*My 7-point Sort Out Brixton plan!

[editor]

1. Stick some huge, fuck-off lights along the dimly-lit, lone-female-worrying, drug dealer infested Electric Lane and Electric Avenue
2. Stick some huge, fuck-off lights along the stretch of Coldharbour Lane to Brixton Road
3. Install some urinals on Electric Avenue (by Iceland) as the place stinks of piss and always has done.
4. Put up a big sign that tells you the times and destinations of the overground trains at Brixton BR station
5. Put another big sign by the tube station - most people haven't a clue when and where the BR trains go
6. Rebuild the old Brixton BR third platform and the old Loughborough Park BR station on Coldharbour Lane (corner w/Barrington Rd) to allow direct route to Peckham, Lewisham etc
7. Fix the water that has dripped down on pedestrians from the rail bridge by the Dogstar since at least 1991

I'm sure you've all got some more to add to this list...!

 

[pooka]

I'd add:

Improve the lighting in the sqaure outside the Ritzy. The lights in the tree are pretty bu don't cast much light. Needn't be harsh. I recall seeing a square in France where they had very bright lights shining up into the trees. The light reflected back down was bright, but soft and dappled, if you can imagine.

Also, sort out the bus stops along the High Street, grouping common destinations together and if needs be narrowing the road and widening the pavement.

 

[hatboy]

Good ideas all IMHO. Pooka - Tate Gardens and Windrush Square are due to be integrated into one new public space soon. Believe it when you see it but some of the plans look quite exciting.

 

[Allan]

Pedestrianise the whole place.

"But where would the traffic / buses go?"

D'OH!

 

[fanta]

Sensible suggestions all, but what about those poor bastards roughing it outside the tube and elsewhere? I know this is a 'national problem' but it seems particularly pronounced here!

I think, ultimately, the only solution involves spendiong money - ie taxing people - but we all know how that sort of suggestion tends to make too many people jittery.

 

[dum dum]

Yeah i was threatened with arrest yesterday morning for stepping in to help one of that crowd.Two coppers were telling a homeless girl who was sheltering under a tree in bin liner "You'll have to move along love or we'll have to arrest you,the residents are sick of you lot"
I tell him "Excuse i'm a resident and it does'nt bother me if this lady wants to sit under this tree"
to which he replied"Look do't get involved inthis or we'll arrest you n'all"
Fucking Wankers.

 

[Choc]

*make the children playground on atlantic road more accessible and nicer.

*clean atlantic road and elecric lane and ave once with high-pressure whatever and then install the urinals as suggested by mike!

*fix the loose tiles on CHL and atlantic rd on the pavement cause if it rains, the yulky water splashes up your ankles!

*take the rubbish out from beneath loughborough junction bridge, just below the railtracks, it looks sheit!

*give brixton library a big fund to buy more books.


*and as suggested before pedestrianise CHL and ideally atlantic road as well.

*find a soultion for brixtons roughsleepers.

 

[IntoStella]

* Remove the obstructive and illegally constructed 'drinking deck' from outside Living bar on CHL.

 

[pooka]

hatboy: yeah, I heard about that at the Brixton Forum meeting I went to the other week (concerned citizen that I've become!). It's tied up with the Black History museum is it not? Sounded like it might be a while coming.

dum dum: At the same meeting, there were near hysterical (verbal) attacks on the police, from a broad cross section of people, for not doing anything about rough sleepers/addicts in the centre of Brixton. One group had brought kids along to add to their complaints. In fairness, they were also asking that proper provision be made for helping such people. The Superintendent responsible was left under no illusions about what people wanted. So, perhaps the police actions you saw related to that? They are a bit dammed if they do, dammed if they don't.

The Town Centre Manager pointed out that whereas many areas of London had seen a fall in rough sleeping, Lambeth (and Brixton in particular) had seen a rise. She said this was pricipally because of the closure of Bondway nightshelter at Vauxhall Cross. Bondway have opened a nice new hostel just across the road from where they were, but I don't think you can just turn up there. She also said that roughsleepers/beggars are attracted to Brixton because local people are generous.

 

[Structaural]

Destroy!

blow mcdonalds and KFC (nee pizza hut) to smithereens... Brixton lost a lot of style when they went up. Gives too much refuge for the crack-'eds.

