Wait for pier fire justice

The Hastings Observer has today published an edited version of the letter submitted three weeks ago and given it the headline "Wait for pier fire justice goes on".

The letter as printed is indicated by Bold text, with the unprinted sections in standard text

Where were you when Eastbourne Pier was found to be alight? Me, I was at St Leonards Post Office, sending Mediation Support Ltd accounts to Companies House. Sadly this was another year with a bad debt carried over from Hastings Pier’s non-payment for my company writing a grievance policy and undertaking mediation work. As a "Community Development worker specialising in pier fires", it is an occupational hazard that I have even been accused of being behind Eastbourne Pier Fire!

"We Need To Act If We Want Justice" was the brilliant title you gave to my first letter in your paper; three years on the "Hastings Pier Fire Justice Fiasco" has not yet been turned around by a Community Justice -eg Truth & Reconciliation response. My attempt, via Amber Rudd MP, to secure immunity from prosecution for those who engage in a Community Mediation about the Pier Fire, acknowledging the 'victims' and responding to their stories, needs fresh impetus. Eastbourne Pier Fire may be part of this gear change; with each town influencing the other.

Sadly there are many misunderstandings arising from the process of indirect communication with those who were arrested after jumping off the burning Hastings pier. A further set back has been the resistance of The Hastings Independent to run adverts for the 5th October 2014 Truth & Reconciliation meeting, despite my company being the chief underwriter of that paper's advertising income at the time.

It seems hardly surprising to me that The Mirror newspaper on Friday 1st August published the following two sentences which are inaccurately damning of our "best" efforts: "Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd demanded the 144-year old structure should not go the way of nearby piers in Brighton or Hastings destroyed by fire in recent years. Insisting that two-thirds remained untouched, he added 'I'm very hopeful and confident that it will be reopening next year and be back in business.'"

Friday 1st August also saw the Prime Minister visiting Eastbourne Pier and announcing £2 million pounds emergency funding to those whose businesses (unlike the businesses on Hastings Pier) have lost money as a result of the fire.

Some understand the importance of a pier to a town that cares.
One temporarily disheartening response to the BBC News article "What Happens after Pier Fires?" I circulated was from someone aged 23 - ie from the same age group as those arrested after the Hastings Pier Fire: "Who gives a s**t?"

Yours determined as ever to show that we, in Hastings & St Leonards can do better at addressing our suspected case of pier arson , as documented on Sussex Community blog & now http://facebook.com/EastbournePierFire

P.S. to find out more about my commitment to this issue, please see "Pepe Le Pier" on YouTube

or "What I did that led to Hastings Pier Fire" on http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007
Paul Crosland
Mediation Support Ltd





Sarah Owen on Eastbourne Pier Fire vs Hastings

Sarah Owen (MP candidate wrote on Facebook questioning the justice of the £2million for Eastbourne in the immediate aftermath of their pier fire)

I replied as follows:

Thank you for opening up the real discussion about the relationship between Hastings Pier Justice & beyond (see https://www.facebook.com/groups/hastingsjustice/ and http://Facebook.com/Eastbourne Pier Fire) . In the second half of this film (whilst I'm driving back from Eastbourne) I suggest that Eastbourne's benefit may simply be as a result of their fire coming after ours (& the learning about the importance of pier fires in relation to local regeneration that has arisen out of Hastings experience: http://youtu.be/DGHxvTk_yn8 ).
To your posting below about your BBC Radio Sussex dialogue with Cllr Jeremy Birch I have also added a comment (& extended quote):

As I claimed in the Hastings & St Leonards Observer to be the one who moved to Hastings & St Leonards to work with the victims of Hastings Pier Fire (see http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/letters/we-need-to-act-if-we-want-justice-1-2756987), here is the verbatim posting to the main blog about the fire and it's consequences (& now Eastbourne too); which ideally is to be read alongside the http://Facebook.com/EastbournePierFire page I've set up and ask you to view, like and ideally engage with more fully:

Felix said...
"Dear All
As someone who lost at least 60,000pounds in equipment, shop fittings and stock in the pier fire, I find the idea of restorative justice, for me, can only follow one path other than a long jail term, that the two individuals responsible pay for their crimes by paying me and paying the other leaseholders on the pier what they are owed because of their fire related losses too. The loss of the entire shop means a hard long term effect. The Police wanted these two charged and to face a jury. However the Crown Prosecution Service said that there wasn't enough evidence despite all the professional law enforcement people who disagreed with them.

