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Opposing fire cuts in York

Green councillors in York are calling upon the new Labour Cabinet running the City of York Council to halt the sale of council land at Kent Street to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, in a bid to protect fire cover for the historic city centre. The first meeting of the council's new cabinet is due to decide on the sale at its first meeting on Jun 21st, the day before N Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is due to consider the latest compromise option of having a 'roving' fire tender during daylight hours after the current city centre facility is closed. Currently the historic core has three tenders within minutes of the centre, including an aerial ladder, which the fire authority plan to relocate to the outer ring road.

Fishergate confirmed as 'the Green ward'!

Thanks to all Fishergate voters who supported the Greens on Thursday securing both seats for the Green Party for a third term of 4 years.   Name	Votes
BLENKHARN, Kristina Anne (Labour)	963
D'AGORNE, Andy (Green Party)	1632
KNAPPER, Dean (Liberal Democrat)	257
MORRIS, Judith Mary (UKIP)	263
SIDLEY, Daniel Nathan (Labour)	765
TAYLOR, Dave (Green Party)	1422
WHITESIDE, James (Liberal Democrat)	222

 

A real vote of confidence in the face of strong campaigning in the ward from a resurgent Labour Party who have swept to overall control in York -  including in the process removing the Leader and former Lib Dem leader from their council seats. Unfortunately the growth of the Labour vote meant we failed to gain any further seats in York, coming close again in Micklegate. However nationally the big news for the Greens was taking control of Brighton and Hove council with 23 councillors - Britains first major authority Green council. We have also become the largest party in Norwich. Although we no longer have a no overall control situation and the Conservatives have pushed Lib Dems into third place, there is now also an Independent, and a former Green who stood for Labour on a '20s plenty' campaign mission! Could be interesting....  

 

V Day!

Today is the day for making decisions about the voting system itself, and who represents you on your local council. We cant reverse all the cuts, but we can determine a programme that will make things better or worse for the future of our city and our planet. Please make your choices not on who is most likely to win, but who represents the policies you want to see in place. Of course a fairer voting system would help, and thats why I'll be voting Yes to AV even though it is by no means the best, I think it is better than what we have got! Polls close at 10pm (no voting allowed after 10, so 9.30 is about the latest you can leave it, but early in the day is better for us party campaigners!)

In York we aim to retain our two councillors in Fishergate and gain one or more seats in Micklegate, Heslington, Guildhall and/or Clifton. In the rest of the wards we will be aiming to increase our vote to move towards being a major force next time!

Election choices in York

Labour are making a big play of 'taking control of the council' if everyone votes for them. This could well happen, just by the Lib Dems losing seats to Tories as to Labour.  However what they fail to point out is that the only Labour votes that 'count' in this respect of them outnumbering Lib Dems and Tories combined are those that keep their existing seats or take seats from Lib Dem or Tory councillors. Attacking the Greens in Fishergate will do nothing to change the balance of power at the Guildhall. Fishergate residents need to vote for the party and councillors that they want to represent them at ward level, not some kind of referendum on the Lib Dem administration. A Labour administration without Green opposition on issues like the waste incinerator, rapid expansion onto the Green Belt and tackling sustainability issues will be a less democratic council than what we have now with two Green councillors.   

Election fun begins

Nominations for the local elections closed at Monday lunchtime and the biggest surprise was not the 42 out of 47 seats being contested by the Greens but the 15 'lost' Conservative candidates, leaving them contesting only 32 seats! For several days afterwards the local website proudly displayed all 47 hopefuls, but the elections office nomination record shows that several forms submitted were invalid and others simply failed to be handed in before the deadline. And this is the party that's running the country... This means that there will be no Conservative on the ballot paper in Fishergate or Heslington and one less than the full complement of three in Micklegate. Our lead candidate for Micklegate Andy Chase and our hopeful in Heslington Caleb Wooding now have a much better chance of making it onto the council in a few weeks time if they can win over a few Tory voters who are very unlikely to vote Labour instead.  

