Edinburgh Sucks! | The Independents

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The Independents

By The Basa ⋅ May 2, 2007 ⋅

This post is going to stay at the top all day today and tomorrow, election day. If you want to read the normal scandal without knowing who the independents are, then scroll down……. Vote Independents if not Number 1 then do it Number 2 - that’s number two on the ballot form not number 2 that the current councillors speak. MORE ADDED

UPDATE: In the interests of the shocking news that is continuing to come out we feel it must go to the top of the page. We will mention this post in all other posts on Election Day.

Fred Marinello-Ward 4-Forth Ward

Fred Marinello has been a community activist for many years and is standing on an independent ticket for election to Edinburgh City Council on Thursday May 3rd.

Fred wants more real decision making by the community which is not on offer at the moment.

Fred Says, “Our community must be empowered to take the decisions that effect their every day lives. We hear of this and that initiative, we still have unacceptably high local unemployment yet we have one of the biggest building sites in Europe on our doorstep. We have some of the worst health figures in the country which is very much linked to the poverty we have in this community.

“Some of our council housing stock is a disgrace and should have been pulled down years ago, with affordable housing put up in it’s place. We are constantly being told by the leaders that this is a very rich city. That may be true but certainly not for many of the people in this community. ”

John Wallace - Ward 14 - Craigentinny/Duddingston

I was raised Magdalene on Provident Cheques, free school meals and free Police shoes. I still live in Magdalene with my wife, 15 month old child (another one on the way), and my 81 year-old disabled mother. I have had several careers both long and short; a soldier, a Neighbourhood Worker for Children and Youth, a Journalist, Helicopter Pilot, and for the last 13 years as an Information Architect in the IT industry.

Over the past few years, I have been taking a close look at how the city has been run by the current administration. Almost daily I am shocked by the total inefficiency, outright lies, waste of money, fraud, corruption, abuse of power and back door dealings of the current crop of politicians in the City Chambers who all got there through the party machine. Running as an independent, I am the easiest person for you to fire if I am not doing well for you. The party machine will not just move me to another constituency when I have failed my constituents.

In March 2005 I set up a website called EdinburghSucks.com with the tagline “An attack on the Politicians and Officials who are screwing our city” to give people of the city the ability to highlight the total inadequacy of the current administration. Initially it was just a light hearted poke at the politicians until the site itself started breaking stories before the newspapers got hold of them. Each year EdinburghSucks.com has distributed around $10,000 to charitable and volunteer groups in Edinburgh. The site now has contributors from all over Edinburgh and in excess of 3,000 visitors per day.

I promise constituents that I will be totally corrupt free, free from party politics and will be answerable only to the citizens of Edinburgh who vote for me. I have a long history of not breaking my promises.

More: http://www.edinburghsucks.com

Keith J. Bell - Sighthill/Gorgie

On 3rd May you have the opportunity to elect 4 councillors for the Sighthill/Gorgie ward. I am standing as an independent candidate to give you the choice of NOT just having to vote for a party. Many people are fed up with party politics, the constant bickering, you said this, they did that. Under the new single transferable voting (STV) system, you can now vote for a number of candidates in your order of preference. This means that if you still want to vote for a party, as well as having an independent candidate supporting your area, you can. Just use your transferable vote.

I am 38, married with three children and I’ve lived in the Sighthill area for 17 years. I was a founding member of Sighthill, Broomhouse & Parkhead Community Council, of which I been Secretary for 6 years, and have been active in the community for many years. As part of the Community Council I have been involved with issues such as anti-social behaviour, road and pavement repairs, traffic-calming, community safety, licensing and public transport as well as many other issues. As a member of the WECPP Transport Group, I have helped “complete the circle” for the No 20 and also to have the No 18 reinstated on a Sunday. I also designed the new transport interchange that opened recently at Westside Plaza.

Standing for my area and not any party, by law I can only call myself Independent. This is not to be confused with Independence, which some parties are promoting. As an Independent, I will be standing up and supporting the people and businesses in the ward I’m standing in, putting people before the party.

Max Volino - Ward 16 - Liberton/Gilmerton.

