Musings.

[rikj]

Interesting that 2 ownership battles are going on in the city centre at the moment. Kirkgate Market and the Corn Exchange.Kirkgate has been integral to Leeds for ever. To change the market would be to give the ultimate thumbs down to the working class heart of Leeds. I very much suspect that LCC want to get rid of old style Kirkgate.The strength of feeling shown over developments at the Corn Exchange show just how strongly people can feel ownership to a part of the city centre. The Corn Exchange isn't somewhere that I would ever want to go myself, but I'm very glad that some people feel so strongly about a part of the city.From my own point of view, keep your hands off the Merrion Mini-Market!

[liits]

Not sure if this will be ha help or a hindrance, but it’s another perspective.Many Local Authorities [and, living in London, I sort of fall under the thrall of two, Camden and the GLA], spent years attempting to offset the wrongs of their predecessors, of whatever political persuasion, by promoting community cohesion.At a more local level this meant that people saw things such as [for example] Bengali or Somali community groups and centres being set up, other things like LGBT Forums, and subsidies for charities like Age Concern..On a broader scale, Local Authorities started to throw lots of money at things such cultural events like Dwali, Vaisakhi, Gay Pride and the like. This was in an attempt to de-ghettoise certain groups and promote their identity within the community. The idea that by staging such events in city centres, it would promote the “ideal” of community cohesion and dispel perceptions of isolation.This thinking took a big knock with the Oldham and Burnley riots.The Government, in the form of Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities, commissioned a chap called Ted Cantel [formerly the Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council] to report on the causes of the rioting.The gist of the Cantel Report was that Local Authorities had been attempting to get everybody together in this big mythical love-in by throwing money at single issue causes thereby promoting ghetoisation.Many local Authorities are now paying Mr Cantel a retainer to advise them on how they should be spending their cash. This is not to say that they are going to spend any less, just that it won’t be spent on single issue causes. Next summer, watch out for the “Aged veterans Gay Nation of Islam“ parades trundling their way though towns across the land.It's as dull as ditch water but have a read of the Cantel Report [all 80 gripping pages of it].Actualy, if you google Gantel Repot, the report is the first result, Leeds City Council Neighbourhoods and Communities Partnership is the second.

[munki]

rikj wrote: Interesting that 2 ownership battles are going on in the city centre at the moment. Kirkgate Market and the Corn Exchange.Kirkgate has been integral to Leeds for ever. To change the market would be to give the ultimate thumbs down to the working class heart of Leeds. I very much suspect that LCC want to get rid of old style Kirkgate.The strength of feeling shown over developments at the Corn Exchange show just how strongly people can feel ownership to a part of the city centre. The Corn Exchange isn't somewhere that I would ever want to go myself, but I'm very glad that some people feel so strongly about a part of the city.From my own point of view, keep your hands off the Merrion Mini-Market! Interesting & very valid points Rikj. I have mixed feelings about the Corn Exchange myself, but find it very gratifying that people are campaigning to keep it the way that it is...But here's a question... These 'Developments', which effectively seem to drive independent / creative / local businesses out of the City Centre & replace them with a clone of every other city centre in the world (Greg's / Starbucks / Dixons / Waterstones + high class, ridiculously overpriced clothes shops, or ridiculously under-priced but ethically questionable chain stores) are driven by WHERE THE MONEY FLOWS TO... The Developers THINK that they will make more money by doing this. How do we tell them otherwise? Or, in fact, DO WE? The Corn Exchange in Manchester is a case in point. It used to be a lovely place, full of second hand record stalls, vintage clothes, collectables... Now it is all glass & high gloss & totally without a soul. But do the developers who converted it consider it to be a failure? I suspect not.I think we need to draw people's attention to Granary Wharfe... When I first moved to Leeds it was a bustling, active, light, colourful place to go & spend a Saturday afternoon, some tea & cake at a nice little cafe. What is there now? It is cold, dark & dead. Are the owners of the Corn Exchange about to make the same mistakes. If so, what specifically are those mistakes? What should we be telling them?

[munki]

A nice afternoon out?

