Can Sheffield Forum be a positive force in the city??

[hard2miss]

Can Sheffield Forum be a positive force in the city??

 

This answers the question...

How about doing some good on this thread and keeping it on topic? Some posts have already been removed to avoid it being derailed.

 

Thanks.

[Mecky]

Bugger that, I don't want to live in a big society

[Anna B]

I'd like to think that any Sheffield Councillor worthy of the name would take a look on Sheffield Forum to see what issues are of concern to the Sheffield public.

[ricgem2002]

You can anyway. All Licensing, Planning Board and Full Council meetings are open to the public. I wish more people knew this and contributed.

are these meetings held in the evening ?(some of us do work) also these meetings might be opened to the public but whats the point when councillors do the opposite to what the people want?

[Tradescanthia]

I'd like to think that any Sheffield Councillor worthy of the name would take a look on Sheffield Forum to see what issues are of concern to the Sheffield public.

 

I reckon they do, but budgets and party politics often get in the way. Red Robbo has kept his finger on the pulse in spite of the terrible time he has been thru' recently.

 

Nick Clegg could learn a thing or two if he took the time to visit us.........

[ricgem2002]

Good thread. I'd like very much to think this would be the case & there've been some great threads and debates on here over the years.

But there needs to be some commitment to a cause or some common objective and, although I do believe that honest, open debate and a focus on important issues can be achieved, it can only be done so if people want it to happen.

people are wanting things to happen its the councillors listening to its people, then totally ignoring whats been said that gets peoples goats up.

[max]

Sheffield Forum is a bit like real life; you get a huge diversity in views on any particular topic, cycling for instance. If you were a politician and decided to pop into the Forum to get a measure of what people want you'd soon recoil in horror at the animosity between posters. Trying to get a feel of what the people of Sheffield actually want would be nigh on impossible.

 

Similarly, when polls are included in a thread you get an absolute minimum of people actually bothering to vote thereby giving no guidance as to how to satisfy the majority on any issue.

[Tony]

That's a fair point but SF is no less representative of other self-selecting groups and is just as valid, probably more so than the Community Assemblies and councillors postbags.

 

SF is most definitely more representative of the people than the small number who have the interest and stamina to participate in the mind-numbingly tedium and politicking that is most council meetings.

 

I'd be inclined to say that while the feedback on SF is much more raw and visceral, it's a pretty good representation of general opinion.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Generally, I'm impressed with many of the thought-provoking threads. As long as they keep on topic, and unless the more obsessive members derail them, SF offers an unmatched way for Sheffielders to exchange views. I'd say that it ought to be required reading for all their elected representatives.

[discodown]

I wouldn't be keen on SF being seen as a political force in the same way as Mumsnet is now being pushed. It's just a forum for Sheffield people to shoot the ****. I would also be uneasy with it being promoted by its owners as a political force.

 

My contact with SF was something of a wake-up call and made me realise that I was living in a den of right wing reactionary ***** and the sort of people I wouldn't want to give any sort of political power.

It absolutely shouldn't be used for politics in the conventional sense.

 

Couldn't be anyway, you'd never get an accord