Nuclear power - who wants it now?

The effects of the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan were horrendous enough without the added complication of a couple of nuclear reactors going critical. The reactors were designed to withstand the effects of an earthquake - at least up to magnitude 7 : This one registered 9. It was also protected from a Tsunami up to 6m high - this one was bigger, and so although it shut down safely, the backup power to pump water failed. Tokyo is a city of 35million people, living only 150 miles south of the stricken 4 reactors. Statistically the chances of an earthquake of this magnitude close to the coastline must have been pretty small, but it happened. Shifts of workers are now risking their lives to try to bring the temperatures of the reactors down without causing more explosions. Can lessons be learnt for the UK energy policy?

I really do hope that if one good thing can come from this disaster, it must be to undermine the commercial confidence and any public support for new nuclear plants in this country. We certainly dont have regular or severe earthquakes like Japan, but with rising sea levels and increasing incidence of severe weather and freak storms and floods, a 'one in a thousand year' event has to be envisaged when you are dealing with material that can be hazardous to human life for thousands of years. People may not like wind turbines, but one wonders how keen will they now be to see nuclear plants being  built even 50 or 100 miles away? So far the radiation in Japan is not on the scale of Chernobyl in 1986, when the radioactive cloud was carried across the whole of Europe even rendering Welsh sheep to dangerous for human consumption. But it surely must strengthen a healthy mistrust of nuclear power as a viable safe option for our future energy needs.

see http://www.greenfeed.org.uk/feeds/?p=332424#more-332424 for more on this issue ,including what is happening with the Chernobyl mess 25 years on after the disaster that nearly irradiated half of Europe.

And also

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/apr/24/nuclear-waste-storage scary!!

End of the free lunch!

Not only have council sandwiches before full council meetings gone to save money, the readmyday edemocracy project has had its funding pulled, with all members being given a few days notice in which to decide either to stump up a significant annual subscription or move out to another blogging platform. Is anyone out there bothered about this? Of course the government wants you to engage with the electorate, but anything innovative or developmental isnt going to be funded any more. Ah well it was good while it lasted!

Clearing snow

Following the heavy snow last winter a council scrutiny looked a the whole issue of how best to keep roads and paths in a safe condition. I registered to speak (as cycle champion) and argued that it was unacceptable for the council to take the view that side roads, footpaths and cycle tracks could be left for days and even weeks in a dangerous slippery state. In particular I said that the Millennium Bridge which is a major cycle and pedestrian route between east and west York could not be just left as a skating rink. The engineers insisted nothing could be done, as being a steel structure salt would damage the bridge! However I am pleased to report that it has finally been agreed that a special mix CAN be used and the route is now a priority 1 cycle route in the winter maintenance policy. At full council on Thursday I commented that at least a narrow path had been cleared of snow across the bridge (later I learnt this was done by a Sustrans employee not the council!) On Saturday morning I was amazed to find that the council had managed to completely clear the bridge, with the aid of a machine. However the path from the end of the bridge to Maple Grove was still packed snow! I therefore determined to rectify the situation, using grit from the ward funded grit bin at the end of Maple Grove. Later that day I returned with a shovel to remove the loosened snow - a couple of hours work, but I felt it was worth it to know that a cycle route had been restored to a passable state.

Snow wardens in Sheffield are doing this kind of service on a more organised basis - if we are to have more proper winters again for the next few years this should be something organised in every community. And before you suggest that community action risks people being sued, you might want to check the government advice on this at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_191868

Clear the snow or ice early in the day

It’s easier to move fresh, loose snow rather than hard snow that has packed together from people walking on it. So if possible, start removing the snow and ice in the morning. If you remove the top layer of snow in the morning, any sunshine during the day will help melt any ice beneath. You can then cover the path with salt before nightfall to stop it refreezing overnight.

