citizens that ever got publicized.  Under Morris' direction, my husband headed up a construction job that reduced the cost of installing fire protection in an alzheimer's clinic by 90%.  How?  Not by taking anything from the paying customers.  He did it by allowing the company to donate the use of its equipment and having several employees volunteer to do the job on their own time, thus making the cost of materials the only thing that the clinic had to pay, which brought the cost from $200,000 to $20,000.  And the clinic was able to open and provide a much needed service to its South Memphis families and didn't have to pass on to its patients and their families the unaffordable costs of putting in such costly fire protection.  This is only one such example.

Many other services were also offered to the elderly under Herman Morris.  My husband on his own time put in for an elderly couple a hot water tank that MLGW was able to get Home Depot to donate.

Think about it.

First of all Cameron, I did not ask for anything free, I said they could cut us a break in other ways.

Secondly, to the person who said I didn't know what I was talking about as far as the UK is concerned, I was born and raised there, so I guess I should know what I am talking about, it will never happen here because the doctors JUST WANT THE MONEY, it is pitiful what some people have to go through when they don't have insurance.  My brother who does not believe in "Plastic Money" was able to retire buy his own home, and he and his wife have it made, and believe me it is more expensive to live there than here. They have much more than I have and I do use "Plastic Money" because I have too.

Now MLG&W, if Herman Morris gets in as Mayor of Memphis what is he going to do? When he was running MLG&W the only people he listened to were the fat cats of the city, I do know what I am talking about on that as well.

Carol Chumney, I was going to vote for her but half the time she does not show up when she is supposed to so we will have another "King Willie" to deal with. Carol needs to figure out if she wants to run her law firm or the city.

John Willingham, don't know much about him but he always acts like he is not in this world kind of far off.  

I think we need NEW BLOOD, and not from out of state, we need someone who is really sharp and well schooled, with plenty of COMMON SENSE, and dedication to ALL THE PEOPLE OF MEMPHIS NOT JUST THE YES MEN/WOMEN.

Quite frankly, I am sick of every one of them and again WE NEED NEW BLOOD with the personal touch and not in someone's pocket.

there is so much wrong with the council letting mlgw get away with stuff-about the investment in the wireless network-those excess funds should have been used to reduce rates per the current applicable charter-also why do people here mix RACE into everything? Why is any executive entitled to a severence package?Arent they paid better than most people?Point is if Joseph Lee had done no wrong-then he would still have his job-life time free health insurance-now who out there in the real world can get that from their employer after only being on the job for short time?And MLGW has 100 million in the bank-but they are going to borrow money to buy gas this fall and winter-according to the pamplet they mailed with the bills-doesnt make any sense...There needs to be new exec there-and new rules.

Hi Cameron, I heard the story on the poor police dog, don't know why they didn't let his handler keep him.
So they are calling him surplus now, well that's what they do to seniors in this country we are just surplus bodies to be swept under the rug. Yep I am still harping on it.  

We need to have the feds step in at this point!
They have no relationship (other than a very bad one) with the meter readers who hate them.
They have no idea what your bill is according to your meter and they don't care because they overcharge targeted areas who can't afford to sue them. They are stealing BILLIONS of dollars every month. We need ALL OF THEM TO BE FIRED and have the national guard run the company.
THEY HAVE AND USE ENTIRELY TOO MUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION TO TARGET CITIZENS FOR HIGH BILLS!
They are nothing less than a tool for the mayor to harrass dissenters.
CALL THE GUARD ALREADY!

I remember a couple years back when MLGW had to kick up prices to pay for a short sighted error caused by mangement misappropiations and judgement. I was struggling at the time with a real bad divorce and money was very very low.

They were raisning gas prices to pay for gas from another utility and the rates were going to be extremely high. I knew I was going to have problems paying for the gas so I kept my furnace off all winter.

MLGW charge me anyway for gas that I didn't use and could afford to pay for, they were going to disconnect my utilities.  I called them up and asked why was I paying for gas I didn't use. they told me they had to charge customers for the cost to get the gas here and everyone would pay the cost wether they used it or not.

My bill was only $90.00 but I couldn't afford it  But to keep my power on I paid it and didn't eat for a week because of it.  Then comes Joseph Lee, God I want you to punish that sob for the liar theiving cheat he is.  

The positions of leadership at MLGW need to be removed and new people based on resume, experience, and references need to be in there , no more appointees!!
They are stealing billions every month through "billing problems" and no one has bothered to expose them.
WHY NOT?
We NEED to protest! NOW! We might need to drag some of them out.