It's Our City Campaign - Have you Signed?

[Ruth H 0]

Hi.  I’m Ruth Hubbard, the Co-chair of It’s Our City!  I note that Annie Bynnol  (which appears to be a pseudonym) has posted inaccurate posts and (mis)information about IOC before.

 

Firstly, to reassure, the online petition has a number of technical protections and is operated according to an agreed set of processes and protocols.  The specific claims above are not true.  Every signature must be validated against the electoral roll (and obviously there is a rejection rate) to ensure legality.  So please don’t listen to “A. Bynnol”.  However, if you have any concerns please get in touch with us via our website www.itsoursheffield.co.uk.

 

It’s Our City! Is a community network with no links to political parties (whatever anyone says!).  Our constitution prevents party influence shaping what we do.  Overwhelmingly, most involved are not, nor have ever been, a member of a political party.  Our Coordinating Group has one member each from lab, libdems and Greens (by chance not design), plus 11 other members.  Please see our constitution and what we do at our website.  Thanks.

 

after 15,000 conversations - and rising - between Sheffielders about local governance, communities all across the city are looking forward to replacing the strong leader system with something a much better fit for Sheffield. 

 

 

[Halibut 12]

Well said Ruth.

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

8 hours ago, Ruth H said:

<snipped...>

  However, if you have any concerns please get in touch with us via our website www.itsoursheffield.co.uk.

<...snipped>

 

 

 

Hmmm...

... If that's 'sour' as in 'a feeling or expressing of resentment, disappointment, or anger' then I think the choice of website name is most appropriate.

[jbagley 10]

12 hours ago, Longcol said:

Lol - bet you wouldn't say that if we had a Green'/Liberal council and the main opposition party was something like Brexit / UKIP.

I'll definitely be saying it when the LibDems are probably in charge again in a year or so (at the current rate of Labour vote reducing). As Labour voter, Im gonna be spitting mad that Labour-voting areas of Sheffield will have no power or representation and that LibDems on 30% of the vote can dictate everything. Spitting mad that Labour has again let down the people theyre meant to represent when they could suppport something that'll make a real difference. Really LOL yeah

 

But never mind, the stick-in-mud Labour types will be happy in their "we can't let communities have a say coz they might disturb our cozy fantasy world". If only the sensible Labour people would rise up against their opporessors in their own party.

[jbagley 10]

19 hours ago, Planner1 said:

Well, on my own 40 years of experience in local government, I've presented a lot of reports to a lot of committees and only seen a couple of instances where I'd think Members might have voted against instructions.

But t't chuffin national experts on this have docs listing positive effects of moderen committe system. Who are we to believe knows most about it?! 😀

Seriously, sounds like youve lots ofuseful  experience. If council does process of designing new sys properly they should do something like peoples assembly. Please volunteer and add your experience to process. It needs skeptics to get best solution!

Edited June 28, 2019 by jbagley

[jbagley 10]

18 hours ago, Planner1 said:

People often complain that local government is slow to act and make decisions. I can't see that changing to a committee decision system would speed anything up. Quite the opposite I'd think, which is probably one reason why 90% or more of authorities have kept the current system. 

Voluntary orgs I work with in Sheffield have v. different view on  system now, when theyre waiting years and years for decisions to come out of council! The 10 cabinet members with all power on their backs are so paralysed by political fallout of their decisions and so excluding vol org input  they never make any. Better to reduce this by sharing out responsibility for decisions. Then weve got the yearly 'let's defer this decsion' that always happens just before each election.

[Annie Bynnol 612]

9 hours ago, Ruth H said:

Hi.  I’m Ruth Hubbard, the Co-chair of It’s Our City!  I note that Annie Bynnol  (which appears to be a pseudonym) has posted inaccurate posts and (mis)information about IOC before.

 

Firstly, to reassure, the online petition has a number of technical protections and is operated according to an agreed set of processes and protocols.  The specific claims above are not true.  Every signature must be validated against the electoral roll (and obviously there is a rejection rate) to ensure legality.  So please don’t listen to “A. Bynnol”.  However, if you have any concerns please get in touch with us via our website www.itsoursheffield.co.uk.

Your online petition provides the following information:

 

1) People signing the petition with addresses given as Barbados, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa, Netherlands, Croatia, France, Morocco, Thailand, Jamaica, Denmark, Maldives, Finland, United States, Czech Republic, Korea, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Bolivia, Indonesia etc. 

