Right to Ride - 19th June

Together with Disabled People Against the Cuts, Transport for All will be holding a day of action for accessible transport on 19th June. The focus is to make that point that if the Government are serious about enabling disabled people into work, they must ensure transport is accessible.

Activists are asked to meet at the House of Commons at 2pm, and then invite their MP to travel with them by bus to the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the umbrella body for all bus companies in Covent Garden area (about a 15 minute bus journey).

Getting the able-bodied people to see the transport system a little from the perspective of those with impairments is a crucial part of bringing about change. Last year I got the Guardian to make the journey to the paralympics from Lambeth along with several disabled people. Jenny Jones, during the mayoral campaign, also offered to spend time to wheelchair users, using the transport system.

The aim of the June initiative is to get as many wheelchair users, visually impaired, deaf and other disabled people to all need to use the same buses at the same time, to really highlight the barriers that are faced.

These problems are also getting worse in many respects, rather than better. The Government wants to cut expenditure on DLA (Disability Living Allowance) by 20%. DWP’s own estimates are that 500,000 people will lose their DLA from 2013. Many people use their DLA for taxis, to qualify for transport benefits like Taxicard, Blue Badge and Freedom Pass, or to lease a Motability car. If they lose access to these, they will be left dependent on a bus and train system which is difficult or impossible to use for many older and disabled people.

Transport for all are asking the Government to ensure that transport procuremnet processes are changed to ensure that no train or bus company will win a tender to run a route or station, unless they show they are meeting minimum standards of accessibility. Poor records on accessibility-related customer complaints must have real consequences for transport providers.

More information at Transport for All.

Film night tonight in Clapham - an economy for the 99%

Tonight (Tues 22nd May) at the Bread and Roses pub in Clapham, there's an evening of films exploring the influence of banks and financial institutions and their impact on the poorest people around the world. (HT Project Dirt)

From the debt crisis to the developing world, today’s economic crisis, economic crisis, and the globalised food system, the evening will involve an exploration of the power of the global economy on those who can least afford it.

The event is being organised by the South-West London group of the World Development Movement, a campaigning organisation that works to change the systems and structures that put profit before people and the environment.

After the films there will be a drink to discuss the issues raised in the films.

Venue: Bread and Roses (back room) 68 Clapham Manor Street, London, SW4 6DZ

More info and details here

Greens become third party in Lambeth

It was a great night for the Greens in Lambeth and across London last night, as we returned two assembly members, and came third in the mayoral race - our best ever result.

For the first time the Green party came third in Lambeth and Southwark. We beat the Lib Dems by over 4,000 votes on the crucial party list vote (the orange ballot paper which we were focusing on with our "Vote Green on Orange" message) across the constituency, getting over 20,000 votes and a 13% vote share. Even on the first-past-the-post constituency vote where people tend to vote for the big three parties, we were neck and neck coming just 215 votes behind the Lib Dems. In the mayoral vote, people in Lambeth and Southwark also put the Green Party's mayoral candidate, Jenny Jones, in third place.

Looking at the London elects website Jenny Jones also received 22.5% of second preference votes in Lambeth and Southwark - more than any other candidate except Ken Livingstone. Add this to the 6.8% she received in first preference votes, and this makes a huge potential Green vote of almost 30%.

This is a fantastic achievement, and means the momentum continues for the Greens as we look forward to the council elections in two years time.

You can read the full results here.

It was a great night in council elections across the country, increasing our vote share, winning targets seats and holding our existing gains.

Deaf and disabled Londoners' Manifesto

Inclusion London have emailed to say I am the only candidate in Lambeth and Southwark backing their deaf and disabled Londoners' manifesto (they apparently approached all the candidates).

As Inclusion London points out, the Mayor has a range of powers that directly impact on the 1.4 million Deaf and disabled people living in London.

The manifesto calls on the Mayor and the London Assembly to make Deaf and disabled people a priority and to take specific and measurable action in nine areas to end exclusion and discrimination, improve quality of life and promote the equality and inclusion of Deaf and disabled Londoners.

