Posts in Oxford - Cowley Neighbourhood Forum
It was great to meet many of the people involved in efforts to build
neighbourhood Issues Forums across Oxford the other month.
The E-Democracy.Org model is citizen-based and now is the time to strengthen
that base in Oxford. While we appreciate the role of the Council in promoting
these forums, it is only with local public involvement that they will grow and
become fully "of" the community.
We are planning to increase the role of a community-wide Oxford E-Democracy
Steering Committee made up of volunteers, forum managers, council staff, etc.
who want to help grow our existing forums and spread to the final three
neighborhoods. Ideally, your neighbourhood's forum manager will be joined by at
least one other participant (particularly those interested in outreach) on this
"virtual" and sometimes in-person committee.
Would you like more information? Tell us a bit about yourself and your
interests in using the Internet to build local community. Please e-mail with
"Oxford" in the subject line to:
<email obscured>
In the past when our forums were only city-wide, we had one committee per
forum. Now with multiple forums per community, we plan to shift to one
committee per community to make things more simple and effective.
The committee is essential to provide local governance over the local forums.
This committee guides the overall local forum effort, is a point of appeal for
official rule violations, and will work to help grow participation in your
forums. If a new local forum manager is needed, this committee confirms their
appointment and is there to assist them as well as make sure the civility and
inclusive agenda-setting mission of these forums is met.
As local forum managers replace interim forum manager Shey Cobley (thank you
Shey!) in CSW and Cowley, we want to help you increase the number of
participants on your forums significantly. In my own neighborhood -
http://e-democracy.org/se - where I too volunteer as a forum manager, we've
primarily increased our numbers to 300 with paper sign-up sheets at the right
community events. With a committee in place to push recruitment, we can share
our lessons with you. Imagine what it might mean for your neighborhood if 200,
300 or more people were interacting on local public issues everyday. It can and
will make a real difference in the future of your neighbourhood.
Sincerely,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
Horspath Street Fiesta was very enjoyable and helped me to better my
public Poetry recitals. My latest Poem(Power of the Planet)has been
accepted for inclusion in Anthology. Olive
Didnt go to the Mela as it clashed with the Horspath Road street fiesta, which
was great fun anyway.
So that we dont clash again in 2009 does any one have the date for the 2009
Mela.
Would be much appreciated.
Read tonights Oxford mail page 12. May be its time your local "Guerilla
gardeners" planned a mission to sort out your flower beds.
Ask your local resident association for some funding or better still B&Q if
they will donate plants its worth a try, although they would not give the
Horspath crew any.
Being as the location is closer to them they may want to help brighten the area
up for the winter. There are other parts of the city where the local authority
has not skimped on the floral displays. See picture of what Horspath Road had
to put up with.
The following file was added to this topic:
Richard
Just to keep the record straight the Council did not rip out the
perennial bed at the top of Rymers
Lane. This was done several years ago by the Gas Board who had to carry
out some major works.The flower bed which went in was sponsored by W G
Powell for several years but unfortunately this did not continue. The
Council took 40K of savings on floral displays from the Parks Budget
which meant that beds which were not sponsored did not get planted this
year.
Dave Reeve
Assistant Parks Manager (Grounds Maintenance and Cemeteries)
Land Line 01865 467270
Internal 7270
Mobile 07850757994
Your local Park...Litter-strewn or litter-free? Brilliant or Boring? A
no-go area or a safe place to be?...What would make it better? Visit
www.millionvoices.org.uk to have your say about Oxford's Parks and Play
Areas.
As the flowerbed on the corner of B&Q on the junction of Rymers Lane and
Between Towns Road has been torn up once again, how about locals getting
together and adopting such a bed?
It cannot do any worse than the Council ripping up a large perennial flowering
shrub that had been there for some years and to replace it with annuals, then
give up altogether! Maybe another perennial could be chosen by a group local
for that plot and a group photograph be taken? Surely there can be nothing
better than to give the local populace some pride in where they live?
I cannot comment on this year's Mela as I couldn't stay but I've been going to
the Croydon Mela for several years now and one of the main attractions has been
a collection of amateur groups from schools and colleges around the borough who
mime and dance wearing traditional costume which of course always pulls in
proud parents and friends. It also does not cost much as there are no
professional fees to be paid as there would be for a main-line act.
Hello everyone,
My family have lived in Oxford for some decades now, starting off at the Slade
Park internment camp ;-) and after various work contracts which took me out of
the Shire over the years, I'm now resting just off the Cowley Road not far from
Florence Park and enjoying all the wildlife which passes through here.
The gym at Temple Cowley Pools is being redeveloped to provide customers with a brand new, top of the range, 35 station Aspires Fitness Suite. The gym will be closed from Monday 27 October 2008 for the duration of the work. The new Aspires Fitness Suite is due to reopen in January 2009. To read more http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/oxfordnews.htm
Sounds like a good reason.
