A POLITICIAN who accused gypsy travellers of “environmental terrorism” insisted last night that he wasn’t racist.

The comments by Neil Cooney, a Labour councillor, sparked calls for him to be sacked.

At an Aberdeen City Council meeting discussing the establishment of official temporary sites for travelling people, Mr Cooney used the term as he described the condition in which some areas had been left.

Alfie Kefford, the chairman of the Gypsy Council, said Mr Cooney’s remarks were “highly offensive” and called for him to be removed from office.

He said: “We are extremely angry at what this man has said and want him sacked.

“He would not be allowed to use terminology like that against any other ethnic minority, but because we are gypsies he thinks he can get away with it.”

Kate Dean, the Liberal Democrat council leader, told Mr Cooney she was disappointed that “racist, xenophobic and discriminatory language” was rife in the council chamber.

Mr Cooney said he felt the response to his comments had been “extreme”.

“It is quite over the top,” he said. “In no way am I a racist and I am not xenophobic or discriminatory.

“I suggested that, on some occasions, travellers were environmental vandals and on one or two occasions you could call it environmental terrorism.”

He added that he had been referring to a minority of travellers who left rubbish at the sites.

“I am totally in agreement with having settled sites for travellers, but they should not be given preferential treatment and allowed to flout the law,” he said.

The local authority is considering setting up a number of “halting sites” where travellers could stay legally. It is hoped this will help reduce the number of unauthorised camps on private and council-owned land in and around Aberdeen.

Under Scottish law, gypsy travellers are classed as an ethnic minority and they cannot be moved from an unauthorised site if the local authority has not provided an adequate number of spaces.

The Commission for Racial Equality also raised concerns yesterday about Mr Cooney’s comments.

A spokeswoman said: “Travellers are an integral part of our communities and have as much right to receive services as anybody else.

“There is a great tendency to draw stereotypes on the basis of the behaviour of a minority of individuals.

“It is unacceptable to stereotype any group in this way.”

Nina Giles, the director of Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council, told The Scotsman: “There were problems a few years ago in Edinburgh over sites for gypsies, but I don’t remember this sort of language being used.

“It is not helpful to race relations to label a particular ethnic group like that. There is also no evidence to base the statement on.”

There are believed to be between 200,000 and 300,000 gypsy travellers in the United Kingdom.

October 11, 2007 — My upstairs neigh-bors have twin toddlers who are tromping around all day long. I’m no meanie, but they are always up early and making a huge racket. What can I do?

Since these children have gone from little sacks of cuteness to mobile creatures, it’s possible that the parents are completely unaware of this new noise their family is producing outside their walls.

You’ll want to approach the problem with kid gloves (sorry!), since children do stagger, run and fall down a lot, especially when they are just learning to get around. It’s part of their natural development, even if it can be disturbing to others.

Many rentals, co-ops and condos have rules regarding noise written into their official documents, and they usually involve carpeting. Read your own lease or the building’s bylaws first. It’s common to find clauses requiring tenants to have a substantial percentage -usually 80 percent - of the floors covered with carpet to reduce noise.

As a parent myself, I will tell you that carrot works a lot better than stick in matters of scolding parents. A friendly conversation with your neighbors or a short, positive note might do the trick. Remind them that soft floors and children work well together - after all, toddlers can get bruised.

If the friendly approach doesn’t work, you’ll have to ask your landlord or co-op or condo board to intervene. Or, if there is no carpet stipulation, then you will have to work with the landlord or manager of the building for some resolution, because you’re entitled to peaceful enjoyment of your apartment.

My building just hired a doorman who makes me nervous. He is overly friendly and flirty with me, and he insists on carrying my bags to my door - in a deserted hallway. I live alone and, while he’s never done anything overt, he totally gives me the creeps. Is there anything I can do?

All building employees should add to your sense of security in your home, not the opposite.

Is it possible that you are over-reacting to an extra-friendly employee? Or is it possible that your doorman got confused when he took the job, thinking he was trying out for the job of a porter?

A call to the management to express your concern should reassure you, and someone can speak to the individual in an anonymous manner.

However, if this person continues to make you uncomfortable, look for other tenants who feel the same way. Be sure to register an official complaint.

Doormen have a strong union and normally follow an excellent code of conduct, and you shouldn’t have to put up with one bad egg. Having a doorman should always be a good thing.

October 11, 2007 — THERE’S a very particular vibe to Vanessa Carlton’s brick-walled, 2,600-square-foot Nolita loft, and Carlton has a distinct term for the warm, rustic space she’s created.

“I call it ‘Lord of the Rings’ meets Victoriana,” says the 26-year-old singer/songwriter - who is known for the 2002 smash “A Thousand Miles,” and whose new album, “Heroes & Thieves,” was released on Tuesday.

“All of these wooden pines, that’s all out of a cabin,” she says, referring to several wooden tables. “I love the woods, hence all this stuff out of the Shire. I like the whimsy. But then I also like Art Nouveau and curves, so you see a lot of curves here along with bursts of color.”

The massive living room in the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment Carlton purchased in 2004 has been left purposefully airy. Her massive Andrianna Shamaris couch, several chairs she bought at Housing Works, the cowhide rugs and the touring Yamaha piano crafted just for her seem small compared to the uncluttered space around them.

Considering that most of “Heroes & Thieves” (the first single off the album is “Nolita Fairytale”) was written in her home, having a creative aura in the loft was essential.

“I was very inspired by the vibe here - especially looking out the window,” Carlton says of her ceiling-height front-wall view. “A lot of my ideas for this record came on my long walks [around the neighborhood], and then I would come back here and write what I’d been thinking about. There really is a very deep, underlying connection between this space and my record.”

She found the loft after a yearlong search that taught her that “there’s really no way to get a true loft space and the amenities of a building, like a doorman,” in Manhattan. But that search also helped her understand what she truly wanted in a home.

“I realized I liked something that’s really old, preferably built in the late 1800s or early 1900s,” says Carlton, who was almost turned off by the “slick” design sensibility of the loft’s previous owner, but was won over by the brick walls and burgeoning Nolita ‘hood.>PAGE 1>