Bristol Gangnam style

If the Gangnam zeitgeist is about marginalising the rich
and being part of the greater public, then Bristol's mayor
is on the right track.

There is a movement in Bristol that has its own
currency and is seeking to keep this money
circulating in Bristol rather than going to the
Caymans.

The mayor has signed up, by swapping his
pay for Bristol pounds.
That's what we like to see.

read 'em:  guardian.co.uk

Mayor to take salary in Bristol pounds

George Ferguson scraps parking measure and seeks ideas to tackle £32m hole in budget, on first day in job

    Steven Morris
    Tuesday 20 November 2012 06.00 GMT

George Ferguson, Bristol mayor

George Ferguson on election night. Photograph: Rod Minchin/PA

On his first day in office the new independent mayor of Bristol rebranded the Council House, scrapped a parking measure brought in only a few weeks ago and announced he would take his salary in the city's local currency.

George Ferguson, who beat 14 candidates to become mayor, also revealed on Monday that the hole in the city council's budget was £32m – £4m greater than he had expected. Ferguson said he would work with anybody who could come up with a clever way of finding the savings needed without harming services.

Ferguson's first decision of his three-and-a-half year tenure was to scrap the name Council House and replace it with City Hall. At his swearing-in ceremony at Temple Meads station, he said the new name showed that the building and the work that went on inside it belonged to the people of Bristol, not to the mayor or the councillors.

Ferguson, wearing his trademark bright red trousers, also revealed that he was scrapping charges for on-street parking on Sundays. He said that from next year he would look at making parts of the city traffic-free on the first Sunday of every month, as happens in Bristol's twin city, Bordeaux.

To applause, Ferguson said he wanted to move fast. He did not want to commission expensive surveys or report on initiatives. "Let's just do it and see how it turns out," he said.

Of his salary – currently £51,000, though the figure could change – Ferguson said he would take it in Bristol pounds, a currency introduced this year and proving a success.

... Ferguson completed his speech by asking everyone present to join him as he took the oath made by young men of Athens when they became citizens: "I shall not leave this city any less but rather greater than I found it."