Hackney Council have organised a fantastic meeting for all of us to talk about all things Hackney Wick.
It's up to us to ask who we would like to have a chat to. Who would we all like to ask questions of? Maybe representatives of local organisations, some local Councillors, some Olympic Delivery Authority representatives, some of the construction companies involved in the Olympics, Transport for London people, Park User Groups, Meg Hillier (our MP), etc.
Please add any comments suggesting people or organisations you would like to cat to on the day. I'll pass these on to some of the orgainsers, and hopefully we can get them down to Hackney Wick.
It will be at the Hackney Wick Community Centre on the 22nd January - and hopefully it will last late into the evening - so that those of us that work can still have our say.
63 comments:
Hi Sóna
It would be great if some of the councillors could have a table/corner so that we could at least meet them and introduce ourselves to them. I know they have the surgery on Sundays, but I'm a lazy sod, I like me lie-in.
Jack
Hi Sóna
What about us? I mean - can Leabank Square have a table there as well?
You know that 'Welcome to Hackney Wick' pack you and the Right Rev Alan are working on? That would be a great piece of info for local residents to take away.
It would also be great for us to meet some of the new (Felstead), newish (Traveller site) and old timers (myself). Can you ask the organisers if the different estates could have a table please?
Su
Sóna
This could actually be a great night to meet many of the unsung heroes in Hackney Wick. People like Alan, Kier (what about him doing a table about the Blue Bus), the guys & girls from the Hackney Marsh Users Group, Peter W. Wiggy, Eton Manor Old Boy from the Rowing Club, the Albion Kids Show gang, and - just for you.... the fantastic Hackney Community Tree Nursery & Forest Garden people.
I don't know how many of the rooms they are planning to use, but it would be brilliant to have all these amazing people under one roof, almost like a mini-Hackney Wick Festival for the winter!
Matt
Hi Matt
I think Kier should also give out some literature about the Cycle Club as well. Maybe get a petition going to Hackney Council for extra funding.
Steve
Sóna
Are you taking the piss when you say we should invite the ODA bunch?!
Or do you mean we can get a bucket of rotten fruit to chuck at them?!
Ms Pink
Sóna
Sorry, I got the dates mixed up. It on MONDAY 1ts Decemeber at 7pm, not Wednesday. Give me a call if your still confused.
Terry
Hi Shona
How about asking Mary at the St Marks Close Travellers Site to have a table as well. It would be a super opportunity for the rest of Hackney Wick to meet this great bunch of new neighbours.
Geoff
Sóna
If the ODA's community liaison team had any sense of worth, they would set up a set of old fashion stocks, and we could then throw things at them all evening.
What I would really like to see there is someone explaining just what happens at the community centre itself.
I mean, most of the time Terry is in too much of a hurry to have a chat, and all the rest of the staff behind the desk are too busy chatting to themselves to give me any attention.
I refuse to believe that it's only me who gets this kind of recepetion.
Could we ask the management of the centre to have a few handouts explaining exactly whats on offer at our own community centre?
Dirk
Hello Sóna
What about inviting some of the 1st & 2nd tier sponsors for the Olympics so we can nab them for a begging session?
You know the letters you been writing to them? Well, wouldn't it be better if the decision makers were there in front of you, so that they could see the desperation in our eyes?
Mary
Hi Mary
I think that's a brilliant request. I am sick and tired of using Sóna's or Kier's or anyone else's computer to read all what's going on in Leabank Square.
I know you are all very kind to those of us who don't have a computer, but it would be so cool to get a computer in each residence, so that we can all surf in the comfort of our own homes.
Sóna, have you written to Samsung & BT yet? If not, let's see if we can invite them down to this gig, and ask them face to face.
Ms Brazil
Hi Sóna
I'll tell you whats always intrigued me:
What goes on inside the Trowbridge centre? I know we all go and vote there every now and then, but what else is it used for?
Maybe someone from the centre could set up a stall with information for the rest of us, and maybe some retired folks from Leabank Square could think about joining?
Pete
Hi Everyone
I will get these & your other suggestions over to the relevant suit at the Town Hall - as soon as I get the contacts name I was supposed to pick up in the beginning!!
