Talking Towers’ blog

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TYPE: I name, address and DOB, support the petition in favour of choice about when we pay our Direct Debits and object to being forced into paying when Trafford Council decides.

Thanks

Ok, so this morning I find I have been charged the sum of  35 for each item that was not paid or that sent me into an unauthorised overdraft. When I came to view the unpaid direct debits I found that all 3 of them had recently had their payment dates altered.One of the culprits is Trafford Council (COUNCIL TAX PAYMENTS) Upon further investigation it seems that I was notified in and amongst the blitz of paperwork one gets each financial year end. so no doubt this is why I missed out on the finer details. Ok, so I telephoned these organisations to change the date back so it suits me and my financial situation and they tell me that it has been decided that they are setting the date and that's final! The woman I spoke to on the phone was totally sympathetic and has sent me a complaints package.(TEL 912 2220 to request one yourselves) 

Where is my choice in all of this? How on Earth do they expect me to run my account well when all the choice is removed and expect me to think about nothing else but what date is this or that going out on, how much did I spend in that shop, when will they actually process that transaction? Help!!!!! I am not an accountant, nor do I wish to spend my whole life doing sums and worrying constantly about money. The banks then gleefully cash in on any oversights and sting me for the disgusting sum of the aforementioned 35 quid! What is going on? Nanny State? Hardly, this is Gross Capitalism riding on the backs of a Financial Dictatorship! I hate, loathe and despise this country and how it stitches you up at every possible opportunity.

I am in favour of choice are you?

Please sign the petition to show your support

Thanks

Jo

Just a quickie to let you all know that Charlotte from THT popped in the other day to let me know what happened at the meeting she attended. Good news is that "higher ups" at THT are taking our concerns very seriously, they are also very impressed by our suggestions on how to improve things. They, of course can't promise that things will change overnight, nor will all our ambitions be realised. This is a good sign though and I am impressed by Charlotte's response to our campaign and want to thank her for all her efforts.

The tenant's group for Tamworth Estate is going to go ahead but it will take time to organise, could all tenant's who are interested in attending some meetings please contact either Charlotte via the housing office or via this site. Thanks.

Charlotte has asked a local drug team to get involved in the area and by working together they will help people who want to deal with their drug related problems, this will have a long term beneficial effect on the estate and hopefully no more desperate people will fall through the net. Those that wish to make lifestyIe changes will have the opportunity to find help and support as the drug team will be focussing on awareness and outreach in the area. I will get more details and post them here as soon as I can.

THT have agreed to tighten up the lettings procedures in that they will be much more thorough in following up references, those who do not or can not provide valid references will not be offered a tenancy. This way of filtering applications will help THT to offer flats to people who can demonstrate that they have succesfully upheld their tenant obligations elsewhere and are less likely to create problems here. Hurrah! That's what I call a result!

Well one day after the sad incident with the poor wee cat, we had another. A young man who leaped to his painful end from a 12th floor window in the stairwell of Falcon Court. I don't know all the facts but what seems to have happened according to people who knew him was that he had been drinking heavily and taking drugs prior to jumping. I don't know what to say really except that this is tragic, a young man who felt he had no other options in life but to end it in this horrific way. What does that say about our society? Where are his family and friends, yes, I know it's not always that simple and people are often alone trying to cope with drug addictions, misery, poverty, pain and the list goes on...... I guess what I am trying to ask is why is it like this? Who cares? How can a community help? How can we help?

I'd be delighted to hear your views.

