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Rome mayor calls closure
of Roma camp a success
Rome, 3 February 2010: With the evacuation of Rome’s most famous Roma camp, Casilina 900, almost complete, bulldozers have moved in to demolish caravans and makeshift homes. While the living conditions in the camp were primitive, some residents would have preferred to stay. A woman, who has lived in Casilino 900 for 35 years, said her ten children grew up in the camp, got married and she has 62 grandchildren. “They all have their homes in the camp. My grandchildren live here as well and what they are doing is not right. It's not right that they are creating problems among us," she said.

However, Rome’s right-wing mayor, Gianni Alemanno, said the camp had to closed because it was on an illegal area. "These camps must be in authorized areas where it is easier to guarantee better life and health conditions and ensure that people can live properly,” he added.

Alemanno called the transfer a success and a very important day for the Italian capital and the nomadic community. He said authorities wanted all illegal and tolerated Roma camps to disappear by the end of the year and in a few years all the others must no longer exist as well.

He added that such camps must become only a temporary thing. It's no longer possible to have the shameful situation of camps without running water and filled with garbage. These people must be given a document that gives them rights and they must be assisted to find work.

The Casilino 900 camp is one of the largest in Europe for Roma. It has existed for 40 years. Many of the Roma here say they are concerned about being moved elsewhere because they don't want to end up with other ethnic groups. Human rights organizations fear the real reason behind the transfer is to identify and expel them.

An estimated seven to nine million Roma live in Europe. They are a minority that has changed significantly over the years. In the past they were a nomadic population that moved frequently. But in time they have stopped travelling. In Eastern countries they have become part of the population and urbanized the cities. Human rights organisations fear the real reason behind the transfer is to identify and expel them. (Report by VoA News)

Moscow’s Mayor calls
Gay Pride a satanic act
Moscow, 27 January 2010: Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has called gay pride marches satanic acts, saying he would not tolerate them being taking place in the Russian capital. "For several years, Moscow has experienced unprecedented pressure to conduct a gay pride parade, which cannot be called anything but a satanic act. The city has prevented such a parade and we will not allow it in the future. Everyone needs to accept that as a maxim," the mayor declared.

In past statements Mayor Luzhkov Luzhkov compared homosexuality to “social plagues" like drug abuse and xenophobia, saying it was high time to crack down on them with all the power and justice of the law instead of talking about human rights.

Russian gay rights campaigners called the mayor’s outburst disgraceful but expressed little surprise. “The mayor must be the most homophobic city leader of any large city in the world,” Nikolai Alexeyev, parade organiser, said. He also stressed that preparation for the parade, scheduled for 29 May, would continue.

Last year's parade coincided with the 'Eurovision' song contest and ended with arrests after marchers defied the ban and clashed with police. Alexeyev is optimistic that the European Court on Human Rights will force Russia to allow this year's parade in Moscow. A verdict is expected soon.

Members of Russia’s gay community are also hoping that mayors from other world cities will put pressure on Moscow’s mayor to soften his stance. “How can openly gay mayors like Klaus Wowereit (Berlin) or Bertrand Delanoe (Paris) shake this man’s hand,” they ask.

Doncaster council to face
government investigation
London, 27 January 2010: Doncaster council in England has been plunged into a new crisis following a central governent decision to subject the council to a probe into the running of its services. Doncaster’s elected mayor Peter Davies is also now embroiled in a row over the appointment of a new chief executive for the council. Potentially the council could see some of its services taken over by central government if inspectors recommend such action. The troubled council has also featured prominently in the nation’s press in recent weeks on account of a high profile court case involving serious torture of two brothers by other children.
 
The decision by the government’s Audit Commission follows widespread concerns over poor performance at the council, as well as its recent failures in child protection, both in terms of its record as having an unusually high number of child deaths and the more recent Edlington case. The Edlington case shocked Britain last week when two 11 and 12 year brothers were given indeterminate sentences for the torture of two younger boys in the former mining community last April. The council offered an “unqualified apology” for its failures, as the perpetrators were in council care at the time.
 
