A comment from a previous post that I think may be of wider interest:

Hi, as you're in charge of the environment (you make it rain and everything, so I hear), I was just wondering if you know of any local organisations that take on old computer equipment and recycle it? I understand these things exist but can't find one for the life of me. Thanks.

Indeed I can:

Emmaus

Emmaus Communities offer homeless men and women a home, work and the chance to rebuild their self-respect in a supportive, community environment.

They have shops across the country, including one in Greenwich.  Your local branch can collect your unwanted furniture and small electric appliances and resell them.

Contact details

226 Elmley Street
Plumstead
London
SE18 7NN
Tel: 020 8854 3426

Alternatively I think the British Heart Foundation on Old Kent Road also take electrical goods. 

... that my sister-in-law is a producer of an Oscar nominated film.

Superman 75% Green Lantern 65% Iron Man 65% Spider-Man 60% Supergirl 60% Hulk 55% Wonder Woman 40% The Flash 40% Batman 35% Catwoman 30% Robin 27%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Who would have known...

(via Jo)

As you'd expect I was an active participant in the public meeting yesterday, which starts the process of turning the continuing issues of Heathside and Lethbridge into an action plan to be delivered with the help of Neighbourhood Management.

Given the numbers of people there we split into two groups; one looking at the physical environment of the estate and the other focusing on children and young people.  I was in the latter group and I think people were surprised at the range of resources and activities there are for this age group, even as we recognised that the spaces the youth services are working in aren't ideal and that despite the range they may not cater for everyone.  We looked at the things that we felt were missing and I was particularly struck by the call for more visible male role models and the need for everyone (not just young people) to develop a culture of respect for the estate and its residents.  We also had some really interesting ideas that I hope we can develop further - a young people's TRA, an increase in volunteering and incentives for feeling pride in the achievements of children and young people on the estate.

I think we made good progress and certainly a number of people came up to me and said they felt it had gone well.

The next step is to try and put some local targets to the issues, and to explore a few others that we didn't have time to discuss yesterday.  I'm particularly keen that we look at employment and income to see what we can do to make residents on the estate better off and more ready for paid employment.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank Tracey Skingley, who has been my co-chair on the Neighbourhood Management Forum for Heathside and Lethbridge.  Tracey has decided to step down from this role for personal reasons, but her support and energy over the last year or so has ensured that the Forum is much more focused on the needs of residents than it ever has been, and that residents have had a very direct say in how the process has developed on the estate.  I think she has been a fantastic asset to the Forum and we'll miss her.

There's a bit of a debate going on at Stuart's about some of the routes being explored by the local e-democracy national project.

Actually we've been here before and I don't think there's as much of a gap between all the participants as you'd think.

But I do wonder if there's not a danger of making the best the enemy of the good.

The reason I blog is because I like the feedback this use of the internet provides.  But the reason I also use the more traditional website is because not everyone is looking to keep up with my daily life; they want a different set of information about me, and I can understand and respect that.

I think its also worth noting that very few of our colleagues have chosen to follow Stuart, John, Gareth or I as blogging councillors.  That may change, and I hope it does, but while the e-democracy project can lead the us to water they can't make us drink.

We have to do that for ourselves and that requires the mobilisation of our political leaderships as much as the bureaucratic machinery of the councils.  I think it was Bob who has pointed out that no political party would stand for leaflets going out with nothing on them, or with information that's out of date.

That said, this is a debate that's still in its infancy* and its still my belief that we'll get to a tipping point where it will be common place for councillors and other politicians to use the internet to communicate with the public.  What I think we need to work on is how to make this a dialogue that both councillors and our electorates want to engage in.

*This blog will turn two at the end of this month and was one of the first (at least according to Tim's list) councillor blogs in the country.