Peace

Jo

I have lived in a block on the Tamworth Estate for just over 5 years now. I have had several incidents, some lasting 6 months or more, with a neighbour. He is schizophrenic and goes through cycles of taking his medication and being well and not taking his medication and being very unwell. Whilst I sympathise with his illness, I find the effects of him being unwell really hard to deal with, the crashing  and smashing of glass in his flat at 3am, the yelling and screaming, the swearing at all hours, the threats, the wierd religious rantings, odd behaviour in the lift and stairwells and creeping about on the landings. So what's a person to do? Well one would expect that a polite phone call to the housing, formerly Trafford Housing, now Trafford Housing Trust, might lead to some action. WRONG!!! What actually happened is that I was told to contact the police which I did several times only to be told that there was nothing they could do until an actual incident occurred, I was advised by the police to try and deal with the matter through the housing. I tried and tried and tried again and the best they came up with was a few slips of paper sent to me to monitor the noise he was making at all hours of the day and night. So, I dutifully filled them in and guess what? Nothing at all happened! Eventually, I sought some help from Social Services and ended up having sneaky meetings with his social worker to try and get him up to speed as to what was really going on for my neighbour. When they eventually intervened my neighbour went away to get well and returned a few months later, he remained well for a few more months until...at 3am one morning the whole wearing, frightening, deeply disturbing and seemingly never ending cycle started again.  I contacted the housing at the end of my tether one day and was told that someone would be in touch if I was interested in some mediation. At last! I thought, something useful! I waited and waited and waited some more, nothing. I chased up the offer only to be told that no-one was in the office right now and would I like to leave a message. Many messages and emails later when I was once again sneaking around in detective stylee with his social worker, my neighbour was once again taken away to get better. It has now been three years and three cycles of this and not at any point ever, have the housing people done anything at all to help either himself or myself! Does this sound familiar? There are many things to consider here, my neighbour is an ill man, he is isolated and alone and doesn't have anyone to look out for him. I could be neighbourly but after he threatened me, I didn't really feel safe in doing so. The housing and the police didn't want to get involved, their advice was utterly useless and contradicted the advice of the other. I have a right to live in relative peace and quiet, without the threat of harm. My neighbour needs more support to keep him on an even keel. We both have a right to be housed and for the housing organisation to respond when things get difficult. Why then, does it feel as though we are both left to just get on with it and have our lives seriously affected by the situation. I work, I need to be alert and functioning well so that I can support the vulnerable people I work with, I have to be able to respond to emergency situations, give out medication, think on my feet when dealing with complex and challenging issues. I often get disturbed at night on my sleep in duties in the course of my work, so when I have months of stress and sleep deprivation going on at home, how on this Earth do you expect me to do my job well? How do I keep myself and "my chaps" happy and functioning well? Who the hell is going to take some action to make sure that we all get a decent quality of life? Who is going to stop passing the buck and really start to deal with some of these and other issues that arise on the Tamworth Estate?

Incident on 4:6:07 Cat Killers on the 13th Floor

Ok so it's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, I leave the flat with a friend and head out to the car park at the rear of Raven Court. What I find is a cat on the floor immobile, totally immobile except for a slight rise and fall of her body, yes, she's still breathing, but I wish she wasn't, she's hurt really bad, fluid has leaked from her rear end, no doubt caused by the almighty impact on landing, I realise that her internal injuries will probably be fatal. I stroke her and talk to her whilst a chap tries to call the RSPCA and he tells me he saw her thrown from the 13th floor. I don't believe I heard him right "thrown?" The poor wee puss responds to my words with a pathetic mew, blood trickles from her mouth, her eyes are glassy, her pupils dilated and she mews a few more times, the sound will haunt me forever, her pain, the horrible, painful hideous last moments that she suffered will stay with me forever too. Her mews become fainter and slowly they stop,  her lame and wrecked body becomes still, she's free of the pain at last. The chap can't get through, so I try. He is visibly sickened and tells me she was mewing from the moment she landed until her end, he said she'd put up a brave fight. Now for legal reasons I cannot give anymore details, but I will tell you this, the person(s) who did this fucking evil thing to a poor defenceless trusting and beautiful animal live or at least know someone who lives in Raven Court, I ask you this, do you want neighbours like that? I fucking don't! God help them when I find out who they are! The police were so incensed with rage and disgust that one of them said that he'd like to throw the bastards off the roof himself! I second that motion! The mindless, cruel, evil that seems to be infiltrating these blocks needs tackling, do we have to resort to taking action ourselves or will THT actually start using their resources and few brain cells and start to eradicate the scum that don't deserve anything but to rot in hell!

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it's animals are treated"

Mohandas Gandhi

Coming soon.................. Was he pushed or did he jump? 

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