Whilst on holiday in New York City NELC Councillor Malcolm Morland and I took some time out from sight seeing in Manhattan to find out more about New York’s Homeless problems. Both of us have an interest in this issue through our work in North East Lincolnshire. We visited the Church of the Holy Apostle soup kitchen to get a feeling for the scale and extent of poverty and homelessness in NYC.

The church of the Holy Apostles is in the Chelsea area in Manhattan, an area undergoing gentrification: designer shops and new apartments at $6000 a month are replacing the working class meat packing industry of old. Approaching the soup-kitchen we saw guests waiting in line on the pavement outside, waiting to file through the serving stations in the Mission House adjoining the church. The 80 volunteers who work for the soup kitchen set up round dining tables and metal folding chairs in the main part of the church every lunchtime as there are no pews in the church.

The Soup Kitchen serves over 1,200 hot nutritious meals 365 days a year. Since the Soup Kitchen first began in October 1982, it has served over 6 million meals. Together with the commitment of their staff, volunteers and plethora of agencies, Holy Apostles strives to be a gateway to positive change in the lives of the people it serves. Clyde, the Associate Programme Director explained that in New York City 36,000 people are in hostel or temporary accommodation with a further 36,000 living on the streets.  The New York City Coalition Against Hunger estimates that 1.3 million New Yorkers can’t afford to buy enough food for themselves and their families all the time. That is approximately one in six of the population of NYC. 

Our visit gave us a greater appreciation of the benefits of having a universal welfare system to protect people from the worst effects of an economic downturn.  Unfortunately, in one of the richest countries in the world we witnessed some of the most appalling poverty officially not seen on such a scale in the UK.

However, homelessness is a big problem in N.E. Lincolnshire too, Harbour Place Day Centre, is seeing record numbers of people using its services this year, possibly reflecting the current economic climate. An average of 45 people a day will use its services and seek support; 30 meals a day will be served. Approximately 11,000 people will come through its doors this year.

Please remember our homeless people. Homelessness is with us all year round not just at Christmas. To find out more about Harbour place and the valuable work they carry out in East Marsh and North East Lincolnshire visit their website at: harbourplace.org.uk

    Havelok Homes has invested £4.8-million into new homes into the heart of East Marsh Ward.

    Thirty-nine new homes have been built on land off Roberts Street which was once the site of the car park belonging to old Rialto Bingo Club that was derelict for a number of years.  

There are 29 rented and 10 shared homes, with almost all already taken.

Liberal Democrat Councillor, Steve Beasant (East Marsh) is thrilled the investment has happened in his ward.He said: “It is a major investment in that piece of land as it has suffered a lot in the past.”

“There has been a lot of fires and vandalism, and potentially I would receive a report of at least one burnt out car being found on the old Rialto car park – this was taking up a lot of council time and resources.

“I have been very impressed with the innovative way this development has been built and we need to look a lot more at these types of developments for the East Marsh area. This development, nicely compliments the other Havelok Housing at Woodyard Court; which opened less than two years ago just a few hundred yards away from this sight.

“It looks the part, is fantastic and I’m over the moon that they chose the East Marsh for it – I just hope that similar houses will be built in Guildford Street in the near future”.

Who are East Marsh Involve? 

We are a community led organisation that was set up to represent the residents of the whole of the East Marsh area. We hold monthly meetings where matters of mutual concern can be raised with and discussed with your Ward Councillors as well as with representatives from Humberside Police, Shoreline Housing Partnership and other partner organisations. 

If however you have a personal issue that is affecting you or the area in which you live you will after the business side of the meeting finishes have the opportunity to discuss these matters with the representatives of the above organisations.

Residents who attend the meeting are also invited to discuss and then make decisions on how both the Ward Councillors Funding of £20,000 and the Fairshare funding Youth Fund of £10,000 is allocated.  

Our meetings are very focused with generally a main agenda item such as for example recently the regeneration of the area especially at the moment Guildford Street and the Anti Social Behaviour around Rutland Street have been discussed. This enables full and frank discussion of the issues and paves the way for Action Plans to be created, acted upon by agencies and individuals working in the area and the results of those actions are reported back to future meetings of the group. 