Remember - none of these are guaranteed - they are merely suggestions for the suits to mull over.
peace
Sóna
Hey Sóna
What about Meg Hillier? Remeber Brian Sedgemore? He'd come to these meetings like a shot! Ask the HC organisers if they can invite her to this meeting.
It would be an ideal meeting for her to meet and greet us here in The Wick, and hear about how we're feeling straight from the horse's mouth.
Pat
Hello Shona
I don't much care to see ANY of the Olympic people there, but I DO want to see some of the Hackney Council Olympic people there to give them a piece of my mind!
If the ODA people are going to set up stall, please can you ask that it's not their usual tactic of shushing us all up, and allowing us a few seconds on the microphone before they move on to another question, without a comeback. Besides it being plane rude, it is an insult to the so called communication process they keep on harping they are so good at doing!
Trevor
Sóna
If its going to be one of their 'presentations' - then forget about it!
I would rather the Olympic people had a table or a corner for us to go and talk to them.
When ever they have a seated slick slide show about how many cats they've saved form bull dozers - it makes me want to retch!! I would rather have a quiet few words with them with my concerns, on a 1:1 basis!
But I agree - it would be fantastic to meet my namesake Meg Hillier & our 3 councillors to talk over matters not to do with the Olympics.
Meg
Sóna
How about the mayor? Wouldn't it be something to actually shake hands with Mr Pipe himself?
It would show us all down here in The Wick that he still cares about his constituents in the south of Hackney.
We could also ask him about whatever legacy is left for us enjoy after the games have left town.
Sóna, have you managed to get any of these requests through to the organisers yet? I hope there is still enough time for them to extend invitations to some of these brilliant ideas. Did you get the other suggestions in my email?
Please let us know.
Derek
Hey Dude
If I had a wish list of people I'd like to chat with, it would be:
Parks department - about our trees that were chopped down along the canal.
Olympic people - about the shrinking legacy for the Wick
The Safer Neighbourhood Team - about the Lord Napier lot
The 3 Local Councillors - about the pathetic gardening throughout the Trowbridge with REAP money
The Environmental Health Team from Hackney Council - about all the dust and noise from the Olympic site
The Management from the actual centre - about why we are not informed about any of the activities taking place there
Of course - this being a council run evening - I expect none of these relevant tables will be there. We are still the poorer cousins of Hackney - left to fend for ourselves against the all consuming behemoth that is the Olympics.
Mo
Hi Sóna
What about those amazing folks from the Hackney Marsh Nusery?
I'm not sure what the name of the place is, but it's the nursery along Homerton Road near the car park for the footie players.
I met some of them at the Leabank Square Festival, and they seem like lovely people. Hopefully someone at the council knows who they are, and maybe they can invite them to the evening?
That reminds me - it is an evening event isn't it? If not - then half of our suggestions are irrelevant as there is no way we'd all be able to take a day off. Most of the Hackney Council stuff that's been on there in the past has finnished by the time I cycle over.
Kitty
Hi Sóna
I agree with Mo! We need to get to the bottom of the REAP expenditure on the Trowbridge estate.
There is NO WAY that the tiny amount of plants & flowers they've planted has EVER amounted to £87,205.00!!!!
We have been conned somewhere along the gravy train mate!! I would love someone from the council to come to this meeting with a full audit of the REAP expenditure.
Even if they don't, Sóna, can you please do a specific Freedom of Information request on the Trowbridge REAP accounts. I just know that some money has gone somewhere it shouldn't have gone!!
Matt
Hello Sóna
I take it that the 'georgia' person from the liaison team hasn't troubled herself to answer our tree email. Is there any way you could invite her down to this gig so that we can have it out with her
Isnt she sposed to be some sort of pr person for the olympics
Doing a useless job at it.
Alex
Hi All
Sorry I've been so slack of late!
This is the busiest time of year for all my Oxfam shops, and then of course we have 3 seperate campaigns going on, Darfur, FDR Congo & now Zimbabwe.
