to Richard Hatcher

Hi Richard - by the way, I would very much like to attend your Zoom meeting next week, please.  To support, encourage and work on all you said last night that was so very good.

I wrote, wrongly, "Do you accept that our views are in the tiny majority".  I should have written, "Do you accept that our views are in the tiny minority?"  A small minority, so democracy will never work for us.  We will never get elected!  It is pointless trying to get elected.  We therefore have to engage with the councillors and officers to win them over away from, as one example, finite fossil fuel intensive, multi-modal (HS, HR, LR, VLR, ULR) rail schemes, instead, to putting the poor and voiceless first by giving them low cost, highly energy efficient, solar powered homes.  As at the 23,000 sq m at High Plateau, Merry Hill SC for that wasted space to be given over to the badly/temporary housed and migrants.  May I show it to you, Richard?  My tally, so far, is five councillors!

SIX RAIL MODES:

HS = High Speed

HR = Heavy rail

LR = Light rail Metro (Andy wants £15 BILLION in Jan 2020 to 2040 for mainly trams)

VLR = Very light rail (in Dudley and Coventry)

ULR = Ultra light rail (in Stourbridge that is excellent and sensible)

Tram train (as from Sheffield Cathedral to Rotherham Parkgate)

I very occasionally, by direct engagement and 'door stepping' or gate crashing surgeries, do get to speak to our leading councillors and senior officers.  I have asked Cheryl Hiles, Head of Energy Capital at WMCA, if she has heard of you, Richard.  She has not.  Nor has she received any papers, reports or emails from you.  You have much to give and your involvement is vital.  Although, I think she is a newcomer.

How can you expect to influence people on our behalf, Richard if you never attend 'Ask Andy' meetings, councillors' surgeries, Greener Together Forums, committees and Board meetings, etc in order to talk to these decision makers?  Or, have I got things wrong?

You talk about the WMCA being undemocratic that it is in some ways but not in others.  However, it is all that we've got and since we left wing eco-socialists never have any chance of gaining power, do you think we should work with what we have and try, by force of argument only and in our personal, less hypocritical lives, to build that fairer, more sustainable and sociable society that we all want to see?

Best wishes

Tim

On Wed, 15 Mar 2023 at 09:22, Tim Weller <timweller1@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Richard

Do you agree that the hundreds of millions are there for all the wrong projects - and the staff at 16 Summer Lane, too?

That the money and people can easily be diverted to our Nine Action Points, here:

 Nine Action Points from W Mids Climate Coalitio...

It only needs the political will.  Is that right?

Are you happy with the Nine Action Points, Richard?

Why do you not support me in even one thing that I have been insisting on for decades?!  Or do you?  What?

Do you agree that the Tory Mayor is one of eight leaders in the Corrupt/Comedy Authority?

That the other seven are four Labour and three Tory?

Am I right in thinking that Andy cannot force his way over the other seven?  That all eight have to work together and that they do, presumably, accept majority decisions?

Do you accept that our views are in the tiny majority but we do have right on our side and that it is worth pursuing?

So why do you not support me, Richard?

What is wrong with you (the computer prompts!!) with my suggestions - see below?

WRITE to me, please Richard.  I've only ever had one one email saying "Thanks" and that was fantastic, thanks!

Please engage.

Divided we fall.  United we stand!

Tim -  Richard, what is wrong with what I have written, below?

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tim Weller <timweller1@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2023 at 07:21
Subject: Reform is needed, I think - REPLY, please

Until upright, honest people put a stop to the fraudulent, financial abuse of billions in price and in weight of greenhouse gases going into High Scam 2, Metro and Sprint, buses will continue to lurch from one three monthly handout to another and buses will continue to be the forlorn, forgotten, Cinderella mode that gets stuck in traffic as car commuters block its path and business vehicles are hindered.

Literally, a handout of billions for Metro tram and Sprint extensions that destroy railway lines, destroy nature and create more congestion and mayhem in their construction and use.  Fare-Free Public Transport of the kind that I have had for 15 years must be given to ALL.

Dudley No 1 Canal embankment, public open space, housing land and lots of nature at Merry Hill SC all get spoilt or obliterated by tram construction.  Already, the UK's very last principal mainline railway "of national strategic significance" has been destroyed by Metro largesse given to build the trams.  As well as to bring in multi-modal rail transport hubs to make for more changes and delays in our journeys.

A public marketing campaign to shame the thoughtless, selfish car commuter who clogs up the roads must be mounted to reward them with free bus, train and tram travel in the region if they leave their beloved in the garage.

Bus lane experiment for two years on Hagley Road that is strictly enforced to speed the bus and inconvenience the car commuter.

BUS at the top of the prestige pile and High Scandal 2, Metro and Sprint at the bottom!