Chalkley’s PR boob

Today we published an open letter from Councillor Danny Chalkley, Westminster’s cabinet member for environment and transport which must have had some of his fellow Tory councillors squirming with embarrassment at his latest attempt to fight his way out of an isolated corner.  Councillor Danny Chalkley continues to demonstrate how out of touch he is with the voting public.

Lets examine his points:

Thank you for your emails of 9^th and 10^th March in connection with Westminster’s press release dated 9^th March 2009, the contents of which I have carefully noted.

Not carefully enough, as you will read further on.

Westminster fully accepts that lawful, peaceful protest is an entirely legitimate method of disagreeing with any Council policy, including motorcycle charging.

Once again Chalky seems to think that the experimental order for PTW parking charges is now council policy. Not yet it isn’t, this is another repeat of Westminsters City Councils misleading statement to the BBC that parking charges for bikes would never be scrapped. You never seem to learn Chalkley, you know very well that this is not yet council policy.

Our use of the phrase “rogue motorcycle protestors” emphasises the fact that the majority of protestors have behaved lawfully and reasonably.

So which of those three words indicate to the media that Councillor Danny Chalkley means a minority of protesters are rogues? We think Councillor Danny Chalkley hasn’t looked up the meaning of the word rogue? Putting those words in the title and opening sentence of his press release was just cynical attempt to smear all the protesters and committee members of the No To Bike Parking Fees campaign. You can look up the meaning of the word rogue here.

Westminster will therefore take appropriate action against campaigners, including those associated with the “No To Bike Parking Fees” campaign, who do break the law or harass our staff.

This is nothing more than more harassment of the committee members, Councillor Danny Chalkley has failed to provide any evidence of any connection between the campaign organisers and the alleged harassment of his staff. Mr Chalkley what appropriate action did you take when all of Westminster’s notices which advised the public on how to object to the experiment were removed in the space of two weeks? You suggested this was the work of vandals (vandals dressed in Westminster City Council uniforms). Did you inform the police, what appropriate action did you take then?

I note that to date you have failed to publicly challenge, question or condemn those individuals who have acted illegally, or sought to intimidate or harass officers and members, deface public property, or impersonate an elected Member of Westminster Council.

Did Councillor Danny Chalkley really carefully note the contents of the two emails sent from the Chairman of the No To Bike Parking Charges on the 9th and 10th of March? If so, how did he miss the Chairman stating that the harassment, intimidation and bullying of your staff was a despicable act. The Chairmen asked Councillor Danny Chalkley to provide him with the evidence to back up his claims. Councillor Danny Chalkley simply ignored the request and still expected the Chairmen to condemn a group of rogue motorcycle protesters, which as far as we know only exist in Danny Chalkley’s mind.

I cannot comment further on the attempt to obtain confidential information by impersonating an elected Member since this matter is currently being investigated by the Police Computer Crimes Unit. No doubt they will contact you directly if they deem it appropriate.

Then what was the point of mentioning it in the first place Councillor Danny Chalkley? Who is supposed to be doing the intimidating here?

Westminster has maintained a comprehensive incident log recording illegal acts and incidences of intimidation and harassment. This is regularly updated and shared with the Police. This is not a public document and cannot be shared with you.

So again, what is the point of mentioning this if you can’t share your information, this is only yet more intimidation and harassment from Councillor Danny Chalkley. Is Alistair Gilchrist listed in that comprehensive incident log? This would explain why the police are investigating reports of him antagonising a large group of protesters with intention on 17th Feb 2009. Have you also passed that on to the other Westminster Councillor’s Chalkley?

Furthermore, I strongly urge you to desist from actions which damage the West End economy. Your recent protest hindered hard pressed retailers and caused delay and inconvenience on many transport routes.

Now Councillor Danny Chalkley starts to enter the land of Narnia. Has Councillor Danny Chalkley talked to these hard pressed retailers recently? Many of these hard pressed retailers are so sick and tired of Westminster City Council’s constant attempts to deter shoppers from visiting Westminster they are even coming to the next demonstration on the 31st March.

Here’s a few examples of how Westminster City Council work against those hard pressed retailers:

Get real on retail rents
Bayswater CCTV ‘killing trade’
Traffic wardens fake photo evidence

Did Councillor Danny Chalkley think it would help hard pressed retailers to charge scooters and motorcyclists £1.50 to park even on Saturdays. Did Councillor Danny Chalkley think it would help hard pressed retailers when recommending that scooters and motorcycles should also pay the congestion charge. Carry on like you are Chalkley and Westminster will soon be a ghost town you tit.
Your side kick Alistair Gilchrist mocked the small number of protesters at the beginning of the No To Bike Parking Fees campaign, now Chalkley thinks there’s too many.

Your recent protest hindered hard pressed retailers and caused delay and inconvenience on many transport routes. These are not the actions of a responsible group. I call on you to cancel your protest ride on 31st March, which will inevitably delay Londoners seeking to go about their business, many on their journey home.

Did Chalkley send out a similar request to the hundreds of Black Cab drivers before their protest in Westminster? Did Chalkley send a letter asking the Police not to protest through Westminster last year? No, we didn’t think so, these were also non violent protests on a much larger scale, another example of harassment then Chalkley.

…other actions are unnecessary and excessive. They do not promote your arguments, and will disrupt many Londoners with no part to play in your protest.

On one side is the millions of pounds (of tax payers money) Westminster City Council use to promote their arguments, on the other side is an unfunded campaign group. How does Councillor Danny Chalkley suggest a protest group promote their arguments to the same number of Londoners as Westminster City Council can? Had Councillor Danny Chalkley and his team truly consulted the public and motorcycling groups, the voting public would not have to protest.

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Today’s letter from Councillor Danny Chalkley is a shameful example of a Council trying to intimidate and stop a legal peaceful protest. Council insiders have told us how much Westminster staff dislike Councillor Danny Chalkley. It seems he’s not even popular with his own Tory councillors given the fact they choose Colin Barrow to be the leader of the council over Danny Chalkley in their last leadership election. Was it this that turned Councillor Danny Chalkley in to a bitter disliked man?

We urge all protesters coming to the demonstration on 31st March to keep it peaceful and not play in to Westminsters hands. Let’s show Westminster what a political own goal this letter is.