Things should be back on track after the New Year - but in the meantime, this agenda just came through for this meeting!
peace
Sóna
18 December
Hackney 2012 Community Meeting:
22 January 2009
An update on the Games
Hackney Wick Community Centre
The Old Baths
80 Eastway
London E9 5JH
3pm - 8pm
Olympic Delivery Authority update: (7pm - 8pm)
The Olympic Delivery Authority will provide an update on venues for 2012 and construction plans.
Information stalls:
• Personal Best Volunteering Programme
• Jobs and training
• Hackney Wick Masterplan
• Local Recreation and Environmental Action Programme (REAP)
• Hackney Marshes developments
• Parking team
• Transport team
• Hackney Wick Community Map
• Legacy Now - Shaping the Legacy of the Olympic Park
• Hackney Wick Community Centre activity programme
• Wick Safer Neighbourhoods Team
Refreshments will be provided.
For more information and to register your attendance please contact Helen Goodsell on 0208 356 3975 or email: helen.goodsell@hackney.gov.uk
Hi Sóna
What a waste of a perfect opportunity to meet the smaller organisations in The Wick?!
Now that we know it is simply going to be another 'presentation' form the Olympic idiots in their community team, I definenetly WILL NOT be coming.
None of their previous 'roadshows' have been of any benefit to ANYONE in Hackney Wick, so what is going to be different this time?!
Nothing!
Hackney Wick, best to spend the day getting your recycling bins in order - it'll be a far better few hours spent!
Su
Hi Su
I agree! And the fact that the Olympic part of the day is on in the evening means that those of us who work and were going to rush back for this event - have only enough time to attend that tiny part of it!!
Typical of Hackney Council, taking the buck of the Olympic Mr Man in order to brainwash us 'local village idiots' into supporting the corporate direction they want us all to join!!
Forget it, I'll take my time home and read a new story to the kids. That way I know i'm investing far more in the future!
Jim
Hi Sóna
I know you promised us that we could just add to a wish-list, and that nothing was certain, but you wasted our time mate!!
If I had known that it was just a glorified ODA gig, wrapped up in local information, I wouldn't have even given it any attention.
Next time get your facts straight man!!
Derek
Hi Sóna
So it was all a ploy to get us talking to that dispicable Sharpe woman again was it? I thought you were better than that Sóna?
When we said that we would NEVER talk to liars again, did you think we were joking?
Are you not embarrased about this little bit of deception? What has she ever done for you, except drop you in the shit with us? Did she even bother to reply to our letter about the trees yet? What is it you think you owe her?
How is this a community event when the very people who get the top slot are the biggest liars, cheats and least community minded people around?
Jack
Hi All
It looks like we've all been shafted by Hackney Council!!
This is just a plain old scam to get the community liaison bunch to spin their lies and bullshit again!!
I was so hoping that this would be for the benefit of all of us people in Hackney Wick, but instead it is the same old tired crap from this bunch of liars!
I, for one will not come down for this charade!
Suzie
Hi Sóna
Hey everyone, I think we should still come along to this event, if only to hurl abuse at the community lot from canary wharf.
I see that they've conveniently saked Sergeant Port and his bunch along, so we could get locked up if we hurl rotten watermelons.
Come on, where's your community spirit, we have the perfect opportunity to give this workshy bunch from the ODA the roughest evening of their lives, and you're not going to come?!
Sure Hackney Council have led us down a merry path, but if this community 'liaison' team always hide up in their ivory canary wharf towers, how're we ever going to be able to hurl invectives at them?
Join me, brithers and sisters ......
Ms Purple
Hi Sóna
I think you're right, maybe we should give them another chance. Lets see if they still spout out the same old tired worn spin that they always have.
I'm not happy that we've been conned by the Council and this Foreman guy, but lets just give them another shot at trying to talk to Leabank Square and Hackney Wick.
If they still present a glossy, spinning, slick, microphone, 1 question only - type of 'liaison' - then we all just walk out!! There'll be plenty of journos there this time to witness any trick we pull, so they will be behaving themselves reasonably well.
Its after the event that everything reverts back to them ignoring us again!!
