1.    What do you think have been the most effective actions your council has taken to deliver democracy locally during the Coronavirus pandemic? Eg housing the homeless, setting up support hubs, waiving local property taxes, providing more cycleways, etc
Obviously, the City Council 2020 elections were cancelled at short notice. We must thank the many councillors who were planning on stepping down or retiring who have continued for the extra year. The Labour run City Council has very effectively adapted to the need for sudden change of priorities and spending and the sudden drop in income streams such as money that would normally have been raised from car parking charges and rents from businesses. Where priorities had to change, it is good to see that the Labour City Council has been able to restart plans into 2021/2022 such as the development and rebuild of Bullingdon and East Oxford Community Centres which were shelved last year due to the pandemic. The City Council's efforts to get rough sleepers off the streets and safe from Covid have been absolutely fantastic. I work in this field and know because of the Labour City Council's efforts and the efforts of its partners that there is not a single entrenched rough sleeper who has not accessed some of the Covid 19 Emergency Hostel accommodation. What is more, the pandemic has uncovered the hidden homeless, the many who sofa surf each day and for whom once the need for lockdown and to isolate came into place, there was no longer the option to sofa surf and were facing the prospect of rough sleeping. All of those people including many who have no recourse to public funds were found accommodation in Covid 19 emergency hotels and hostels and many have since been helped to move on to more permanent accommodation.
The local support hubs set up by the Labour City Council have been a brilliant way of bringing our communities together and ensuring that those most in need of help have not been abandoned   2.    For each of these please describe briefly how they have contributed to local democratic participation, eg how/have the homeless had a say on how and where they have been housed and what they personally might do to help others?
The stability provided by the Covid 19 Emergency accommodation for the homeless has given many the stability they needed and enabled them to get better access to the professionals who support them to tackle their homelessness or address the issues such as budgeting, substance or alcohol misuse or mental health that may be factors which have made it difficult for them to access or maintain accommodation themselves. Professionals have helped individuals explore the options available to them and support them in the choices they make. The Lord Mayor's Deposit Scheme and The Make It HappenFund have helped many access the Private Rented Sector.  
3.    How have you worked together with local community and street support groups?
I work on a daily basis as an Outreach worker with rough sleepers and have been going into work on a daily basis, at times continuing my Outreach work on the streets but also adapting to work in the Emergency hostels and hotels.  
4.    To what extent has the pandemic led you to do/think about doing things differently as a locally elected representative to work/act democratically?
I am not an elected representative, I am a candidate at the upcoming City Council Elections. During the pandemic, when it has been allowed, I have delivered newsletters to local people informing them about what the Labour City Council is doing or plans to do. I have tried to make these newsletters interactive, using part of them to ask voters for their ideas, such as parking in certain roads, or changes to the local park local people might want. I have telephoned a small number of local voters whose numbers are available from phone directories to speak to them about the issues they want to raise. I have helped to host Zoom meetings around the issue of the Temple Cowley LTN ad the Temple Rd school street. Once it was allowed, I have gone door to door wearing a mask and talked to people about the things that matter to them.  
5.    Following the implementation of the 2019 Oxford Citizens' Assembly into cabinet member's responsibilities, how has this helped / will this help you to work on climate emergency measures?
I am not a cabinet member.
Simon Ottino Labour Candidate for Temple Cowley