Brixton chitter chatter part 1 (Nov 2006-June 2008)

[tarannau]

It's the decaying building just down from the Ritzy, towards and pretty much opposite St Matthews church. Saltoun Rd runs parallel, there's a little patch of green land just in front, has some murals and graffiti on the front - including a dated and prophetic 'who are you to judge' Michael Jackson mural at one stage.

You must know it, surely.

 

[Orang Utan]

I've probably walked past it a million times - is it between Rushcroft and Saltoun Roads? I've seen the mural

 

[Crispy]

http://www.derelictlondon.com/id1475.htm

 

[editor]

I've 'Then and Now'd it too:

"1885 Adapted from a pair of houses (built c 1810), this unusual building has seen a multitude of uses. In this 1885 drawing, it was the Brixton Liberal Club, while in the late 19th century it became a public meeting hall, also let out for concerts and dances."

http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/raleigh.html

(((poor building)))

 

[Crispy]

the furniture workshop next door is a very fine building

 

[editor]

It is indeed. And it grew an extra floor at some point in its life too, according to those pics.

 

[Orang Utan]

I don't recognise, but I see where it is - I've never been down the side streets, so not seen it from those angles - looks like it was once a glorious building

 

[Orang Utan]

The brickwork is a slightly different colour on the first floor

 

[lang rabbie]

Raleigh Hall

Nothing is certain about the Black Cultural Archives' return.

AFAIK the planning application is a requirement as part of the application that has been made to the "Community Assets Fund" (administered by the Big Lottery Fund???) for funding.

 

[sir.clip]

the furniture workshop next door is a very fine building

full of merry men too..

 

[editor]

Our block is now crawling with junkies, day and night.

They're using the fire escape right outside my door and they've taken to jamming the lock with bits of wire - which means there's a good chance that the cunts will accidentally jam the door shut too.

Last month, they ripped the entire door off, but replacing it hasn't stopped them coming and making a racket through the night.

I wouldn't fancy having to use the fire escape either - it must be full of filthy needles.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Our block is now crawling with junkies, day and night.

They're using the fire escape right outside my door and they've taken to jamming the lock with bits of wire - which means there's a good chance that the cunts will accidentally jam the door shut too.

Last month, they ripped the entire door off, but replacing it hasn't stopped them coming and making a racket through the night.

I wouldn't fancy having to use the fire escape either - it must be full of filthy needles.

That sounds horrendous. I take it the council know about it? Can't they get someone to clean it every day?

 

[Crispy]

That's truly shit

 

[editor]

That sounds horrendous. I take it the council know about it? Can't they get someone to clean it every day?

Just spoke to one of the low-paid, over-worked, short term cleaners, and he - not surprisingly - wasn't too keen to start wading around in the needles.

I'll ring the council again.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Just spoke to one of the low-paid, over-worked, short term cleaners, and he - not surprisingly - wasn't too keen to start wading around in the needles.

I'll ring the council again.

I thought they had a drugs van (although can't say I've seen it for ages) that specifically went round dealing with problems like this?


I thought it was called something like "sex and drugs paraphernalia clean-up" but can't find much on the internet. Maybe if you ring the Town Hall they'll have the number?

 

[ovaltina]

Our block is now crawling with junkies, day and night.

They're using the fire escape right outside my door and they've taken to jamming the lock with bits of wire - which means there's a good chance that the cunts will accidentally jam the door shut too.

Last month, they ripped the entire door off, but replacing it hasn't stopped them coming and making a racket through the night.

I wouldn't fancy having to use the fire escape either - it must be full of filthy needles.

Grim. I lived in a flat once with a shared balcony/walkway and a heroin addict next door. Crowds of junkies used to visit him I ended up having to negotiate my way past groups of them on the staircase to leave the flat. It was horrible.

In the end he was moved out by his HA, for a variety of reasons. I don't like to think about what happened to him.

Is there anything the council can do to keep them out? Does the block have a tenants' asn/intercoms/CCTV etc?

 

[editor]

Is there anything the council can do to keep them out? Does the block have a tenants' asn/intercoms/CCTV etc?