Ban parking on Coldharbour Lane, Make the whole of brixton road single lane and widen the pavements.

Turn the Living room back into a real pub, open a shop called the One Stop Crack Shop to get the dealers off the streets.

More clowns and street people, better quality drugs and cut down that tree in front of the Rizty so I can see what's on when I go past on the bus (joke!)

 

[Robinson]

Yes - put in platforms on the overground high level line so Brixton can be back on the South London Line (providing direct link to Denmark Hill, Peckham and London Bridge). Overall Brixton overground should be 'reintegrated' with the town centre through signage and design.

Return Bradys to its former grungy glory - central Brixton needs a mental meeting place where every type of Brixtonian, dreamer, loser and freak can collide in a volatile, drunken haze

Or alternatively restore the original Prince of Wales through compulsory purchasing the KFC

Open up the grounds of St Mathews and extend it right across the road to the Ritzy creating a new park big enough for everyone to feel comfortable

 

[hatboy]

"Return Bradys to its former grungy glory - central Brixton needs a mental meeting place where every type of Brixtonian, dreamer, loser and freak can collide in a volatile, drunken haze"

Good turn of phrase there Robinson. Those are the people I like. I agree. Unfortunately, if you look around on these boards you'll see that Brady's gig room is due for demolition. Obviously the place will never be what it was, but it's an ideal central venue for bands and events provided the back room remains and it's still a pub. Since the first draft Lanbeth Unitary Development Plan talked of protecting pubs is it worth mountng any sort of campaign?

 

[Gramsci]

Interesting to see all these ideas come up.I used to go to Brixton Forum meetings but gave up in the end.My opinions were not appreciated as a long term Brixton resident by the town centre management.The forum was supposed to help sort out these problems as well as planning for the future of Brixton.The way it was set up is flawed.The impression is that it is "our " forum however all the town centre mge work for the council and in the end are accountability to the council.The forum magazine reads like a PR exercise for the council.
An example is the Tate gardens /windrush square/Raleigh building.Last year the Town centre mge said that the Forum was moving to be "project based".This project was started by the council as one if those projects.I did object when this started to reduce time taken on discussion of issues.I felt that the council wanted the forum to be project based because to many people were complaining about services ,asset sales etc.
Also I know people living in Saltoun road are not happy with the scheme as they (rightly) feel that it could extend the problems in Coldharbour lane to them.You never see these opinions in the Forum magazine.
In my view Brixton has had enough of schemes etc and the basics should be sorted out first.I remember when the Tate gardens and the Brixton overground were refurbished(under Brixton Challenge I think).Whilst the architecture was poor it was an improvement.The trouble is after a wad of money is spent their is then no ongoing maintenence.The Tate gardens and St Matthews Peace garden(this gets forgotten)look bad because there is no proper garden maintenance.In the long run money would be saved in Brixton if a longer term maintenance program and smaller changes were made instead of grandiose projects every ten years.This would also make it easier for localpeople to control democratically.
Another problem I had with the Brixton forum was their was a lot of Daily Mail type attitudes expressed.It was difficult for a soft gaurdian reading liberal like me to say anything.Take drugs a lot of the worst problems in Brixton are due to drugs.However I am for legalisation as taking it out of the hands of gangsters will reduce the problem of street crime and anti social behaviour.I also believe that drugs can be used recreationally with the right info.Saying this in public can lead to condemnation and put one beyond the pale.

 

[ats]

Originally posted by pooka
The Town Centre Manager pointed out that whereas many areas of London had seen a fall in rough sleeping, Lambeth (and Brixton in particular) had seen a rise. She said this was pricipally because of the closure of Bondway nightshelter at Vauxhall Cross.

It may also be because they feel safer in Brixton than elsewhere. Mrs Magpie has befriended a young homeless woman who lives in the centre of Brixton. She used to be based in Soho, but left because of the level of aggression and sexual exploitation she found. eg One pisshead found it amusing to kick her in the face so that she lost both her front teeth.

