Does Quarry need a Residents' Association?
From:
Julia Gasper
Date:
Nov 22 15:32 UTC
Short link
I do not dispute what Kate says about Council employees wishing to see their
families or do voluntary work at a weekend. But please consider that many of us
who would like to attend these meetings also have families, or do voluntary
work, and none of us as far as I know are in the highly-paid bracket.
Senior and middle-rung local government officials get very generous pay
compared to the living standard of most of my friends, who belong to the
bicycle and woolly hat class.
In order to attend an Area Committee meeting on a Tuesday evening at six
o'clock over at Sandhills, I would have to finish work early, thus losing pay
without the option of making it up through flexi-time. It would take me about
one and half hours cycling in the dark to get there and back, unless I used
taxis, which would be much safer in the rush hour, especially when it is dark
and cold (though not faster with a 20 mph speed limit). The total costs would
be, I estimate, about forty pounds for a single meeting at which the public
have (I am told) only half an hour for discussion. Is that cost we face, any
better than the unpaid work you complain about?
That is what you are expecting the public to do to get their little crumb of
so-called democracy. So all I am doing is trying to suggest some possible
alternatives and encourage others to suggest some too.
The very least that should be done is to VARY the times and places of these
meetings so that they are more likely in the long run to include a majority of
participants.
.