cllr_andrew_brown - @ 20six.co.uk

I've been asked whether we spend the money we currently spend on
graffiti removal effectively, and wouldn't it be better if we put, what
turns out to be about £219,000 this year, into catching and prosecuting
the vandals that tag and scratch their way across the borough.

As readers will know I'm always up for enforcement of the law in this area so its a question I take seriously.

The advice I receive from officers and from the evidence I've read
suggests that the two have to go hand in hand along with work to divert
those who might be tempted into other (legal) expressions of their
existence on the planet.

In fact on Saturday morning I'll be chairing a half day conference
focusing on our response to graffiti where we'll be joined by local MP Bridget Prentice, the borough police commander, Archie Torrance and our own Steve Bullock.
(Incidentally if you'd like to come then let me know and I'll make sure
you're name is added to the guest list). I suspect that all of
the speakers will have a fairly uniform view of how we should be
looking at the issue and the appropriate response.

What I hope we'll get to is something similar to the views I expressed earlier in the year.

So why not put all the money into prevention? There are two main
reasons as I see them. The first is that removing tags as and
when they appear can be effective in stopping the return of the problem
- a good example of this can be found at the corner of Brookbank Road
and Hilly Fields Crescent which was extensively tagged until the
graffiti team removed it and hasn't been since. The second reason
is a slightly more cynical one but a real consideration none the less,
the cost of hiring someone to remove graffiti is considerably less than
the cost of hiring social workers, youth workers, police officers and
the other people who work at preventative and investigative end of the
spectrum.

That's not to say we don't do that work as well, clearly we do, but the
focus is on a range of behaviours and the outcomes are much less
certain than the 3 or 4 people we have out every day removing the
tags.

However, the conversation about this subject is definitely not over,
and if you have ideas you'd like me to consider then please tell me
because I'm more than willing to do all I can to use what we spend
effectively.

8.12.04 19:34

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Crossways

I went to the official opening of Crossways Academy
yesterday. One of the things that came across very strongly was
the enthusiasm for learning from everyone there. I was
particularly impressed by the English teacher we got to meet who was
talking about how he'd been teaching Romeo and Juliet earlier in the day. He'd found a way of showing video clips of different versions of the balcony scene,
on the electronic white board, and was able to use that to have a
discussion about the meaning of the text and various ways of
interpreting the text. There was a palpable joy in what was going
to be possible in that setting.

Anyway, here are some of the photos I took to give you a sense of the building and the occasion.

Outside the main entrance

The chair of governors Robert Massey in the café area

The Minister, Stephen Twigg, and the Mayor, Steve Bullock

The school's principle, Anthony Bravo

The Minister makes a speech

Art classroom

Chemistry classroom

Fireworks

9.12.04 11:05

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Full Council and Decent Homes

The Council meeting next week will be considering a report on how we
intend to take forward our strategy for getting to the decent homes
standard.

The government have given us three options for raising the finances we need:

1) PFI - which would still leave us short.

2) Arms Length Management - where we remain the freeholder but a
company is set up (with tenants on the Board) which is allowed to bid
for additional government funding. NB the government have put a
condition on this that the current council housing management is at 2
stars. (Currently we've been assessed at 1 star).

3) Stock Transfer - where the homes are transferred to the ownership of
a Registered Social Landlord. This option requires a ballot of
tenants to be carried.

I've just checked and the papers aren't yet on the Lewisham website,
but they will be, and of course the Council meeting (7.30 15th
December) is a public meeting so feel free to come and listen to the
debate.

We'll also be debating the draft Licensing Policy which I've discussed here before,
and the Mayor and Cabinet will be answering questions from members of
the public and our fellow councillors. (On that score it looks
like a bumper crop for me to answer.)

Update: I belatedly realise
that some readers may have been left with the impression that the
Labour Group on the Council are looking at a one size fits all solution
to achieving the decent homes standard (or our own Lewisham
standard). That's not what we'll be recommending to the Council
on Wednesday.

Our view is that some estates are suited to PFI, some to ALMO and some
appear to want to think about stock transfer. So we'll be trying
to use all the options open to us to get the investment, but clearly if
housing management doesn't get its second star this'll cause us real
difficulties.

Sorry if you were one of the people left with a partial impression of where we're going with this strategy.

