Dear Sirs, LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE FOR MAYOR IN response to D Evans expressing his or her feelings about a Mayoral led civic centre, Id like to add some extra points to the debate. Firstly, having an elected mayor and cabinet would not be added bureaucracy, but replacing a leader of the council presently selected by friends behind closed doors, and instead be democratically elected by the people. There are some prime examples in England where directly elected Mayors are making a real difference in how our cities are governed, and yes, they are Labour run councils in Leicester and Doncaster that stand out. I was amused that my many years of local campaigning are now called a political career. I stood for parliament in 1997, has an independent candidate to highlight Barbican issues, and especially the booze culture that was getting out of hand on the waterside, and featured on a Channel 4 documentary, and the creation of the citys first Model Byelaw. I certainly knew I would not get elected, and generated the PR result that was needed to push the Barbican up the City Councils political agenda- and the Heralds archive is a wonderful record. I stood for the Council in 2000 for the Conservatives. Why? Because I was campaigning against the Labour Council who were going to demolish Tinside Lido in the late 1990s - that was later restored and now features on a postage stamp. I resigned from the Conservative party in 2001, because I am no politician, I hated the back biting, homophobic sneers at the time, and I promised I would never, ever, stand for politics again, and that includes being an elected Mayor. So my motive is not being desperate for power, but a love of a city my family has lived for the last 260 years, and running a business where I work and promote this city across Europe. I want to see change and a waterfront city punching above its weight. I can see many amazing business leaders that could do a great job in running this city and are backing this campaign. The city would keep the symbolic Lord Mayor role, at no extra cost, and yes I oppose the Police and Crime Commissioner roles (that are a complete waste of monies). I am aware of Parkinsons Law that could describe the present civic set up: Power hungry politicians creating havoc everywhere, and the public is very nice, but local politicians keeping us all in ignorance. We are looking to raise 10,000 signatures to trigger a mayoral vote next May 2015, and let the people of Plymouth decide if they want to keep the present system weve had for the last 100 years, or change to a directly elected mayor? Yours sincerely Kevin Kelway Say YES Coordinator for a directly elected mayor plymouthherald.co.uk/Elected-mayor-bureaucracy/story-23219765-detail/story.html
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 12:53:53 +0000