Local Elections 2014: What issues will you be raising with candidates on the door?

fuzzy dunlop · 13-05-2014 1:15pm

Seeing as most of the councillors got in on a protest vote against FF in 2004 and 2009. My question to FG and Labour will be."Don't you think that sanitizing the council of your corrupt parties politically is a common sense strategy for Waterford voters?" Especially as they have proven to be as corrupt as FF. Have shafted Waterford time and again and relocated endless services to KK and Wexford for their own political benefit.

So my second question will be "Would we not have to be completely idiotic to do anything else but to destroy FG and Labour from top to bottom in Waterford as reward for your betrayal?"

But unfortunately. It seems I won't get the chance. All I seem to get is "Sorry I missed you cards" in the door. Reminiscent of FF in 2011.

fricatus · 20-05-2014 11:58am

FF: why the hell would I vote for you, barring a pink fit?

FG/Lab: you voted for the abolition of Waterford City Council (with a few honourable exceptions). Why the HELL would I vote for you?

Greens: you used to have Brendan McCann as a candidate, and he tried to stymie nearly every commercial development that could have made Waterford a shopping destination. Why would I vote for you? Have things changed? Do you trust the council to decide what's "sustainable" now?

Jim D'Arcy: according to your leaflet you want cars trundling through John Roberts Square again, like it was the '90s. Do you want to rebuild the ugly sheds on the Quay and have cattle being loaded there too? How about a piggery on Ballybricken Hill while we're at it?

Sinn Féin: sure, sure, no bother lads, you have my no 1, tiocfaidh indeed! Haven't gone away... no, ha ha, of course not!!! Best of luck in the election now lads.... vote early and... ha ha... you're KILLING me. Literally!!!

Finnbar01 · 20-05-2014 12:22pm

How exactly do you plan on creating jobs?

Dunmoreroader · 20-05-2014 1:48pm

Q: Why is the Tramore - Waterford City West constituency shaped like a Goose??;
http://www.waterfordcity.ie/documents/misc/A4%20Tramore%20-%20Waterford%20City%20West%20300dpi.jpg :pac:

Dunmoreroader · 23-05-2014 11:28am

Dunmoreroader wrote: »

Q: Why is the Tramore - Waterford City West constituency shaped like a Goose??;
http://www.waterfordcity.ie/documents/misc/A4%20Tramore%20-%20Waterford%20City%20West%20300dpi.jpg :pac:

I'm not trying to be totally facetious with this question(well just a little bit), there's a grain of seriousness in it. It's the oddest structured ward i've ever seen, makes no sense geographically putting Tramore with Ferrybank by skirting around the western side of the city. It looks contrived like a cobbled together Gerrymandering job. Am I the only one who thinks this?

DeiseforLiam · 23-05-2014 12:07pm

I agree with Dunmoreroader. I might be wrong, but I could see Tramore dominating to the possible detriment of the city suburbs. Conversely, the area office will be based in the city and the office in Tramore closed. I think it is wrong to take all services out of the largest town in the county.

fuzzy dunlop · 23-05-2014 12:25pm

Dunmoreroader wrote: »

I'm not trying to be totally facetious with this question(well just a little bit), there's a grain of seriousness in it. It's the oddest structured ward i've ever seen, makes no sense geographically putting Tramore with Ferrybank by skirting around the western side of the city. It looks contrived like a cobbled together Gerrymandering job. Am I the only one who thinks this?

Gerrymandering Anyone?

Sully · 23-05-2014 12:37pm

DeiseforLiam wrote: »

I agree with Dunmoreroader. I might be wrong, but I could see Tramore dominating to the possible detriment of the city suburbs. Conversely, the area office will be based in the city and the office in Tramore closed. I think it is wrong to take all services out of the largest town in the county.

Arah, it seems daft but services were withdrawn to Dungarvan originally anyway. Quicker to get into the City than Dungarvan, if you are living in Tramore.

DeiseforLiam · 23-05-2014 12:49pm

fuzzy dunlop wrote: »

Gerrymandering Anyone?

I've been meaning to look that up:

"In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts. The resulting district apportionment is known as a gerrymander (/ˈ dʒ ɛr i ˌ m æ n d ər /); however, that word can also refer to the process. When used to allege that a given party is gaining disproportionate power, the term gerrymandering has negative connotations."

They'd never do that.:rolleyes:

Sully · 23-05-2014 1:01pm

A lot of councillors don't like the new layout, it's coming a lot harder for candidates and areas where votes were had before are no longer in their area. So, no, it's not. Plus it was an Independent body that did the constituencies.

Dunmoreroader · 24-05-2014 12:12pm

Sully wrote: »

A lot of councillors don't like the new layout, it's coming a lot harder for candidates and areas where votes were had before are no longer in their area. So, no, it's not. Plus it was an Independent body that did the constituencies.

Are there any published reports from the bodies tasked with drawing up the boundaries outlining their rational?

Sully · 24-05-2014 4:40pm

Dunmoreroader wrote: »

Are there any published reports from the bodies tasked with drawing up the boundaries outlining their rational?

Not sure, probably.

But judging by the results, it's obvious that the boundaries were not designed to benefit the government parties!

fuzzy dunlop · 24-05-2014 6:19pm

DeiseforLiam wrote: »

I've been meaning to look that up:

"In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts. The resulting district apportionment is known as a gerrymander (/ˈ dʒ ɛr i ˌ m æ n d ər /); however, that word can also refer to the process. When used to allege that a given party is gaining disproportionate power, the term gerrymandering has negative connotations."

They'd never do that.:rolleyes:

Well they have form for this. It was one of the contributing factors of the 1977 giveaway election manifesto by FF. It's been done alright but more subtly.

fricatus · 26-05-2014 3:35pm

Dunmoreroader wrote: »

I'm not trying to be totally facetious with this question(well just a little bit), there's a grain of seriousness in it. It's the oddest structured ward i've ever seen, makes no sense geographically putting Tramore with Ferrybank by skirting around the western side of the city. It looks contrived like a cobbled together Gerrymandering job. Am I the only one who thinks this?

City centre, Gracedieu, Ferrybank... so far so good... then TRAMORE?

I don't see the sense in it. I know when they're doing the job of divvying up the population in proportion to the seats, it's probably not easy to get things to fit, but this really has the look of being done late at night by some bored junior in Dublin who just wanted to get out of the office so as he could get a Chinese and see his lack.

Surely a better idea would have been four wards - three for the city and Passage, and then maybe one for Tramore/Dunmore with four or five seats apiece?

Local Elections 2014: What issues will you be raising with candidates on the door?

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