Radio 4 is a wonderful Kaleidoscope of aural material that has a wealth of historical material to draw on so it is fitting that there are programmes marking the lives of those who have contributed so much to that collection of material. One such giant is Studs Terkel who had a daily Chicago radio show spanning 45 years and died recently aged 96

Studs Terkel turned the voice of average Americans into a font of history. In this era of multimedia, recorded oral history may seem an outdated interest, but Terkel's legacy of the daily lives of ordinary Americans in the 50's-80's ranks alongside that of British radio diarist Alistair Cooke who died in March 2004 and was famed for his long running 'Letter from America' (actually started under the title American Letter following the pre war success of an American broadcast on British life for NBC called the 'London Letter'). These are now available in digitised form from the University of East ANglia according to his Wikipedia entry. Cooke also produced a manuscript not published until after his death that recorded the experience of his travels through America in the early days of the Second World War.  In his time Studs captured on the earliest portable tape recorders interviews with anti Vietnam protesters, and for his long running Chicago radio show interviewed everyone ranging from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to Martin Luther King.
His books based on his interviews included "Division Street," "Hard Times," "Working," and "The Good War," which won the Pulitzer Prize for non fiction, As one blogger quoted in the Chicago Times stated: He was an unrepentant leftie and friend of the little man.

So now 'pick and mix' and the concept of a store selling everything useful from shoe laces to music is to join the memories of shillings and pence. Our big names in our economy seems to more and more resemble participants in Big Brother or Im a celebrity - whoever looks weakest loses the confidence of their supply chains and financial backers and is forced to call it a day. Then the hyenas will swoop on the pickings, hoping to look bold and avoid being the next in line. Meanwhile our governments seem to think that getting us to spend money on anything - including new cars - is vital to try to prevent the end of empire and capitalism as we have known it. The spending spree however will have to be paid for, ideally after securing another term of office (but lets not dwell on that now as it will spoil the magic spell). Strange that no one seems to be suggesting cutting the planned billions of pounds spending on ID cards and replacementsthose modern dinosaurs of the seas Trident nuclear weapons carrying submarines. If we switched all this spending into a house building programme, mass insulation and renewable energy programmes there would be a real boost to actual useful jobs that meet our needs both now and for the future. How nieve of me....

Transport spending choices?

The 'Access York Phase 2' submission to the Regional Transport Board for £41.5m funding of outer ring road 'junction improvements' (more lanes of tarmac) has now been submitted, with a decision due early in 2009. While this is not the 'dual carriageway' the Conservatives have been calling for, it is still expanding the roadspace when we are staring recession, peak oil and climate change in the face. Its akin to First World War generals calling for more cavalry as an answer to machine guns. Still even if we take the bid document at face value, its prospects of success are not good. In order to convince the government that it is part of a 'sustainable transport' strategy it includes a number of measures that tick all the right boxes but the Lib Dems dare not mention in the press releases:

'The transfer of trips to other modes will be increased by access restraint measures to routes in the city centre, car parking controls and cycling improvements' 'provision of a bus priority corridor through the city centre' 'provision of sections of an orbital bus route (including interchanges)' 'an orbital cycle route will be provided between Wiggington Rd and Strensall Rd' 'Additional capacity on the ring road will enable reallocation of roadspace for use by more sustainable modes and extension of the footstreet areas.'

Part of the scheme description states: To create a dedicated public transport spine though the city centre it is envisaged that Ouse Bridge  will be designated for bus/taxi use only to link with the existing restricted access route of Stonebow and Coppergate' (no mention of cycles here!!) ....Improvements to the river crossings for cyclists will enable safer and easier travel between the two halves of the city (no explanation how or related funding) ... 'Access (on foot?) to the footstreet areas will be enhanced [not sure what that means!] and the pedestrianised area extended to include Goodramgate and Fossgate.(subject to the outcome of the current consultation on this issue??)'  

Complementary Local Transport Plan funded measures include 'Further development of demand management measures such as the use of car parking charges.. Introduction of further residents only parking areas, Control of parking charges in city centre car parks' (For 'control' read increases in line with inflation)

There also seems to be a bit of a contradiction in that the 'improved junctions' will cut journey times but also 'enable better access to the Phase 1 Park and Ride sites (ie more cars on the network?!!)

I have got some local media coverage of this, but the local paper is all in favour of the ring road campaign so not keen on rocking the boat as regards this bid for government funding. If we get it, it is better than nothing as regards the new subway under the outer ring road, but we could have that for a lot less without spending the money on the roundabout above. Even one of the local Conservative councillors has commented that without the dual carriageway he thinks this would be a waste of money!

