Parking fines in George Street

I was surprised and really angry when I discovered that Channel 4 used a made up figure to claim we collect more parking fines on George Street than any other city. They said it was £1.25m. The truth is closer to £625,000, a number we freely gave them and can justify completely. They include fines for folk who return late and, for 500 or so, for people parking in disabled bays, something I find particularly selfish.
Channel 4 made up their figure by rounding up to £60 every fine even though the vast majority of people paid £30. They said it was to create a "level playing field". What a lot of nonsense! It was to make the story sexy. If they wanted a level playing field they would have compared streets of the same length or streets with the same or similar numbers of parking bays (there are 260 in George Street our of 10,000 in the city).
This was irresponsible journalism that sadly questions the integrity of Channel Four whom I have held in high regard in the past. I intend to return to this subject once I have calmed down.

Council furniture

I was annoyed (mostly with myself for not seeing it coming), that we found ourselves in a stupid debate lasting 40 minutes at the Council meeting on 26th Oct over chairs for the council chamber!
Every building needs to have furniture that meets its requirements. Ours is a historic building that needs furniture that reflects both is design and its role as a place of civic pride and decision-making. That costs more money than your average seat in your home or in a hall somewhere.
Of course what then became reported was the cost (somewhere between £80,000 and £100,000). Its very easy to make a scandal out of a high number when the subject is something like furniture. And of course it becomes an easy weapon to hit politicians with by suggesting, completely inaccurately, that this is somehow a sign that we have got our priorities wrong. It was one item of an agenda of over 20 items which covered many subjects or concern to the city like drug and alcohol treatment, transport issues, climate change, support for those who have lost money because Farepack went bust, nursery fees and much more.
But instead we are made to look like all we care about is how soft the seat is for our backsides. Maybe that is sadly inevitable given the public view of those of us in public service, but on the other hand, these decisions need to be taken and if we did it behind closed doors then there would be an even bigger, and in that case more justifiable outcry.

Great Scot awards

I was at the great Scot awards on Saturday night. A wonderful event at which ordinary folk who do extra-ordinary things have their dedication to others celebrated. At a time when its often suggested that the "people are apathetic about others or about political issues" it was great to see the hard work and dedication of so many concerned with poverty or disadvantage being celebrated.

Meadowbank Stadium

I took my son up to Meadowbank Stadium for his athletics class this week. He loves going there and its easy access for me as its only ten minutes walk away though part fo that is up a steep hill.. He also attends another class and makes good use of the activity club in the holidays. I seem to spend most of my time either taking him up the hill or collecting him from that wonderful, but aging stadium which was built for the Commonwealth Games in 1970.

I was remembering recently that when I went to Meadowbank Stadium as a lad of his age it was to watch first Ian Stewart and then Lachie Stewart win gold medals in the 1970 games. What a joy that was and what a boost for Scottish Sport.

Sadly, Meadowbank stadium could no longer host such a prestigious event. Even with refurbishment it could not reach such great heights. Yet Edinburgh, as Scotland’s capital, needs an international class stadium. But that needs the cash to pay for it.

The Council has managed to get some cash from sports Scotland to both build a new, international class stadium on a site in the west of the city and to fully refurbish the Commonwealth pool, which, as an A listed building, can’t be knocked down. But to fund the rest we are going to need to sell the Meadowbank site.

So here does that leave my boy and the thousands of other local people who use Meadowbank as their local sports centre. The answer is that I have had built in to the project plan at least £4 million to create state of the art community sports facility with pitches, sports halls, a gym and other facilities and in my view it should be on the Meadowbank site and I will continue to argue for that.

We’ve got the money for a new sports facility for this side of Edinburgh. We need to agree the site. I will be arguing for that to be the case as strongly as possible. It will still mean many trips up the hill for me and my boy, but it will be worth it and our community deserves it.

