Park gate locked

checkski · September 2014

You take me aback, JoeV. Of course I mean what I say. Don't you? You seem to be saying much the same thing, 11 or so posts above.

JoeV · September 2014

Yes we are in agreement, except that as much as I dislike the sellout of our park by the council I wouldn't liken it to rape, that's all.

minim · September 2014

I'm assuming JoeV might be referring to your use of the word rape. If so, he's not the only one finding it offensive to use the word as a metaphor. Call me overly sensitive if you want.<div>Edited: I see it took me so long to write this that JoeV has replied in the meantime. <br><div><br></div><div>I have no objection to the closure of the Oxford Road gate at certain times when events are on to minimise the impact of people entering/leaving the site. If I remember well, people threw glass bottles into residents' front gardens and Stroud Green Primary on a previous occasion. With tens of thousands of people around, there's bound to be at least a handful of drunken idiots, and it's best to restrict access routes. Unfortunately that means stopping local people from accessing the park through their nearest entrance, but it's the lesser of two evils. Like Ali, I have also seen noticed up warning of these closures, so the council have at least on some occasions given plenty of warning that this was going to happen.</div><div><br></div><div>Whether those events should be happening in the first place is another matter entirely. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a few festivals on (but then I live far enough away from FP that any noise isn't loud enough to be a problem), especially if the money it provides the council with helps them avoid further budget cuts, but 16 days does sound like a lot, especially when you consider some of these events start setting up the weekend beforehand. <div><br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>

graeme · September 2014

I'm loosley 'for' events and such like in London. Because I don't have to stay here for the longer term. I don't have to consider the welfare of my offspring or the long term damage to the surroundings, because it is unaffordable to become a permanent resident in London, with a reasonable standard of living. We now live in a giant theme-park for the wealthy and disenfranchised. And you'll find the vast majority of attendees to these events are in the same boat. If you can't sell them a new kitchen or an extension, what else do you sell them? Entertainment.<br><br>It's not really a big surprise is it? If London and its confines can be used to generate income in any form for any council or government, it will be. What else are you going to do with 8-million taxpayers (and a huge portion of them are now transient) who cannot invest in long-term prosperity, except bleed them for short-term gains? Those who complain aren't going to move, so the council can take little heed.<br>

miss annie · September 2014

My ex in laws moaned EVERY SINGLE YEAR about Glastonbury. They live in a cottage next to the farm.

krappyrubsnif · September 2014

Moaned? They could have rented it out for a fortune!

checkski · September 2014

I don't get it, Minim and JoeV. Rape is terrible. By using it as a metaphor I have surely not made it any less so. Precisely because it is so terrible, I thought it conveyed, clearly and forcefully what I thought was happening to the park. I certainly did not intend to be casual about sexual rape. Sorry if I have upset anyone.

Ali · September 2014

I agree with Lololala.<br><br>It is 16 days out of 365 and sometimes 366<br><br>That leaves an awful lot of days ther are no cencerts or noise etc<br><br>Some perpective is required <br>

JoeV · September 2014

<font face="Arial, Verdana"><span style="line-height: normal;">@Ali, I'm sorry but it's not 16 days out of 365. Your count is very disingenuous.</span></font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal;">The W<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">ireless Festival alone took place on three days, 4, 5 and 6 July, but the set up and take down meant that a large area of the park was taken out of use for 17 days -- during the nicest weather of the year! </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">The Council's notice said that set up would start on the 27 June. It actually started two days earlier on 25 June and ended on 11 July.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">To say it's only a few days like it's nothing when those days are also during the time of year when most people are using the park or have their windows open or are outside in general, deliberately misses the point. I'm not down on the Council as some people are but they and you are completely wrong on this issue.</span></div>

Ali · September 2014

I was taking the no of days from the Checski post above.<br><br>The gate isn't shut all that time during set up take down etc<br>

Liz · September 2014

I could tell you which song the Arctic Monkeys were playing from inside my flat, with the double glazed windows shut. Tell me how that's OK? If my neighbours were as noisy as the event at the weekend for two solid days, there would be some action taken against them. I could live with a couple of days a year. But 16, with all the sound checks and resulting disruption, is excessive.

kreuzkav · September 2014

Finsbury Park has always had a history of music events over the last twenty years. Usually it was a reflection of the community like The Fleadh. As some other has said festivals have become rampant and I never made the connection between liquid spending. Once there were a few small festivals a year now many. It has to be scaled back to five days a year. Maybe one big one but they should only have access to the park for a few days.

ADGS · September 2014

I don't often say this, but I agree with kreuzkav. One or two festivals, ideally with some connection to the area - fine. Endless for-profit bullshit, many aimed at the utter dregs of humanity (the crowd for that Stone Roses gig was one of the worst crowds I've seen, even compared to football fans), no benefit to local people except to fill in Haringey's budget hole (and even then, insufficiently so given the lousy deals they got from the promoters) - that's another matter.

Ali · September 2014

Hendrix first set his his guitar on fire at the Finsbury Park Astoria in 1967<br><br>http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/spotlight-0331-2011.aspx<br><br>;

vetski · September 2014

Late to the discussion... but the flyer annnouncing the events only dropped through my door a couple of days before the event, which was well after set-up had started. Locking the gate at 4pm is largely to do with keeping event-goers away from the school (event managers are also now obliged to wrap the school in plastic to minimise rubbish being thrown into the grounds), but also to minimise annoyance to residents. There were some sound monitors about - I saw a couple on Woodstock Road on the Sat night. I found it loud (I'm on the park side of Oxford Road) but not as loud as Stone Roses/Arctic Monkeys!

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