The Leader of the Council's online diary April - May 2007
Sunday 20 May
Thursday was International Day Against Homophobia. The event was marked in Lambeth by an event to remember Jody Dobrowski. Jody was just 24 years old when he was brutally beaten to death on Clapham Common because he was gay. The thugs who killed him were quickly caught and locked up thanks to swift action by the police working with Lambeth’s large lesbian and gay community.
Jody was remembered by family, friends and local people who came together to plant wild flowers in a patch of ground near where he was murdered. Before the service, Jody’s mother, Sheri, spoke movingly of her determination to remember Jody and others who, like him, were victims of hate crime. She said: "We’ve all come here to plant new life together to remember those who suffer and die simply for being who they are."
Speaking after Sheri, I said that Lambeth is a place where people value diversity, and that our hope for a community where we can all live together in peace is stronger than the hate of those who come to hurt and kill.
Jody’s mother told me how happy she was that, by planting flowers where her son was killed, she felt the Common had been reclaimed from his murderers. I’m glad we were able to offer her that comfort, and glad too that we were able to make a public statement that we will not tolerate hate crime in our richly diverse community.
Monday 7 May
I spent the morning of my Bank Holiday Monday delivering letters to residents in the ward I represent, Brixton Hill.
We've long had a problem with kerb crawlers in the area. Thanks to hard work by the Police, and CCTV introduced by the council, the problem has got much better recently. So I was very worried when there was a call to decriminalise kerb crawling. In my view, that would just make it harder to stop the sleazy men, invariably from outside our area, who prowl local streets in their cars.
They often accost women who live locally, causing them and their families great distress. We can only keep this nuisance off our streets if we take tough action against the kerb crawlers, so I've asked local people to support my campaign to maintain a firm zero-tolerance approach to kerb crawling across Lambeth. If we act swiftly, we can face down those misguided people who think it's a good idea to go soft on crime and anti-social behaviour.
Thursday 3 May
The Lambeth Civic Awards are one of the happiest occasions in the municipal calendar. I was invited to open the awards ceremony this year, before the Mayor handed out the awards to the winners.
I was particularly delighted that June Carcary-Stuart, who I'd nominated, had been given an award for all her hard work on behalf of the residents of Dumbarton Court. As Chair of the Tenants and Residents Association on her estate, June campaigned for - and won - funding for new gates into the estate to stop rat-running. She'd overseen the introduction of ‘Good Neighbour Contracts' to make the estate a friendlier place to live. And she has pushed for funding for safety improvements including CCTV, security doors and entry systems, and even new play equipment for children.
Over the years June has put in a lot of hard work and has made life better for her community. People like June don't get the recognition they deserve, so it was a great honour to be able to say thank you to her and to other award winners for the work they put in to making our community a better place for everyone.
Thursday 26 April
This evening I took part in a public meeting to discuss the council's proposals to set up an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) to run our housing service. The meeting was held in St John's Church Hall in Clapham Road.
There are three important benefits to setting up an ALMO. First, under Government rules, it allows us to put in a bid for £240 million new funding to improve council homes. That is enough money to make sure every council home is heated, free from damp, has weather-proof windows and a reasonably modern kitchen and bathroom. Second, the ALMO is run by a board that includes elected tenant and leaseholder representatives - so it puts residents in charge for the first time. Third, the ALMO allows us to give a fresh start to our housing service - a chance to change the culture and give our staff the opportunity to improve the quality of service residents receive.
All of this is too good to turn down. I put the case for the investment and resident-power that the ALMO offers. Pete Readman, from Lambeth's Housing Department, also spoke and pointed out that ALMOs are already up and running across the country and have proved they can improve services for council tenants and leaseholders.
There were two speakers against the proposals. They claimed that setting up an ALMO was a half-way house to privatisation. I have to say, I don't understand that claim at all. If the Government wanted to privatise council housing, they'd just do it. There would be no need to go through the process of setting up ALMOs first. The truth is that with an ALMO every single home remains owned by the council and tenants keep all the rights they currently enjoy. An ALMO is a chance to improve the way housing services are managed so that when the extra money comes through we can guarantee it's spent where it should be - on bringing council homes up to the decent standard that residents deserve.
Monday 23 April
The Pulross Area Play Association (PAPA for short) celebrated their tenth anniversary on Saturday. Dave McTeir runs the organisation which provides fantastic play facilities for toddlers and older children in the heart of Brixton. PAPA organised a wonderful fete to celebrate their tenth year, and they were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day for it.
There was a fantastic turnout, with entertainment including a stilt-walker, face painting, juggling, a bouncy castle, a five-a-side football tournament, and a ‘tiny toddle' around local streets. With the garden in the playground recently replanted, it really is looking beautiful. I lost count of the number of mums, dads and their children who told me what a wonderful resource PAPA is for the local community.
I was invited to judge the fancy dress competition together with local ward councillor Sally Prentice. We gave the prize for best dressed boy to a cowboy, and best dressed girl to a fairy complete with wings and a tiara. PAPA really is a great place, it's just the kind of project the council's right to fund - helping local people get on and make their own area a better place to live in. I'd like to pass on my congratulations again to everyone involved in running this wonderful organisation.
Saturday 14 April
Every six months we have an awayday for our Labour councillors. We all get together and talk about some of the issues facing the council and how we want to sort them out. Today, we discussed next year's budget.
We broke up into groups and talked about how we could use the budget to help different groups of residents. Some of the groups we looked at included older people, youth, black and minority ethnic citizens, families with young children, unemployed people, young professionals, and adults in work. It's important that the council's budget provides services that meet the needs of every group of residents. As the year goes on, we will hold another major consultation so that we can hear the views of residents themselves about what they want, then make sure we use the budget to meet those needs.
In the evening, it was Pete Bowyer's 40th birthday party. Pete is the Labour councillor for Stockwell. He hired a large room in a pub and invited all his friends along to celebrate with him. The ‘highlight' of the evening - if that's the right word - was a reunion of Pete's old college band. Pete, sporting a summer hat, was the singer, and treated us to a few songs from his student days. It was hilarious. Someone was videoing the spectacle and threatened to post it on YouTube - I wonder what Pete's constituents in Stockwell will make of that!
Friday 13 April
Last night, the police conducted a major operation against drug-dealers operating from premises in St Agnes Place near Kennington Park. The police had intelligence to show that up to 600 people a day were going to the premises to buy drugs, including the highly addictive crack cocaine.
The building had been a Rastafarian temple for many years, but seemed to have been taken over by gangsters. With video evidence that some of the drug dealers were armed with guns, the operation was highly dangerous. During the night, 250 officers conducted an armed raid. Mercifully, everything went smoothly and no one was hurt. I had a call at 5am to confirm that the situation was under control. The police arrested 23 people and took control of the building, which had been squatted nearly 30 years ago but is owned by the council.
Given the state of the building, it is likely it will have to be demolished. I spent much of the day giving press and TV interviews. the council was offering the police our full backing, but I also wanted to emphasise that this was not an attack on Rastafarians, it was an attack on drug dealers and criminals. Lambeth is sick of the drugs trade, and this operation marks the start of a get-tough policy designed to clean up our streets and make them safer for the law-abiding majority.