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A mayor would get my vote
THE runners and riders are running and riding.
The broadcasts are being broadcast.
The door knockers are destroying the peace, the leaflets are destroying the rain forests.
The local elections are go.
Can you feel the excitement?
Nah, course you can't.
More than 60 per cent of people will not even vote. Apathy? Not at all.
It's just they do not believe councillors make any difference to anything of any importance.
Councils don't run public transport, they barely have a say in education or crime, and they're dictated to by officials on health and social issues. Even on things they can make their own decisions on – bin collections, perhaps – they are constrained by party loyalties.
Councillors may have good intentions but they are rarely allowed to make good decisions.
Rather they're the tools of central Govern-ment and their own civil servants. There to legitimise change, not create it. To give the impression of democracy in action, not to impress with democratic action.
People understand this.
That is why they do not vote.
Or, rather, it is why they vote with their feet – by staying away from the ballot box.
Low turnout is not apathy. It is a purer form of democracy than currently exists at Halifax Town Hall.
So what is the solution?
Appoint a directly elected mayor, for starters.
Give him, or her, an extended range of powers, taking in public transport integration, major planning and youth initiative.
Right now there are too many committees taking too much time making decisions that never amount to anything anyway, while important projects take too long to happen, if they happen at all, because no one takes responsibility.
So, we have councillors spending hours talking about the strategic direction of Calderdale (it goes something like more economic growth is good, pollution is bad) but not one who holds up their hands and takes responsibility for the train station/Shay/Broad Street/car parking – all issues taking so long to address.
An elected mayor would re-engage people because for the first time in a long time they could actually see what they were voting for and, with reputations on the line, things would get done. If they did not, voters would know exactly what to do.
It is called strong leadership and, if ever a place needed it, it is Calderdale.
Certain senior civil servant posts could be appointed by the mayor to destroy the current "cannot do" attitude among officials, while scrutiny committees could be given more teeth but would be forced to accept proposals established in a manifesto.
It is a case of style and substance.
Councils may have some substance at the moment but they do not have enough. And they have absolutely no style. That's why more people here have heard of Boris Johnson than Ann McAllister.
Electing a mayor would change that.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -3 C to -0 C
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