Rubbish and the Media

Twice last week I had calls from the Media Wales newsroom from journalists with questions that arose from their reading of this blog. One was concerned with the churchyard public art project, and the other with my last inventory of the rubbish left behind by big match day fans, and the invective I aimed at those who litter our streets and bring such disgrace to our City.

Sadly, the journos at 'Wales on Sunday' personalised the issue by naming the victorious Munster team, as if their supporters alone had been responsible for the mess, as if there had been no French or Welsh fans contributing to the rubbish in the streets and in the churchyard. Nothing that I wrote invited that conclusion. Anybody who can't make the effort to help keep our streets clean, no matter what their loyalty, race or religion, merits censure.

When a reporter from Munster radio station rang up the church today to ask for an interview, I explained that I couldn't be held responsible for the desire of the Media Wales editorial team to pick a fight with the Irish. Also they only published half my 'message to (all) fans', they requested a quote: "Please put your rubbish in the bins provided", omitting the other half of the 'message' "Or, if the bins are too full, take your empties and wrappings back to the place of purchase." Was that all too complex for the average reader to grasp?

Come on news gathers - help us on the front line out there to influence opinion and build consensus, by reflecting the real difficulties of the situation, and what this city is trying hard to achieve but not getting the support it deserves. I speak as one swift to criticise what isn't working for the benefit of all citizens.

Well guys and gals, if you're still reading me this week, here's a few more tid-bits to make you think.

Number one: Putting out giant additional rubbish bins on Big Match days has been deemed a no-no. They're a fire risk. No consideration given here to the frequency of rain on Big Match days. How comforting it would be for the rubbish collection crew to have most of of their material pre-gathered in targeted spots. It's 'health and safety' as an alibi. We have enough local CCTV cameras to be able to site any big rubbish bin in full view. We know from the speed the fire service responded to the O'Neill's pub fire across the road from the church, that an end can soon be put to dangerous incendiary moments. Streets are far more dangerous when people can slip and fall on plastic beaker splinters, turn an ankle on a can or bottle, or if really unlucky, get cut by a smashed glass bottle in the street - imported into the centre by fans from coaches or from outlying suburbs, unaware of danger they are discarding. The solution must lie as much with the rubbish creators (packaged food and drink providers and their clients), as with City services that sweep up after them. A little common sense wouldn't go amiss.

Number two: Half an hour after I was interviewed about rubbish on Friday afternoon, the City Centre night-time ops manager told me that a recent study by Prof John Shepherd of Cardiff University shows a reduction in reported violent crime at night of up to 30% at night, if streets are clean and clear, compared to streets from which neither rubbish had been cleared, nor day time tables and chairs removed. It's simple. A rubbishy environment encourages rubbishy behaviour. It's not just a matter for our valiant Police force or the City Cleansing team to take note of. They know! The dignity and worth of this City - old fashioned civic pride - matters greatly in my view. It marks the difference between civility and barbarism, between a City safe at night for ALL, not just some citizens.

This message is for the pub and club owners and restuaranteurs to take to heart. Don't keep pushing back the boundaries of by-laws intended to guarantee a stable and worthy environment for ALL citizens. In this present climate of 'tolerance' it seems as if the whole world assumes these things don't matter, that anyone who has no respect for the public realm can just do what they like in the City Centre playground and be anonymous, therefore immune from challenge or censure by day or by night.

The real problem is the lack of energy and commitment to enforce by-laws and accepted standards. If only life offered sufficient time to run through the City Centre CCTV camera footage, and pull out all those images of uncivil abuse, and broadcast them, maybe the indulgent would think twice. They wouldn't do those things at home - toss rubbish into their neighbour's or their granny's garden wherever they come from - would they? So why do it in Cardiff? The Capital City deserves better.

Anyway, thanks Media Wales for acknowledging the importance of the issue - even if you declined to report it 'my way'.

Palm Sunday - strange company

The various churchyard enclosures and entrance porch were less strewn with match day consumer rubbish that usual this morning, thanks to a rain all day and into the evening yesterday. There'll be less to clear up. I fully intend to have a good tidy up before Easter, unless the weather defeats me.