In fact, if you or someone can pass around a sheet of paper asking for people's
names and their e-mail addresses, we can upload people to the forum. We added
20 new people in my neighbourhood in Minneapolis in one quick swoop that way
the other week.
Please encourage people write very clearly since e-mail addresses have to be
exact.
Steven Clift
P.S. Either I can have helpful Ed, our support person with E-Democracy type up
the results, or someone can volunteer locally and send us the results.
Hi,
If there is a lack of members turning up, it could be they are attending the
Cowley Area Committee meeting this evening.
Just a quick reminder about the pub gathering this evening at the Black Boy in Headington from 7:00 p.m. on. They just re-opened yesterday, so the kitchen is not yet open. Also, we certainly welcome any last minute attendees tomorrow at any or all of the sessions: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Oxford_meeting If you are interested in building up forum membership or starting a neighbourhood Issues Forum in an area not currently covered in Oxford, the first session at 9:30 a.m. sharp is for you! Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
Thanks to Abigail Rose pointing out that she will be working at the Black Boy
pub (91 Old High St, Headington)that evening, why don't we meet there @ 19:00
for an informal neighbourhood forums meet and greet.
This will be a great chance to put faces to the e-mails of participants and for
me to get to know the neighbourhood passions across Oxford.
As a reminder, you may RSVP for our events on Oct. 2 from here:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/Oxford_meeting
The morning intro training will be of most interest for those looking to build
participation in their local forum.
Cheers,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
In addition to the open invitation to join our network-wide input meeting on Oct. 2: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Oxford_meeting (Just come for the opening Issues Forum training hour if you want tips on how to build membership in the Cowley forum.) Would any of you be interested in getting together the evening of Oct. 1 for a pint or two? Putting faces to e-mails is something people have enjoyed in local forums around the network. Based on my travel schedule, 7:30 p.m. would be a safe time. I've posted a similar invite with the Headington and CSW forums. Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org http://stevenclift.com
Have you ever wondered what the heck "e-democracy.org" has to do with your
local community Issues Forum?
A few years ago, the UK Local E-Democracy National Project funded pilots in
Newham and Brighton and perhaps miraculously with no further funding, the
forums remain open and have spread to five neighbourhoods in Oxford and
Bristol with more likely next year. Because this is a citizen-based model
run by volunteers and some in-kind support from council staff in Oxford and
Bristol, keeping the network operating in "basic" mode is not too costly.
Basic isn't good enough. What might you, might we, do better with Issues
Forums and local e-democracy in your community? Are there good ways to
connect your efforts across the UK, leverage resources, promote community
empowerment and social inclusion with greater outreach, find central funding
sources, etc.? Who and how might we coordinate and over time expand UK
activities with either dedicated volunteers or UK staff in the near and
long-term?
These are some of the questions we will discuss in an input session at the
Oxford Town Hall on Thursday, October 2. I'll be coming through the UK from
a conference in Austria (I am based in Minnesota) and look forward to
meeting a number of you.
Join us!
Details and information on how to RSVP is on our wiki at:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/Oxford_meeting
Sincerely,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
P.S. We are in the process of forming an E-Democracy.Org UK Advisory
Committee. If you can't make it to Oxford, but want to help improve our
collective local e-democracy effort or make sure your local forum has
influence within E-Democracy.Org, mention the committee to me in a note:
<email obscured> or http://e-democracy.org/contact
I'm happy to confirm that the replacement of the bicycle racks commenced
earlier this week. Having spoken to the workmen, benches are to follow in due
course.
Overall, the improvement to the area is tremendous, although the finish around
the trees may require some additional work in due course.
For information, the highway improvement scheme was carried out by
Oxfordshire County Council. A bit of history ....Going back some years now,
all highway maintenance work was the responsibility of Oxford City Council,
under a Section 42 agreement with the county council, Oxford City being sole
agents for the county council. Slowly the county council started clawing
back the work, giving it to their own contractors. At present, the city
council is only responsible for what is referred to as unclassified roads
i.e. side roads in others words. All of the main roads, which are classified
roads, are now the responsibility of the county council. This only applies
to highway maintenance, including winter gritting of roads throughout
Oxford. Confused! it doesn't get any clearer. Oxford City Council is
however, responsible for street sweeping and litter picking all roads
throughout the city and for the cutting of grass verges.
With regard to the missing cycle racks along Between Towns Road, I
understand that the county council is awaiting delivery of new ones. The
person who to contact is Mr Ashley Prior, Highways Officer, Oxfordshire
County Council.
Hope this helps.
Malcolm Hart
Test message - Please ignore
Darren Bowler Operations Manager Templars Square Shopping Centre tells me it's
the city council's responsibility - so an email to my local councillors follow!
Does anyone happen to know when are the cycle racks, which were recently
removed in front of Templars Square along Between Towns Road to allow for the
repaving, going to be replaced? Bikes are now attached to anything that doesn't
move!