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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/speckyfoureyes/476127525/" title="Spikey Home by Specky Four Eyes, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/476127525_4eb9d51abc_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Spikey Home" /></a>
For the record, I do live on SGR itself, upper west side. And I've never heard a whisper of Sugar Lounge, but those bongos rendered the living room pretty much uninhabitable.
There are people who have been living here for twenty years or more. Things have changed with the smoking ban (lots of people outside and more late night bars over the last few years. Before that it was possible to relax and watch a dvd late in the evening and just hear the odd drunk walking up and down, some sirens, a few rows and of course the buses. It was a bit noisy but manageable. It doesn't help living near the late bar. As winter draws in it's a lot quieter but myself and my neighbours aren't looking forward to the spring and summer when we have to hear the all night party every night once again.
That said however, it's not really the point, since we're talking about what's anti-social and what's not. Those bongos are anti-social to me in my private SGR flat as much as they are anti-social to Kreuzkav in his council-supplied SGR flat. Kreuzkav's personal circumstances shurely doesn't mean he doesn't have legitimate grounds for complaint about activity that adversely affects all of a community.
Just because I live in social housing doesn't mean I don't deserve the same respect as private renters. Social housing is for people who can't afford private rents. I clear just over a grand a month and I'd be left with very little after rent and bills if I lived in a private flat. I'm no spring chicken and I've done my time in shared houses (and I had the time of my life in some of them). My flat is no palace and I have done it up but it was very baldly converted so it will never be that nice. My rent is low but going up a lot every year so catching up with market rents, bit by bit. plus I'm responsible for furniture, flooring etc. Still great and it saves me a few hundred a month compared to a private rent. It took me years to get it too, I wasn't handed it on a plate.
The bongo player wasn't a problem for me as I barely noticed him. That would be a very minor problem if he was just across the way from my flat. We've had to endure two late night bars increasing their late night hours and the smoking ban pushing more people onto the pavement until the early hours. To sum it up, would you like a late night bar opened up outside your house? The honest answer from most people would be no. The bar has taken steps to improve and now it's winter it's not a big problem. I just want people to be aware there are people living on this road too, not just fly by night students but long term residents who have the same rights, whether social or private tenants, rich or poor as people not living on SGR.
By the way, I agree that private renters have choice and I would move if I was one and in the same situation as no, living near a late night bar and on a main road. I think living on a quiet road near the Andover estate would be nicer than living here. However, on my income (and I work hard and don't get any income support or benefits, I'm just badly paid in my chosen profession) my only choice was to take the flat or stay living in a shared flat. When I chose it there was no late bar or smoking ban in operation. I am fairly easy going and the buses and other noise was manageable. But I just think that certain noise is avoidable (anti-social noise). I am looking into moving as I'm no victim but I'll be sad to go. This is a forum and I'm interested in the debate surrounding this issue.
Being physically less able was a bloody tough and humbling experience and it made me look at living in London in a completely different light. London is basically not set up for people who are physically weaker - in fact, its an obstacle course that often feels specifically designed to be uncomfortable. The removal of benches is just one of the ways the city is being re-designed to be inaccessible. Its not just happening on SGR.
I have vivid memories of shopping, or just getting from A to B, and being in desperate need of a seat but not being able to find anything. Eventually you happen across one of those hovering seats in a bus stop and take the weight off, but you can't really relax cos they are not real seats - you just get half a cheek on! Often, your only option for a good rest is to pay for a cup of coffee.
And for the record, I would have sat next to anyone if I needed a seat whether they were drunk, wrapped in a sleeping bag, playing bongos or not!
If the seats were removed because people complained about the 'inhabitants' I can guarantee that they never asked anyone who suffers from a disability what impact it would have on them - or if they did they discounted their views. Shameful.
We need more benches not less.