The work on the south aisle is nearly complete. There's just the huge plastic screens to take down the sanding of the chapel floor and re-levelling of tiled areas to be completed in the next few days. Scaffolding and screens are up in the north aisle and painting has begun already. The church is bound to feel a bit like a zone of occupation if not a building site to casual visitors, who pop in for al look and don't read the notices. It's had an impact on regular attendances too. We were less than three dozen in total for the Parish Eucharist today. We just have to take it on the chin and keep going.

Tonight was my last FutureFaith talk. It was also the smallest evening congregation so far this Lent. People voting with their feet? Weather? Post match blues? Heaven knows, maybe nobody's that much interested in where we're going. The podcast web page has logged over 600 unique visitors, from all around the world, with less than a tenth of them making a return visit.
If I count the known familiar faces who've heard any of my talks during the past six weeks, it still amounts to just twenty people.

Well, as Paul said: "Preach the Word, in season, out of season", and it was mad Ezekeil who said: "Whether they listen to you or not".

O Sapientia - just another Monday?

Getting up early on a Monday morning is no pleasure when I'm just wanting to recover from the demands of Sunday, but today was necessary as Haskins the glaziers were returning to install the North West nave stained glass window, removed for stonework repairs over a month ago. Thank heavens it was a crisp and sunny morning when I opened up for them to start work at 8.20am. As ever,the streets around were filled with huge vehicles dropping off goods for the pubs clubs shops and market, dwarfing the glaziers' van.

I had to wait around for others to show up to open the tea room and for the final day of trading for the charity card shop, so I donned the safety gloves and spent an hour picking litter from three different sections of churchyard. Two black bags worth of rubbish, all the usual stuff - paper and plastic bags, glass and plastic bottles, congealed copies of the Metro newspaper dumped over the railings, publicity flyers from the pubs, and endless serviettes, blown in by the wind and bonded to concrete by winter rain. The only good thing was six pence in small change. Some people throw coins they don't want into the churchyard, or is it at the church.

Why do I go on about it so much? Every discarded object is another contribution to a couldn't care less society, destined to smother under its own carbon excess consumption without either a radical collective change of heart or a draconian regime whose emergency 'excesses' nobody will relish. It makes me ashamed. I feel like a stranger in this culture. But then so do many older people these days. What did we do wrong that our children, and our children's children consume and discard so shamelessly? What did we do? We got rich - and it's done us not a lot of good ultimately.

At lunchtime I presided over a Welsh Assembly Government carol service for about a hundred employees. Reading the first lesson (the Fall of Adam) as he has done each year since I've been in post was Permanent Secretary, Sir John Shortridge. This was his last official appearance with us setting the tone for the event by his presence and participation. Since he's about to retire, I conveyed our good wishes to him at the beginning of the service. By the time we started the entire stained glass window was installed and looked radiantly fresh in the midday sun, transformed by a session in the stained glass workshop.

After lunch, mince pies at God on Mondays, but quite a small gathering, which makes me wonder about the future. Winter sicknesses certainly played their part, but there are few new participants this term to replace those who've moved on.

I returned to church for a late afternoon meeting with Kath Richards, one of County Hall's public relations people, to discuss my concerns about the lopsided projection of the City conveyed by its range of publications, in which it seems hardly anyone works gainfully, most people are young and seem to be having a good time, and there are no evidences of public religious buildings portrayed in pictures of the city-scape.

Equally problematic is communication within the local government and between local government and the public during periods of change. We've been plagued with enormous confusion recently, and it seems to be a symptom of poor internal relationships between different responsibility sectors. None of these things serves well to advertise the reliability of our city to potential investors. There's nothing new about my nagging on this front, and I don't suppose anything will change. But I keep on nagging in hope anyway.

I was thrilled to see that the glaziers had also fitted a new stone-guard to the window they'd worked on. What a marvellous day's work they put in before heading back to Kingswood in Bristol. A good three hours longer than mine. They have my highest admiration.

Rubbish - keeping on the case

Since Friday last, a large un-emptied wheelie bin with a Council logo on the front, has stood at the north west corner of the church tower overflowing with rubbish on to the street. In fact, it was joined in that position by two bins from the Owain Glyndwr, and left there, after they were emptied and not put away in their bin store. Sunday Evening I rang the Council's 101 problem solving referral unit to report the bin, and was told it would be emptied on Monday morning.

