Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A Finsbury Park Benchmark
Benchmarking
An unusable park bench, sited within a stone's throw of the Haringey Council Events Team offices in the background.
The "150" on their wall refers to the 150th anniversary of our park. Would the original Victorian designers, builders and gardeners not be appalled at the current, run-down state of the park they founded?
At upper left is the main entrance for vehicles. About 100 metres inside, sits one of the first two park benches available for the public. Four battens are missing
Is every penny of the £1.2 million Event income really reinvested in our park? Is the placing deliberate?
Meanwhile, 11 (eleven) park benches in better condition than this are locked away in the park Nursery, near the Manor House entrance.
Many months ago, those benches were removed from the long straight carriageway that runs through the area of the council's major Events hire premises.
They were in the way of the council's customer's Event. A few years ago, a wise Councillor remarked that the council had forgotten who its real customers were.
Rather than leaving the park benches in position and inconveniencing their commercial customer—or moving the benches back and forth between Events—it was thought best to keep them out of sight in the Nursery, where weeds now grown up between them.
Who cares?
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Tags for Forum Posts: bench, events team, finsbury park, park bench
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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WERE they left in place, about a dozen park benches would inconvenience the council's big hire customers.
The Events Team—who dominate Finsbury Park—have done their level best to conceal several of them from public view.
Quite recently, an orange skip was placed at one end of the row of benches (upper right). This has the not incidental effect of further hiding the benches from casual glances from the plant Nursery entrance
However, many are currently visible over the nursery fence alongside the big poly tunnel
General taxation and council tax payers funded our benches, including the newer, black metal ones among the bench cache.
After next year's "Events Season", the healthy weeds growing up between the benches should complete the municipal disguise.
Has Haringey Council not truly forgotten who their real customer is?
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Harper on
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These posts are a useful reminder of just how ineffectual the trustees and board members of the Friends of Finsbury Park have been over many years now. For the most basic of needs, from a place to sit, to potable water, the park users are being failed by an ongoing campaign of traducing council workers and officers.
You show great humility in highlighting your and the FoFP's failings here, Clive
But if the FoFP have no functional relationship with the council, what and whose purpose do they serve?
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Jamie, many thanks for bringing attention to my post about the status and condition of the council's park-bench inventory.
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Jamie, thanks again for your encouragement about the issue of the park bench deficit.
I'm sure you'll be interested to read today's article by Daisy Clague in the Islington Tribune:
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I wonder what people who paid for those benches in memory of their loved ones would think of this treatment of them?
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Admin for testingPermalink Reply by Hugh -
Have the FoFP had/sought a meeting with the new council?
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Hugh, yes!
Trustees of The Friends of Finsbury Park recently participated in an hour-long meeting with the Leader, Councillors and a couple of council employees.
The aim was to establish a much better relationship with the new Green administration and also to find out what is going on with the five-year deal partially signed by the Labour Council.
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We felt afterwards that it was a good meeting for us, as we were able to describe the problems that have arisen for many years with Events and our hopes that from now on, we could work much more co-operatively with the Council.
A Cabinet member present was keen to review the 2014 Events policy and to address how the Stakeholder group is set up, so that park groups could have more genuine say in planning Events on site in future.
On the legal aspect of Tendering out the Events to a wider set of festival operators, the Leader was unable to comment. This was all being discussed at the moment but we would have another meeting in October where we would discuss this further.
A lot was covered in the meeting but no substantial decisions were made.
The meeting was friendly and hopeful for working better together in future.
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Admin for testingPermalink Reply by Hugh -
Well, that all sounds hopeful.
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Surely their failure to consult local charity groups, which they said they did, but apprantly didn't, would make the new five year contract invalid?
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Park, this a big a subject!
For the time being, suffice to say that the (unwise, premature, unnecessary, undemocratic) Cabinet Member Signing, amounted to an instruction to a council director, then to enter into a contract that would lock the council into another five-year deal.
Wisely, the Director concerned did not rush to seal the deal. This was just ahead of "purdah". The possibility of a decline in the fortunes of the New Labour Group was recognised.
My understanding is that no legally binding contract has yet been signed. In any event, there was and is no urgency.
The impression given, was that ex-leader Ahmet and Cab Member Arkell had attempted to bounce the Local Authority into another sweet-heart arrangement with Festival Republic.
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