Thursday, March 27, 2008

Clogging Up The City's Lungs

In Happier Times

It's easy to mock the middle class denizens around Liverpool 17 when they write to the local press under the aegis of civic worthiness, calling themselves the Friends of Sefton Park, or organise activities based around the rejuvenation of the park's impressive Palm House.

Aigburth may have its less salubrious aspects, but Norris Green it ain't. To compare & contrast Stanley Park with Sefton Park is to compare & contrast in microcosm the marked & persistent gap between the north & south ends of the Liverpool area, including towns such as Bootle.

However, as Liverpool Confidential (http://www.liverpoolconfidential.com/ ), to its civic credit, reveals, the city council's policy of "maintenance" in the park looks more like an ugly attempt to concrete over one of the last great spaces of greenery in the city. I'm no horticulturist, but I accept that some trees need to be felled. However, the array of sorry-looking stumps where said trees once stood is tantamount to an eyesore.

The LC article takes a sarcastic & sardonic view of the park's condition. The lakes have been drained, leaving large areas of mud & silt, while the ducks have been replaced by pigeons & rats. A display of before & after photographs of different areas of the park shows the scale of deforestation & loss of flora & fauna. All this, the article drily notes, has been caused by the impact of a crashing asteroid.

Almost a quarter of the way into this year of "culture", Liverpool City Council is happy to bathe in the stagnant, toxic waters of ineptitude & cack-handedness.

Rumours that one of the rodents pricked up its ears when the name Jason Harborrow was mentioned are not confirmed by the Liverpool Confidential piece.

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