"what are we going to do with the kids"

With this being the holiday week there’s lots of talk about "what are we going to do with the kids". In Edinburgh the GO4it and Paly4it activities are a great solution along with things like the Edinburgh Leisure activator camps and there are many other opportunities though probably not enough yet.
This got me thinking about what’s provided when its not the holidays. In my own ward I have managed to get to the stage where there is something for teenagers 6 nights a week. This includes the mobile youth club (the Youth Buzz - see picture right) of which I am very proud having personally made it happen right from asking for the bus to raising the cash to now chairing the trust. Yet two things happen. First, I still get the comment "there’s nothing to do" and secondly and connected to that, no one ever seems to ask what the parents are doing to make sure their kids have something to do.
Its quite right that we should spend money on serious and effective opportunities for young people to spend their spare time constructively but we cannot be a "24/7" (how I hate that phrase) babysitter.
I don’t wish to berate parents. I am a parent myself, but some-how we need to change the relationships between the Councils duty to provide services and parents duty to be a parent. There are times when some parents can’t cope and we need to be in there helping them. Being a parent it’s the hardest job anyone ever does and all parents need a bit of help and support.
I am concerned however, that our consumerist society is beginning to perceive the task of parenting as being something that can be achieved in large part by a form of "outsourcing" to Councils and voluntary services. At the same time society is demanding lower taxes and that staff and volunteers go through ever more rigorous checks which make providing those services even more difficult.
There are some serious contradictions here and all of us, parents, carers, young people, councils and voluntary groups need to collectively face up to them soon or we are going to have a real problem on our hands.

Trade Unions meeting.

I had a very helpful meeting recently with 5 of the big Trade Unions ( Amicus - http://www.amicustheunion.org , Transport and General Workers - http://www.tgwu.org.uk , GMB - http://www.gmb.org.uk , Usdaw - http://www.usdaw.org.uk and Unison - http://www.unison.org.uk ). It was very helpful to hear their views on what’s important for the city as they see it.
For example, we had a helpful debate on the consequences for staff of the so called "24/7" city. It sounds wonderful and vibrant but it does mean people working more and more varied times with less and less real family time. The move to equal pay, prized by everyone, is not an easy road either and it was good to get the Unions views on that issue as well.
I have always understood that the Trade Unions are the bedrock of the Labour Movement. The Labour Party www.labour.org.uk and the Trade Unions www.stuc.org.uk have complementary roles and a common cause, standing up for the marginalised and the voiceless. We should not be in each other’s pockets but we should know what’s in each other’s minds.
I will be holding as series of further meetings with a wider range of trade unionists to make sure I hear what they have to say and understand their aspirations for the city and their part in its continued success.

Fortnightly rubbish collections.

There’s been talk recently about Councils moving to fortnightly collections for rubbish. This is all in the context of increases in recycling meaning there is less actual rubbish. In Edinburgh we are up to 26% household waste being recycled, good but still much more to do ( http://intranet.edinburgh.gov.uk/sustainable+development/resources.jsp ).
Of course it’s all about how you tell the story. The introduction of recycling uplifts means we have more collections of rubbish, not less so moving to fortnightly rubbish collections would mot be an overall reduction from previous times, simply a reflection of changes in how we collected our waste. Yet I can see how it is perceived as a reduction. One woman said to me recently that she though she should get the binmans wages now that she had to sort it all out!
We need to take this all a step at a time. Certainly in Edinburgh, if, and that’s a big if, we go to fortnightly collections we need to do it slowly and by taking folk with us making sure they are not feeling something is being taken away without something else to replace it.

Dog fouling - a major issue.

When I went into elected politics I expected, even wanted, to have to cope with many subjects but Dog fouling wasn’t high on my list. Yet its rapidly becoming right up there with social justice and the future of the economy!
I cannot understand why people let their dog’s foul not just pavements but football pitches, parks, verges, playgrounds and all the rest of it. It is a despicable, disgusting dis-respectful action and I despise it and those who don’t clean up after their dogs. . It’s like letting some one defecate in their front room. Public space is shared space and to ruin it like that is simply unacceptable. It’s about the most anti-social act I come across.
In my own ward I've increased the wardens, put in extra bins, run campaigns and introduced a barrow beat but still people wander along, let Rover dump in the street and walk away. It is individualism in the extreme and if anyone has an answer I’d like to know about it. One suggestion has been dog licences. Anyone got any others?

