Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Municipal madness not confined to London Borough of Haringey
A COUPLE of years ago Haringey intended to spend £8,000 (eight thousand pounds) of taxpayer's money, to engage an artist to paint wavy stripes on 10 (ten) privately owned shop shutters in Quernmore Road N4.
£8,000 nearly spent on wavy stripes
This is the short section of shops between Harringay station and Stroud Green library. This was to brighten up the shops, with the lucrative contract going to a favoured artist from the east of the Borough (with no open public tender as to artists or design).
After the local community revolted, the council abandoned this exercise in pure waste. What is it about councils and paint?
NZ$8,500 to paint council "communication" staff feelings
To prove that this this kind of lunacy is not confined to Harringay and not even to Britain, take a look at the loony council in Auckland, NZ. In the urban sprawl that is Auckland, their city council required some of their "communications" staff to "paint their feelings" at a total cost to local taxpayers of NZ$8,500.
It it any wonder that councils tend not to be taken seriously by central government when judgement is so often missing?
Councils, paint and waste: its an international problem!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Clive, you quote from a NZ business newspaper which made me laugh. Thanks for that! Lets remember that the concept of 'team building' exercises/days out originated from the business community. They think nothing of spending thousands taking the 'sales team' away for a 'get to know each other' assault course session. Pot calling the kettle ... moment here Clive. :)
Most of the silly ideas councils now follow originate from business consultants and look at 'the city' now. Point your guns elsewhere Clive. It'll do your soul good. Maybe you'd like to get a few local people together yourself to paint those shutters for free! Know any artists?
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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MATT, you make a good point about where some of this team-building stuff originated. But is that any good reason for councils to ape it? Corporate waste might have to be justified to Boards or shareholders. But we have a right and probably a duty to criticise council-waste, because its our (tax) money they're often wasting!
As for painting the Quernmore Road shop shutters, although at least one local thought it would brighten up the street, more people thought that the shutters are ugly anyway and inappropriate in front of Victorian-era shops.
Even if a someone or some group had permission from the owners of that private property to paint, the painting of wavy stripes would tend to make the shutters more permanent and prominent. Which was one of our objections: a group of us conducted a survey at the time the council wanted to do this and a majority were opposed, especially when they heard the cost.
A local artist and former art lecturer, was one of those most opposed to the council's lunatic painting plans and was particularly aggrieved that the contract would have gone to someone without an open public competition. I and others agreed with him.
I beleive our local council consults a great deal in order to be seen to be consulting, but this doesn't reflect any genuine want to take into account the views of locals.
Thank you for concern about my soul but its beyond redemption!
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Interesting questions raised here.
As a local councillor, could I please request some chapter-&-verse? Exactly when and where did this happen? Who was the artist? Who took the decision to hire them; and then unhire them?
I'm confused about what you object to, Clive. Are you against public commissioning of artists? Or is an artist simply not worthy of their hire?
Are you stating as fact that the particular property owners had not given their permission? Or simply that the designs proposed were unsuitable and out of place? Would you have been okay with an open public competition? But what if it led to designs you disliked?
What exactly was wrong with hiring "an artist from the east of the Borough"? Bringing in foreign labour?
Widening the discussion, I'm also deeply puzzled about a huge and spotlit 'elephant in the room' which few people mention.
I sympathise with people who care passionately about their neighbourhoods and want to defend lovely old buildings and historic features. Who oppose ugly and inappropriate new development, and out-of-place 'public art'.
So what's the invisible 'elephant'? Huge commercial billboards, often with intense light-polluting illumination. (Video animation coming soon.) They dominate and disfigure thousands of city streets.
Why is there no rage against them?
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