Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
In Praise of David Schmitz
Further to my earlier post, I also wanted to put on public record my appreciation of the work done by David Schmitz, the Harringay Ward Councillor.
When our landlady became gravely ill, we tenants were put in a very precarious position. Ostensibly she was estranged from her family and despite our many pleadings she refused to make a will. So when she died, we were left in limbo.
From the moment I first contacted David about the problem, he was on hand with lots of good advice and useful pointers in directions that had never occurred to me. He also kept in close contact at all times and eventually, when we got our marching orders, it was he who suggested a visit to the council offices, where, to my amazement they put me in touch with my current landlord which is a housing association for key workers. I’d previously gone down there and got nowhere.
As a child, I used to help my mum who was a volunteer for the Paddington Labour Party and saw at close hand the sort of problems local councillors have to deal with. From then onwards, I have always believed that at local level, it’s the (most effective) person rather than the party you should vote for. I have never been able to fathom why for example, people express their anger at the government in Westminster by voting out of office the guy in the next street who gets your drains unblocked or your broken windows fixed.
And the same here is true of David. I hope that when election time comes around, people in the area will realise they have a hard-working conscientious LOCAL councillor looking after local people. Thanks David, your help has been much appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
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An otherwise thankless and unsalaried job.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Antoinette, I'm mystified as to why you criticised John McMullan's comment. He's saying positive things about Harringay ward's LibDem councillors having started - it seems - without that expectation. He's also highly critical of past candidates from the Labour Party. (Labour has not yet selected its candidates for the May 2014 election.)
As a councillor and Labour Party member I always expect John to give me and the council stick about Labour's failings. He helpfully obliges.
What I also take John to be saying - I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong - is that the politics of candidate selection can sometimes be a murky business. So if people want a cleaner process they can join the party of their choice and get involved. From my knowledge of Tottenham Labour Party he is right on both counts.
I don't know what happens in the other parties. Although we all got one small peek behind the curtain when former Labour councillor Brian Haley was deselected by his ward and appeared to have been engaged in negotiations with both the Tories and LibDems as to which he would then join and stand for as a candidate. We would all have been none the wiser without a blog entry from Richard Merrin, then Tory Parliamentary candidate for Tottenham.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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John, both main parties serve up candidates who are on the spectrum from "crap" to excellent. Though most are the middling sort who are decent and reasonably hardworking. (I hope I fall into that middle group.)
People are people and sometimes the work of a good ward councillor deteriorates - for a huge variety of reasons. Maybe they have other demands on their time. Perhaps they no longer live in Haringey. Or someone gets old and ill and is incapable of doing the job properly. Some people get over-inflated egos - perhaps from being called 'councillor', or having a bit of power; or even from wearing mayoral chains, or having their photo taken. So they forget who they are and why they're there.
Others are the opposite. They rise to the occasion, learn well and quickly, and make a valuable contribution to local civic life. While still listening carefully to what other residents tell them.
It may be worth stressing that at local level the Labour Party in its local branches is almost entirely a voluntary association. (Again I assume the other parties are the same). In other words almost all the work is done by members in their own time because they believe in the aims and values of the Party. For example, we don't pay people to deliver leaflets; members do that as volunteers.
This also applies at local constituency level. For example, I was Labour Party branch secretary for my ward (Tottenham Hale) for many years and, before I was a councillor, Tottenham Constituency Secretary for two years. There was no office - except temporarily at election time - and I wasn't paid. I got to see a lot of the working of the party at first hand.
At national and regional level there are paid professional staff, of course, And there is a growing tension locally of a few people who see political parties as a career - the apparatchiks.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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If you're not happy with that, join the Labour party or you just risk being handed the usual crap they serve us up around here and expect us to be happy with.
John I too was disappointed with your overtly party political broadcast. And yet only days ago you complained to us about the amount of vitriol poured on you, Liz and Hugh by this party, at the time of the last election. It doesn't add up.
You said that anyone who had seen only a small amount of that vitriol would be put off local politics for life. How much would it take?
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Neil, there's no contest between David and Cllr Carver(sic) who may live on Mattison but is a St Anns' councillor. Or perhaps you're a St Anns voter?
But as for someone who "has only been noticeable by her absence", consider Alan's second paragraph above on the occupational hazards that may bring a councillor down yet not out.
"Good Queen Gina last looked out / For the 2010 Elections . . ." Continue ad lib.
Electorate's nostalgia, neuralgia or alphabetical precedence on the ballot paper may ensure an extended half-life even beyond May 2014. Incidentally, where's Nora Mulready? - she deserves another crack at the Effingham sinecure. She could change her surname to Abba or Abbott.
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I fleetingly considered Alan Aadvark. Though as I've mentioned before, the only certain winner would be my eastern european cousin Nunov Theabav.
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Remarkable though, that more than 50% of Tottenham Hale's turnout can actually read down as far as the Reiths, Rices and Stantons. In Harringay only one-eighth of us persevered as far as the Schmitz band in 2010 - though some of us got as far as Mulready and Reid, marginally better than getting stuck in the A/B bracket in 2006.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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I've already caused enough offence on this thread in praise of a local man doing his job. "What have the Romans ever done for us" will have to go somewhere else. It could start on Effingham Rd.
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Indeed those Romans were more expert paviours than Brian Haley himself. A change of name: Via Appia would be more euphonious than Effingham.
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YESTERDAY, a registered voter in Harringay Ward informed me that, although they will probably continue to vote Labour nationally, they will break the habit of a lifetime and vote Liberal Democrat locally. I understand it's a combination of disappointment with the conduct of the local Labour Party, including but not limited to that Party's St Ann's Ward tainted selection process, plus delight with David.
Disclosure:
am a prospective councillor candidate
Highgate Ward | Liberal Democrat Party
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Well done David.
Please define <>
But do we follow Frome's example??
http://www.fromepeople.co.uk/groups/fromepolitics/won-Frome-Town-Co...
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