Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Keeping Harringay's New Pavements Clean.
Whilst I hesitate to mention new pavements again after the drubbing I took last time, the subject came up in conversation last night. One of my neighbours mentioned that they thought it was a shame that our new pavements were getting dirty so quickly.
Any thoughts about what can be done?
Whilst posting on this. I'd like to raise my virtual glass to the unsung heroes of the street cleaning department.
Not, locally but on Carnaby Street today, I saw a guy with a fancy-schmancy new piece of equipment cleaning the gum off the street. It looked like quite a painstaking process. I engaged the guy in conversation and learned that the whole street can take two weeks to clean. Then like painting the Forth bridge, once he's finished, he starts again.
This iPhone snap shows the machine.
I imagine his story is similar to that of many of London's street cleaners. His name is Felix. Originally from Ghana, he's a music teacher who has an unproven charge of some sort hanging over his head in Ghana. As a result his CRB check has failed and so he's scraping gum off the streets to make ends meet while his lawyer is sorting things out to enable him to go back to music teaching. Nice guy - tough break. Raise a virtual glass.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Williams on
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Antisocial behaviour and inadequate cleaning are certainly a problem but it really does look like there is also something wrong with the quality of the materials being used. I was struck by the lovely fresh look of the new pavements around Pemberton but then horrified by how quickly they looked awful. Apart from being rather light in shade and therefore tempting fate, the new slabs seem to be very porous - not a quality that would seem desirable for pavements regardless of location. Somebody from the Council with specialist knowledge should comment...
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Rob,
(1) is there a weekly cleaning regime in place for the pavements?
(2) why are traders allowed to throw rubbish bags directly onto the pavements? Isn't there a better system; e.g. household sized wheelie bins put out night of collection or some other way?
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Rob, will there be a final check of the works once completed and any cracked and poorly laid paving rectified? The paving along the stretch outside Yasar Halim is uneven and the kerb stones weren't relaid, which results in the gutter being much the same level as the pavement. This issue was addressed elsewhere so I'm not sure why nothing was done here. Good work otherwise.
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Yes, I remember the large paladin bins. Right decision to get rid of those. But dumping bags onto the pavement, esp when they burst open with oil & other liquids spilling over the now 'new' pavement is not the best solution. How about something like this placed every so often for trade waste?;
Admittedly a more bespoke solution but there aren't many ideas out there it appears, other than bags or wheelie/paladin bins. I reckon our more successful GL businesses such as the double fronted Turkish establishments could sponsor make & install of a bespoke design for GLs. Take some effort from the GLSG though.
London is crammed full of design houses that could deal with this brief. Maybe someone at WRAP could help get this off the ground or point in the right direction.
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Well, the business paying for such a bin wouldn't have exclusive business use for waste but, would have the exclusive advertising rights on the end panel. And crucially collections would still be twice a day!
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- 2 bags of rubbish per business per day x 220 businesses = 440 bags
- I reckon that bin design above would take about 20 bags
- so 20 of those bins along GL, 10 along each side
- Grande Parade (or there about) is 1 kilometre or 1000m long, so that's 1 bin per 100 metres
- OK, outside some restaurant areas they would need their own because there's a lot more rubbish from a restaurant
- would have to include residents above shops as well
That could be doable. Businesses would have to go with Veolia though, no private waste contracts.
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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two years to weather? I doubt that two years would erase the large spillages of yuk and muck on these light, low grade paving slabs. two years for us to get acclimatised to the mess. I guess it will all blend in eventually.
Given the choice, I would have kept what we had and had the money spent on something else such as tree planting etc.
I am dreading next winter to see what a bit of ice does to these slabs. Get your skates out folks! This whole thing seems like style over substance. Sorry Rob - not to denigrate all you do and have done for the area.
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Rob thankyou for the information - at least it helps to understand the background. Perhaps like the concept of "austerity" it's supposed to get worse before it gets better! The joker in me ask whether the more gum and grease gets tipped on it the quicker the maturation cycle will complete....only time will tell if it all comes good in the end :-)
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Rob, are these new porous inferior pavement slabs easier to smash with a lump- or sledge-hammer than what they replaced? I think we should be told as one of these nights we're gonna start our Residents' Riot to let the Traders and them wot caused this expensive mess have their gummy slabs back.
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I walked past Onur Jewellers on Green Lanes at the weekend and noticed the owner was pressure washing the pavement outside his business (as well as the shop front and awning). I asked him why he was doing it himself and he said that he wants his customers to see that he takes pride in his business and wants to keep his shop front clean and tidy (obviously). I told him a lot of locals in Harringay would be pleased with him.
Perhaps the businesses that actually make the mess should take a leaf out of this guys book.
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Lovely. I've seen a few cleaning. They are to be praised indeed. Whenever I've visited Turkey, all the shop keepers, restaurant owners etc clean their patch. It might just catch on here and we'd have a lovely high road!
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