I think Sóna deserves some credit for at least trying to get us there to talk to them. When it all ends in a shouting match, we can't blame him anymore, that'll be the ODA's fault!!
Ms Brazil
Quite right, Ms Purple, it's important to go along, but it has to be your meeting, not theirs. I hope the meeting won't end up as a shouting match - the object of the exercise should be to talk these people into a corner, not enable them to dismiss you as people who can't be engaged in dialogue.
Get promises made and recorded and if you don't get promises, make sure that you speak rather than shout a statement to that fact into the record of the meeting. Make sure there is a record of the meeting.
Make sure that the speakers consent to the meeting being tape-recorded by you, so you can have your own transcript.
Go along and find out who's representing ODA, find out who they are and ask them questions about their background and their qualifications for liaising with the local community - who did they last do this sort of thing for?
Ask them what their instructions are for reporting back the opinions of the residents back and ask them the names of the ODA officers to whom they will be reporting back.
Ask what procedures the people they are reporting back to are supposed to follow when it comes to evaluating any conflict between the interests of the local residents and the ODA's works procedures.
And then ask them specifically who it is at the Ministry of Sport and Culture to whom those ODA officers or other 2012 bodies involved will then refer any problems they are encountering in resolving that type of conflict.
Don't boycott the meeting, use it to get information. But if by the end of the meeting you feel you haven't got the information you were looking for, make sure that whoever is keeping the minutes of the meeting for Hackney Council writes it into the record that the residents were dissatisfied with the outcome of the meeting, so that you have an authoritative source to refer to if the meeting is quoted back at you as an example of a fruitful consultation.
And ask any local police representatives present what the nature of their presence is. Point out to them that you'll be delighted to have ongoing contact with them in order to report any illegal activity directed against you. Advise them that they may be asked to confirm any commitments made to you within their hearing and ask if they will be happy to provide you or your Police Authority representative with a copy of their report on the meeting.
Play it by ear, but all these people are ultimately meant to be accountable to you and us. The most important thing about going to the meeting is that you make sure you remind them that they are in fact public servants and that you as the public expect them to act in an honest, responsible and transparent manner.
Let them know that that's what you're expecting and if they don't want to fulfil, that's the choice you will later remind them they made.
From time to time they may mash up Sona (as well as anyone else dealing with them) but they won't necessarily be able to chalk that up as a win in the longer term.
Sóna
You know, I wasn't gonna come myself, but now I know that geargia sharpe and her cronies in hackney council are going to try lying to us again, I'm deffo going to be on best shouting performance.
You have been on the recieving end of my 'raied voice' a few times before, well, I happen to like you, compared to this bunch of bullshitters.
I won't be needing the microphone!
Jeff
Forget it Sóna
We've been had by the Hackney Council lot mate!
The way you were telling it, it was the council that organised this meeting? So how come the Olympic scumbags have taken it over?
Is this the first part of the ODA paying for everything, cutting Hackney Coucils balls off?
What did I say mate? As soon as Hackney gets into the pocket of the ODA, us local residents fly out the window! Now we have both the Olympic scum AND Hackney Council ignoring us.
Time for us to get mean & nasty mate. I will be planning something special for the evening of Jan 22nd - instaed of coming down to this waste of time!!
TaggerX
I'm with TaggerX Sóna. I know that you wanted us to get chatting to them again, and I warned you that they wouldn't give a damn, and here's your proof!
Did she even acknowledge your email?
So why did we go through two whole meetings even discussing talking to them again? I told you that they don't even give us a second thought.
It's almost as if they are wanting us to let TaggerX and his mates loose on them, so that they can play the victim in all this.
Sóna, WE are the victims, we have lost good health, Arena Fields, sleep, our orchard, our peace and quiet, our views. And do they even reply to our emails?
There is no way that us corner residents are going to give them the satisfaction of being lied to again. We will not be coming to your meeting.
Mr Blow
Hi Sóna
So how come the ODA get the top billing, hogging all the time those of us that have to rush back from work to attend this??
As if they haven't fed us enough spin and blatant lies, they now want to pretend that they are 'updating' us, when we all know that they are just spouting the same lies the construction companies want us to hear over & over again & again, in the vain hope that we will eventually succumb & believe?
