Regeneration - Pah...
The Phantom's cross today. What is this picture of? You might well ask...This is part of what was formerly one of those "tart up a neglected area" projects, on the corner of Eastney Street and Trafalgar Road. Where the bus stop is.
A fair few quid were spent making this look a bit nicer - to add a little touch of smartness and pzazz to a sad little corner. They put in a few shrubs, a shapely seat or three and a bit of paving there, all tied in together with some slightly random concrete bobbles and a row of little blue lights in the ground.
Nothing special - but it added a glow - the feeling that someone gave a damn about it - that it wasn't forgotten. That once 'main' Greenwich ended, somewhere around the car park between the ORNC and Trafalgar Road, things were still somehow cared for.
I used to love those little lights - a small blue glow that made me smile. I'm a simple kind of Phantom, with simple pleasures.
Then they stopped working. I emailed Mary Mills and, I'll give credit where credit's due, after a painful few months of her nagging, the council finally fixed them and they worked for a few short weeks.
Then they stopped again. This time, it would seem, even the mighty Mary Mills wasn't enough to stop the council just filling it in with dollops of concrete.
IT'S NOT EVEN DONE NEATLY FOR CHRISSAKE.
These bloomin' lights can be bought for home installation for a few quid in B&Q and put in by a home handyman. All across the country gardens are full of 'em. Walk through the Peninusla park and they're working (though on another note, the water fountains aren't...) At the Dome itself they've got little coloured strips in their concrete paths. How hard can it be to maintain half a dozen little lamps at a bus stop in East Greenwich? Too hard for Greenwich Council's maintenance team, it would seem.
When will they learn that it's the little things that create pride in a community? The little things that say "This bit's cared for - respect it, ok?"
It's all very well ploughing money into Projects, with a capitol P - and East Greenwich seems to get all kinds of art/gloss paint-jobs/new design 'projects' aimed at it. But without some kind of integral covenant, created at the time of commission, to maintain these innovations once they're installed, it can actually make an area worse. It can create a Marvin the Paranoid Pavement of a once proud project. It can make an area say "I was cared for once by someone. For a little while. And now they've moved on. Forget me. I don't matter."
Here's what the filled-in lights look like now - a row of little urban cowpats, surrounded by an ever-encroaching selection of brambles and bindweed to remind us how low East Greenwich comes in the pecking order.
Ok. It's a few lights. I'll pull myself together and get a life now.Labels: Debates, Greenwich street lighting
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:37
15 Comments:
I entirely agree. It's got that "can't be bothered" air about it which to my mind is best not to start such a project in the first place if you have no intention of looking after it.
I'm with you too, Phantom. You can tell where the boundary for the WHS is by the way in which it's looked (not) after.
It's a pity that the 'bit between the Dome and the ORNC' is regarded as the poor relation to the rest of Greenwich. All we get is the promise of a brighter and more fluffy future.....Still waiting!!!!
PS. Anyone know when the work on the Old hospital site is due to begin?
Yes, it's too bad. And it's the same thing on the Thames Path from East Greenwich to the Dome - all these little millennial projects and 'gardens' which now look utter rubbish because no-one's touched them since late 1999. I mean, it's paradise for an amateur photographer like me that likes urban wasteland, but I'm sure I'd cope if someone decided to put some effort in somewhere.
Phantom
We've been banging on for YEARS about the state of maintenance around east Greenwich, or should I say the lack of it. I've emailed you seperately with a couple of pictures of the grass cutting along Tunnel Avenue and the sheer incompetance of the 'gardeners'. We truely are the poor relations to West Greenwich and I'm afraid that we only seem to get platitudes and repeat excuses from councillors and officials. It is a sorry state of affairs.
If you can keep Christ out of your rantings it would be appreciated.
Thanks
Can Anyone else see the word 'Christ' in this post? (Other than in RussNess's comment)
When the Phantom wrote 'IT'S NOT EVEN DONE NEATLY FOR CHRISSAKE.' I though he was invoking the name of our Local Supreme Being, Mr Chris Roberts. or am I wrong Phantom???
I was going to post a snarky reply to russness but then I thought about it and I feel that saying 'for Christ's sake' is apt. Didn't Christ preach that we have a duty to our fellow man?
The Phantom is angry at the attitude of TPTB, who he seems to feel are telling the community that they don't matter: they aren't rich, they aren't influential and no one is paying good money to gaze at their porticos.
We need to value all sectors of society, not just those we are part of or aspire to belong to. The physical care and provision of amenities is one of the most tangible ways that we experience our lords and masters. If they can't be arsed to do a decent job in looking after their patch then what are we to draw from that? Such examples may seem petty but each small instance adds up to the bigger picture. If you want your community to value itself and each other, if you want people to seek to improve their lot and that of those around them then slapping them in the face will not help.
Sorry to rant but I work with kids and I'm sick of seeing how few of them have any real hope and aspirations, I'm sick of holding my breath each time I hear about the latest dead teenager. If we don't teach them that they are valued then why should they value each other?
Worry not, Phantom. As they say, all publicity is God publicity.
The Phantom is a she
And Christ would agree with her
Waaaait. The Phantom is a she?
I feel unbelievably blonde, right now.
As for the matter at hand, it's sad, and distressing, that council's just don't seem to care about anything beyond a few weeks of superficial tidying up. It's like giving a small child a pet. They say they'll take care of it, they say they'll feed it and groom it. But after a couple of weeks, they get bored and can't be bothered anymore.
I really liked those lights, as well. They were a sweet little touch.
Maybe us folks living in the 'in between' bit of Greenwich should start paying some council tax, then maybe things would get taken care of...oh hang, what's that massive standing order I have set up going to the council each month!
A she? Sorry Phantom. Please don't haunt me.
I commented on those recently too. Loved the lights - they have similar down Hoskins street near the power station - they havent yet been pathetically covered up but they dont work... such a shame and shame on those that couldnt be bothered to sort these little lights out properly.
Hey, it's not all doom and gloom, we've got that lovely new gaming arcade opposite the Co-op in Trafalgar Road... sure does bring a touch of class to the neighbourhood. Just what we needed, oh yes.
Mary Mills sent me this:
the lights at the top of Eastney Street were put in by a development agency which went out of existence some years ago. It turned out that the lights hadn't been installed properly - something about water pooling in them - council staff kept trying to mend them but couldn't do it. I will chase them about the poor standard of filling though.
The stuff on the peninsula is nothing to do with the council but it is all maintained by English Partnerships. I don't know anything about the fountains (I can find out if you like). The fountains by the Pilot were installed by the landscape architects who did the whole area for the Millennium. They have never worked properly and EP have spent a lot of money trying to make them work.
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