Monday passed. Tuesday morning came. On my way to the City Centre Retail Partnership monthly meeting I took a photo of the bin to show to Steve, the operations manager, to see if he could get it cleared away on the fifth day since its arrival. He was not un-surprised at my report, as Waste Management seems to be fraught with management problems at the moment, such that the boss is on sick leave. He kindly printed out the picture, so we could get a better look at it and show it around the office. Then it occurred to me that I was about to walk into a meeting with the Council's Chief Executive Byron Davies. He's always friendly and considerate towards me, and when I saw him he came over and shook my hand and asked how things were going. I just couldn't resist showing the picture and telling the story. He calmly took out his phone and exused himself while he spoke to some poor soul in waste management. He returned after a few moments promising it would be removed straight away.

He spoke at the meeting, addressing retailers' concerns over the impact of pedestrianising St Mary Street, the inadequacy of shoppers parking and public transport issues. He announced the set up of a weekly forum of all involved in service delivery, presided over by himself, to ensure every problem was spotted and tackled, during the next two years of reconstruction and major change to the appearance and running of the city centre. When I returned to the church two hours later, the wheelie bin was still there, and it remained there all night.

When I arrived for the Wednesday Eucharist, it was still there, half emptied. And this obstructing part of the very busiest pedestrian thoroughfare of the city! Not even the city's CEO can work miracles. For all the rhetoric about partnership working, there remains a protectionist proprietorial culture in which section bosses don't always take orders willingly. You'd think they'd all want to work for the good of the city all the time not some of the time, but so often it seems this is not the case. The next couple of years will be a real challenge for the city's elected members and local government officers. Can they deliver the vision of a 'proud capital' which they proclaim? Will the world want to invest in it?

What a load of rubbish - what price civic pride?

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Today I had the honour of welcoming the judges of 'Britain in Bloom' who were visiting the newly revised south churchyard, as part of their assessment of the city's summer floral efforts. It was good to relate the story of the new gates, which are such a splendid feature of the work done, costing a third of a million, believe it or not.

Last week in the run up, I discussed with Steve, the city operations manager, the possibility of getting in someone from Cleansing to empty the north side churchyards of the rubbish jettisoned there by city users (and abusers) passing by. I received an email addressed to Steve and myself from their head of department saying no - declaring that church property is private, and they don't do private. This is the second time in three months the issue of the inadequacy of their division of the city into public and private has been an issue of contention. The last time was also about rubbish dumped in churchyards, which church volunteers clear up, and get penalised for if it is not handled properly.

There is no understanding of a church being a public body entrusted to and run by volunteers, and no concern about the churches' failures, for lack of support, to manage adequately their inherited public resources. Yet, if somebody royal comes to town security squads, if not the Protocol department, would insist on things being cleaned up for reasons of eliminating threats if not for pride. Where good will exists in city government it exists in patches. Indifference is more common.

I copied my riposte to this institutionalised meanness and indifference to the County Policy office and the Deputy Leader, who rebuked all involved for not working together to make the most of the environment in preparation for the Britain in Bloom judges visit. But it made no difference. Nothing was done by Cleansing. Steve was determined to come and pick up the litter himself, in the face of non-cooperation, but ran out of time.

I can't believe we pay people to ignore what is, after all, a small portion of the common good. So, the rubbish remains there, until one of us can get around to picking it up.

The same day a letter showed up in church from the city planning department, an invitation to visit an exhibition in the Old Library next door of plans to pedestrianise St Mary's Street. This is being done in haste in order to move to implement in haste. Many in business locally fear the impact of the proposals will be economic ruin, because of the added cost of getting goods in at unsocial hours, and restrictions on less mobile people going to pubs, shops and to St John's. Some say that buses will not only travel through a pedestrianised area unhindered, but at greater speeds, causing greater hazards to pedestrians. Crossing Greyfriars, also a major bus route, is very risky because there's no separation of traffic and pedestrians and controls are poor. Bollards get knocked over on corners drivers ant to cut. Sometimes there are people around too. How there's been no bloodshed, I don't understand.

And I didn't mention. The planning letter was addressed to

"The Manager/Occupant"
Hut in St John's Gardens
Working Street
City Centre
Cardiff"

The hut is Grade Two conservation listed and houses gardener's tools. The garden, make-over newly completed, has been Council responsibility since 1982. So here they are - one Council department, communicating to another via the Post Office and the church. Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? Not exactly the sort of things to take pride in.