 

A week of protests, national and local culminated in York Guildhall being defended by police and only a limited number or the public being allowed into hear the debate on tuition fees and the decision to sign up to a 25 year contract to build a waste incinerator. A failed proposal to broadcast council proceedings by webcast would have given all residents the democratic opportunity to observe the debate, which included an astonishing public critiscism of his own local Lib Dem Party by Cllr Christian Vassie. When it came to the vote on the incinerator plan only the two Green councillors supported our amendment to delay the decision, few more supported Christians amendment to delay for three months to explore alternative sites that would allow the waste heat to be used to heat homes. Some were shocked to see me second Christians amendment, which included the wording that the council agreed in principle to the project - this came after our amendment to delay had already fallen, and I did this in order to support the proposal even of a 3 month delay that could have bought more time for an alternative solution. When it came to the vote on the motion itself a call for a named vote from the Greens was not supported by anyone else - they did not even have the honesty to put on record who supported the signing of the 25 year contract. In response to this, a member of the public in the gallery broke the rules by taking a photo of the councillors responsible for the decision voting it through. Only two Greens and four Lib Dem councillors voted against the project - while the Tories and Lib Dems were given a free vote the Labour group had a whip requiring that they vote for the project. The outcome means a further £700k in cuts for each of the next five years on top of all the other government funding cuts to build up the budget needed to finance the new plant.For more details see www.nywag.org

A WORLD-renowned academic has accused two Yorkshire councils of “living in the 19th century” over controversial plans to build a multi-million pound incinerator to burn waste.

Professor Paul Connett, who has emerged as a leading environmental campaigner over the last 25 years, has ridiculed the “pathetic” recycling targets set by North Yorkshire County Council and York Council.

“It is an out-dated technology with no flexibility and the councils are living in the 19th century if they push ahead with the incinerator plans. It simply should have no place in the 21st century.”

Cycling thoughts...

Forty years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 37% of commuters crossing the city boundary ride bicycles each day. That number rises to 55% in the city proper. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.....

Looking at the 'Copenhagenise' website, I found this pearl of wisdom about the psychology of getting more people to ride their bikes:

"Now let's imagine Mr Motorist sitting in traffic and glancing out of the window. He watches a chap ride past. Briefcase strapped to the back pannier. Wearing a suit. Not flying along like he is out to break records, just riding steady. the only gear on him is clips on his trouser legs and, if you like, a helmet. Taking it easy, not challenging the motorized traffic, just working with it. The bike on which the man is sitting resembles the one in Mr Motorist's garage.

And then Mr Motorist sees a woman pass by him. On a cool 'sit up and beg' bike. Her briefcase in her basket, adorned with plastic flowers. The basket, not the briefcase. She is wearing a skirt and stylish shoes. Listening to her iPod. (not to be recommended in traffic!- Andy)

 A good, steady pace.

Then, we dare to assume, Mr Motorist would think, "I wouldn't mind riding my bike to work. It's only 5 km. That guy looks like me. Same suit. Same bike. And that woman makes it look easy..."

Mr Motorist would instantly see his own reflection in these riders. He would realise that in order to ride to work he would only have to drag his bike out of the garage, invest in trouser leg clips and, if he likes, a helmet. In far less time than it takes him to drive to work, he would be ready to ride.

He wouldn't have to make a statement. He would just be another cyclist on his way to work. He would blend in. He would feel like he is doing something good for himself and for the planet. Without having to climb a soapbox to do so.

THE RUB
Here's the rub. All those who are so passionate about helping increase bicycle usage in urban areas, understand how Joe Average thinks. Help Joe Average fit in. Don't alienate him by highlighting the differences between you and him. We're all in this together.

Activists are first out of the blocks and more power to them, but it is Joe Average and his friends who will end up saving the planet, if given the chance.

And when bike usage increases, bike accidents decrease and cities and towns will have no choice but to invest in infrastructure, facilities. If you build it, they will come.

Full article is a couple of years old but still relevant: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2007/11/critical-miss-or-critical-mass.html

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