Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Came through my door this morning. How much does it cost to produce this glossy full-colour magazine and why are the council still publishing it while cutting day centres and other essential services? An paying someone to deliver it house to house.

If they must publish something, Hackney council produce a smaller newspaper-style one, presumably cheaper, which actually has a lot more local community information in it and not just council good news propaganda.

Tags for Forum Posts: haringey people

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I agree that the scale of it sounds huge, but would try to avoid speculating on the actual production costs without knowing for sure what systems are in place. However if HC refuse to be transparent about how much it does actually cost then they can hardly complain when people do pull large figures out of the air...

Don't forget to add the additional expenditure on the Tottenham sheet where they print more propaganda to help them believe their own message about the 'regeneration' ( i.e. developer facilitation and social cleansing) plans.
They are a purely cynical bunch of intellectual crooks and Rome is burning while they fiddle.

Here in Tottenham they subsidize a big archtitectural firm to set up a temporary and big PR presence but can't even do what is necessary to make real small changes to assist small traders at Holcombe market by realising very long overdue but relatively minor plans to improve the stalls there! TFL is spending money to redo parts if the High rd but no public realm street furniture and design guidelines have been set so all we are getting is money being spent on the same old same old. At the gyratory the place is already looking disheveled because it is quite plain that the upkeep budget hasn't been factored into the equation and the place is going back to looking unkempt.
It is all a sham and a scam. Something needs to give! They aren't fooling anyone.

the upkeep budget hasn't been factored into the equation

JJB that's long been my concern about the revamp of Green Lanes. Let's get the basics right first ...

They are fooling some people, JJ.  With vague promises of "building stronger".

Haringey "leaders" are now like Milo Minderbinder in Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Especially now they're contracting with the enemy to destroy their own side. Occupying schools; demolishing residents' homes and businesses. 

Our job is to try to rewrite the end of Joseph Heller's account of Milo's almost ending. (chapter 24).

"This time Milo had gone too far. Bombing his own men and planes was more than even the most phlegmatic observer could stomach, and it looked like the end for him. … Milo was all washed up until he opened his books to the public and disclosed the tremendous profit he had made." 

Frankly even if it cost a fraction of that amount it's still a total waste of money! There are so many better ways that money could be spent in a borough like ours. It really says a lot about our council if they can cut useful services or things that visibly improve our area to produce something as trivial and wasteful as Haringey People

Bianca Pascall sent Haringey a Freedom of Information (F.o.I) Act request about the Council's spending on "communications" - specifically mentioning the Haringey People magazine. She used the excellent free website WhatDoTheyKnow

Her F.o.I. request (link above) went in on 20 November 2014. Haringey should have replied on or before 19 December. They did not.

L.Barnet sent a previous F.o.I, on the Haringey People, via the same website, on 4 January 2010. Haringey replied on 4 February 2010. At that time, the magazine was produced ten times a year. On the cost, the Council replied:

"The cost of producing and distributing the magazine in 2008/09, net of advertising revenue, was £247,085, which was £11,015 below the amount budgeted from council resources. In 2009/10 the budget for the magazine was reduced to £221,000, with further savings proposed for the year 2010/11."

If anyone knows a link to other information in the public domain, can I please suggest you publish it here. Alternatively or in addition, consider signing-up to the WhatDoTheyKnow website and adding an annotation to Bianca Pascall's page to assist her. (The website rules mean it is not a discussion forum.)

As Abster says, we need full, accurate and helpfully presented figures - not just more spin and PR - if there is to be the slightest scrap of meaning in the claims by both the "Leader" and the Chief Executive that the budget marks a "new era of change" ... "in our relationship with partners, businesses, and residents".

Although it's at least accurate in one respect. The order of priority is partners - like property developers - coming first every time. With other businesses second. And residents always far behind.

Apologies. I intended to give the link to L.Barnet's F.o.I. in 2010.  (Interruption to comfort crying granddaughter.)

I also slipped-up with the dates. L.Barnet sent their F.o.I. on 3 January 2010. Haringey replied on 1 February 2010.

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