Just how thick does the council & ODA think we are?! To both of them, we in Hackney Wick are just some irrelevant oiks who will roll over & accept all these lies time & again!!
Well, have we got news for you bunch of twits?! You are most definetely going to have a surprise at this meeting!! We WILL be attending! And you WILL listen to US for a change! There WILL be no opportunity for the ODA to give us their usual!! This is OUR meeting!! And you will therefore HEAR US!!
Be warned - no amount of safer neighbourhood bobbies will stop the local people from reclaiming their vocal right not to be lectured to by a bunch of crooks & liars!!
Hackney Wick Revolutionary Front
Sóna
I don't agree with my comrade in the last entry.
I live on the Trowbridge and I will be encouraging all the other residents to boycott this meeting.
The reason? The REAP lot are going to spin us a yarn about how they supposedly spent £80 000 on our flower beds?! Have you SEEN what they said they spent the money on?
Someone got a few plants from the Pound Shop and pocketed the rest of the money! So unless we get a full auditted breakdown of all the expenditure right here on the Trwobridge, there is no way that we should listen to Hackney Council spin.
Why is it that anything the council organises manages to ignore the feelings of it's own tax payers!?!
Sóna, please can you request an FOI for a full audit of the REAP grant to the Trowbridge, it's the only way to get some honesty surrounding all the tap dancing they've done with the figures.
Cheers.
Max
A word of caution - if they think there's going to be anything unpleasant like people make their feelings known or (heaven forbid) press attending in the hope of seeing some banners and shouting, they'll pull the event, mark my words.
That's exactly what the LDA did last year with a Manor Garden Allotments meeting - cancelled due to the fear of 'unproductive' behaviour:
http://www.lifeisland.org/?p=147
Don't worry Charles
Do you really think the Council or the ODA would be reading a local community blog?! They completely ignore all the people in Hackney Wick and see us as a minor scratchy irritation on the HUGE arse of the scavenging Olympic hyena.
It would be nice to think they care enough about us, but as the section 61's given to the Olympics regarding extending working hours, plus the siting of major soil washing plants right opposite Leabank Square prove - they do not give a rats arse about any of us.
But, get this, the ODA is going to start funding the environmental health teams of the neighbouring boroughs to police the noise, dust, traffic, parking control zones, etc, violations of.......... erm - the ODA!!
They are actually going to pay Hackney Council to check that they don't inconvenience the residents!
Charles, just how do we win against this intimidating team of gangsters?!
Pete
Hello Sóna
This meeting is going to be the best oportunity we have to show London what is happening to Hackney Wick!
When is Hackney Council EVER going to get on the side of it's own residents? Why have they just abandoned us to the whims and fancies of the ODA? We pay our council taxes to Hackney Town Hall right? So why do the Olympics always hve the final say about how we get to live our lives?
They even took control over a local community meeting!!
Shame on you Hackney Council!! There will be loads of media here to witness how you have handed Hackney Wick over to the new town hall in Canary Wharf!
Mary
Hi Sóna
It would be so rewarding to get some of the local councillors down to this meeting. If they could have a stall or a table, encouraging us all to talk to them about anything at all, it would be such a good way of collating Hackney Wick's feelings about how we feel abandoned.
Surely then they would be able to objectively send this message up to the mayor, and he could then give us more support?
Or is he getting money from the ODA as well?
If so, we're screwed!!
Russ
All the banners are now completed folks.
Beside the 4 xtra large ones which we'll hold outside, all the others are small enough to keep hidden until we are all inside.
The media will be told where we will stand, and so will get the best shots of the ODA people in the back-ground.
So far we only have 3 megaphones, but its not a large hall, so the sound should be ok.
We have enough people for the inside banners, but we still need a couple for the ones outside, especially at the carpark side.
We also need a few more of our own photographers. No more videoers though.
Things are going well people, this time they will definetly hear and see us, whether they like it or not.
Hi Sóna
What about inviting some of the artists based in and around Hackney Wick?
We always read about how the Wick is being turned into the new Shoreditch, but we don't ever seem to meet these allusive artists.
