Brixton news, rumour and general chat - April 2015

[gabi]

From their mission statement:
Yet Pop Brixton are already warmly welcoming a New Zealand wine exporter on board with zero connections to the area, and hosting the results of an exclusive architecture competition with zero connections to the area.

My god, they're letting kiwis in now? Man the fucking barricades, the welsh will be trying their luck next

 

[editor]

My god, they're letting kiwis in now? Man the fucking barricades, the welsh will be trying their luck next

Look! Above you! Miles above you! There goes the point.

 

[peterkro]

Here's the companies online shop site.I don't drink wine but a quick shifty shows some fairly high prices:

http://thenewzealandcellar.co.uk

 

[editor]

Pop Brixton's stated aim:

The programme would contribute directly to the achievement of the following manifesto commitments:
1. Boost jobs and grow local businesses
http://moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk/documents/s73039/Impact Hub ODDR - TB.docx.pdf

I guess on a interplanetary scale, New Zealand is pretty close.

 

[gabi]

She's been here ten years. What are the criteria discussed at your latest meeting for an acceptable brixtonite?

 

[gabi]

You're nuts. You celebrate the diversity of brixton in one breath then put down someone simply because of the place of her birth.

Where are you from again?

 

[superfly101]

My god, they're letting kiwis in now? Man the fucking barricades, the welsh will be trying their luck next

Depends on if she's a North or South Islander!

There's Welsh in London

 

[editor]

She's been here ten years. What are the criteria discussed at your latest meeting for an acceptable brixtonite?

I see you remain truly unable to grasp the point - i.e that Pop Brixton is supposed to be about supporting LOCAL businesses - and you seem to be confusing Londoners with Brixtonites. But don't let that get in the way of your confused ranting.

 

[Twattor]

I missed that to be honest, but her reasons for wanting to open in Brixton seem to have fuck all to do with the actual area or becoming part of the community, but everything to do with it being a lucrative business opportunity for herself.

I don't see her mentioning any connections with Brixton either.

I agree, certainly none that I could find; however you're taking this from a fundraising pitch aimed at foreign investors - it may just be marketing puff, i don't have enough information to judge.

Ultimately she wants to set up a business here. She may choose not to employ anyone local, but there is always the possibilty that she will. If the business is successful it will pay taxes and business rates.

It seems harsh to pre-judge on the basis of the evidence to date.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

It's comes across as little more than a shop window for NZ wine exporters.

Quick question: How long is pop actually supposed to be here for? What's the lifespan of the project?

 

[cuppa tee]

You're nuts. You celebrate the diversity of brixton in one breath then put down someone simply because of the place of her birth.

Where are you from again?

Her place of birth has not been commented on, the fact the business is an importer of luxury goods to be sold to a narrow demographic is an issue when she is plotting up in a space that is supposed to be about local opportunities

 

[editor]

I agree, certainly none that I could find; however you're taking this from a fundraising pitch aimed at foreign investors - it may just be marketing puff, i don't have enough information to judge.

Ultimately she wants to set up a business here. She may choose not to employ anyone local, but there is always the possibilty that she will. If the business is successful it will pay taxes and business rates.

It seems harsh to pre-judge on the basis of the evidence to date.

My main beef is the constantly shifting sands of Pop Brixton which seems to be straying light years from its initial fluffy and environmental-based community-centred roots.

 

[editor]

Her place of birth has not been commented on, the fact the business is an importer of luxury goods to be sold to a narrow demographic is an issue when she is plotting up in a space that is supposed to be about local opportunities

Yes. That is exactly it.

 

[Up the junction]

So why are you going on about how the capital is being raised and bloody immigrants?

 

[editor]

So why are you going on about how the capital is being raised and bloody immigrants?

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Those poor bloody immigrants....coming over here, selling their wine!!!!

 

[cuppa tee]

So why are you going on about how the capital is being raised and bloody immigrants?

Interesting that you are so keen to defend this when you couldnt give a monkeys about the businesses that are going to go tits up in LJ if the road closures come in

 

[editor]

Ryan Gosling is at the Ritzy tonight.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Bloody American actors coming over here flogging their films...

 

[editor]

Those poor bloody immigrants....coming over here, selling their wine!!!!

And taking the places of hard working locals in high-rent innovative incubator projects in new community campuses for startups, small businesses, local entrepreneurs and community organisations. The BASTARDS!

 

[Up the junction]

Interesting that you are so keen to defend this when you couldnt give a monkeys about the businesses that are going to go tits up in LJ if the road closures come in

I don't think youll find many people with personal or professional experiences of similar schemes would agree with you.

 

[gdubz]

I'm probably being thick but I couldn't work out from that kickstarter website whether people get a return on their donation/investment. Presumably if you chucked a grand at it you would get your grand back as well as YOUR NAME ON A BOARD? If not, I'll be on that site like a rat up a drainpipe - you can have your name TATTOOED ON MY FACE for a tenner.