Further Update: The papers are now now up on the Lewisham site.
I've been told the delay was because of the technical challenge of
getting the papers in sizes that can be downloaded easily.

9.12.04 13:10

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Blackheath Joint Working Party

Last night we had a meeting of the BJWP - the working party that
Lewisham and Greenwich have to look at issues to do with the heath and
to a limited extent the village. The main item on the agenda was
the introduction of the 20 mph zone, which almost caused a riot earlier this year.

Hopefully there won't be any surprises for traders or residents
now. But for those that don't know the work will be carried out
in phases from 17 January to the end of March. The idea is to
create as little disruption as possible, but given they'll be digging
up the road there's bound to be quite a lot. We're also aware
that the Olympic Committee are coming to Greenwich during this period
and will be going to Greenwich Park and taking a look at the
heath. So there's some concern amongst Greenwich officers about
the disruptions, which we'll have to see what we can do to minimise.

If you'd like the details drop me a comment and I'll do my best to explain.

We also covered the small capital project Lewisham has for the heath
(new bins, rethinking the Prince of Wales pond, some low level lighting
etc.), the forthcoming events on the heath, and a few other issues as
well.

Then on for a glass of wine at the Bakehouse with the Blackheath Society and then home to bed.

10.12.04 08:02

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Civic leadership and blogging

Project invitation - Civic Leadership Weblog Project

If you're a councillor or senior local government officer and you've
thought about blogging but worried about technical and moral support
then it may well be that this project will help you get started.

The first of the support seminars is on Monday but I know that they're looking for more participants.

For more information have a look here (pdf).

10.12.04 09:58

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BBC NEWS | Politics | The internet and elections

"Weblogs by politicians - sometimes heralded as the future of
political discourse - were probably just a "passing wonder," he argued."

The he in this case is
Professor Stephen Coleman, of the Oxford Internet Institute.
I'm told that Professor Coleman is responsible for the quote I have on
my sidebar which compares us elected bloggers to soviet apparatchiks.

In my pessimistic moments I think he may well be right. After all,
the audience for reading about what we do isn't that big and we're in
an age which dislikes and distrusts politics and politicians as a way
of achieving public goals.

When I'm feeling more positive I think that blogging allows the start
of a conversation about the way we govern, to explain why we take some
decisions, and most importantly to hear what's imporant to our
electorates. It's a more flexible tool than a traditional
website, it is less intensive (just about) than leaflets, and judging
from the site statistics here allows to either dip in and out or to
spend some time finding out how I'm doing the job I was elected to
do. This month, for example, so far the stats for visit duration
look like this:

Number of visits: 919 - Average: 750 s	Number of visits	Percent
0s-30s	611	66.4 %
30s-2mn	36	3.9 %
2mn-5mn	25	2.7 %
5mn-15mn	17	1.8 %
15mn-30mn	6	0.6 %
30mn-1h	153	16.6 %
1h+	66	7.1 %
Unknown	5	0.5 %

Now all the longer visits may just be our local Liberal Democrats and Lewisham officers but maybe its not...

10.12.04 10:52

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Industrial Action at the News Shopper

I've received the following email:

On
Monday December 13, members of the National Union of Journalists
(NUJ) at the News Shopper are taking industrial action in protest at
the company's decision to impose a pay settlement following pay talks
lasting 10 months.

The 3% deal it has imposed substantially worsens the pay structure
agreed during pay talks last year. Not only does it build in new
inequalities, it is being used as a means of cutting back on the amount
of money paid to already poorly paid employees (trainees who are
graduates and have paid for their own one-year journalists' course
start on less than £14,000 a year).

It means some people will not receive their 2004 pay rise, which dates from April 1, until March 2005.

The NUJ hopes you will respect our industrial action by not speaking to
or providing information to the papers during the period of industrial
action.

We also hope that you will consider making your views on the company's
actions known by emailing the editor Andrew Parkes at
aparkes@london.newsquest.co.uk, the chief executive Paul Davidson at
pdavidson@london.newsquest.co.uk, the regional director Roger Mills at
rmills@london.newsquest.co.uk, and the managing director for Newsquest
South London Daphne Ellis at dellis@london.newsquest.co.uk.

Thank you in anticipation of your support

12.12.04 20:22

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