Is there an organisation that has a list of them to meet?
Pam
Sóna
You know, I can't even be bothered coming to this meeting.
What are we going to learn that we don't even know already, that Hackney Wick has been taken off the legacy list.
I am well too depressed to come and be spoken TO by those liars at Canary Wharf.
Second thoughts, I may just join the napier bunch, and make some noise.
Len
Sóna
I say we all get everyone to boycott this meeting. Judging by the agenda, it's turned into a spin excercise for the ODA lot again.
What chance have we got if the only time we ever get to see and speak to them it's always on their terms?
When we write them letters, they don't get answerred, but when they want to pretend to liasie with The Wick, they get to control the agenda, how many questions you get to ask, how long we get to speak for, when to speak, when to shut up, etc!!
It's an either/or situation for us bro. Either we all boycott it, and they can liaise with a bunch of pensioners after a free cuppa - or we go with taggers bunch and go all out with the media circus/hijacked meeting thing!
I'm for the boycott myself.
Leroy
Hello Sóna
So what does that Hackney Council Charlie jerk say about the liaison people not getting back to us about all the letters we write, yet letting them take over our community meeting?!
If nothing else Sóna, it's just VERY bad manners!
And Leroy! This pensioner is not that hard up about getting a free cuppa! I will not be coming down to the meeting, and maybe Betsy won't be either.
Could we pop over to yours instead?
Shirley
Hi Shona
We met on the green outside the church on the carol singing night. Sorry we couldn't join you, and as you probably saw, we JUST caught the bus.
The meeting sounded interesting when you spoke about it, but we've just seen that the Olympic PR people are going to be there for the time we get back from work.
Sorry, but we've just been to too many of their meetings in the past, and they are purely spin. As this is what I also do for a living, it sort of makes me feel uncomfortable when I see other people doing it, especially when they are so badly defensive about what they're doing.
It always smells fishy, and especially so when it's done on behalf of the totally unscrupulous building industry.
I am a bit surprised that Hackney Council has let them dominate the agenda, but then I guess they are paying for the hall.
Please count us in when the real hackney community meetings are held, but this is not one we would like to be part of.
Sue, Maria, Péna & José
55 Walis Road
So who cocked this up?! The way your initial email suggested Sóna. was that we could make suggestions about what kind of organisations we would like to visit on the day.
Instead, we get the bunch of liars and cheats of the community liaison place, plus hackney council!
Ok, so they have both sold the Wick downstream to the sewers, but do they have to rub our faces in it?
Jack
Hackney Wick!!!
JUST SAY NO!!!
Hey Sóna
My New Years Resolution is to be as much as a pain in the butt to the olympics and council, until they assure me that Arena Fields is going to have been worth given up!!
Until then, they have got me (and my family) on their back!!
Have a great 2009!!
Bill
Hello Bill
Thanks for the call. I think I'll join you with that resolution (right after the annual promise to my body to rid it of any more nicotene) - but might also include the fact that the council & ODA should be a lot more honest with us.
I'm half tempted to join the crusties with all their banners. I love the effigy of Rogge, I just hope that the fire brigade are on stand-by.
Bill, and you Sóna, should give the council a load more stick this year, just to keep reminding them that we are THEIR residents, not some dictatorial, autonomous, fascist ODA's residents!!
We have literaly been sold down the river (Lea).
Su
Hi you guys!!
I hope you all have a fantastic NEW YEAR!!
The best way to celebrate it will be to cause maximum dispution at this meeting!
Have you seen they are pulling their old trick of asking us Wickers to 'register' before coming along?!
To our own community association? I simply don't think so Hackney Council!!
So whether the pics get taken inside with their (& the ODA's) astonished faces in the background, or whether they are taken in the entrance with a strung-up Jacques Rogge & angry residents barred from attending their own meeting - it matters not people!!
I tell you - I am SOOOOO looking forward to this meeting!! It makes a change from having to do everything the ODA says because we're in the pudding mill HQ. They're on our own turf now, and they WILL hear us out this time!!
Nat
Hello Sóna
So let's hope these jokers have turned over a new leaf this year?
