Question
 

The leafletes did not offend me at all, everyone has an opinion and should be heard, but not by encouraging fly posting.  If you have constructive comments and ideas I am happy to listen. The leaflets were illegal 'fly posting'. If we are to stop people of a younger age from scratching, smashing etc: the existing shelters, how does it look if posters are stuck up on the shelters.  It encourages other fly posting and damage.

Answer
 

Dear Pauline

With all due respect, you are talking utter rot. If you believe such a crime was committed, you should seek the assistance of the police.

Every day I walk past a banner four feet high and ten feet wide which Homebase has drapped over the "safety railings" at the junction by their store. Clearly no-one thinks they are fly posting, even though they must be obscuring the view that car drivers have through such railings, and that is simply because they are not seeking to expose the daftness at County Hall, and now it seems Watford Town Hall.

Here is the constructive debate I should like to have with you. On 2 August 2001 you posted a tender in Local Government Tender which read:

"Can you provide a dynamic new look for Watford? Can you look 'way ahead' into the future?"

Your tender suggests you want to show you care about the community, but the bus stops you provide on the railway bridge on St Albans Road are several feet shorter than the old ones, and open on two sides to the wind and rain at a very exposed spot. The one in the direction towards the town centre does not even have any bus information inside it. A long way short of "New technology for passenger information" and "Seating / lighting / real time provision". I was sorely tempted to write to the Watford Observer to ask if anyone could identify which "prime stops" have "Cycle provision" and "Automatic toilet facilities with disabled access", but I must admit an even better story fell my way. The nearest stop to my house has nothing, no shelter, no information. Why has the actual provision fallen so far short of the tender? Is it incompetence or malpractice?

I know that you have attended meetings, like the Meriden/Tudor Area Committee in January of this year, where residents have expressed concern that Herts County Council refuses to consult with them, and so I know you have witnessed at first hand the very case I am trying to make, which is that poor consultation leads to poor decision making. The St Albans Road Green Route is so poor there is not a single county councillor who now bothers to defend it. You know because you took it down, and I know because I put it up, that a small piece of printed card sellotaped to a bus stop is not the worst thing that can happen in this town. Local to me there is a set of condemmed garages which are being turned into an unofficial dump, a true eyesore. Are you willing to make such a fool of yourself because you object to my arguments? By the way, I do voluntary stuff with young people, and your characterisation of them as "scratchers and smashers" is not likely to go down too well with them. It even contradicts your argument that I am the culprit in this case. This week I read that the number of road deaths in Hertfordshire has risen by six and half times since 2001, which is why I believe that far more damage is done to our society by idiots in suits sitting at desks, then any one of us could do by smashing up a bus stop.

You say you are willing to listen, so I await your reply with interest. And yes, I will be publishing this at the usual location,

Yours

Martin

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