All posts in the topic New Lord Mayor elected (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 4 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Julia Gasper at Jun 05 11:41 UTC
Oxfordians denied opportunity to elect Oxford Mayor May 20, 2008 As is usual in undemocratic Oxford, yes we got a new Mayor this year, but none of the tax paying electorate was permitted to take part in the process of choosing a Mayor for Oxford. The Councillors as usual voted one of themselves in. to read more http://oxfordprospect.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/oxfordians-denied-opportunity-to-elect-oxford-mayor/
Nic, why do you support the equally unelected Partnerships on the county (which actually makes some executive decisions; see earlier discussions linked below), but speak against the Lord Mayor, which has only a ceremonial (not executive) rôle? Is it double standard, or is it spin at work? http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/oxford-csw/messages/topic/2dwma8a99sewfp6528R5HZ Actually, the more interesting news item at the City Council last Thursday (the same day the Lord Mayor was elected), was that the Labour group (despite being in minority administration) removed the two opposition seats on the Executive Board and relegated the opposition parties into the ghetto of scrutiny committees. The vote was 22:22, and the new Lord Mayor used her brand-new casting vote for Labour. We need a more consensual style of governance, not the party in plurality steamrolling over all others. Oxford is inhabited by 149000-some very diverse and interesting people, many of whom are full of ideas, and all deserve be heard in the democratic deliberations. It is people that should be represented in a democracy, not 'jobs' or 'business interests' per se. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the new Lord Mayor, Cllr Susanna Pressel.
In the previous Executive Board composition, the representatives of the opposition parties have had little time to speak within a 2 hour meetings and have inevitably been outvoted. We did not feel - as one of those parties - that this helped the decision making process or democracy. The new arrangements will instead include a formal reference of all EB reports at the draft stage to a meeting of the three party Group Leaders and their Deputies. The drafts were never seen by the opposition parties in the past. At this draft stage, there will be an opportunity for proper debate and exchange, including with senior officers. The final report to the EB can then be adjusted to reflect those discussions if the responsible Board member wishes to do so. This will aid both decision making and democracy. The opposition parties can make their points at the EB meeting, then refer any matters that they disagree with to a Scrutiny Committee, or challenge it at full Council, or expose their differing perspectives in the local media.We believe that this will extend the successful cross party working of recent years and allow the variety of views in the Council and the city to be properly expressed. Cllr Bob Price Kaihsu Tai wrote: > Nic, why do you support the equally unelected Partnerships on the county (which actually makes some executive decisions; see earlier discussions linked below), but speak against the Lord Mayor, which has only a ceremonial (not executive) rôle? Is it double standard, or is it spin at work? > http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/oxford-csw/messages/topic/2dwma8a99sewfp6528R5HZ > > Actually, the more interesting news item at the City Council last Thursday (the same day the Lord Mayor was elected), was that the Labour group (despite being in minority administration) removed the two opposition seats on the Executive Board and relegated the opposition parties into the ghetto of scrutiny committees. The vote was 22:22, and the new Lord Mayor used her brand-new casting vote for Labour. > > We need a more consensual style of governance, not the party in plurality steamrolling over all others. Oxford is inhabited by 149000-some very diverse and interesting people, many of whom are full of ideas, and all deserve be heard in the democratic deliberations. It is people that should be represented in a democracy, not 'jobs' or 'business interests' per se. > > Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the new Lord Mayor, Cllr Susanna Pressel. > > > Kaihsu Tai > Jericho, Oxford > Info about Kaihsu Tai: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/kaihsutai > > This topic's messages may be viewed at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/14uMeQRKTacY9SjWQGMRKH
I saw a photograph of the Lord Mayor’s Parade (Monday) in the Oxford Mail on
Tuesday. Sadly, very few people attended. We tried to go, but were literally
blown off our tracks by the heavy wind and rain on the way there. Sorry that it
rained on her parade.
I have tried requesting contact with Bob Price but the requests bounce back. I
am told my e-mail address is wrong or something. So I tried contacting support
@ e-democracy but those messages bounce back too . This has happened about five
times.
Maybe if Mr Price gets this he can respond?
By the way, am I the only person who finds that the log-in page jumps around
horrendously making logging-in inot a game of skill and marksmanship? This has
happened to me on two different computers using different browsers and
operating systems.