Welcome to Lambeth - Seriously
- Thread starter pooka
- Start date
IIRC a BAC committee member said it in as many words on the BAC thread. She has certainly said as much in as many words to me. Personally I think this is misguided because, IMV, you can't run an arts squat in Brixton without it being a political action/statement, but then I'm not involved.aurora green said:
I agree. It's a crock.I think it's really important to keep this thing going, because I really fear that this whole revitalise thing is a stitch-up that will end with us loosing the rec.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
That's now my new wallpaper.IntoStella said:
aurora green said:Have they actually said that then?
I think it's really important to keep this thing going, because I really fear that this whole revitalise thing is a stitch-up that will end with us loosing the rec.
From Lambeths' What is revitalise page:
The Rec was completely closed at the weekend - no sports, loads of people's parties and social events cancelled - because of water and leak problems.
There may well be a proposal to close the existing Rec / wreck, but does that automatically mean no replacement sports / swimming facilities?
aurora green
Tectonic
OpalFruit said:
Well by calling the Rec, the wreck, I guess your feelings are pretty clear, but I love it, I'm there once or twice a week and really appreciate the facilities.
The thing is I just dont trust Lambeth not to sell us short.
I cant forget what they have done to Dick Sheppard secondary school (demolished, land sold off to developers for luxury flats, leaving pityful shortfall in the boroughs' secondary school provision.) I just dont trust them to serve us well.
I feel the need to post Mrs.Ms' new wallpaper.
hendo
Fish finger sandwiches
I think we all know that Lambeth is a very poor council indeed, that offers council tax payers very poor value for money - even the government's own measurement for these things tells us this, and we have the added evidence of our own eyes.
It can only be relied on to take the rubbish away, and arrange for a firm to give you endless parking tickets.
And unfortunately it can also be relied upon to close things without replacing them; like the rec and before it, our secondary schools.
We should fight the latest 'close the rec' proposal tooth and nail, by making it clear to our councillors our level of distaste.
I'll be contacting mine, as well as my MP. We know very well the rec will be closed (in reality to save money) and the debate to replace it will then be carried on for two or three decades.
It can only be relied on to take the rubbish away, and arrange for a firm to give you endless parking tickets.
And unfortunately it can also be relied upon to close things without replacing them; like the rec and before it, our secondary schools.
We should fight the latest 'close the rec' proposal tooth and nail, by making it clear to our councillors our level of distaste.
I'll be contacting mine, as well as my MP. We know very well the rec will be closed (in reality to save money) and the debate to replace it will then be carried on for two or three decades.
hendo said:
It is possible to do what's been done in Streatham with the ice rink - which is to write a contract that makes it impossible to close the old venue until the new one is ready - which is pretty cast iron. This would obviously be a bit tricky if the new Rec is on the old Rec site - but all you really need is a commitment from all the main parties in Brixton that this will not happen (perhaps they could put the land in a trust that could handle this?). I'd suggest a petition or campaign - mybrixton.org is quite a good vehicle for this.
Good idea. There should also be an undertaking that there should be no diminution of the services available in terms of 'quantity' and quality -- ie, we should not be fobbed off with a smaller pool or no pool at all.Bob said:
OOOOH! Do post it up when it comes out.kea said:errrrr there might be a small piece about this in a certain social policy magazine's diary column this week ... and a cartoon ...
kea said:
Can't you scan it in and stick it on photobucket?
you production types really confuse me 
aurora green
Tectonic
I cant wait!
ok here ya go - the diary item says:
can't post a pic of the cartoon yet but basically it's a big billboard saying 'welcome to lambeth, and believe me, you're welcome to it' with 2 people standing in front of it, one saying to the other 'frankly i'm not sure if the new slogan is an improvement.'
can't post a pic of the cartoon yet but basically it's a big billboard saying 'welcome to lambeth, and believe me, you're welcome to it' with 2 people standing in front of it, one saying to the other 'frankly i'm not sure if the new slogan is an improvement.'
aurora green
Tectonic
Well done Kea!
Yeah, very good.aurora green said:
Bob said:
I think this is a good idea. I only called it the 'wreck' in my previous post because that described the temporary state of it's most recent closure due to problems . I use it too, but I think the design is very uneconomical in terms of both maintenance and wasted space (those huge atriums etc). The entrance for wheelchair users or people with buggies is awful.
The problem with living in Lambeth is that you constantly feel you have to defend something crap for fear of getting something worse, or not having it at all. But unless that changes, it will stay crap!
Closing the pool / gym / meeting spaces in Brixton without replacement sounds like political death to me...and I'm sure that any Cllrs who forget that can be reminded by conscientious voters!
Ha ha ha.OpalFruit said:
Political death?
They've all been zombies for years already.
None of them have a clue what they are doing and even if they had a clue what to do they don't have any control over the mechanisms at work anyway. This car crash is far bigger than any of them and it just keeps going and going.
aurora green
Tectonic
OpalFruit said:
I dont think the leisure centre is crap, at all.
It's a fine leisure centre for an inner city.
Huge beautiful pool (anyone who hasn't swam in the evening, I urge them to do so) Really great, warm teaching pool, we'd be lucky to get such nice pools again. Then there's Adventure world, the soft play area, an absolute haven for parents of small children, and the indoor bowling area, I bet that brings so much pleasure to the older in our community, would Lambeth replace these I wonder?
So much goes on in there, and is able to go on, thanks to it's sheer size, which I think we deserve , we dont have much space to stretch out around here.
I think the rec is well worth saving, I find it hard to believe that a replacement would offer the same ammenities.
You might think the space within the rec is "wasted", but I really dont think that space would be better used as a new shopping centre or carpark.
I actually wrote to Lambeth asking them to reassure me that my council tax wasn't being used to fund this patronising and offensive campaign 
. I sent the original e-mail to [email protected] on 11 November and have resent it twice since then. Just wondering if anyone else has had a response from them?
. I sent the original e-mail to [email protected] on 11 November and have resent it twice since then. Just wondering if anyone else has had a response from them?
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
IntoStella said:
I was at a Brixton Forum meeting where the "former Brixton Town Centre manager"(mentioned in an earlier post by LR) who runs "Revitalise" admitted the proposed replacement Rec would be smaller.I have read the officers reports on the "regeneration" of leisure.In the report ,which most people wont read because its long and tedious,it does say it will be smaller.
As Pooka says in an ealier post the Revitalise programme could be used to give people accurate info on different possibilities for Brixton.Revitalise is not being used like that.The Council administration are going to decide what happens.We in effect will just be asked what colour we want the lamposts.
The "former Brixton Town Centre managers" new job is to cajole/persuade people to get them to agree to the Councils plans.The Council can then say its consulted people and this is what they want.
I did ask whether in fact all this had been agreed and what input local people would have as to the closure of the Rec and sell off of land.As I have come to expect I got an evasive answer.The Council want to give the impression they are asking your views when they arent.
Revitalise is also a good way for senior officers to get up the promotion ladder.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
aurora green said:
Agreed. I use it quite a lot and I think it's very good. Obviously it's not perfect but I'd worry that any replacement would substitute shiny newness (which would fade over time) for actual usable facilities.
