Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey Council Cabinet: tear down this wall !
IT IS NO accident that Finsbury Park now contains a ring of steel, hundreds of metres in length. The Iron Curtain that's descended in a public park is a result of the Haringey Council Cabinet Outdoor Events Policy, decided in December 2013. This lifted the ceiling on attendees to 50,000, a number that for a host of reasons, some believe is unsustainable.
The park's Green Flag Award … now on Live Nation-controlled land, behind a wall of steel
Hackney resident and top man Jeremy Llewellyn-Jones was interviewed recently in the Haringey Indy. He spoke about the Local Authority-approved steel wall and compared it with Israel's West Bank wall.
Haringey-Live Nation's wall is not the only politically-inspired wall on public or quasi-public land. Here're a few other walls where authorities, big and small, seek to divide space, often, between the haves and the have-nots:
Arizona
Belfast
Berlin (the subject of Ronald Regan's famous challenge to the USSR)
Korea (the DMZ)
CDC
Haringey Councillor
LIberal Democrat Party
Tags for Forum Posts: Cabinet, Haringey, Outdoor Events Policy, policy, steel wall
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Pike on
-
The "unwaged" seemed quite happy to sit outside the fence and get a free festival.
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
You're right Robert: but not all of them.
In this video, a lone policeman (outside the steel wall) raises a baton trying to stop gatecrashers. A more 'successful' breach of the wall was caught here (2.5+ million views).
I don't know how many 'stirrup lifts' over the wall there were, but I did witness one last night.
Although I implied elsewhere that such a breach was (solely) a matter for Live Nation, it does mean that the licence limit of attendees can not necessarily be relied upon. If health and safety is a consideration.
When I said Tear Down This Wall, it was directed to the Council Cabinet, not to gatecrashers.
-
Permalink Reply by Declan O'D on
-
Get a grip Clive. It'll be down in less than a week. It's for a festival, for people to enjoy. The comparison with the West Bank Barrier or Berlin wall isn't only ridiculous, it's very offensive. There is a fair bit of park left too. Live and let live.
I went last week (to Wireless 10). You'd probably have quite liked Public Enemy.
(I joined this site purely to comment on this as it really angered me).
-
-
Just caught up with the subsequent posts to mine. You do seem to have stirred things up, intentionally or otherwise (no complaints from me). "Calm down dear, it's only a festival" won't do and does not further the debate.
I have located an interesting and informative leaflet I picked up at Bruce Castle Museum some time ago. It is entitled "Community Empowerment in Parks & Open Green Spaces (in Haringey, North East London and beyond ...)". The source is the Radical History Network of N.E. London. It gives a useful summary of the issues and cites Lordship Rec and Finsbury Park as examples. It may need an update ...
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
Many thanks for this, Heather. I found a webpage about a meeting of the The Radical History Network (RaHN) on 10 July 2013. It refers to this Hackney booklet - described as "bashed out"... "full of holes" and "a work in progress".
-
-
Thanks Alan. That early 19th cent name for Stoke Newington Common (Cockhanger Green) has set me thinking of possible retro-name-changes for what will be left of post-Wireless Finsbury Park. A place to walk warily and carry a big stick: Knobkarrie Kommon ?
-
-
Heather,
There's been much unflattering publicity on youtube and TV news about the attempted and successful gatecrashing. Last night, in response to the publicity, the Council responded to media requests by asserting they were seeking a meeting with Live Nation about security (around the wall).
This, as though Wireless is an ordinary, external event that they licensed that had unexpectedly gone awry and to which they were at least at arms-length party.
It was an artful response because the Council must have been in meetings with Live Nation for weeks, if not months, including about security. The (inadequate) level of security was discussed in the semi-private "Event Stakeholder Group" meetings that I attended, but these concerns were not Minuted. I expect this aspect was discussed in more detail in private meetings between the Council and its customer.