I am not too sure why HPWRT are so involved with this process as they do not own the pier - although I am sure their heart is in the right place.

The other right and proper course of justice is for them to face a fair trial in Court in front of a jury.

We already know that one of their friends in particular is quite disgusted with the way in which they have been bragging in the pub about how they have burned the pier down and got away with it.

It is interesting that the Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the fire and I do think that it is a bit rich of these two to moan about the stress they are feeling because of the length of time they were kept waiting to know whether or not they were to be prosecuted.

The fire affected leaseholders on the pier have certainly not forgotten them.

I don't want sorry, I just want them to pay us our money - that we need and can't afford to lose, end of.

Thank you.

Felix, owner of the destroyed tanning salon on Hastings Pier."
(Comment posted to http://sussexcommunity.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/booking-to-attend-1st-anniversary-film.html )
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NEXT STEPS in community development, co-creating a "more caring and sharing community around you."(?)

1) Value community learning opportunities eg "Hastings Pier Fire Justice Fiasco"/ "We Need To Act If We Want Justice"
2) In responses to all conflagrations develop creativity & flexible nonviolent (direct) action
3) Earn our care in later years by acts of service this week
4) Generate support structures for all with as much wisdom and compassion as we can foster for self and other/world.
(http://StLeonardsSharing.info)

Community Development Support From Hastings to Eastbourne in the wake of their pier fire











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Paul Crosland
Tel Zero7807 066 202 & I'll call back
https://www.facebook.com/EastbournePierFire



http://SussexCommunity.blogspot.co.uk
http://StLeonardsSharing.info
http://freelender.org
http://2066.info
http://telephonemediation.org.uk
http://ApologyPlus.org.uk
http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007 (please subscribe)
http://twitter.com/paulcrosland (please follow)
http://Facebook.com/paulcrosland1 (please befriend)
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What would it take for you to be at least OK, if not pleased, for (some/all of) those on the Hastings pier on 5th October 2010 (& the alledged 30th July 2014 Eastbourne Pier arsonists) to be invited to re-open these Sussex Community piers in Spring?
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Suggested next steps:

1) Keep coming back to the values of "caring and sharing"
2) Where there is difference, build understanding and trust
3) Practice seeing "my" property/wealth as belonging to the community
4) Honour the "5 ways of well being": Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning & Give
5) Value community learning opportunities eg "Hastings Pier Fire Justice Fiasco"/ "We Need To Act If We Want Justice"
6) In responses to all conflagrations develop creativity & flexible nonviolent (direct) action
7) Earn our care in later years by acts of service this week
8) Generate support structures for all with as much wisdom and compassion as we can foster for self and other/world.
(http://StLeonardsSharing.info)
Radio 4 programme on the Sharing Economy - note to Freelending CIC co-director http://bit.ly/1fqs05K

Facebook group - Hastings Pier Fire Justice & Beyond

Facebook group - Hastings Pier Fire Justice & Beyond

PS. If not leafleting or litter picking around your street or helping with running the freelender Mind Body Spirit library, how would you like to earn your first 15 Timebank hours etc.(& what service/events would you most like to spend your Timebank credits on?) Tel Zero7807 066202

To register your interest and thereby hasten the convening of meetings for the 20+ other locals who are interested in moving this forward for the welfare of all: http://stleonardstimebank.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome-register-page.html
And for a general introduction to Timebanking from one of the national organisations who commissioned me to create a social media strategy for them, see: http://timebanking.org.uk




P.P.S. That link again: Facebook group - Hastings Pier Fire Justice & Beyond

Spring 2015 re-opening of pier by alleged arsonists

What would it take for you to be at least OK, if not pleased, for (some/all of) those on the pier on 5th October 2010 to be invited to re-open the pier in Spring 2015?

Community Questionnaire on the completion of Hastings Pier Community Share Scheme

"Community Questionnaire on the completion of Hastings Pier Community Share Scheme":
1) Do you think the pier was insured when it caught fire?
2) Do you think it was arson?
3) Do you believe in the man walking his dog apprehending an 18 & 19 year old? (i.e. Kevin Pearson)
4) How many others do you suspect were on the pier that night?
5) What road has had the finger of blame pointed at one of it's then residents?
6) What do you make of the Criminal Justice response to the fire?
7) What do you make of the HPWRT response to the fire?