Wouldn't it be nice if Hackney Council took the Wick back into the fold and actually looked after us? I wonder how much percentage of our council tax is going to the ODA?
Is there an ombudsman that can sort this all out?
Geoff
Dear Geoff
Give us a bell and I'll give you the name and contact details of the national council ombudsman who you can ask to look into issues you deem wrong with the level of service you are recieving from them.
I am not too sure how they will with this unique situation, where some of the services you would normally expect your council to provide, have been handed over to a quango with major conflicting roles?!
So how does it work when we complain about the levels of dust from now on? The ODA will investigate itself (or pay the council to look into it), find that it's not breaching any health & safety standards, then tell us everything is okay......
And we are then going to say that we are satisfied with this service, of course.
And you know what? I don't think the media understand what is happening yet. The press release we are handing out at this meeting will be explaining everything to them though.
Geoff, I know that you wanted to stay away on the night, but we need as many bods as possible, especially for the initial photo-shoot. The more locals we have to hold the placards, the more of an impact we will have for the pics.
You can then leave the shouting to us in the meeting, or you can join in on the fun inside, your choice.
Still, either way, give us a bell.
Pete
Dear Geoff
Give us a bell and I'll give you the name and contact details of the national council ombudsman who you can ask to look into issues you deem wrong with the level of service you are recieving from them.
I am not too sure how they will with this unique situation, where some of the services you would normally expect your council to provide, have been handed over to a quango with major conflicting roles?!
So how does it work when we complain about the levels of dust from now on? The ODA will investigate itself (or pay the council to look into it), find that it's not breaching any health & safety standards, then tell us everything is okay......
And we are then going to say that we are satisfied with this service, of course.
And you know what? I don't think the media understand what is happening yet. The press release we are handing out at this meeting will be explaining everything to them though.
Geoff, I know that you wanted to stay away on the night, but we need as many bods as possible, especially for the initial photo-shoot. The more locals we have to hold the placards, the more of an impact we will have for the pics.
You can then leave the shouting to us in the meeting, or you can join in on the fun inside, your choice.
Still, either way, give us a bell.
Pete
Dear leabanksquare.blogspot.com
We had a meeting in the hall on Trowbridge here today, and we are in agreement with some of you there!
Although it would be amusing to see the faces of the council and olympic lot, we are not going to come.
We have just been to too many meetings both in the community centre and on the site, and they are just puff.
There is nothing to be gained from another one of these meetings now that we know that the olympic bunch are behind all of it. What has happened to the council? Why are just rolling over and letting the olympics dictate everything?
Thanks for the email, but most of us are definetely not coming, even if there are going to be refreshments.
Trbwridge Centre
Hi Everyone
What with one thing and another - I haven't been following this thread that well.
Please could I urge as many of you Leabankers to attend this meeting as possible. I know I sound like a stuck record - but the more we engage with the ODA - the more we will get out of them.
It's not going to help our cause at all if we don't have anyone to talk to.
Please - please - let's all get along to this meeting - we'll all be glad we did!!
peace
Sóna
Everyone
please could you send all correspondence about the journos & banners to Ricks email adress instead of up here from now on.
I agree with Sóna!
We SHOULD get down to this meeting - if you can make it back from work in time!
We NEED to talk to the enemy in order for them to know exactly how we feel!!
So come on Leabank Square - let's get it all off our collective chests!!
Mandy
Oh!!! Now they're just asking for it - aren't they?!
A letter this morning informs me that Hackney Council has given the ODA 'permission' to make all the noise & dust right outside my bedroom on Saturday and Sundays!!!!
Did Hackney Council ever ask me?!
I don't expect a bunch of liars and thieves like the ODA to ever even contemplate asking their neighbours anything before disrupting their lives for 7 days a week - but Hackney Council has a DUTY to ask us before making such decisions!!
I can't wait for the media to drop all kinds of doo-doo on their heads when they get my emails!!
I pay council tax in order to have constatnt disruption 'permitted' by my council do I?
Let's see about that!!
Sóna
Are they taking the pee now or what?!
SUNDAYS?!?!