A further row has broken out after the council voted to install an interim chief executive following the previous chief executive’s resignation during the court case.  Councillors voted 38-15 to appoint the council’s legal director Tim Leader to the post, against the wishes of the mayor Peter Davies (English Democrats), who preferred the council’s deputy director for children’s services. The council will now hold a further meeting to determine the appointment.  As well as the longstanding issue of council corruption and poor performance in children’s services, the authority has been plagued by senior level departures in previous years. In 2007 the council’s Australian-born chief Susan Law, headhunted from Cape Town, quit with a £120,000 pay off after a row with the then Labour mayor Martin Winter, having reported him to police for alleged corruption.
 
UK Communities Secretary John Denham said in response to the announcement: “I promise the people of Doncaster that we are prepared to use the powers we have to tackle any issues identified by the Audit Commission which require government action.” Under local government law, a corporate governance inspection is one sanction the Audit Commission can apply to any council giving concern and the government has reserve powers to strip the council of its responsibilities and award these to either another local authority or the private sector. LGA deputy chairman Richard Kemp added that outside intervention was regrettable but necessary: “Doncaster has been a basket case for local democracy for more than a decade,”

Mediterranean cities
agree co-operation
Marseille, 27 January 2010: A new Euro-Mediterranean partnership of mayors has formed to promote greater co-operation across a number of themes, transcending traditional diplomacy in the region. The establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) at a meeting in Barcelona is hoped to bring about regular inter-municipal dialogue on immigration, climate change and urban development among the partner countries. Organisers stress that closeness to citizens, efficiency in project management and tackling real life issues will be its priorities.
 
Addressing the meeting, Committee of the Regions president Luc Van den Brande said: “The aim of ARLEM is to activate the regional and local representatives of the three shores of the Mediterranean so that they launch common decentralised cooperation projects of, share best practices, foster mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue and develop new creative twinning,”
 
The Barcelona Declaration of 1995 called for greater co-operation between municipalities in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, a point acknowledged by mayor Jordi Hereu: “Barcelona's vocation to be the capital of this Euro-Mediterranean area means that we support any initiative to strengthen political relations within the Euro-Mediterranean region. It has been obvious from the beginning that the Mediterranean Union is not only a matter for states. Regions, cities, and civil society are necessary in the process of creating this Union.”
 
Participation is not solely limited to around the three shores of the Mediterranean, as Stuttgart mayor Wolfgang Schuster noted: “In Stuttgart we have about 100,000 people who hail originally from the Mediterranean region. This is why I feel that I am also the mayor of a Mediterranean city, and I am very glad to say that our culture in central Europe has been very much influenced by the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean region.”
 
From outside of the European Union, Israel’s cities are also included: “The city of Haifa, which is the third biggest city in Israel, is a living example of the possibility of coexistence in the Middle East,” said its mayor Yona Yahav.  He added “A prosperous port city and a vibrant cultural hub, Haifa brings together Jews and Arabs and makes room for religious diversity.”

Urban Britain or a
tale of two nations
London, 19 January 2010: Urban Britain is increasingly becoming a tale of two nations with cities in South East England much more likely to emerge strongly from the recession than urban communities in the North of the country. A new report foresees that in addition to the “big hitters” London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Reading, Cambridge – all in the South East - as well as the Scottish capital Edinburgh have the right ingredients to succeed after the recession has passed.

Cities Outlook 2010, published by the independent think tank Centre for Cities, predicts that, as the UK moves out of recession, it will face an uneven recovery.  “Already-robust city economies like Brighton are more likely to grow stronger, leaving others like Doncaster further behind,” the report says. Brighton has added the highest number of private sector jobs over the past decade - an extra 20,000 jobs. Over a third of its workforce is graduate-level - and one in five of its jobs are part of the knowledge economy.

Other cities, such as Stoke, Burnley, Barnsley, Newport and Doncaster, with their weaker business base, have a much tougher outlook.  These cities all lost private sector jobs over the pre-recession decade.  Their rate of business start-ups is low and many of their residents have no qualifications.