 

2) Hundreds of multiple entries:

14 people called  "m camp".

 9 Sheffield voters called "M******* V****".

18  for one individual with a New Zealand address. 

 

3)The Sheffield People's Petition petition started nearly a year ago.  It is still referred to on your website as:

 

"Sheffield People's Petition 2018"

 

How many have died?

How many are no longer on the  current 2019 Electrol Roll?

Petitions normally close at a certain time- how many more months/years will the "Sheffield People's Petition 2018" go on for?

 

4) Unusually for a petition you offer anonimity and the address as "United Kingdom" to others.

As your "filters" cannot remove even Bolivia from your list, what percentage of theses "United Kingdom" residents are eligible?

Are you able to check the Closed  Electoral Roll?

 

The source of information is your website  27 and 28 June

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Planner1 437]

8 hours ago, jbagley said:

Voluntary orgs I work with in Sheffield have v. different view on  system now, when theyre waiting years and years for decisions to come out of council! The 10 cabinet members with all power on their backs are so paralysed by political fallout of their decisions and so excluding vol org input  they never make any. Better to reduce this by sharing out responsibility for decisions. Then weve got the yearly 'let's defer this decsion' that always happens just before each election.

Really? I'll grant you that some are better than others at making decisions but that's the same in any profession or trade, some are better than others.

 

I don't think Cabinet Members are paralysed by the potential fallout at all. Like I said earlier, any decisions of significance are made by the Cabinet and also endorsed by the Labour Group. Individual Cabinet Members don't just run off and make decisions on their own without consulting the party organisation. I believe you understand this very well, but like to portray it otherwise to suit your own ends.

 

Share out responsibility for decisions? With a "peoples assembly" as you put it? I think not. I prefer it to be the people I and other citizens democratically elect who make the decisions, not some self-appointed, unelected "assembly".

[Planner1 437]

9 hours ago, jbagley said:

But t't chuffin national experts on this have docs listing positive effects of moderen committe system. Who are we to believe knows most about it?! 😀

Seriously, sounds like youve lots ofuseful  experience. If council does process of designing new sys properly they should do something like peoples assembly. Please volunteer and add your experience to process. It needs skeptics to get best solution!

So, the report you've cited by the "expert" was written in 2012 wasn't it, shortly after this type of "modern committee" setup became possible. That is quite a while ago. What I would be interested in is independent analysis of how well this system has worked over time, compared to the normal system. It would also be interesting to know how many of the local authorities who were mentioned in that report as being interested in adopting that system, actually did so.

 

I'd be healthily suspicious of something that's been around for a good few years now but has only been adopted by a tiny minority of smaller authorities.   When you also start talking about having  a "people's assembly", I'm pretty sure it's a bad idea.

 

You also mentioned that 30 or so authorities have adopted this system, which ones? Where is a list published?

 

 

[convert 10]

On 28/06/2019 at 00:40, Ruth H said:

Hi.  I’m Ruth Hubbard, the Co-chair of It’s Our City!  I note that Annie Bynnol  (which appears to be a pseudonym) has posted inaccurate posts and (mis)information about IOC before.

 

Firstly, to reassure, the online petition has a number of technical protections and is operated according to an agreed set of processes and protocols.  The specific claims above are not true.  Every signature must be validated against the electoral roll (and obviously there is a rejection rate) to ensure legality.  So please don’t listen to “A. Bynnol”.  However, if you have any concerns please get in touch with us via our website www.itsoursheffield.co.uk.

 

It’s Our City! Is a community network with no links to political parties (whatever anyone says!).  Our constitution prevents party influence shaping what we do.  Overwhelmingly, most involved are not, nor have ever been, a member of a political party.  Our Coordinating Group has one member each from lab, libdems and Greens (by chance not design), plus 11 other members.  Please see our constitution and what we do at our website.  Thanks.

 

after 15,000 conversations - and rising - between Sheffielders about local governance, communities all across the city are looking forward to replacing the strong leader system with something a much better fit for Sheffield. 

 

 

Any updates on this please?

 

[gamezone07 23]

Still thinking of the merits of this, open minded, , but having a powerful board member doesn't always help, one of the key ones in SCC let me down badly, not replying to any email, call, etc, for months, then completely rejecting my request, (perhaps concentrating on wide national options?) ) whereas if it was one councillor one vote, I may have got more support, maybe.

[Annie Bynnol 612]

Sign if you want to spend £500 000 on a referendum.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Annie Bynnol