Stand Up Against Poverty

I was very proud to see over 200 staff turn up on a cold morning to take part in the world record making stand up against poverty http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/. This campaign is calling on world leaders not to forget the commitments they made when they signed up to the UN Millennium Development goals to be achieved by 2015, www.un.org/millenniumgoals.
There are thousands of events like this happening all over the world. Timely reminders that the Make Poverty History marches that took place last year in Edinburgh http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ were only the start of the journey.
Here are the facts. Across the world 70 million girls and 40 million boys get no education. 30,000 young people (that’s equivalent to every high school pupil in Edinburgh), die EVERY DAY of avoidable diseases. Millions live on less that half a dollar a day.
Why should we bother? In my view the stranger is my neighbour, especially in the global village in which we now live. Edinburgh is a creator of great wealth. We have amoral responsibility to share that wealth. One survey suggests that Edinburgh is the 6th most talked about city in the world. I want those conversations to say that’s a city where people care about the poor and the suffering. It’s what I would want if I were one of the suffering.

Car use in the city

I recently put an article in to the Sunday Herald on the above subject. It starts off like this-
"One of the pleasant surprises I have had since being elected Leader of City of Edinburgh Council is the number of people who have spoken to me about the really good things the Council does. I’ve had plaudits about our schools, our recycling, our work with young people, our care for older people and much more. One area where there has been less praise however, has been on the subject of cars in the city.

On more than one occasion I have heard the accusation that the City of Edinburgh Council is anti-motorist, particularly after our idea to introduce congestion charging was rejected last year.

But the simple truth is that rather than being opposed to cars, the complete opposite is actually true. Our focus is on helping those who really need their cars to get around the city as easily as possible. That, to me, is the win win approach. Quicker journeys mean less frustration for motorists but also less pollution for all of us. So everyone is happy."

If you would like the full text of this article you can read it on the Edinburgh Council Labour Group website at www.edinburgh.labour.co.uk

Early Intervention

This week the Council received a report on the early intervention project (http://cpol.edinburgh.gov.uk/getdoc_ext.asp?DocId=88805 ). This project tried to managed the support needed to get some highly dysfunctional families to change their lifestyle so they and those around them have a more peaceful co-existence.

Its not ‘soft touch’ or ‘goodies for the bad guys’. It is a way of challenging behaviour but also guiding folk to new choices and supporting the whole family and not just the ones in trouble.
Its not punitive but the report suggests that it does work and real change happens in these families. It is expensive but if it means these families are not a drain on our resources in future years or destroying their neighbourhoods, it is money well spent in my view.

Ship to ship oil transfer

In my first week in the job I went on a live radio phone on Radio Forth ( http://www.forthone.co.uk/sectional.asp?id=11139 ) in and the first three questions were about ship to ship oil transfer in the Forth! I wondered what I had let myself in for.

I knew we had taken a view on this ( http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cpol/Link/index.html ) but couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. I was on live radio so, to be truthful, I prevaricated and said we had to listen to all sides! Interestingly the three calls were not all against. Two were but one marine engineer was very clear that ship to ship oil transfer was done every day without problems.

I went back and looked at the issues and realized just how important it was that we did protest. This is an issue on which we should take the side of the environment.
What I also discovered was that the advice we had been given legally was that, having expressed our views in the consultation, there was little chance of a legal challenge being successful, which was why we were not joining East Lothian ( http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/content/ ) and Fife Councils ( http://www.fife.gov.uk/orgs/index.cfm?fuseaction=home&orgid=60304273-A856-11D6-BF4D0002A5349AC9 ) in there journey to court.

Despite that, I and my colleagues have now taken the view that we should be working with the other councils to see if we can build a legal case against Forth Ports ( http://www.forthports.co.uk/ ).
Sometimes, without being too pejorative, we need to see past what is in the end legal speculation and try and do what feels right. Its a risk, but one worth taking.

Scotland's victory!

I was glued to the radio on Saturday afternoon for the Scotland France game! What a range of emotions. First half we were less than classy but once Gary Caldwell "slide-tackled" (his words!) the ball in, suddenly we became a team and a great victory was ours.