The report also says that although the City of London was in some ways the epicentre of the recession, the UK capital had, so far, not suffered as much as other parts of the country. The authors attributed this to London's position as a city where the focus was "global business" and the "disproportionate effect" of the downturn on the manufacturing and traded industries.

UK Labour Party accused of
dirty tricks over referendum
London, 11 January 2010: Britain’s Labour Party has been accused of dirty tricks ahead of a vote to decide on the introduction of an elected mayor system in a London council. In spite of local Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets council supporting the introduction of a new mayor system, national party bosses have ordered them to campaign against the idea in any referendum in case the post is won by a hostile political party. The referendum was triggered on account of a petition lodged with the council by anti-war campaigner George Galloway of the Respect Party and will be held in May.
 
Local councils in England are currently consulting, under the 2007 Local Government Act, on their future forms of governance, which gives the supporters of elected mayors a rare window to push for referendums to be held locally. While the proposal in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets was pushed by the opposition Respect party, the controlling Labour councillors were said to favour it also. However, the Labour Party’s national officials have instructed its councillors, who could face expulsion if disobeying, to campaign against the proposal in case Respect are successful in winning any mayor’s election. In the 2006 local elections Respect came close to pushing the long dominant Labour Party into second place but a series of fall-outs and defections to Labour have seen the party’s numbers dwindle significantly in the town hall.
 
Following a successful petition campaign by Galloway and his supporters, the council has voted for a referendum on the introduction of an elected mayor system for Tower Hamlets to take place on the same day as its council elections on May 6. If passed a new election for an executive mayor would be held later in the year. Currently there are three elected borough mayors in London (other than the Mayor of London Boris Johnson) among the 33 local authorities, two of which are in neighbouring Hackney and Newham.
 
Respect was formed as a distinctly anti-war party in 2004 by expelled Labour parliamentarian George Galloway, the far left Socialist Workers’ Party and the Muslim Association of Britain. Its only significant successes have been in Tower Hamlets, where Galloway beat the Labour MP at the 2005 general election, and in the 2006 local elections. The move by Galloway’s party is all the more unusual owing to the fact that Britain’s far left generally opposes the ‘Blairite’ idea of elected mayors on ideological grounds. One local Labour source told CityMayors that Galloway was known to be attracted to the idea on account of the post’s significant salary and staff. Galloway will contest this year’s general election for another London seat but is not anticipated to win.

CEMR secretary general
retires amid much praise
Brussels, 5 January 2010: Jeremy Smith ended his eight-year term as secretary general of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) on 31 December 2009. In a tribute, Vienna’s mayor and CEMR president, Michael Häupl, said that Smith was instrumental that a European Union accord – the Lisbon treaty - recognised local and regional government as key partners in European governance. Former French president and previous CEMR president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, sent a personal message of appreciation to Jeremy Smith, who, in February will be succeeded as secretary general of CEMR by Frédéric Vallier, head of the European service in Nantes Métropole.

As secretary general, Jeremy Smith worked as a public advocate for European local democracy and self-government. He helped to influence a wide range of EU legislation which impacts on local government, and opposed restraints on local democracy and on the freedom of local authorities to decide how to provide public services to their communities. While convinced of the need for an effective democratic European Union to tackle the big issues (like terrorism, energy and climate change), he did not hesitate to criticise the European Commission or Court of Justice when they encroached on the competences of local governments.

In the last year, the impact of the economic crisis on local government has been his main concern within CEMR, which in November 2009 published a second authoritative survey of local authority associations from across Europe, indicating widespread pessimism about the future financing of local government in the wake of the crisis. Prior to this, he also played a key role in drafting CEMR's European Charter for equality of women and men in local life, now endorsed by almost 1,000 cities ranging from Paris to Vienna and from Reykjavik to Barcelona.

Report says councils’ use of
CCTV cameras is excessive
London, 1 January 2010: Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that during the past ten years the number of closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras controlled by local government in the UK has increased from 21,000 to 60,000. This equates to one council-owned CCTV camera for every 1,000 people in the UK.

The research was carried out by Big Brother Watch, the campaigning arm of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, which entertains close links to the British Conservative Party.