This is not a regular, arms-length relationship with the Licensing Authority. The Council isn't merely renting out it's land: it's been deeply involved in the planning (as one might expect).
BTW, After donning a high-vis vest and having affixed to my wrist a blue BUILD & BREAK band, I went on the Council-Live Nation Tour today to see the breaking down. It's impressive ... and still in the wrong place.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
Clive, this is utterly pathetic and if you don't know why I despair. You are really ruining your own argument with childish and insensitive comparisons.
-
-
With you all the way on this one, Clive. It's a blight on my morning constitutional, a blot on the landscape and a limit to my horizon. Not to mention the assault and battery on my hearing and unwanted aggravation of my tinnitus.
But you really got the Ich-bin-Klaire-Kober krowd out in force. Funny how folks wax so much more grievously aggrieved over the Berliner and West Bank Walls than over the West-Belfaster "Peace"Wall (Brit in design, conception and implementation), or even over the Arizona or DMZ monstrosities (though who in his/her right mind would want to climb or crawl into Arizona or Kim Jung Un's haven?)
Still, steel has its advantages. If the Chinese and Romans had invented it, their pathetic stone walls wouldn't be falling down after little more than two millennia, letting Western tourists and kilted SNP marauders swarm all over the foundations of great civilisations.
-
-
Well, with much of my Mam's family still living in Ballymurphy, just south of the Falls Road, it tended to be that one that particularly "waxed" me.
-
-
Thanks for your support OAE. I think the main problem with my examples of other walls approved and erected as a result of a political decision – is a technical one: those walls were far more secure. As a barrier, the Haringey Council-approved wall wasn't nearly as effective as the government-ordained ones.
The lengthy Live Nation-Council steel wall was breached many times and the security that 'surrounded' it – left much to be desired as the videos showed.
The Council's business partner's wall was just the right level of obstacle to deter most and yet represented a surmountable challenge to others.
The high ticket prices generated ticket touts and the wall provoked envy and resentment in a relatively poor area. I saw several 'stirrup lifts' over the wall and there must have been many more over the hundreds of metres.
That wall is now finally being torn down today, under the Land Use contract. The only reason that wall was there, is due to a political decision, by the Council Cabinet in December 2013 (that is what majority group supporters, some of whom verge on hysteria, do not want to acknowledge.)
-
-
Clive, may I be helpful and suggest one or two small improvements to your draft? Just a few minor tweaks to assist in getting your message across more effectively.
Thanks for your support OAE. I do after all have a sense of humour.
Having read and carefully re-read all the comments in this thread I completely accept that my examples of other walls are not entirely in line with the Live Nation fence in Finsbury Park. Mainly - as I now realise thanks to the cogent reasoning of HoL members - because of a technical reason: those other walls were far more secure. As a barrier, the Haringey Council-approved wall wasn't nearly as effective as the government-ordained ones.
The lengthy Live Nation-Council steel wall was breached many times and the security that 'surrounded' it – left much to be desired as the videos showed. The Council's business partner's wall was just the right level of obstacle to deter most and yet represented a surmountable challenge to others.
'What is to be done?' Again from my reading of the wise and thoughtful comments of HoL members - my grateful warm thanks to you all! - I've realised the obvious underlying problem. The programme offered by Live Nation was far too popular, too loud, and out of keeping with the location - just down the road from my home. It has acted as a magnet for tens of thousands of people who require facilities such as multiple toilets.
There are two obvious solutions.
First, all events in Finsbury Park must be free and open to all.
Second, any activities or events must appeal solely to minority interests and attract - at maximum - tiny numbers of polite, quiet, entirely well-behaved, innoffensive people who blend seamlessly with the usual park users such as myself.
So I propose that the Park should be reserved for gatherings of the Haringey LibDem Party. I realise this will not be welcome to the majority group supporters, some of whom verge on hysteria, and do not want to acknowledge that my sensible solution is the only way forward.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