 

[alex_]

I'm probably being thick but I couldn't work out from that kickstarter website whether people get a return on their donation/investment. Presumably if you chucked a grand at it you would get your grand back as well as YOUR NAME ON A BOARD? If not, I'll be on that site like a rat up a drainpipe - you can have your name TATTOOED ON MY FACE for a tenner.

I think you are paying a grand for a wine tasting, and your name on a board for 3 months until they go bust.

Alex

 

[Mr Retro]

Her place of birth has not been commented on, the fact the business is an importer of luxury goods to be sold to a narrow demographic is an issue when she is plotting up in a space that is supposed to be about local opportunities

That's fair but not her fault really. She's just exploiting a business opportunity and to be fair I wish her well.

The real problem is Pop Brixton who seem to have been very dishonest all through.

 

[editor]

That's fair but not her fault really. She's just exploiting a business opportunity and to be fair I wish her well.

The real problem is Pop Brixton who seem to have been very dishonest all through.

She's just another person cashing in on the gentrification of Brixton and there's no shortage of those people around. They're all here for the £££s and they'll fuck off the second the wind changes, but that's how the system works. I've got nothing against her personally although I couldn't give a fuck how her business does.

But don't forget Lambeth's big part in all this.

 

[deadringer]

Indeed. The vast majority of people attending resident association meetings on my council estate are not connected to the internet at all, so they are already excluded from being able to access crowdfunding ventures.

Even with a web connection, successful crowdfunding requires a good understanding of how to set one up in the first place, and how to and market it effectively to reach the target demographic, and a knowledge that it will be likely to attract capital. All specialist, niche skills.

If only this vast majority from your resident association meetings had some tech savvy person who knows his way around the internet to help them set up and market a crowdfunded idea.

 

[Thimble Queen]

.

 

[superfly101]

She's just another person cashing in on the gentrification of Brixton and there's no shortage of those people around. They're all here for the £££s and they'll fuck off the second the wind changes, but that's how the system works. I've got nothing against her personally although I couldn't give a fuck how her business does.

But don't forget Lambeth's big part in all this.

No she's a business woman who has a business plan based on a set rent level; this rent level is dictated by.........

her LANDLORD!!!

So if a business is pushed out due to increased rents..... it's the fault of the new business moving in whos' business plan can accommodate those rents moving in?

Is it fuck!

Business goes to where it can afford the rents set by Landlords.

Would she rather have a plot next to Harrords or Brixton Village?

If maybe you worked with new businesses to integrate them into the local community and encourage their use of collective buying to reduce costs across market traders or this wine goes great with those Columbian (Beef, pork & chorizo) sausages sold by X 2 stalls to the right and some exotic veg sold buy etc?

Or you could just call all new businesses you don't like cheese eating, jaunty hat wearing,gentrifying surrender monkeys! Which does fuck all for absolutely everybody!

 

[Gramsci]

Cabinet next Monday will hear the 2015 update on the Lambeth Community Plan. It also attempts to clarify what is meant by the Co-operative Council.

I'm still none the clearer.

BBuzz piece.

Got around to reading this tonight. Thanks for putting the Mansions in. I was half way through reading this and thought what about the Mansions.

Lambeth Council Leader Cllr Lib Peck has penned the introduction to the 2015 update:

“Over the last four years we have made great strides in opening up the council – moving away from being a bureaucratic and inflexible organisation to one that is more collaborative and cooperative.

No Lib the way that the Council treated Carlton Mansions was "bureaucratic and inflexible". In fact one of the officers assigned to evict us told me that he thought the Coop Council idea was a nonsense.

I see at the centre of the venn diagram explaining all this it says:

"All Lambeth communities feel they are valued and are part of their neighbourhoods"

Except for Carlton Mansions. Now still empty- a symbol of the Cooperative Council in action.

Good article btw

 

[Gramsci]

No she's a business woman who has a business plan based on a set rent level; this rent level is dictated by.........

her LANDLORD!!!

So if a business is pushed out due to increased rents..... it's the fault of the new business moving in whos' business plan can accommodate those rents moving in?

This is about Pop Brixton which is on publicly owned land that the Council has let out to Pop Brixton cheaply.

There have been complaints about the way the first round of applications for a container have gone:

See this article in Brixton Blog

Stuart Everitt, director of Marmalade Productions a small film production company in Brixton, said that he was attracted to POP Brixton because it was sold as a community venture with opportunities for smaller businesses to find a home with reasonable rents...“I’m going to have to look outside of Brixton which is really sad because I live here and I make films here and I want to be able to interact with my local community.”

The way rent levels have been set for the units is opaque. I wonder how many units have gone to local start ups?

“The community campus for startups, small businesses, local entrepreneurs and community organisations”

I have heard that other socially minded local business could not afford it either.

This "meanwhile project" was not supposed to end up like this.