8) What do you make of the Borough Council handing on the pier without attaching any conditions about stating what HPWRT knew of the fire & without responding positively to the request for a commitment from Council Leader Jeremy Birch to openness and accountability?

9) What do you make of the attempts at mediation in relation to this case?
10) In what way would you like to influence the Ministry of Justice in their position on the relationship between the criminal prosecution and the community "ethical outing"/ truth/reparation/ reintegration process?
11) Do you see a relationship between the pier fire and the following summer's riots?
12) How do you respond to the quote from the International Institute of Restorative Practice's film "Burning Bridges" that "It takes a community to bring up a child"?
13) What next steps would you be willing to join in?
14) Have you watched any of the films entitled "What I did that led to Hastings Pier Fire?"
15) Have you considered making a film with the hashtag #hastingsjustice?
16) Have you registered interest yet in http://StLeonardsSharing.info/ & the (embryonic) 2066 Timebank at https://Facebook.com/2066Timebanking or http://2066.info/ for short?
17) Are any of the above questions in your opinion outdated i.e. Questions that should just go away with the passing of the next decade, for example?

David Cameron gives Kiss of Death to @thepeoplespier - December 2013 plea to engage with "Hastings Pier Fire Justice & beyond" Facebook Group & Community Development Action, Amber Rudd, please


David Cameron gives Kiss of Death to @thepeoplespier - December 2013 plea to engage with "Hastings Pier Fire Justice & beyond" Facebook Group & Community Development Action, Amber Rudd, please
http://youtu.be/nEl6AKWgqyk

Love from Paul
#FreeRange #Hastings #Buddhist #2066
http://communicatingneeds.org and/or http://apologyplus.org.uk ? - and
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/maria-arpa-on-fairness-dialogue-road.html & history - see 9th-11th Sept 2011 on http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.co.uk/p/national-importance-of-hastings-and-st.htm

The latest of 2,000+ YouTube films from Paul Crosland:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA
OR
Do you prefer to connect more straight-forwardly? :
Tel 0780 70 66 202

& what you can expect from me is here:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-email-footer-is-here-instead-of-on.html

The @paulcrosland Hastings Observer tweet of the week - linking to SussexCommunityBlog and a 2.5 year summary of Pier related #CommunityDevelopment initiatives I have led

The @paulcrosland Hastings Observer tweet of the week - linking to SussexCommunityBlog and a 2.5 year summary of Pier related #CommunityDevelopment initiatives I have led






#Hastings Pier Fire @thepeoplespier and #CommunityDevelopment via Sussex Community Blog

http://youtu.be/nEl6AKWgqyk

Some Links referred to in this film :

11th June 2011 Hastings Observer lead letter via the left side (page tabs of)http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk

Maybrick44 YouTube Channel http://YouTube.com/maybrick44
(Search there for "Man of Shirts" Film)

Hastings Justice blog: http://hastingsjustice.blogspot.co.uk
(On a tab here you'll The grievance policy commissioned from my company, mediation Support Ltd for Hastings Pier & Whiterock Trust (HPWRT))

Sussex Community Blog (here) & sister site(?) http://ApologyPlus.blogspot.co.uk

Toothpaste007 YouTube Channel http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007

"Hastings Pier Justice & beyond" Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hastingsjustice/?ref=ts&fref=ts






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May everyone be loved well,
Paul
#FreeRange #Buddhist
Tel 0780 70 66 202
From Spring 2014, how will you interact with:
1) The Action For Hastings Happiness 'Pay It Forward' Rickshaw?
2) The Book "No Blame, No Pain (Shades of bad/mad/sad/dangerous to know & how we apply these to self/other)?

PS. How do you want to be loved?
PPS. What's my role in that?
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-email-footer-is-here-instead-of-on.html

PPPS. May the Spirit of the recently departed Nelson Mandela live on in you:








With 45days left on the Hastings Pier Community Shares scheme the average investment is just £210

These days talking about money seems to be a greater taboo than talking about sex etc.
Just as the question "What did you do during the war?" is a poignant question, so too is "How much did you pledge to the pier?". Are we holding ourselves and each other to account? How much of our wealth is a sensible amount to put into the pier; a tithe (one tenth)?