At the moment the groups membership is drawn mainly from the Freeman Street side of the East Marsh but by targeted leafleting we intend to build our membership to hopefully include residents from around the Grant Thorold Park and Park Street areas.

East Marsh Involve is your Community Forum so why not come along and find out how you can pay your part in making the East Marsh a better place to live. 

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 25 November starting at 6pm at the Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre on the corner of Wellington Street & Weelsby Street. 

Councillors Beasant, Howarth and McCabe will be working with the Community Wardens and Environmental Services and will be blitzing the streets of the East Marsh this weekend. They will be litter picking around the area on Saturday and Sunday and they are hoping to see as many residents as possible help; with this the first in a programme of planned Community Clean-Ups. 

The three local Councillors along with the Wardens and Junior Wardens will be meeting at the Grant Thorold Library on Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 November at 10 am (each day), and from there they will be hitting the streets – with the aim of making a real difference to your local community. It is not just a gimmick, we want to show that the community can have, and can bring about real ‘community pride’ into our area.  

Don’t forget look out for the ‘blitz team’ over this weekend and other weekends in the near future, don’t forget come and join the fun. If you would like any further information please telephone 07941858395. 

According to the Grimsby Evening Telegraph British Gas has appologised to a house-bound pensioner who lives in the East Marsh ward; apparently they threatened her with legal action over the payment of her energy bills – despite receipts proving she has paid.

Ruby Michaelson (70), who lives by herself in Nelson House, Grimsby, said she was left shaking and tearful after receiving a letter saying her gas and electricity supplies would be disconnected.

It is the second time the pensioner has been targeted – in May the Grimsby Telegraph helped Mrs. Michaelson, who suffers from emphysema and angina; get a similar situation sorted when the company threatened to cut off her electricity despite owing nothing.

Letters have now been received by the pensioner from British Gas confirming she is almost £400 in credit, which the company has pledged to refund. The situation has left the pensioner, confused and upset. Others who find themselves in similar situations have been urged to ask their family and friends for help to prevent further distress.

Mrs. Michaelson relies on electricity for the oxygen tank that assists her breathing. She also relies on her son-in-law to pay her gas and electricity out of her pension.

The letter from the head of debt at British Gas said: “As of October 20 you haven’t paid your electricity bill of £85.76. We have charged £14 for this letter.

“Unless this bill is paid immediately we will entail a warrant to enter your home by force and replace your current electric meter with a pre-payment meter or disconnect your supply.

“We will pursue further legal action against you.”

But she has many receipts for bills paid for her by relatives at the Post Office, and Mrs. Michaelson says she does not know what to do next.

Now British Gas has apologised for any distress the letters have caused her and is working with her to resolve the situation.

She said: “I just don’t know why it has happened. Besides, I don’t even use any gas anymore at all as I just use my microwave.”

A spokesman for British Gas said: “We would like to apologise to Mrs. Michaelson for any distress caused regarding her electricity bill.

“We have now agreed a payment of £24 per fortnight going forward.

“We understand that gas is not currently in use at the property so we will send a meter reader round to take a gas meter reading.”

This latest case, is further evidence that there is need reform of the way receive our energy bills. They are often estimated, inaccurate and many individuals believe they are difficult to understand. No wonder, many vulnerable people like Ruby are often confused; it’s about time that these companies react to public demand because after all they are making massive profits and paying big bonuses to company directors.

Yesterday, I was pleased to read the latest copy of Insight Magazine which is distributed to homes throughout North East Lincolnshire, the magazine is published by CPO Media with the help of local volunteers and some of those live in East Marsh Area. The volunteers help with the editorial content, design, and all other aspects of production.

In this edition there was a review of the Neighbourhood Renewal Funding; however they focused particularly on Acorn Funding. North East Lincolnshire Council was awarded Neighbourhood Renewal Funding in 2005 until 2007, in many respects it was to late to make a great deal of difference; however there were some example of good practice and in this article we will give an overview of two projects.