For the local press story see:

http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/3867402.York_fears_over_transport_bid/

'Cycling city York' is moving a step nearer to living up to that reputation again with the injection of £3.6 m of Cycling England funding for 2008-2010. After attending the first meeting where interested representatives from the activist community could actually start discussing how the money might be spent this week I can reveal that the 'launch' will be on Dec 10th 2008. 'Year one' money has to be 'spent' by the end of March, so expect to see lots of things happening in February- April! The current project manager Mike Silk is only working on it part time, covering until a full time member of staff can be appointed (held up by the job evaluation process in the council)

So what exciting ideas are lined up? The Hub bike station will be the first major capital spend, hopefully establishing secure city centre parking and changing facilities in the old substation next to Lendal Bridge. However the group I was in (Infrastructure) talked about looking for other city centre locations to install covered parking, we talked about prominent signs on main roads into York telling motorists that if they turned off (or went straight on in some cases) on a bike at this point they could be in the city within 10 minutes... we talked about the conflicting views of lighting tracks across the many 'green wedges' that York is blessed with, bringing the countryside close to many urban dwellers. In the schools group they discussed rolling out more cycle training in order to move on the target of doubling the total level of cycling to school over the next two years.

So if you have ideas about how we can make a great leap forward on cycling look out for the questionnaire that is being delivered to every City of York household from Monday and let the council have your views. This exercise is intended to identify the 'quick wins' and the key factors that might convince those who used to cycle or would like to cycle in York to get on their bikes! Anything you can do will help - ask at your school about cycle training and parking, ask your councillor about cycle lanes and leaflets to promote cycling, get a cycle map up on the wall in your doctor's surgery and college (does wonders for circulation and the heart etc, not to mention space in the car park)

TO raise money for Oxfam, dont miss this opportunity to relax and hear a variety of voices including my own (spot me on the back row)!

"Top world and acoustic music from York acts Paula Ryan (fourth from the left on the front row of chechelele), Celtic singer and songstress, Akimbo acoustic group, fresh from their resounding success at the Duchess, and Chechelele, York's own world music choir as they pool their talents for Oxjam!"

7.30pm Sat Nov 8th at the Winning Post pub on Bishopthorpe Rd South Bank, York

It seems that N Yorkshire County Council have decided to 'withdraw' the minerals and waste section of their Local Development Framework after the inspector indicated that its lack of 'sound' supporting evidence could result in the whole framework being thrown out. The council, in partnership with City of York, is heading for a financial and policy crisis as a result, since they have already committed to a tendering process inviting companies to bid to provide a 'waste treatment plant' (incinerator) but dont have planning permission for any sites nor a policy approval for potential sites on which it might be located. The delay means that the councils will have to pay LATS penalties for waste sent to landfill for a longer period of time or pay other councils with spare capacity to take the non recycled waste. It could also potentially put in jeopardy the PFI funding from the government which has been pledged towards the total cost of the project.

Here's what the NYCC website says about it:

IMPORTANT UPDATE - North Yorkshire County Council is asking its Executive
members to endorse the seeking of a direction from the Secretary of State to
withdraw its Waste and Minerals Core Strategies from Public Examination. A
report is to be taken to a meeting of the Council's Executive on 4th
November 2008. As a consequence the Exploratory Meeting scheduled for 11
November 2008 has been cancelled with the agreement of the Inspector.
Subject to the Secretary of State issuing the direction, the Council would
agree a new timetable with Government Office for the production of a revised
Core Strategy for both Waste and Minerals.
IMPORTANT UPDATE - North Yorkshire County Council has requested the
immediate adjournment of the hearings part of the Examination into the Waste
Core Strategy, therefore the hearing sessions scheduled for week commencing
22nd September have been cancelled. An Exploratory Meeting is to be held
between the Council, Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber and the
Inspector on Tuesday 11th November 2008 at 10am. This meeting is open to the
public to attend and observe. If you have any queries about this, please
contact Jayne Wall, Programme Officer - email jayne.wall@northyorks.gov.uk,
tel 01609 533243.
IMPORTANT UPDATE - The Minerals Core Strategy pre-examination meeting
currently arranged for 17 July 2008 is being postponed until January 2009.
The hearings for the Minerals Core Strategy are expected to take place in
late March and early April 2009. Further details will be provided shortly.
North Yorkshire County Council, as the Minerals and Waste planning authority
for the parts of the County outside the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorks
Moors National Parks, has a statutory duty to prepare a Minerals and Waste
Development Framework (MWDF) In due course, the policies and
proposals will replace the County Council's current Minerals and Waste Local
Plans.

Greens argued all along that targetting a higher rate of recycling and more re-use and waste minimisation programmes would be more cost effective and better for the environment that saddling taxpayers with a 25 year contract to supply combustible rubbish to burn.