It's been great that the Green Party has emphasised these issues in terms of its own policies - with its own specific manifesto for disabled Londoners, but also making its policies and materials available in a range of accessible formats.

Will 'social cleansing' come to Lambeth?

As we highlighted a couple of weeks ago, Lambeth has the second highest council house waiting list in London, second only to Newham.

The news that Labour-run Newham council is looking to ship out its poorest families to places like Stoke (branded 'social cleansing' by some), should also be a worry to residents in Labour run Lambeth.

As Lambeth council implements its program of cuts, it will be looking for savings wherever it can. Despite the fact that Lambeth also has the second highest number of empty homes in the capital, it isn't handing them over to people who really need them in any great numbers. In fact, it is evicting people who have invested in these short-life properties and selling the housing off to developers.

The option to ship people out of the borough must have at least crossed their mind.

Labour's smears come back to haunt them in Herne Hill

There was an excellent London Assembly hustings event last night in Herne Hill, organised by the Herne Hill Forum.

It was very well attended, with lots of local people who are very active in the local Herne Hill Community.

I was particularly pleased to take part the event, as there was a Green Party councilor in Herne Hill until the last election. However, she was subject to a disgusting smear campaign by Lambeth Labour party, and lost her seat in 2010.

What was interesting about last night however, it that the smears are now coming back to haunt Labour, and I suspect they will continue to do so.

There was for example, a great deal of support for lowering speed limits in Herne Hill to 20mph. This was something that Labour's Val Shawcross claimed last night she supports. It is in fact a campaign that the Green's have long been championing, and calling for right across Lambeth. The blockage however has actually been the Labour Party on Lambeth council, who are refusing to implement 20mph limits across the borough. This made Val's claims ring rather hollow.

Even more so, when people there realised that this was something Labour had tried to make political mileage out of at the last election. In the literature Labour distributed aiming to smear the Green Party, they even suggested that the Greens were opposed to 20mph limits.

There was also a good discussion about how to cut crime. There has been a spate of burglaries in Herne Hill. Drugs policy came up, and once again Labour's smears in Herne Hill against the Greens on this issue were highlighted.

But it isn't just Labour's smears that are coming back to haunt them. It is also what they are doing now in Lambeth. Even on social housing, Labour cannot with any credibility claim to be standing up for local people, when they are currently in the process of evicting members of housing co-ops and selling off the property to developers.

Steve Reed caught out trying to make political capital from Brixton market

Leader of Lambeth council Cllr Steve Reed has had to change public statements he made, after he tried to make political capital out of Brixton Market.

The story begins a couple of days ago, when the Prime Minister attacked Lambeth Council for wasting £30,000 on a statue. The wasting of money is something that Lambeth Council is particularly sensitive to, as it has a particularly poor track record in the this respect. The wastage also seems to be continuing, with for example expenditure of £9,000 on five olive trees in Clapham recently.

Cllr Steve Reed tried and turn this into an attack on the regeneration of Brixton market itself (where the statue is located) and responded with a blog: "Cameron attacks the transformation of Brixton Market."

I, like many people, am no fan of David Cameron. In fact I challenged him publicly during the last general election campaign over his plans for disabled children. But I was amongst those who contacted Steve Reed, suggesting that it was wrong to try and make political capital out of Brixton market in this way. This clearly wasn't an attack on the market, whichever way you look at it, and to pretend otherwise it just dishonest.

"What a shame the Prime Minister has chosen to play narrow-minded party political games."

suggests Steve Reed. But of course, Steve Reed has done exactly what he accused David Cameron of doing.

And it seems that I am not alone in my feelings. The comments under his own blog post raised similar concerns about his political opportunism. The result is that Steve Reed has quietly changed the blog. Rather than "Cameron attacks the transformation of Brixton market" it became Cameron attacks sculpture that’s part of the transformation of Brixton Market. (Hat Tip to @mein_crustacean )

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it...

[Update 19/04/2012 12.10 pm Steve Reed now appears to have deleted many of the unfavorable comments under his blog. So much for democratic debate!]