It only takes one of them to sneak in to our level and then they open up the fire escape door at the bottom for their friends. And then they're in and out all day/night. I let one addict in by mistake a few months ago before I realised what was going on, so it's easily done, even with an intercom.

I've been unblocking the lock whenever I walk past, but it can be filled back up with bits of wire virtually minutes later.

I rang the council and went in a big circle before being advised to ring the local plod.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I rang the council and went in a big circle before being advised to ring the local plod.

I think they'll be a bit too busy today

Wouldn't it be a HSE issue in which case it would be down to the council?

I'm a bit confused as to this wire business. What type of door is it that they're wiring up?

 

[editor]

I'm a bit confused as to this wire business. What type of door is it that they're wiring up?

It's a fire escape door with just one handle on the residents side, but they're wedging in bits of wire/whatever so that the mechanism doesn't close (i.e. so that they can open it from inside the actual fire escape).

My concern is that with all that fucking about they're going to wedge the door shut and thus trap people in the event of a fire - if they're not ripping the thing off its hinges, of course.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's a fire escape door with just one handle on the residents side, but they're wedging in bits of wire/whatever so that the mechanism doesn't close (i.e. so that they can open it from inside the actual fire escape).

My concern is that with all that fucking about they're going to wedge the door shut and thus trap people in the event of a fire - if they're not ripping the thing off its hinges, of course.

Well that's what I thought, which means it's a HSE issue. Maybe you could ask Fire Service to come round and send a report to council. They'll have more clout than you

 

[twistedAM]

Well that's what I thought, which means it's a HSE issue. Maybe you could ask Fire Service to come round and send a report to council. They'll have more clout than you

Good suggestion. I bet they'd come pretty quickly and they'd make Lambeth jump even quicker.

 

[Pip]

Yeah, try fire and police again but you could also try giving the smart team/mainliners in Streatham a ring. I think their van is the one a previous poster was thinking of.
Also, I think it's unlikely the proper police would do all that much about it, but those other community police lot might so it may be worth approaching them too.

 

[editor]

Blimey. After a near 2 minute wait on the phone I finally got through to Brixton police station who perhaps spoke a little too much from the heart, describing their attempts to apprehend the "little scumbags" (?!!) who frequent the block.

He claimed that they've been "hitting the block hard" and trying to get the dealers and junkies out, but that they come back all the time so there wasn't that much they could do.

It was only when I started banging on about the serious health and safety issues - fire escape doors potentially sealed shut, chaotic and potentially violent users given free reign of the block and the health fears about needles - that he seemed to take it seriously.

 

[Pip]

Don't you have a concierge? What's he there for if not making sure ne'er do wells stay out?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Blimey. After a near 2 minute wait on the phone I finally got through to Brixton police station who perhaps spoke a little too much from the heart, describing their attempts to apprehend the "little scumbags" (?!!) who frequent the block.

He claimed that they've been "hitting the block hard" and trying to get the dealers and junkies out, but that they come back all the time so there wasn't that much they could do.

It was only when I started banging on about the serious health and safety issues - fire escape doors potentially sealed shut, chaotic and potentially violent users given free reign of the block and the health fears about needles - that he seemed to take it seriously.

scumbags? I still say it's worth giving the Fire Service a call

 

[ovaltina]

What a horrible situation. Maybe if the police get enough calls they'll keep 'hitting the block' until the problem goes somewhere else. Won't be nice for the people in the next block they descend on, but what can you do?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Don't you have a concierge?

pffft

bless

 

[TopCat]

Our depot in Somerleyton Road is geiitting regulary invaded by heroin users looking for a space to inject and nod off. They are hyper aggressive when confronted. It's getting on everyones nerves.

 

[TopCat]

pffft

bless

A concierge system worked very well on the Milton Court estate in Deptford in terms of keping the invading drug users under control.

 

[ovaltina]

A concierge system worked very well on the Milton Court estate in Deptford in terms of keping the invading drug users under control.

It's one option, or you could get the Tenants' Asn to ask whether everybody would be willing to pay for security patrols. If I were living there I'd vote yes.