Moss doesn't give a toss - official

bristol | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday December 21, 2004 22:15 by Local

As locals prepare to fight for Packers Field in January, even the Evening Post thinks the local councillor, Robin Moss, pushing the plans is a total tosser. Here's what Lowe says...

CLOSURES ARE DISGRACEFUL

11:00 - 21 December 2004

So, Councillor Robin Moss, your Christmas offering to disabled people and those with learning difficulties is to axe their day care places. This, despite their pleas, despite them asking you to think again and despite the fact that for many of these people, these day centres are a lifeline.
You have shamelessly decided to go for the option that will save money.
Never mind the fact that these centres have been doing a remarkable job or that the people who use them felt safe and secure.
You looked at the balance books and wielded the axe on the vast majority of available spaces.You should h
You should hang your miserable head in shame.
And so should the so-called experts you employ to make recommendations to you.
The council's budget for the coming financial year is more than £300 million.
Yet you could not see a way to retaining these services.
Day after day your council wastes money.
You rent buildings that stand unused.
You pour money into politically-correct projects that would make a cat laugh.
And you and your colleagues allow an inefficient, profligate system to go unchecked.
So let the people who relied so much on these day centres go hang.
Who cares about them anyway?
They are not worth many votes.
They don't know the movers and the shakers in the city.
They don't have press officers and they don't have any political clout.
Their lives are being disrupted but what the hell?
The trouble is, Councillor Moss, you and your colleagues bleat on about the rights of minorities because there is political kudos in it.
Yet here is a minority that no local politician, with the exception of Kingswood MP Roger Berry, seems to give a toss about.
He alone has consistently stood up for the rights of disabled people.
People with learning difficulties have to put their trust in others.
To them, the world is a confusing and sometimes hostile place.
That's why they feel comfortable with routine, with places they know and with people they recognise.
But you, in your arrogance, have ignored all that.
Don't you or anyone involved in this scandalous decision dare preach about equality of opportunity or safeguarding the rights of minorities after this.
As a representative of the people of this city, and in case you didn't know that includes disabled and people with learning difficulties, you are a disgrace