Has this bunch of a**eholes not learnt anything about living in a civilised democracy yet?
How dare they not only steal Arena Fields away from me - but then also rub more s**t into my face by not giving me a days rest from their noise & dust?!
To top that all off - they then get the GESTAPO to march up and down on MY tow-path with their stab vests & wolf-hounds - just to completely ram the message down my throat!
F**k you Mr Olympics!!
Mr Grumpy
Hello Sóna
I've just come back from work to this letter and am fuming!!
So much for a 'liaison' department?!
If this is the ODA's attempt at liaising with me - they are even ruder than I thought they were!!
First they hack into my computer, now they send me a letter assuming that I am happy to let them disupt the only day I have to have a decent lie-in!!
And where is Hackney Council at this stage? Cowering in the corner with their tail firmly between their quivering legs!
Instead, they should be supporting their own residents in their right to peace and quiet on a Sunday. Well - let's see if our MP can be bothered to ask questions on our behalf THIS time?
Can we get HER boss (Brown) to dump on her if she doesn't do her job properly?
Nice going ODA! Perfect way to ruin your neighbours weekend with a letter demanding that we accept you working right outside our bedrooms from 9am on a Sunday!!
Can anyone hack into THEIR computers to find out THEIR home adresses, so we can get the Noisy Brigade at the Napier to wake them up on a Sunday as well?
I won't use the same language as Mr Grumpy - but I share his sentements exactly!!
Su
Hi Sóna
I've also just seen it as well!!
Bloody cheek of it!! This is it! Now we need to get all the previous media outlets to come down to cover our side of the story, as well as some new papers & radio & TV!
This time we attack Hackney Council! They are not supposed to just abandon us to the Olympic dogs!!
Sóna - I know that the meetings agenda is set already - but we do need to get this on - so I propose we drop the gardening section you were going to do.
Do you mind?
Sally
Get on to your legal people. You have a right to something that goes by the name of the "peaceful enjoyment of property". Whatever permission Hackney have given the ODA you need to challenge it. Sadly no-one - sand I guess particularly Hackney Council or LDA - is going to lean over backwards to preserve your rights, and they're certainly not going to bother to remind you of them if you don't know of them.
That's also why you need to go to meetings. You need to make sure they know you're watching their every step and you know the faces of the people you're going to challenge. The less they see you the more they'll assume they can get away with doing things that won't be noticed.
Sona, you say people will be glad they attended the meetings. I agree that's true in the long run, but not necessarily the case for any individual meeting. The crucial thing is that you're in a better position going to meetings than you are not going. You must make sure they know you're keeping tabs on them. Follow other routes by all means, but don't let them have the public playing field to play their own game on.
Sóna
Is this Hackney Councils idea of consultation? Is this how they ask us if we are in agreement with them about letting the ODA dictate when we shall sleep in silence or what?
You know what always amazes me about any major construction?
How come they always trot the excuse that they have to work on weekends because they have a deadline to finish the construction by? When is a construction company going to plan a timetable that only means that the actual work takes place on weekdays?
Surely there has to be someone with a working brain cell working for these construction companies?!
How did this lot manage to pull the wool over Hackney Council's eyes & let them give permission to disrupt our lives like this? I take it you spoke to Kavuma again? Well - what was his excuse this time? What in Gods name did he get in return for letting the ODA do what they want?
And MAYOR PIPE? Besides spending thousands of our taxes on his parties in Beijing - what else is he doing for Hackney Wick?!
If this wasn't all having such a bad effect on our health - this Council just could be in line for Joke of the Year!!
Bill
Hi again everyone!!
I have just returned from a brilliant local meeting - and found out that there are going to be two sessions for the ODA to do their presentation!!
This is great news for all of us - as those of us that need to send the kids off early to bed - can still catch the after-school presentation.
And then there is still a chance for those of us that work to catch an evening session as well!!
So - Leabank Square - there really is no excuse!! Please see if you can get down to the Old Baths for a brilliant catch-up on all things Olympian - plus meet a whole bunch of other organisations & locals as well!!
You'll be so glad you came!
peace
Sóna
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