What do Seven Sisters ward candidates have to say?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sharon on May 21, 2014 at 14:14

To be fair, the Warehouse community must continue to make in roads with the wider community itself Oktay, they made a start with the fantastic 'in house film festival' a few weeks ago. I support them, i think they could make massive positive contributions to the area but they still annoy some residents with noise pollution, litter etc especially on Hermitage road, the Omega works.

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Permalink Reply by Abi on May 21, 2014 at 19:54

You'd think so, wouldn't you. But I bet their parties aren't a patch on ours. 

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Permalink Reply by ingo pless on May 22, 2014 at 18:21

Yep.

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Permalink Reply by Oktay Sahbaz on May 20, 2014 at 14:36

Hello everyone,

My name is Oktay Sahbaz and I am the TUSC candidate for Seven Sisters. I work as a secondary school teacher in Hackney but lived in Harringay since the age of 10. First of all it will be worth mentioning that as TUSC candidates we have been trying to come face to face with people in our wards through stalls, when leafleting and on our Facebook page SevenSistersTUSC. Just like any of the TUSC candidates I am not a career politician, which means I am NOT just putting my name forward to look good on the council chamber. One other thing to underline between TUSC candidates and others will be, whatever the result is on Thursday, Friday morning we will wake up to defend our schools, parks, youth centres and fight any rent increase, further implementation of bedroom tax and other attacks on public services. Unlike other candidates and other parties, none of us are standing to implement more cuts, privatisation and further damage our local area.  This is an important point to understand as most councillors have done this.

In terms of local issues, I think despite having some exceptions, most issues are common. For example under investment of parks, opportunities for young people to learn and develop new skills, youth centres, nursery places, lack of affordable and social housing, cleaning, the possible closure of St Ann’s Hospital are very common to all residents of Harringay. If elected, I will ensure council budget in terms of these issues is reviewed and looked at again by an independent body. If needs being I am happy collect petitions from local residents to get this on the table again. Although we were told 4 years ago that the council had no money to spend on these services we are hearing things such as £3.7 million bonuses being paid to the Homes for Harringay managers, council representives paying £13, 000 of the tax payers money to south of France to meet with Spurs representives on the sale of housing Estates in Northumberland Park as well as financing Spurs new ground – which all shows money is available if needed and must be spend on good local public services.

One of the biggest exceptions is the Harringay Wareshouse area. I see what’s happening in Harringay Warehouse as an opportunity to create a Creativity Hub of Harringay. Everyone everywhere is talking about technology hubs being opened to teach kids more about the mechanics of life such as app making and programming etc. This is important but there is an element which everyone is missing out on, especially with the changes in education system, which is creativity. For this reason and for the uniqueness of this big project I will fully support this initiative regardless of the election results on Thursday.

I think area needs redevelopment (not regeneration – this normally means getting rid of everything) to provide more opportunities for people living in Harringay Warehouse and for the local community. In terms of its residential use council needs to be spent or allocate more than £400K to run this project, especially when we know that no social housing has been built for the past 10 or more years in Harringay. Further investment on this project will enable safer building for residents and better workshops facilities etc. This will in return make this place more attractive for local schools, community groups, youth projects and enable it to be part of the community, rather than being labelled as ‘the unwanted’ area. An opportunity such as this should not be taken away from the heart of the community; it should be supported all the way. Schools and other organisations in Harringay use lots of outside ‘professionals’ to run workshops in school, paying vast amounts of money. Bringing all this together will make better use of council resources in the long term and ensure possible services users such as students, younger people, adults and children get better practical experience in all expects of arts. 

One of the main pledges of TUSC is to fight all cuts and also create more social housing and opportunities for young people.  For all these purposes if elected, I will fight to make sure Harringay Warehouse Residents stop living with the fear of being displaced. I will work with the local groups to promote the work of artists and residents in this are to use it as a vehicle in demanding more funding for its redevelopment. As well as this getting support from local schools and youth organisations will form the part 2 of the pressure group. With more people supporting this project and more groups acting as pressure groups the council will need to acknowledge and respond to this. With Harringay having one of the highest youth unemployment rate in the country and with 12 youth centres being closed down by the current Harringay Council Labour Party something like this will attract the widest support in Harringay. My future plan will be to initiate a festival or day of celebration to promote the work done in Harringay Warehouse, like a street festival, this way all local people and residents in Harringay will be able to see the work done and help change the negative view or perception people might have.

Apologies for the long email, but as someone who grew up and lived in Harringay most of his life (apart from first 10 years of my life in Turkey) I feel passionate about making the difference people need. One of the most common question asked during the campaign is ‘What is the different between you and others?’ as reference to possible disappearing after the election campaign. My answer is and has always been to take decision together, Seven Sisters Residents must know and be given the opportunity to discuss their issues – I will do this with at every stage by organising local meetings, weekly surgeries.  Other than this I lived in Harringay and fought against cuts, privatisation and other attacks to our public services YESTERDAY and will do so TOMORROW as well, regardless of the election results.

IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO ME TODAY FACE TO FACE, I WILL BE AT CHISLEY ROAD, N15 6EH ESTATES TODAY BETWEEN 4-6PM ALSO AT THE WAREHOUSE AREA AT 6.30-7.30.OR GET IN TOUCH ON 07961 708 014 OR Facebook page SevenSistersTUSC.

Many thanks to Harringay Online for the opportunity given.

Oktay Sahbaz

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