With 1,454 cameras each, Portsmouth and Nottinghamshire councils control more CCTV devices than any other UK local authority, while the residents in the Outer Hebrides are the most watched people in the UK with 8.3 CCTV cameras controlled by the council for every 1000 people.

Other findings are:
• The council controlling the highest number of CCTV cameras in Scotland is Fife with 1,350 cameras
• The council in Wales controlling the highest number of CCTV cameras is Swansea with 326 cameras
• The council controlling the highest number of CCTV cameras in Northern Ireland is Belfast with 400 cameras
• The total number of CCTV cameras controlled by councils in London is 8,112, which equals 1.2 CCTV cameras for every 1000 people living in the capital. Wandsworth is the most watched borough in London with 1,113 CCTV cameras, or 4.3 cameras for every 1,000 residents

Alex Dean, a director of Big Brother Watch, described the use of CCTV cameras as excessive and inefficient. "Local councils across Britain are creating enormous networks of CCTV surveillance at great expense, but the evidence for the ability of CCTV to deter or solve crimes is sketchy at best. "The quality of footage is frequently too poor to be used in courts, the cameras are often turned off to save money and control rooms are rarely manned 24-hours-a-day,” he said.

However, the conclusions drawn by the survey’s authors have been criticised as being too sweeping. “The report makes sweeping claims about CCTV but it's unclear whether it is referring to publicly or privately owned systems when it makes statements like most CCTV is not monitored and CCTV images aren't good enough to be used in court. The report also claims the amount spent on CCTV with very little evidence to back it up. Compared to the amount spent on the police (£10bn a year), the amount spent on CCTV is minute. And the return on investment is significant,” wrote one commentator.

Amsterdam to monitor
local carbon emissions
Amsterdam, 5 December 2009: Amsterdam City Hall announced the rollout of Urban EcoMap, an internet-based tool that enables cities to provide smarter climate change information for their citizens. A city can use Urban EcoMap to create awareness among its residents of the impact of carbon emissions on their urban environment. It provides information on carbon emissions from transportation, energy and waste among neighbourhoods, organized by district, and delivers tips on ways to reduce a resident's carbon footprint.

The application is an extension of the Urban EcoMap launched in May 2009 by Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco. The Amsterdam version of the Urban EcoMap will be progressively expanded in the upcoming year with real-time information, which might also be linked to data from other agencies.

Urban EcoMap in Amsterdam will enable citizens to move from collective intelligence to collective action by providing emissions information on a neighbourhood level, organized by local and comparable common boundaries like postal codes and districts.

Citizens will be able to view their neighbourhood data through visual displays in the areas of transportation, energy and waste. They will then be able to make decisions to help decrease the carbon footprint of their geographic regions, their particular district, and their city.

Referendum on minarets divides
Switzerland into town and country
Zurich, 30 November 2009: In a national ballot, Switzerland voted in favour of banning minarets. While the building of mosques is unaffected by vote, the result of Sunday’s referendum shocked the country’s Muslim community, which makes up six per cent of the population. The referendum also split Switzerland between cities and rural areas. While in villages and small towns, some two thirds of the population voted in favour of the initiative, which was championed by the right-wing Swiss People’s party (SVP), it was rejected in large cities such as Zurich, Basel and Geneva.

Zurich mayor Corine Mauch, who spoke out against the ban prior to the vote, described the result as a fateful signal to the Muslim community. “It will do nothing to further the integration of Muslims into Swiss society,” she said.

Overall, some 57.5 per cent of Swiss voters backed the initiative. Its sponsors argued that minarets were a symbol of Islamic political power. There are only four minarets in Switzerland and they will not be affected by the ban. Public opinion polls ahead of the election predicted that the measure would be rejected, and the Swiss government had urged citizens to vote against it. Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said she was shocked by the outcome and deeply regrets it.

Human rights groups say a ban against minaret construction violates freedom of expression. Many Muslims have expressed concern the vote could resonate across Europe, including in neighbouring France - home to about five million Muslims, Western Europe's largest Islamic community. Already, right-wing parties in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium have called for national referendums.