Some own no home (myself included) and so a significant contribution to the pier is a step away from home ownership, yet a step towards community. Is this foolishness or the act praised in the Bible - the small amount the widow gave was larger than any amount given by the rich.
Will this be "a people's pier" or largely a Hastings and St Leonards' Home Owners' pier? What percentage of the people here own their homes, let alone have a share in the pier? Respond or leave these questions as you will.

If you give money as a result of following this link, please let me know so that I can count it towards the £10,000-£20,000* target I have set for raising funds

Hastings Pier Community Shares Website Link


Why not increase your commitment to your community & its pier now?



What I'm also doing to help you hold your local Pier owning organisation accountable is sharing this playlist:



http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM4IagQQExoxFLPqCc8OLd8I3xyke2kQJ

Love from Paul #FreeRange #Buddhist #2066
http://communicatingneeds.org and/or http://apologyplus.org.uk ? - and
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/maria-arpa-on-fairness-dialogue-road.html & history - see 9th-11th Sept 2011 on http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.co.uk/p/national-importance-of-hastings-and-st.html 07807066202 (Tel).


To practice a less well developed version of communicating via the four steps of making an OBSERVATION, expressing a FEELING, linking the feeling to a causal NEED & making a REQUEST:
1) My observation is that I've had less than 3 hours sleep
2) I'm feeling raw
3) The needs/values I'm in touch with are peace, harmony, acceptance of difference?, (joy in diversity?), learning/wisdom, ease, friendship, challenge & break-through beyond all the previous failures.
4) My request is that you watch at least part one of Maria Arpa's video about the fairness button that is easily triggered within each of us. Could you, within a week, let me know if you'd like some interaction with Maria Arpa by phoning me on 0780 70 66 202 and then we can clarify how we might get more of what we want from Maria and, like with everyone else, less of what we don't want or don't believe serves our (higher) interests well.
*********
My parting advice to stay connected with someone is to avoid the "3 Ds of disconnection" :
1) Deserve-based language
2) Demand
3) Denial of Responsibility

There's a 4th D but I've forgotten it. Time for some humility around what I don't know in terms of effective strategies to bring people into NVC (nonviolent communication), or at least into mutual comprehension.

May everyone be loved well,
Paul
#FreeRange #Buddhist

+ Action For Hastings Happiness 'Pay It Forward' Rickshaw 'Captain'
& servant of the (WisdomCompassion?) machine that http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007 aspires to be for the world
(beyond my consciousness)
The latest of 2,000+ YouTube films from Paul Crosland:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA
OR
Do you prefer to connect more straight-forwardly? :
Tel 0780 70 66 202

PS. How do you want to be loved?
PPS. What's my role in that?
PPPS. My preferred ways of co-creating a "more caring and sharing
community" around you me and us is on my home page:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk
& what you can expect from me is here:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-email-footer-is-here-instead-of-on.html

*"Of course, there's nothing wrong with being wrong", by which I mean that there is no fixed moral value attached to making mistakes. They are what they are - not ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Also - from an F.M. Alexander perspective it is by ‘being wrong’ that we break habits and discover the flow of life.

Taking on Hastings Pier Fundraising Responsibility




Asked today by a new contact at my office at Southwater Area Community Centre: "What do you do?", I simply said:
"My company, Mediation Support Ltd works on conflicts, in particular when someone experiencing a grievance comes to me for support.
I also fundraise for the pier" Simples.

I make films too to gear myself up to go fundraising, with a commitment to raise £10-£20,000 by close of play for the share scheme (January?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2GFTcKEwAw

[default email footer]
May everyone be loved well,
Paul
#FreeRange #Buddhist
YouTube.com/toothpaste007
TWITTER : @paulcrosland

The latest of 2,000+ YouTube films from Paul Crosland:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA
OR
Do you prefer to connect more straight-forwardly? :
Tel 0780 70 66 202

Love from Paul
#FreeRange #Buddhist
and
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/maria-arpa-on-fairness-dialogue-road.html & history - see 9th-11th Sept 2011 on http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.co.uk/p/national-importance-of-hastings-and-st.html


To practice a less well developed version of communicating via the four steps of making an OBSERVATION, expressing a FEELING, linking the feeling to a causal NEED & making a REQUEST:
1) My observation is that I've had less than 3 hours sleep
2) I'm feeling raw
3) The needs/values I'm in touch with are peace, harmony, acceptance of difference?, (joy in diversity?), learning/wisdom, ease, friendship, challenge & break-through beyond all the previous failures.
4) My request is that you watch at least part one of Maria Arpa's video about the fairness button that is easily triggered within each of us. Could you, within a week, let me know if you'd like some interaction with Maria Arpa by phoning me on 0780 70 66 202 and then we can clarify how we might get more of what we want from Maria and, like with everyone else, less of what we don't want or don't believe serves our (higher) interests well.