Sloppy Slippers: working from the Hope Street Medical Centre, the Falls Collaborative team do some great work within the community, working to prevent falls by elderly members of the area.

Acorn funding was awarded to the Collaborative for the Sloppy Slippers campaign, a campaign aimed at targeting a surprising cause of many falls. The dangers of torn or damaged slippers are often overlooked, leaving many elderly people and their families unaware of the damage that can be caused by them.

The first part of the campaign was to raise the issue. The second part of the campaign is a slipper exchange; people bring their old slippers in to be replaced by brand new and most importantly well fitting pair.

“…..it’s just such a cheap and easy way to prevent falls!” (East Marsh resident) 

Podium Project: formed in 2005, the project was formed with the intention of enhancing the environment in the East Marsh ward for all residents.

They have, so far, developed a community garden on the podium area of the East Marsh and have also started to work with local residents to develop other parts of the area.

Thanks to Acorn funding, the project received help to tidy up sites and carry major planting scheme which saw over ten thousand plants and hanging baskets placed throughout the area. I helped the group attract more members with around 40 people now working voluntarily for the project.

      I was pleased to read the Jon-Paul Howarth’s latest blog article in VOXX magazine, Jon-Paul is a fellow Liberal Democrat Councillor in East Marsh Ward and perhaps is one of the UK’s youngest Councillors, at the age of 19.

     He is a great advocate of not only young people, but the residents of the East Marsh. So far he has carried out some great work in the ward, but within the local council; it is interesting to look around and listen to some of the comments when Jon-Paul is around. At times you often hear: “Now then, young man”; perhaps Jon-Paul should respond with “Now then, old man,” but fortunately he is very tolerant. And of course there have been the usual comments about his dress codes, get to grips everyone we are in the twenty first century, and if John McCain gets away without a tie surely Jon-Paul can occasionally wear a “trackie”.

VOXX Blog: Hello and welcome to the second edition of my blog, and just before I start can I just say, how great the first VOXX? It was the definitely the highlight of the carnival!

Amishi, a new nightclub in Cleethorpes has recently opened. This is great news, when you look on the Riverhead to see clubs closing left right and centre, that a brand new club has opened. However, as a 19-year-old I may not be able to enter!

The club is operating to 21 years and over policy, and is not the first in the country to be doing this. So how come clubs are allowed to turn away under-21 away so easily when you have to be 18 to drink? Surely this is discrimination and in this PC world they can’t get away with being prejudiced against young people? We’ll soon we could be finding that we are too young to get in.

Imagine the outcry if the Grimsby Evening Telegraph’s latest headline read “OAPS to be banned from Freshney Place”.

This is a quote that I have adopted from the Shalom Youth Project ‘Being a young person is not a crime! Discrimination against them should be!’

Thank for reading – seeing you next time……

    East Marsh Children’s Centre is teaming up with Strand Community School to bring you a night to remember. Strand Community School (Junior School site) will be the place to be for this a firework display extravaganza on Wednesday 5 November at 6.30 pm.

Entry is only £1 per family and there will be: fireworks, hot dogs, and whole lot of ooo’s and aaaaaarrrr’s……

Don’t be late, but remember to make sure your pets are safe before you leave home - remember fireworks can scare animals.

The next meeting of East Marsh Involve will be held on Tuesday 29 October, 6pm at the Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre, which is on the corner of Wellington Street and Weelsby Street. 

On average at least 30 residents attend the East Marsh Involve and at the last meeting almost 60 residents attended. At each meeting many issues are normally discussed and actioned upon, including matters relating to: crime, anti-social behaviour, the environment and other matters of interest and concern relating to the residents of the East Marsh. 

At the last meeting Councillor Steve Beasant promised to draw up an action plan and report back on a number of issues relating to: the Old Art College in Eleanor Street; Oxford Street/Duke Street area; Rutland Street/Tunnard Street; and 105 Robert Street.

All residents are welcome to attend meetings of East Marsh Involve which are held on the last Tuesday of each month; present at each will normally be John Willis (Humberside Police), Ward Councillors, Alan Burley, Shoreline Housing, and the Community Wardens.