THE BRISTOLIAN: Smiter of the High & Mighty - back on the streets for March 2013

[big eejit]

Another issue, another direct hit... Green councillor and Assistant Mayor Gus Hoyt has responsibility for council housing, who has recently been lecturing people about the need to keep public housing stock out of the private sector - pretty reasonable, really.

Except, in 2012 he bought a family-sized flat - cash deal, no mortgage - off the council for £186,500. And tried to keep quiet about it!

Ooooops...

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/19/hoyt-in-housing-hypocrisy/

Which led to:

http://www.bristol247.com/2014/05/1...te-bristolians-housing-hypocrite-story-43084/

Which in turn led to:

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/19/hoyts-housing-hypocrisy-update/

And then this:

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/blog/statement-by-gus-hoyt-my-home

Exactly how either baldly stating that a councillor bought his flat off the council, or accusing him of being a hypocrite in a 72pt front page headline, is ‘innuendo’ is not something Hoyt has managed to explain thus far.

For that matter, in what way admitting that he bought a flat off the council (a fact, after all) is ‘refuting’ it is also something of a puzzler...

I dunno what all the fuss is about. The housing policy page on Bristol Green Party website quite clearly states that "We support innovative solutions by communities to creating and managing affordable homes and neighbourhood facilities such as co-operatives and co-housing."

This is clearly an innovative solution to create an affordable home for Cllr Hoyt. He should be applauded for living up to his party's ideals.

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/policy-housing-planning-green-spaces

 

[DaveCinzano]

I dunno what all the fuss is about. The housing policy page on Bristol Green Party website quite clearly states that "We support innovative solutions by communities to creating and managing affordable homes and neighbourhood facilities such as co-operatives and co-housing."

This is clearly an innovative solution to create an affordable home for Cllr Hoyt. He should be applauded for living up to his party's ideals.

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/policy-housing-planning-green-spaces

He belittled others who did the same thing; he has lied about what he knew and when he knew it; he bangs on about how poor he is, yet bought a flat for cash.

And he hid what he did.

ETA:

And what's "We support innovative solutions by communities to creating and managing affordable homes and neighbourhood facilities such as co-operatives and co-housing" got to do with anything here? He bought the flat outright for himself.

 

[big eejit]

He belittled others who did the same thing; he has lied about what he knew and when he knew it; he bangs on about how poor he is, yet bought a flat for cash.

And he hid what he did.

ETA:

And what's "We support innovative solutions by communities to creating and managing affordable homes and neighbourhood facilities such as co-operatives and co-housing" got to do with anything here? He bought the flat outright for himself.

I was being sarcastic.

 

[butchersapron]

Cash eh? Interesting.

 

[big eejit]

It's always the (attempted) cover up that gets them.

 

[butchersapron]

Pin his tail down - see what other shit comes out. Blind eh? Great work.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I was being sarcastic.

Fair play

 

[DaveCinzano]

Hang on, there's more!

Hoyt wrongly claims he bought the house in 2011 - yet it wasn't even put on the market until well into 2012!

Not only that, in January 2012 Hoyt was sent council paperwork detailing how this house - “three doors down” from his then-home, so with an address you'd think he might notice - was a BCC property, and that it would be sold on the open market if no objections were made.

Well, it was placed on the open market, so it seems reasonable to assume that Augustus Poop didn't object to this particular council property being transferred into the private sector!

And yes, cash deal, no mortgage. Perhaps he has a rich American daddy or something?

 

[big eejit]

From the comments it seems that the Post are going to be following up the house story. The mayor's fanzine investigating his favourite pet councillor? Too much of a liability?

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/31-796...istant-Mayor/story-21114449-detail/story.html

 

[el-ahrairah]

all good stuff Dave, keep it coming

 

[DaveCinzano]

Here's Augustus Hoyt literally about to dig himself into an even bigger hole:

 

[DaveCinzano]

It's just not going away...

Assistant mayor Gus Hoyt has come under more fire over allegations of hypocrisy over his purchase of a council-owned house in Montpelier in 2012.

He denied to Bristol24-7 yesterday that he saw an email from Bristol City Council’s housing services team sent in January 2012 informing him of the authority’s intention to sell a property in Cobourg Road.