PS. How do you want to be loved?
PPS. What's my role in that?
PPPS. My preferred ways of co-creating a "more caring and sharing
community" around you me and us is on my home page:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk
& what you can expect from me is here:
additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-email-footer-is-here-instead-of-on.html

For the Pier Community Shares scheme I will raise at least £10,000 & if Hastings Pier Charity negotiate about the unpaid Mediation Support Ltd invoice, possibly double that



















Dear Ray,

My intuition is to share this with you, Maria Arpa and Paul Baker (also from the September 2011 Dialogue Road Map training). Seeing as we've only exchanged pleasantries once in 18 months (paths not crossing) & what with the unpaid Mediation Support Ltd invoice for £150 (which I'm willing to write off but still feel undervalued in relation to), I don't know what terms we are on.

Can we meet for coffee before I set a target of raising £20,000 for the Community Share Scheme in the next month by visiting shop-keepers as I describe in this film?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgEr3MR9i9w

Meeting for a coffee would be great; Mondays to Wednesdays are usually the exceptions to my availability but try me.

[default email footer]
May everyone be loved well,
Paul
#FreeRange #Buddhist

+ Action For Hastings Happiness 'Pay It Forward' Rickshaw 'Captain'
& servant of the (WisdomCompassion?) machine that http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007 aspires to be for the world
(beyond my consciousness)
The latest of 2,000+ YouTube films from Paul Crosland:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA
OR
Do you prefer to connect more straight-forwardly? :
Tel 0780 70 66 202
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk
& what you can expect from me is here:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-email-footer-is-here-instead-of-on.html

& if you want to make it easier for me to do what you want me to do try http://communicatingneeds.org

Parting Shot: "Of course, there's nothing wrong with being wrong", by which I mean that there is no fixed moral value attached to making mistakes. They are what they are - not ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Also - from an F.M. Alexander perspective it is by ‘being wrong’ that we break habits and discover the flow of life" (Quote from "DB" - the Restorative Justice guy I try to emulate.)

Sussex Community Services




From Spring 2014, please use the Action For Hastings Happiness 'Pay It Forward' Rickshaw along the prom (at no charge).
And why not take away to read "No Blame, No Pain"

PS. How do you want to be loved?
PPS. What's my role in that?
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-email-footer-is-here-instead-of-on.html

Justice Fiasco and the ongoing responsibility of those who were on the pier that night


What would be the best title for a documentary made from the films on the blog since the October 2010 pier fire? "Hastings Pier Fire Justice Fiasco"?  

Now that the two arrestees have come of age (ie both over 21), please come forward by adding to YouTube (anonymously if you want) your film "What I did that led to Hastings Pier Fire". (Google this phrase to see community contributions so far to taking responsibility for what is surely Hastings & St Leonards' shame?).

I don't know what the effect has been of the Facebook group "Hastings Pier Justice", or on this Sussex Community blog or Hastings Justice blog (http://hastingsjustice.blogspot.co.uk) or Ethical Outings in Hastings blog (http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.co.uk); created to serve the cause of community development about when it is best to "out" people or how best to encourage people to out themselves.

For the persistent young offender who has been tarred with the brush of being the main individual culpable in the mysterious case of Hastings Pier Fire, my question is "What is it like for you to be so accused?".

I look forward to resolution of these matters, and a new community-wide engagement in justice in Hastings & St Leonards by the time those arrested for the Hastings Pier Fire have reached 25 i.e. by 2016. May they have the courage to "out" themselves and speak about this matter of local heritage and may the community create a legacy of a culture in which justice is seen to be done by all, and justice is done for all,

Paul Crosland
Director, Mediation Support Ltd
Southwater Area Community Centre
1-2 Stainsby St, St Leonards.

Some of the remarkable videos generated on the 2nd Anniversary of Hastings Pier Fire


Never, in the history of http://www.facebook.com/groups/hastingsjustice has there been so much activity in 24 hours, including some great ideas for brining out truth, reparation and re-integration into peaceful co-existence.

See you on Friday?


And then, once we are in eye contact, how well will we hear each other & synergise for the wellbeing of all?