In the many column inches and double page photo spreads in Sunday’s papers, that team spirit was constantly referred to. It’s something deep in the Scottish psyche that we play our best or achieve our dreams when we are the underdog. I just hope that we don’t end up with the same kind of experience as the last time we beat a top side at Hampden in the Euro qualifiers (Holland) only to get thrashed away from home. I am sure Walter has a better handle on how to stop that happening.

Two things struck me about the game. First of all, there’s what can be achieved when people work with and for each other. When that kind of passion is channeled into working for a common goal it’s just as powerful as the individual skills of superstars. (As it happens the idea that we achieve more together than we do apart is at the heart of Labour thinking, which our Scottish founder Keir Hardie knew all about.)

The second thing was simply the power of sport to change lives. I stayed on at school because of sports, in particular because of the attitude of my PE teacher who simply treated us as young adults. He respected us so we respected him. His attitude helped me win at sports when otherwise I wouldn’t even have taken part.

Those experiences gave me a self confidence that meant I achieved much more than I might otherwise have done. As we saw on Saturday, winning at sport means much more than just beating the other guys.

Crime in the City

I was looking through the Scottish Executive statistical bulletin which was published just last month (Not the most exciting part of my job I have to admit……) And I was struck by the crime figures about Edinburgh.

At a time when everyone believes crime is worse – the figures show it's actually getting better. And that’s not just this year. Violent crime in Edinburgh has fallen for the past four years, down by a quarter in total.

Another set of figures show that Edinburgh, far from being a worry, is in fact the safest of the four main Scottish cities. Police record the number of crimes for every 10,000 people and last year this is what they showed
Glasgow 160
Aberdeen 148
Dundee 134
Edinburgh 133

This chimes with a private sector account too. Endsleigh Insurance say that Edinburgh residents have a 56% lower chance of a break-in than the national average.

So when things are getting better – why do people believe that things are getting worse?

The press play their part, of course, just as they have always done. Over the decades crime has always made a great headline.

But I think there’s something else. We are seeing a worrying growth in low-level street crime – street disorder and anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods. And that kind of crime is very visible to a lot of people. It’s just a tiny number who cause the trouble – but the distress and fear they cause is out of all proportion. It’s not all young people of course. Adults cause problems too and young people are more often victims than perpetrators.

I believe that the easy availability of drink and drugs are at the back of some of it. New laws about to come in will help Councils tackle excessive drinking. Meanwhile the Council has, from its own funds, paid for an extra 74 police officers to work in communities and help control drugs and curb anti-social behaviour. This is more than any other Council. It takes time, but our experience in places like Broomhouse show it can work

Repairing our Roads

Audit Scotland last week published its report on the maintenance of roads around Scotland. And there was the usual “shock horror” reaction from the press and the motor car lobbies. It all implied that that our roads are not in tip top condition because Councils are lazy or daft or something.

I admit many roads and pavements in Edinburgh are in a poor state. But that’s deliberate. And I’d better explain that very quickly!

Most people will remember the Thatcher and Major years. Local councils had their money squeezed right out of them – because of central government cuts and the poll tax. Your Council at that time had a choice to make: something had to go - should we keep up our road maintenance programme or should we do all we could to protect school budgets? Of course, it was more complicated than that – but in choosing to protect children (and other vulnerable groups too), I think the Council at that time made the right choice. After all, kids only get one chance of an education.

That’s what I mean by deliberate. The Council at that time cut back on road maintenance year after year in order to keep up spending in schools.

When the government changed in 1997, Gordon Brown didn’t rush in to spend straight away, he got rid of almost all our National Debt first. Then, when the public investment did begin in about 2000 the priority, quite rightly, was schools and hospitals first. In Edinburgh we’ve built and are building 20 new or refurbished schools. And we’re starting on four new old folks homes too. That’s quite something.

And now we can start to turn our attention to transport. On our roads we’ve many years of underspending to make up. As my colleague Councillor Bob Cairns said, we’ll need a steady £15million every year for 10 years before we can get back to where we should be. Its much harder to re-build, as we’re doing now, than it is to destroy, as I believe the Thatcher years showed. We’ve made a start, with £24million committed in the past 2 years. But there’s a long road ahead (pardon the pun!)