[tyke bhoy]

munki wrote: The Corn Exchange in Manchester is a case in point. It used to be a lovely place, full of second hand record stalls, vintage clothes, collectables... Now it is all glass & high gloss & totally without a soul. But do the developers who converted it consider it to be a failure? I suspect not. I think this is RikJ's point on the mini market. I can't believe he would want to save the building but get rid of the building and unfortunately you lose the contents munki wrote: I think we need to draw people's attention to Granary Wharfe... When I first moved to Leeds it was a bustling, active, light, colourful place to go & spend a Saturday afternoon, some tea & cake at a nice little cafe. What is there now? It is cold, dark & dead. Are the owners of the Corn Exchange about to make the same mistakes. If so, what specifically are those mistakes? What should we be telling them? I would have to say pretentious would be the word association I would have come up with on my last visit and with the developments planned for the area I can see that being reinforced. Its a bit far from the city for people to wish to walk to and the developments will/have removed much of the parking. Opening up a southern entrance to the City Railway station, which I believe Metro have secured funding for, might help bring in the less wealthy punters and mean that the shops there don't have to appeal to the "highest common denominator"    

[munki]

People seem to have very little patience with walking in Leeds! GW is directly under the train station. Theoretically, it couldn't be more central. But you're right, tyke bhoy. It FEELS LIKE it is on the periphery somehow. Maybe this is a geographic thing which can't be changed. The walk from Armley or Kirkstall into the City Centre along the canal / river is lovely... right up until you actually get to the City Centre, where the water just disappears into a dark hole in the ground. Despite all the developments around 'West End Leeds', & the attempts to grow the city centre to the south (& some of these are positive - the Project Space Leeds gallery, the Cross Keys pub), you still have to walk absolutely miles out of the way to get from Wellington Place to Holbeck Urban Village.There APPEARS TO BE a new footbridge from Whitehall Waterfront across the river... but not yet across the canal, so it doesn't REALLY take you anywhere. Speaking as a private individual rather than an employee of LCC (I hope you will afford me that luxury), I am confused as to why the opening of this new bridge was not more publicised??? I don't recall seeing a council press release about it...

[wsmith]

and while were on the subject of Holbeck Urban Village, Why, if there is such a desire to regenerate the area, is Temple Mills (one of the most architecturally interesting and lovely buildings in Leeds) such an unregenerated mess??? Surely it would be an idea to leave the Corn Exchange is it is, & fill Temple Mills with new food outlets instead?

[tyke bhoy]

munki wrote: People seem to have very little patience with walking in Leeds! GW is directly under the train station. Theoretically, it couldn't be more central. But you're right, tyke bhoy. It FEELS LIKE it is on the periphery somehow. I don't think it is just Leeds. I think the UK has caught the US disease of wanting to drive or be driven door to door and a major factor in the "obesity epidemic".It manifests itself in people driving round car parks for 10 minutes to find a parking space 10 yards nearer the destination and/or the abuse of disabled and parent and toddler spaces (I use toddler as if child is used the parent is invariably the passenger).I also think it is illustrated by the "success" of the Free City bus. People don't walk from City Sq under the dark arches to the entrance of GW, let alone almost the same distance again to reach the shops

[tyke bhoy]

munki wrote: There APPEARS TO BE a new footbridge from Whitehall Waterfront across the river... but not yet across the canal, so it doesn't REALLY take you anywhere. Speaking as a private individual rather than an employee of LCC (I hope you will afford me that luxury), I am confused as to why the opening of this new bridge was not more publicised??? I don't recall seeing a council press release about it... From memory it did appear on the BBC Leeds News web pages. However there was some "screw up" as immediately after it was put in place it had to be temporarily removed again.Call me cynical but I have suspicions its main use will be to connect the accommodation in some waterside development with its car parking

[munki]

Oh yeah, the Car Park thing! I am glad someone else has noticed that maddening / infuriating habit that so many people have! Has anyone noticed that the car parks at the White Rose Centre are actually DESIGNED so that you CAN'T walk through them? Fences & hedges built to drive you into the shopping centre, so that you HAVE TO walk past the shops / products in order to get back to your car?This is kind of what I mean by OWNERSHIP. If it is my choice to walk round Leeds purely because I want to enjoy the way that it looks & feels... then I feel like I am doing something wrong. If I am not there to off-load some of my hard earned cash, if I am not there to consume, then I don't feel welcome. Does anyone else feel the same way?