Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Haringey's progressive traffic boss faces the chop

With local elections in London round the corner, ward-level local political parties across the borough are choosing their who will represent them. Whilst it's not uncommon for sitting councillors to be endorsed to run again without challenge, there are also times when challengers are put forward.

Both the Harringay and St Ann's ward councillors will face a challenge this time. Mike Hakata, is a St Ann's councillor with cabinet responsibility for traffic across the borough. Haringey Council has a poor record on traffic management and it is way behind neighbouring boroughs in introducing new approaches to reduce rat-running and encourage active travel.

The Ladder, in particular, has been a victim of poor traffic management decisions going back over half a century. Mike Hakata is now apparently promising to tackle the issue head-on. After getting approval for a St Ann's low traffic neighbourhood, he has now turned his attention to the Ladder. Whilst I still have some concerns and questions about the approach that will be taken, Mike Hakata seems to be the best chance we have. it would be a crying shame to see him de-seated by his local party.

The vote in St Ann's is next week (Monday, I think). So if you are a Labour party member (which I am not) in St Ann's ward, please please do think about making sure that you vote and give full consideration to Mike's importance for the future wellbeing of the Ladder.

Tags for Forum Posts: deselection, mike hakata, st ann's labour, traffic

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on March 17, 2022 at 1:56

No, Ozbawn, it couldn't be. The Momentum Party opposition are fighting a selection/control battle against the mainstream Labour Party. I just wish the Momentums would be more open and honest about it. I believe - perhaps naively - that Jeremy Corbyn meant what he said about kinder gentler politics. I see little evidence of this in the people riding on his reputation.

Where are you in our interesting borough? Do you belong to a Party and have you some other information? It seems unlikely that anyone has any firm and reliable data about the impact of the new ward boundaries, for example. Nor of the changes in population.

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Permalink Reply by Ozbawn on March 17, 2022 at 9:11

Hi Alan - I am in the middle and on the level both geographically and politically with no affiliations or particular alignment.

I am however annoyed like many others outside the local bubble that the effective running of the borough is continually hampered by the infighting within Labour. Nothing ever changes. Black Boy Lane is a perfect example; an expensive and unwanted political gesture pursued whilst so many other real priorities are ignored. We are still dirty and poor but unlike Berlin not especially sexy.

Mike was a good councillor. He seemed to have a vision that is broadly in the best interest of residents. I notice one of the people that Momentum Labour has chosen to replace him in St Anns is just out of school and seemingly put in that position for her factional affiliation or the ability of others to control her. She might be an exceptional and talented young person who knows her own mind and has the interests of residents at heart but that is unlikely.

Two of the candidates selected for Harringay ward are better (one proven and one with clear skills and potential) However, the third has been silent for as long as I can remember but has cornered a particular set of voters who worship at a particular church and probably share a particularly good recipe for moussaka amongst themselves.

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 17, 2022 at 12:39

I think the other two choices that Harringay Labour voters were given were Momentum placements.

I see that this posting has been picked up by slightly more mainstream press at onLondon, which has this quote:

"With the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition group holding only 15 seats at present, the next administration is likely to be a Labour one whose character will be defined by the seat selection outcomes. Labour members in five Labour-held wards are yet to choose their candidates in a process being closely overseen by the party’s London office."

My emphasis. Incredible isn't it? Mike lost 34-40 in St Anns. 6 people in each ward could be deciding the makeup of the next Labour council in Haringey. Not much has changed from the 5 who decided St Anns in 2013.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on March 17, 2022 at 18:13

John McMullan you're the second person who suggested I read the article on Dave Hill's excuse for a news website. So I did.

"On London" claims to be a ... "a small but influential website which
strives to provide more of the kind of journalism the capital city needs."

Sadly it has less sparkle, liveliness and analysis than a blocked London drain gulley. Charles Wright who wrote the article, used to work in Haringey Press office under the Kober regime. Another of his articles, on Joe Ejiofor's removal from the Labour Party candidates list, includes the scintillating sentence::
The action is thought to relate to a highly critical Local Government Ombudsman report".
Which is like me writing that my wet clothes are thought to relate to being caught in a sudden shower of rain.

Worse still the article - supposedly focusing on Momentum; St Ann's ward and Mike Hakata - uses the laziest of lazy terminology. "Hard left" , "Progressive". Like we were still in the Kober era. Telling us nothing at all about who is challenging and why.
The only quotes used were pro-Mike. Did they try to interview and report fairly on the Momentums?

Or maybe they did? And the name "Dave Hill" caused uncontrollable giggles and backslapping laughter at the other end of the phone?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Soper on March 17, 2022 at 22:29

In Stroud Green we have a labour trio who surely should lose at the next election - Eldridge is a joke as deputy mayor, and then we have Kirsten and a young man who haven't been seen for quite a while. The last time that Stroud Green went Lib Dem, as I hope it may this time, the Lib Dems got within 3 seats of overall control. Unfortunately at the next election the LibDem leadership decided to transfer their attention to Islington North. We need a different political party in Haringey for at least one three year term so that Labour comes back without this awful sense of ownership that leads to a handful (less than 5) local voters determining the makeup of the next council... don't vote Labour because you always have - vote Lib Dem in the ladder and get a meaningful change even if only for three years...

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Permalink Reply by Brian Mahoney on March 17, 2022 at 23:26

Sound advice.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on March 18, 2022 at 0:23

As in general, a Labour supporter - though no longer a Party member (Another story) - I still keep to the principle that Party activists should identify themselves on HoL around election time.
You've played fair on this. I'd hope your LibDem colleagues will do the same.

Cllrs Kirsten Hearn and Cllr Daniel Stone are both standing down

_______________
My own political declaration is on my Personal Hol page.

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on March 17, 2022 at 17:28

Ozbawn, should I report your subtle hint of enantikypriohellenism to the Moderator? I have been a lifelong admirer of that woman's silently invisible representation and I'm sure her moussaka would go down a treat. However, as it's St Patrick's Day, I've been wondering if Harringay Ward has enough old Irish with a taste for fat pig's arse and cabbage to vote me in. Unfortunately, they no longer have a Mattison Road church to host a hustings. But I'm nearly as old as the third candidate you mention, and I promise to be as silent and unseen.