The Meeting that Never Was

They were seen coming. They were seen going. On the way out they walked slap bang into a group from the Ormeau Road who were on their way to a real residents meeting.
I subsequently asked a representative from City Church if there were any meetings scheduled.
"There are, but you're not allowed in."
"When was the last one?"
"Um, ah...."
He knows that I know.
"Thursday"
It appears that the rest of the community are also unwelcome as they were neither informed nor invited. We were not supposed to know that it had happened. This is, I assume, what they mean when they describe themselves in the South Belfast News as "An Example to All". They are, they claim, "a formally constituted community group", with an "elected committee". Well, let's have a look at their constitution.
Click to enlarge it.

Note item 6.4 "An AGM shall be held". There has been no AGM for twenty-two months. The committee has expired, unless of course they keep reappointing themselves.

Lets look at their objectives.

1. "To regenerate and sustain a healthy community in the Holyland." There are less than a hundred of us left, and we're almost all on medication. That looks like a slight fucking failure to me.
2. "To enhance and improve the environment by ensuring the best possible provision of public services." We're drowning in garbage, rats, skips and drains blocked by the liberal dumping of cement by landlords. In the South Belfast News they deny the presence of rats. I guess the one that ended up in University Avenue as roadkill must have got lost.
3. "To work in partnership with statutory bodies, voluntary agencies and businesses for the benefit of the Holyland." Ah,....partnership, the prison trusty phenomenon. Work with the landlords, work with planning, work with the universities. Silence the cries of pain while the community's raped to death. As they put it in their recent article "We lobby relentlessly and effectively".
   
4. "To create an inclusive, caring and responsible community." Can't you just feel the love? I did while my head was being bashed off the pavement and my windpipe was being crushed. I remember the look of jubilation in the eyes of a prominent resident (Tony McGuinness) as he watched me struggle to breathe and fight for my life. I'll never forget it.
5. "To redress the balance between family occupied dwellings and Houses of Multiple Occupation." 6000 "students" / 100 residents. Rugby Avenue's being raped house by house, family homes demolished and turned into flats. What a victory for partnership.
6. "To create a safe environment where children can play and all residents can live in peace." How many convicted sex offenders have been housed in the Holyland/Botanic area? Perhaps the committee can tell us. They appear to have inside knowledge. As one landlord allegedly put it "There's good money in them paedos"
7. "To promote good relations between long and short term residents." What a victory. Since when do people who have a home address and a term time address become "residents"? They don't live here, it's their partyland.
   
8. "To promote a safer community. To reduce crime and anti-social behaviour." It would help if those who criticise them were not subjected to homicidal violence.
9. "To be as transparent and publicly accountable, as possible, within our means at all times." I look forward to seeing them in court.

Are they a residents' group or a regeneration association? As I've discussed previously, they can't be both. A resident's group is supposed to be of the community for the community (stop laughing). A regeneration association collaborates with power and fuck the community. Which do you think they are?
Who qualifies to be a member?
"Full membership is open to residents of the Holyland who are over 18 and are committed to the objectives, values and ground rules of the association."
I guess the thirty-three people who signed a petition demanding to be rehoused don't qualify. I guess that anybody who beleives that the area is finished and that the remaining population should be rehoused in new public accomodation if they want it doesn't qualify. I suppose that's why the community aren't informed of or invited to their meetings.
This is one of those Brechtian moments. They should abolish the community and appoint another one.