Cllr Hoyt said he had not been aware that the property he eventually went on to buy in a blind auction later that year had been council-owned until he had received official documents following his expression of interest.

http://www.bristol247.com/2014/05/20/gus-hoyt-under-new-fire-over-council-house-sale-35816/

So it looks like the answer to the question posed yesterday by The BRISTOLIAN...

was Gusty a CRAP COUNCILLOR, who didn’t properly read his paperwork, or a GREEDY HYPOCRITE, who demands higher standards from others than himself?

...is a resounding CRAP COUNCILLOR!

 

[ddraig]

great work
love seeing these types wriggle and pay for what they thought was easy to get away with!

 

[DaveCinzano]

Of course the irritating thing about this particular mini-scandal is seeing the Lib Dems booting the political football around on this... When they were the ones in charge since 2009, and still running a minority administration from 2011-2013!

 

[DaveCinzano]

GustyGate now reaching the nationals:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...istant-mayor-gus-hoyt-32000-pound-job-low-pay

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lary-Twitter-despite-earning-32-000-year.html

 

[Geri]

Daily Mail couldn't find an actual photo of Montpelier so they had to use one of Bishopston.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Daily Mail couldn't find an actual photo of Montpelier so they had to use one of Bishopston.

It's not exactly representative of Montpelier, but that Streetview screengrab is closer to Montpelier proper than Bishopston!

 

[big eejit]

Daily Mail couldn't find an actual photo of Montpelier so they had to use one of Bishopston.

I'm sure they could find one if they knew how to use Google maps. Which is where their Bishopston pic comes from.

 

[butchersapron]

It's not exactly representative of Montpelier, but that Streetview screengrab is closer to Montpelier proper than Bishopston!

Wrongo!

 

[discokermit]

if he's on thirty odd grand a year and according to him mainly earnt minimum wage before that, how did he manage to buy that council flat cash?

 

[DaveCinzano]

if he's on thirty odd grand a year and according to him mainly earnt minimum wage before that, how did he manage to buy that council flat cash?

Bank of rich American dad?

 

[discokermit]

aaaah.

 

[DaveCinzano]

He has a pretty elastic way of defining who or what he is. You may have noticed the Mail article refers to him as a “former labourer”.

Well, he was helping do up a ‘dilapidated mill’ in the months leading up to the 2011 elections when he took the Ashley ward seat vacated by the previous idiot incumbent (Lib Dem Shirley Marshall, who caused a bit of a stir by calling an Asian councillor from a different party “a coconut”, before fucking off to Florida whilst still claiming her allowance). But mostly he referred to himself as a chef, a cook or a kitchen porter (depending on the audience, it would seem).

Walter Augustus has also claimed to have “spent an eight month stint as a cowboy in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and have been an apprentice paramedic”.

 

[William of Walworth]

Plenty of the above is familiar now. Loving our paper copy of the Bristolian -- festivaldeb picked up one from some pub or other in BS on Sunday

 

[DaveCinzano]

Another BRISTOLIAN win: after backing local residents in Avonmouth over the appalling fly infestation caused by biomass profiteers BoomEco fucking up (a mess compounded by the Environment Agency and the Council both doing sweet FA), millionaire mayor George Ferguson and Cllr Gus Hoyt have announced that BCC will be making fly spray (and/or fly paper) available and offering fumigation to those affected.

That's after days and weeks of ignoring the pleas of local people, and the company responsible (one of George's favoured ‘green’ firms) pleading poverty and prevaricating.

Here's the background:

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/16/avonmouth-plague-shocker/

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/26/a-reader-writes-colin-coleman-on-the-pollution-of-avonmouth/

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/30...-to-the-streets-over-biomass-fly-infestation/

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/30/avonmouth-hoyty-toyty-in-turd-shocker/

http://thebristolian.net/2014/05/30/avonmouth-exclusive-crime-corruption-and-cover-up/

http://thebristolian.net/2014/06/03/flys-on-toast/

http://thebristolian.net/2014/06/05/avonmouth-dust-forum-on-the-bbc/

 

[ddraig]

result! respect! tidy

 

[DaveCinzano]

 

[FlashJordon]

I'm about to blow the lid off this whole thing with Gus purchasing 49B Cobourg Road.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I'm about to blow the lid off this whole thing with Gus purchasing 49B Cobourg Road.

What, it's worse than him using his rich parents' money to knowingly buy a council house and blagging free legal services off BCC, all whilst pleading poverty and mouthing off against anyone who has ever exercised RTB?