I have been involved in working or volunteering in a number of local communty centres, The Inch, Burdiehouse/Southhouse, Gilmerton and Gracemount Youth and Community Centre, “The Mansion” where I have been working for the past 10 years, trying to deliver quality youth services in an area where there is little for young and old. I am on the community council and a tree warden. I am not a professional or career politician and as such, my loyalty is to the community not any party. I make no promises other than to work my hardest on your behalf.

My experience of living and working in the area is that most people are decent. This is a good community losing its heart.

The 10 most popular grumbles/requests over my time here are:

community centres open 7 nights a week at times to suit the community
More for the kids to do in the (Summer) holidays
More social and community activities for the elderly,
improve the state of the houses,
people should be able to live safely and not be afraid to come out at night so there should be more police patrols on foot,
a crackdown on vandalism and graffiti
protect our trees and open spaces
parents taking more responsibility for their kids,
tackling the drugs in the area
more fun community events for young and old.

I too was one of the grumblers and after years of seeing things get worse I was persuaded by members of the local community to stand. Support your Community to the Max! Vote Max Volino 1 on May 3rd in Liberton/Gilmerton

Brian Ferrier - Ward 11 - Central

Brian Ferrier is AGAIN standing as an INDEPENDENT Candidate in the local Council Elections. He is 50 years old, has two fine grown up boys who work with him and are training to be engineers. He was born in Leith. He has lived in the New Town for 25 years. At the last election he came in second in the New Town after running a vigorous campaign at his own expense, against the draconian Parking rules implemented in the City which work against residents, business and trades people who pay for the upkeep of our City. People the same as us in other words. His problem last time round was that every political party pulled out the stops to steal his local policy ideas. After the election they all failed to deliver on these policies.

His company employs just over 50 people in Leith, Glasgow and Aberdeen. His business which has been going for 26 years specializes in providing clean water and sewage treatment solutions to Water Authorities,and private industry. He is an equal opportunity employer. He employs men and women of all ages from all backgrounds and ethnic minorities and does not really care about race religion or football teams as long as you can do the job. His greatest pride is in training his people so that they achieve recognized qualifications. He has a very low turnover of staff. He also employs older people past retirement age who wish to work on.

His business concentrates on designing energy saving pumping systems and treating sewage and toxic waste to standards above current discharge consent levels. A bit too Green to be true in many respects but he has been making an honest living at this for 25 years before it was fashionable and politicians thought it looked cool to cycle to work with their briefcase following in a gas guzzling 4 x 4.

It is a pity all this is what he has to rely on as ten years ago Gordon Brown stole a large chunk of his pension fund along with millions of others which the other political parties appear to have only just noticed. We have not heard any one of them say they will reverse this theft if they get into power. Brian has failed to buy a windmill from B&Q at £1200.00 as he thinks it’s a load of old nonsense due to the fact he understands about these things and believes they are a waste of money.

More Info: www.stockweb.net/independent

John Anderson - Ward 5 - Inverleith

John Anderson is a 59 year old self employed telecommunications engineer who has lived in STOCKBRIDGE all his life.He is very active in the community and is always on the go organizing charity fund raising events through the running club “The Hash” He stood as an INDEPENDENT last time round and he has watched with dismay at the wishes of local people have been ignored and promises broken.

Both John Anderson and Brian Ferrier are businessmen who give and expect VALUE FOR MONEY.

In the last few years John especially has plagued the Council by attending so called “Public Consultation” meetings only to be shocked and disgusted at the way the these meetings are manipulated by Council officials and the results of the meetings reported in the press. These meetings pay scant lip service to the views of ordinary folk and this is what he intends to change if elected.

More Info: www.stockweb.net/independent

Norrie Davies - Craigmillar/Portobello

Why vote for me?

I am totally independent with no political ties of any kind
I understand most of the issues affecting this area
I won’t vote for anything that is not in the best interests of the area
I already have a good track record for working within this area as an unpaid community activist
If elected you wil be my first priority

Who should vote for me?

Everybody who is fed up with politicians taking decisions that suit them, their parties and not the area we live in.
Older people that always used their vote to shore up political parties but have been let down in the past.
People who want to see improvements in the area that they live in and don’t believe that their views are being listened to.
New voters who want to use their vote constructively.
Parents who would like to see more opportunities created for their children and families.