St Ann's & Harringay AREA ASSEMBLY

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on December 1, 2008 at 21:48

Again thanks for the balance, Clive. Very much my own mixed experience of AA meetings. Definitely agree on that last point. Most of that £348K+20K could be put to better use.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on December 2, 2008 at 22:50

So OAE, was it worth the trip tonight? Was the meeting MIND-EXPANDING?

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on December 2, 2008 at 23:20

Briefly, NO. I shall evangelise no further on behalf of the AA. Graham P., I fear you were right.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on December 3, 2008 at 10:38

omg OAE, that sounds serious! What happened?

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on December 3, 2008 at 17:01

No, alas, Liz: no bombs going off, no grenades hurled, the last trump failed to blast from the Sally Army Citadel. In fact nothing much, other than the worst attendance in years and the most dismal, most unstructured handling of the agenda of a 2-hour meeting one could imagine. I don't blame it all on Gina's absence, or that that nice man Bob Harris was in the chair at the last moment. Or that our friend Haley was detained elsewhere, or that Nilgun arrived breathless from somewhere after half-time. (Perhaps they were pledging obeisance to our new Council Leader, or plotting to stab her in the back before next Tuesday so that their own hats might be tossed with some vestige of hope into the ring?) Or that the weather was seasonal for the time of year - yet that was one of the excuses from the front bench. What the hell is it about this country? The temperature drops marginally in December, or the leaves blow from the wrong side of the trees, or a little rain goes pit-a-pat - so everything grinds to a halt. Don't the buggers have woolly hats, comforters and thermal longjohns like mine?

I've been imagining for years that if we (or those who "organise" these jollies - Dasos and his team and the local councillors/cabinet members spurred on by MyLadyLornaReith, she who beats the drum of consultation & people involvement and henceforth must be obeyed ) could bother to make these quarterly events worth attending, then maybe enough people from the residents' associations and other groups could be cajoled to give a lead and actually get to the meeting, even if the venue is unnecessarily inconvenient.

No, it's not that simple. As Hugh says, where are the objectives? Would our 'leaders' really want us to push for a well structured meeting which could handle the 7/8 item agenda in 5 or 10 minute chunks in half the time?

As for the agenda itself: 65 minutes after kick-off Item 1 (Youth Activities & Projects) is wending wearily to a close, so Chairman Bob thinks he has to urge us to ask questions. We can be flexible with the agenda, he thinks, since so few of us have turned up.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for 'Kids' and Youth getting into AAs. Some of my best friends used to be ... In fact, incredibly, I was once one myself. But after we've applauded FIVE times, on cue of course, do we have to abuse the clock even further by thinking up questions even though there are seven items to go?
It wasn't the kids that got to me - it was their inevitable leaders/youthworkers/animateurs droning on ad nauseam, making a lot out of a little, and employing all those dreadful tenth-hand socio-psychobabbleshitewords of 'empowerment' and 'granting ownership' and even (wuddya b'lieve?) 'formalising their football experience'. This last means that, in search of a project, you come along to Duckett Common where a cross-section of local Somali Youth is happily acting the maggot, kicking a ball around and getting up the noses of some residents or more conventional park users; you squat and chill with them, they kick some more ball, eventually you go like 'Hi guys, howabout joining the local league?' They do and get kicked around the pitch a few times. This is the formalisation of their football experience, and that is your Project.

I shall, of course, continue to trudge to AA meetings. Just take one quarter-year at a time. Triumph of hope over experience. Old retirees whose axe-edges are ground to nothing, whose cranks no longer work, need somewhere to go of an evening - weather permitting or not.
Meanwhile, for a more balanced take on last night's experience, consult one of those youngsters, Hugh Flouch and Ian Sygrave. BUT before Bob, Dasos, Gina, Brian or Nilgun conclude that giving over 70 minutes of 120 to Youf is the way to rescue their floundering Assembly, there's a helluva lot of more basic shaking up to be done first.

Sorry Liz if I've gone on a bit - but you did ask TWICE!

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Permalink Reply by Liz on December 3, 2008 at 17:39

Not at all OAE, these things have to be out in the open and discussed fully. I had fully intended to go but Mr E pulled an unavoidable works thing at the last minute and I was left holding the babies. It sounds however that my presence would have made little difference.
Given that according to their published business plans, the Area Assembly model is the way they believe they are achieving their public consultation remit. If this is the reality of what is happening, then they are failing dismally and should be exposed. That 2 labour councillors were missing, a third was late leaving only Bob to hold the fort shows that any thoughts that any member of the community might have that they can talk directly to their elected representatives are clearly misguided. You do not mention the Lib Dems, were they there?

I noticed this inability to close speakers down and move on last time, how long did Miss Parks Forum go on for? The speakers must be told they have a time limit, say 5 mins and 5 mins for questions. It is not hard to chair a meeting, Lord I'll do it myself I've done it plenty in the past, and keep it on track. It is surely not a deliberate policy or am I reading too many conspiracy theory websites?

There is some movement over in the west of the borough to move these things to Saturday, daytime and have a little light entertainment on the side and I believe that we asked for a similar consideration for us poor relations on the east side. Adam talked about themed AAs perhaps run by people who are not government types? There clearly is a complete lack of imagination when it comes to consultation.

I hope you have complained formally to the neighbourhood team OAE. Isn't it time to register our dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs?

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on December 3, 2008 at 20:09

Yes, Carolyn Baker was there; maybe also Karen Alexander. David Schmitz has always been a solid attender in the past, but with a new baby earlier in the year he may well be doing his duty while his wife gets on with her work.

I'm thinking of writing Dasos a more reasoned spiel than the above, copied to councillors present and absent. A little later perhaps.
Next AA is sometime in Feb., but with a special in March on Traffic, etc.
When I suggested that venue can be a problem for both Harringay and St Ann's residents, mentioning the former alternation to include S.Harringay and Chestnut primary as well as St John's and Terront Road, Dasos said it wasn't always easy lining up a venue for their dates but ... etc.
I still think AAs have a future and, like Hugh, would be glad to see Youth having a regular 20-minute slot.

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Permalink Reply by Adam on December 5, 2008 at 17:12

Good to hear that Traffic gets its own AA. Is there a date yet?

I have been a regular attender for many years and I am always amazed (!) at how few people are present, who are not being paid to be there. I would be interested to know if all Haringey AA's are like this, or whether our area is unique in its low numbers of attendees. In principle these meetings are a very good idea but something is very wrong when only 15 or 20 people out of a population of 15,000 turn up. The cost to stage one of these events must be huge - hire of hall, PA, overtime for 15 or so employees from LBH and the Met....

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