Donald Trump’s planned visit to Flint, Michigan, has been dismissed as nothing more than a "photo op" by the mayor of the city as it continues to deal with its water contamination crisis.
Karen Weaver, Democrat, said that Mr Trump never contacted her about his apparent visit and the campaign never offered any help. An initial itinerary indicated that the Republican nominee would tour the Flint water plant, but whether or not that would happen remained unclear.
The trip comes amid Mr Trump’s ongoing effort to court the black vote, but Ms Weaver sounded a sceptical about the candidate’s intentions.
“Flint is focused on fixing the problems caused by lead contamination of our drinking water, not photo ops,” she said, adding that water plant employees “cannot afford the disruption of a last-minute visit.”
Ms Weaver said she would not be in Flint during Mr Trump’s visit as she was in currently in Washington, DC, urging Congress to allocate funding to help fix the water crisis, the Detroit Free Press reported.
State Representative Sheldon Neeley criticised the visit, calling it “an opportunity to exploit the Flint community at-large”.
“I’ll be very interested to see if indeed he’s going to say anything about the Republican mess that caused the human health crisis in Flint,” he added. “If not, he’s being disingenuous by even visiting my town.”
The Flint water crisis began in April 2014 after a state-appointed emergency manager diverted the city’s water supply to draw from the Detroit Water and Sewerage System to the Flint River. The new water supplier did not properly treat the water from the new source, which was much more corrosive than the previous supply. This led to the deterioration of the pipes which contaminated the water supply with lead.
Some 8,000 children were among the many Flint residents who suffered from lead poisoning.
Nine people have been charged since the January 2015 admission that the water had been contaminated. Gov Rick Snyder is named in a lawsuit against the businesses involved in the water supply switch.
