Juniper News May 2010.
Six months after the decision, the membership has still not been notified of the secret, unadvertised, uncontested appointment of Sharon Costelloe as manager.
The football cage continues to fulfill its predictions. The noise made by the structure is a genuine nuisance, and the level of support promised by management has not materialised.
So the cage is regularly closed. Ball games are therefore happening on the grass near flats, with predictable skirmishes and even reports of racist abuse and other unpleasantness.
Meanwhile, the other segregated areas are as unused as if they too were locked. The infants play machines are untouched, and the geriatric ornamental traffic island hasn't seen anyone seated around it in over a year.
The entire design strategy of dividing the age-groups so that they hardly have to interact is in tatters. predictably enough.
'OFFICIAL' JUNIPER WEBSITE?
So where is it?
After a typically pathetic announcement months ago, and a plea for people to provide pictures, the promised juniper house website is still unsee by human eye.
JuniMan has clearly never heard of Google Sites, which makes websites child's play. But come to think
of it, what does management know about child-play? It's choices for the garden seem more appropriate for zoo-animals than children.
Juniper News. March 2010.
Juniper 'management' (i.e. two people) have successfully destroyed the
Garden Sub-Committee by refusing it access to storage and tools and by
pre-empting its decisions. The chair of the group has resigned from
management altogether after many years service. All the other sub-groups
agreed with LBS have met the same fate.
At the same time, Sharon Costelloe, once the chair, is now the worker,
but the co-op membership still has not been officially informed of this
fact, No interviews have been held for the post, and Ms Costelloe has no
obvious or formal qualifications for it.
This state of affairs is typical of the shoddy way in which
Juniper has been run for several years, and has understandably generated
record levels of apathy and divisiveness, not to mention costing the
borough a great deal of money, and bringing the whole ideal of
co-operative housing into disrepute.NEW DOORS ON THE BLINK
4/5/09
After only a couple of years, the new doors chosen by management and the worker have begun to fail all over the block. The rumour is that
we are no longer covered by any guarantee, which will presumably mean
more expense. Congratulations again to the part-time, untrained amateurs
of Juniper management on a brilliantly implemented choice. And not
forgetting all the help from those wonderful professionals at Southwark
council, without whom none of this, or the rotting front fences, would
be possible.
MINUTES MISSING AGAIN
Here we go back into the dark ages of rumour and speculation. There have been no minutes distributed for months.
MINUTES AND MEETING NOTICE RESTORED
It is gratifying to see that
management have reversed their attitude. After all, it was not a
question of choice. Minutes and meetings notices are compulsory
obligations, not optional extras.
£5,000
PLAYHOUSE MONEY
£5000 is to be awarded
to Juniper for a Play Hut of some description. This comes after years of
pressure from kids for some form of 'tree house' or den which they can
make their own.
This summer, different designs were created by
Juniper kids, and presented to management, only to be dismissed out of
hand.
But given its' record of botched projects so far, hopes are
not high that the current fractured Juniper management structure won't
make another fine mess of spending this new money.
So to help
management understand what is needed, JuniperHouse Info presents
its preferred design, already approved by a small section of residents.
PLAYHUT
July
1st 2008
JUNIPER NOW UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Juniper
members leaving the block by the southern staircase on June 24th were
surprised to discover that they were invited to a general meeting that
same night. The shabby sheet of A4 stuffed in the side of the display
case was the first they'd heard of it. In fact, it was the first they'd
heard of any Juniper business since before the last general meeting, for
which no members known to this site have received minutes. This is
probably unprecedented in the history of Juniper House.
All
general meetings have to have at least a week's notice, for obvious
reasons. Members have to have time to consider any items on the agenda,
and to submit any proposals of their own. With such peremptory warning,
any determined cabal can completely manipulate any organisation.
This
current code of secrecy is obviously a breach of democratic principles
which renders the co-op unconstitutional and which means any decisions
taken at this so-called meeting are null and void.
Who
is running this place?
------------------------------------------------------
MEETINGS
IN THE DARK. May 08
If
you want to know what is being done to Juniper, there is now no way of
finding out. From now on, Juniper Management are not producing or
distributing minutes of meetings. At least, none have yet been seen of
the last General Meeting, or any of the management meetings since. This
is entirely unconstitutional, but not unusual.
