Tonight Lewisham council were discussing and voting on a sixty million pound cuts package in public services. One eye witness took this rather exciting footage of the crowd (estimates of around 400?) as they tried to get into the meeting.
Second video here. Third video here. Thanks 'Hangbitch'!
One report talks of police dogs and horses (here) and the Lewisham twitter feed is going mental. (here). There were a whole host of Goldsmith's students there as well as campaigners for local libraries, against education cuts and to save the nurseries.
The cuts package was approved 36 for, 3 against and 11 abstentions. That's Labour for, Lib Dems all abstained and Greens and Tories voted against.
Darren Johnson explained why he was going to vote against the budget here and I had some some other thoughts about councillors in a time of cuts here. Pic of protesters on council balcony as councillors look up in awe (good shot of the back of Darren's head there) here. BBC report here and pic of loads of horsies and cop cars here more arty one here.
More here;
Blackheath Bugle. Lewisham Right to Work. Dave Hill in the Guardian. Transpontine. Brockley Central. AVPS. Guardian.
Showing posts with label Council Meetings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Council Meetings. Show all posts
Monday, 29 November 2010
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Steve Bullock disrespects local campaigners
First posted at The Daily (Maybe)
To think I voted for Sir Steve Bullock second preference at this year's Lewisham Mayoral election. Anyway, he's repaid my act of charity by branding protesters against the cuts "fucking idiots" and demanded that they "get real" - all while he was chairing a cabinet meeting. That's multi-tasking for you.
So much for Labour being the anti-cuts party. In Lewisham we're blessed with the fact that those fighting the cuts find themselves opposed to both the Liberal-Tory national coalition and the Labour council who were announcing closures before we even knew who the national government was.
Last night around one hundred protesters lobbied the council over their plans to, among other things, close five local libraries, shut down nurseries and reduce council staff. For an area where unemployment is on the rise the loss of local services and laying off workers seems completely the wrong way to go.
Hangbitch who attended the protest says that "we all know that these immediate economies are false economies. Bullock’s huge list targets people we (literally) can’t afford to target."
Meanwhile what does Sir Steve have to say about his disrespect for those who want decent public services and had hoped that this Labour council would fight to keep every job? “I think I may have left the mic on while I was making an aside.”
I'm assuming "aside" is a euphemism that we'll all be taking up soon in Lewisham. I'm pretty sure they'll be plenty of "asides" made about Sir Steve's attitude in the coming months as the council prepares the redundancy notices.
To think I voted for Sir Steve Bullock second preference at this year's Lewisham Mayoral election. Anyway, he's repaid my act of charity by branding protesters against the cuts "fucking idiots" and demanded that they "get real" - all while he was chairing a cabinet meeting. That's multi-tasking for you.
So much for Labour being the anti-cuts party. In Lewisham we're blessed with the fact that those fighting the cuts find themselves opposed to both the Liberal-Tory national coalition and the Labour council who were announcing closures before we even knew who the national government was.Last night around one hundred protesters lobbied the council over their plans to, among other things, close five local libraries, shut down nurseries and reduce council staff. For an area where unemployment is on the rise the loss of local services and laying off workers seems completely the wrong way to go.
Hangbitch who attended the protest says that "we all know that these immediate economies are false economies. Bullock’s huge list targets people we (literally) can’t afford to target."
Meanwhile what does Sir Steve have to say about his disrespect for those who want decent public services and had hoped that this Labour council would fight to keep every job? “I think I may have left the mic on while I was making an aside.”
I'm assuming "aside" is a euphemism that we'll all be taking up soon in Lewisham. I'm pretty sure they'll be plenty of "asides" made about Sir Steve's attitude in the coming months as the council prepares the redundancy notices.
Friday, 29 January 2010
Mayors for Peace
I mentioned the Mayors for Peace presentation the other day and thought I'd post up a pic of Lewisham CND presenting Mayor Bullock with a very delicate thin clay sculpture.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Web Casting Council Meetings
Back from the last full council meeting of this four year period (only a budget meeting to go) and it was an interesting experience. There's lots of unrelated things going on so, for instance, I took part in a presentation with Lewisham CND to the Mayor for being part of the Mayors for Peace movement where the Mayor graciously thanked Darren Johnson for helping make this happen.
Then you have a whole heap of correspondence some of which seems utterly unintelligible or irrelevant and others of which seems extremely important and are passed over in far too little detail. Then there was a closed session on the Catford Centre where we were all kicked out for half an hour then invited back in.
And so it goes on. But despite the fact that council proceedings are probably rather difficult to follow I still think it's a great thing that the council agreed to begin web-casting their meetings to allow accessibility for those who can't make the meetings, or have issues with disability.
We could also hope that it might improve the way councillors relate to each other, although it should be sad it was all very polite and businesslike tonight. Having councillors on record in this way would help electors and the press hold them to account for their actions at meetings that few of them would have otherwise attended.
The Greens moved the motion, having accepted a sensible amendment from the Lib Dems, and the motion slipped through uncontroversially - which just goes to show the parties can work together when they try.
Then you have a whole heap of correspondence some of which seems utterly unintelligible or irrelevant and others of which seems extremely important and are passed over in far too little detail. Then there was a closed session on the Catford Centre where we were all kicked out for half an hour then invited back in.
And so it goes on. But despite the fact that council proceedings are probably rather difficult to follow I still think it's a great thing that the council agreed to begin web-casting their meetings to allow accessibility for those who can't make the meetings, or have issues with disability.
We could also hope that it might improve the way councillors relate to each other, although it should be sad it was all very polite and businesslike tonight. Having councillors on record in this way would help electors and the press hold them to account for their actions at meetings that few of them would have otherwise attended.
The Greens moved the motion, having accepted a sensible amendment from the Lib Dems, and the motion slipped through uncontroversially - which just goes to show the parties can work together when they try.
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