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[manalive]

Hi All

There is a Protest march arranged for the 5th April 2008 on Union St Aberdeen to highlight the issues people are facing in light of the cuts to Aberdeen city services.



Come along and have your say!!!

[pogofish]

Who is arranging it & what are the timings/where do you meet?

[daveofficer]

have those organising the march got a solution to put to the council for finding the money to pay for the services that are being cut?

i agree it's shit to lose schools, the ice rink, bon accord baths and doonies farm but if the money's not there what can be done? and don't say scrap the marischal college project as i believe that's from a different budget and needs to be done as much as anything else.

good luck with the protest, it's an important issue and hopefully this will help get some debate going about how we can get the best solution for everyone involved.

[Larry the Larynx]

Who says the council doesnt have any money??? They do. They have money, the problem is that they dinnae ken how to manage a budget, there is no collective prioritisation of the cities needs within the cooncil and hasnt been for sometime thats why they are in such a mess, so why penalise the vulnerable and man on the street. Time the council got the message that this cant go on. These cuts will cost us in the future I will bet money on it

The Cyrenians are starting a protest today outside St Nicholas House right through to the march on the 5th of April. At least they have the conviction to speak up on behalf of those that are marginalised, unheard and likely to suffer further from these cuts. Beleive me people will suffer, not just the homeless. Go along and make some noise.

At least Aberdeen will win City in Gloom 2008

Details of the march will be in the press

[Larry the Larynx]

Sorry dave forgot to mention

I know many of the groups effected and I can say that many have tried to put forward many ideas and solutions for some time to the council, but they have been ignored. Many only found out officially and the extent this month before the start of the next financial year (1st of April) which is a pretty poor show from a council that advocate being caring and keen to work in partnership!

[Thomas Banacek]

I see the weather forecast is for snow.

Am I the only person a bit worried that a load of elderly folk are going to be marching in sub-zero temperatures?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Thomas Banacek

I see the weather forecast is for snow.

Am I the only person a bit worried that a load of elderly folk are going to be marching in sub-zero temperatures?

The forecast is for snow, but not sub-zero temperatures. Still won't be very warm though.

[Thomas Banacek]

well, that's something of a relief I suppose, doubtless if somebody corked it they would no doubt blame the council for it...

I heard someone on the radio predicting there would be 30,000 folk at the march, have to say I have my doubts on that one...

[Lucky Rathen]

I'm torn. I would like to go and do my bit to protest against the cuts which I think are a disgrace and an insult to the public thecouncil are here to serve. But, at the same time I can't see protesting making a fucks worth of difference. They have chosen to cut these services because they don't have the money to run all the services they currently have and these are the ones that are losing the most money. So in the unlikely event that they do a U-turn and save the ice rink, or the baths, or the schools or whatever, they'll just have to close a bunch of other stuff to make up for it. 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 100,000 people marching, it doesn't matter, it's still not going to make the money appear out of nowhere. I don't think for a second there are any councillors sitting on top of a big pile of cash rubbing each others cocks with glee and going "fuck doonies farm! I want my Xmas bonus!!!". They probably feel as shitty about having to close these services as the people of Aberdeen do about losing these services, remember the councillors are residents too, and use public services, and have children which go to these schools, etc. and all the people in the city shouting "Blaaah the council are a bunch of wankers, look at them in their shiny new offices!" aren't really seeing the bigger picture, they aren't closing them out of spite but out of necessity.
If you really hate them that much get down to the polling office at the next elections and vote the fuckers out! It's the only way to make a difference, it's no good not bothering to vote and then moaning when the people in charge make a hash of things. Perhaps if the 50% of the population which didn't bother voting at the last election had done, things would have been different.

[Thomas Banacek]

Originally Posted by Elwood Cobra Kai

I'm torn. I would like to go and do my bit to protest against the cuts which I think are a disgrace and an insult to the public thecouncil are here to serve. But, at the same time I can't see protesting making a fucks worth of difference. They have chosen to cut these services because they don't have the money to run all the services they currently have and these are the ones that are losing the most money. So in the unlikely event that they do a U-turn and save the ice rink, or the baths, or the schools or whatever, they'll just have to close a bunch of other stuff to make up for it. 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 100,000 people marching, it doesn't matter, it's still not going to make the money appear out of nowhere. I don't think for a second there are any councillors sitting on top of a big pile of cash rubbing each others cocks with glee and going "fuck doonies farm! I want my Xmas bonus!!!". They probably feel as shitty about having to close these services as the people of Aberdeen do about losing these services, remember the councillors are residents too, and use public services, and have children which go to these schools, etc. and all the people in the city shouting "Blaaah the council are a bunch of wankers, look at them in their shiny new offices!" aren't really seeing the bigger picture, they aren't closing them out of spite but out of necessity.
If you really hate them that much get down to the polling office at the next elections and vote the fuckers out! It's the only way to make a difference, it's no good not bothering to vote and then moaning when the people in charge make a hash of things. Perhaps if the 50% of the population which didn't bother voting at the last election had done, things would have been different.

A very sensible post, sadly some folk seem to think that there is a big pot of cash being hidden away somewhere.

As I said in another post in a different thread, why did the main opposition at the council not put forward an alternative budget?

You can't campaign against cuts if you have no way of finding the funding from elsewhere, that's just dishonest point scoring.

I see that there's a report on Doonies Farm going to Full Council next week. Word on the street is they are going to be given some time to get a funding package together.

Interesting to contrast their sensible and practical approach with the antics of folks like the Cyrenians.

I got approached to sign their petition yesterday by a bloke with a placard in one hand and a tin of Tennents Super in the other.

I wonder how many folk they ahve helped out of homelessness while they've been camped out on Broad Street?