At
the last general meeting, according to members present, 'Carl' stated
that the surface of the new playcage was to be of reconstituted
trainers. This therefore implies that it will be safe for children to
fall onto. Naturally, this was not true, and the children now clambering
10 foot to the top of the goal/basketball structure can be sure that
when they do fall, they will seriously hurt themselves. Perhaps Juniper
carries public lliability insurance now, or perhaps it doesn't. If it
does, it will have moved on since the decision to destroy the old play
pyramid, which it was almost impossible to fall any distance from, and
which was sited on grass. The excuse for its destruction was that the
co-op could not be responsible for any injuries caused. In ten years,
nobody was injured on this popular piece of equipment..The injuries
likely when falling over ten feet on to hard tarmac can only be guessed
at.
April 2008
-------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT
IS HAPPENING TO YOUR KITCHENS?
While tens of
thousands of pounds are being wasted on a grossly over-specified
playspace made necessary by the vandalism of management itself, and a
gullible media are conned into selling and easy regeneration story to
their readers and listeners, Juniper residents repairs are being
neglected.
In more than one flat, essential emergency
repairs are sliding into their second month due to the incompetence and
apathy of management, and the residents driven to distraction in the
resulting dirt and chaos and damp.
Management
are far too busy planning the huge backslapping exercise which will
mark the official opening of the child cage. It's what they are best at.
Be sure to be there to tell the assembled media what you think.
Flat
one, where nobody lives, is being painstakingly refurbished for second
time in six years in order to host the forthcoming festivities, so
residents and media should be made very comfortable. Unlike the poor
residents still living amid the plaster dust, damp and dirt of kitchens
left unusable by the incompetence of management.
The
timescales for repairs are clearly published in your tenancy
agreements. They are your rights. Make the co-op stick to them -
especially when you are the victims of leaks from the flats of committee
members, who seem to think they are above the rules, and can do their
own repairs to their own standards and timescales - as seems to be the
case with the leaseholders of flat 19.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW
GATES. WELCOME TO THE DUMPERS.
The
miserably designed, hastily approved, incredibly ugly, off-the-shelf
front gates have failed again, as widely predicted. They presumably been
repaired (again) at Juniper's expense - though we may never be told.
The new and improved exit system, decided upon by our current worker,
not management, is able to be opened from the inside at the push of a
button. So our security gates are not exactly, well, secure.
Those choosing to use this new access feature can drive their
wrecks in, or drive your car out.
Ultimately,
the blame doesn't lie so much with the design of the poor old gates, or
their inferior quality (see above) or even with the hapless supplier in
his shiny suit, but with the lack of thought and debate which went into
their choice. The reason for that is simple. One committee meeting a
month is not time enough to make informed decisions, especially in
specialised areas.
This is yet another example of the failure of the
top-down approach to tenant management, and a clear case for the return
to a group system in which issues could be discussed in depth by
knowledgeable, interested residents who would then report their
conclusions back to the co-op.
The current system discourages
involvement and therefore results in one or two people with no
qualifications or relevant experience making key decisions with no
consultation or debate. A complete lack of accountability which is not
democratic and not sustainable.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER
TO INDIA
Since the time of the total ban on smoking
at work was introduced, 'Manager' Rosie Lewis has found herself unable
to continue in her post. She is now in dispute with the co-op.
Management are not sharing the details.
Since
this might result in a large payment, it seems reasonable that Juniper
Members should be kept informed of the details. But the current managent
regime do not believe in sharing much information. If they did, they
would be writing this website, not me.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue 1.
19/3/07
The Minutes
of the February management meeting asked for feedback and ideas about
the future, and assessments of the recent works undertaken by
management.
Many residents would like to know how much the
garden project cost in full, and how much Juniper House TMC ended up
paying.
We would also like to know whether the ugly, unreliable gates
are being repaired at the expense of the contractor, or again whether
Juniper's budget is bearing the burden.
But the
greatest concern is for the gradual erosion of the community since the
misguided destruction of the Juniper Square, and all the activities it
made possible.
This website is the source of non-management
opinion on Juniper affairs. It is open to all submissions, and the
messageboards are availabe for all to use.
Why this
site has not been set up by management is a mystery. But on its various
pages it will attempt to provide some of the suggestions asked for by
management, and a permanent forum for discussion of juniper issues.
It can
naturally be also used to share information on work, welfare, or benefit
matters, and is a point of call for local councillors to take note of.
See pages
titled
Garden
Review
Communities
Need A Centre
The Organisation,
and
The
Future
feel free to email any comments to
gardenshed@india.com
or post
them on the messageboard