Brixton is a safer, more tolerant place to be homeless in.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Actually it was several teeth, but not the front ones...it was a Hooray Henry with an empty wine bottle, although she had kickings on other occasions. People in Brixton don't deliberately piss on people when they are asleep in doorways either. She says Brixton is really safe compared to other areas partly because of all the CCTV, and partly because we are just nicer people.

 

[fizzgig]

Plant high explosives at strategic points, light fuse and stand well away.

 

[twisted nerve]

6. Rebuild the old Brixton BR third platform and the old Loughborough Park BR station on Coldharbour Lane (corner w/Barrington Rd) to allow direct route to Peckham, Lewisham etc

bring the Victoria line overground between Brixton BR and Herne Hill BR, to extend the line south-east.

this would ease congestion at Brixton tube, due to a reduction in the number of people travelling to Brixton tube by bus from Dulwich, Crystal Palace, Herne Hill, etc.

 

[Trotboy]

Go further than that

I'd suggest the Council, LUL, Transport for London and Railtrack/Franchise holder get together to build a new Station for Brixton on the site of the old Iceland, with entrances to Coldharbour Lane via vacant Council properties and Brixton Station Rd. Pedestrianise all of Brixton Station Rd, Atlantic Rd (Below Coldharbour Lane Junction) Electric Avenue & Lane. Make whole area extended Market area, with new Station and connections to platforms etc above. Renovation of all railway arches as market stall holders storage included in plan.

Take Team Lambeth back under Council control and make sure central Brixton is kept clean of fly tipping etc.

Install Amsterdam style urinals for late night around Brixton and install new public toilets in new Station. Renovate and re-open all closed public toilets

Renovate and turn into open homeless hostel and drug counselling service one of the empty Council premises along Coldharbour Lane. Other empty property to become a Community Centre with resources for youth & unemployed.

Improve street lighting throughout central Brixton. Remove all sodium (Orange) street lights and replace with energy efficient and light pollution reducing fixtures which actually give white light or daylight-corrected light.

Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.

 

[editor]

"Renovate and turn into open homeless hostel and drug counselling service one of the empty Council premises along Coldharbour Lane. Other empty property to become a Community Centre with resources for youth & unemployed."

Do you live on Coldharbour Lane?

Call me a NIMBY if you like, but I'm fed up with watching junkies openly injecting themselves in front of my flat and leaving their needles where the kids play.

Only last week, the council were forced to mail all the people in my block to warn them of junkies and crackheads gaining entry to the block and trashing the place: so much so that the fire exit is now out of bounds - and I won't detail what the staircase looks/smells like!

I'm all for the establishment of proper, well funded and comprehensive drug help services, but I don't think slapping them right in the middle of the drug dealing capital of the town would be the most productive way forward - nor the most welcome choice for long, long suffering residents.

Treating addicts would be, IMO, far more effective if they were taken away from the immense temptation of Coldharbour Lane, where hussling dealers provide a ready supply of the drug and fellow addicts are quick to encourage users back on the brown.

 

[Trotboy]

OK Mike

I'll call you a NIMBY. But I take your point. However, surely that's the reason FOR putting it on Coldharbour Lane. I don't much enjoy stepping over needles & junkies to get into my office either, isn't that precisely the point to providing them with somewhere to go and get help? Provision of clean needles, sharps disposal, medical help, and I would suggest prescription of clean heroin or crack as well for addicts on a programme to get off them, so that they wouldn't need the dealers anymore.

The Police could then remove people from your flats to the hostel - rather than ignoring them because they can't do anything but put them in a cell.

I'd suggest these buildings because of their location and the fact that the Council already own them.

While we're at it, proper cleaning services & security for Council accommodation?

Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.

 

[editor]

Where do you live, Steve? Why aren't you suggesting that they build these centres next to your house or in your street?

Coldharbour Lane's got more than enough problems as it is and putting a drug treatment centre in a street crawling with dealers seems like madness to me.

And what about the long suffering residents? Do you think they'll welcome the prospect of even more junkies in the area?

FYI, there were already places for the 'provision of clean needles and sharps disposal' provided for several years on Coldharbour Lane: right outside my house as it happens.

The clean needles were dispensed from the chemist opposite (now closed) and the sharps box is still bolted on the wall of my block.

But guess what? That didn't stop the majority of users openly injecting in a residential area, shitting/pissing/dumping rubbish all over the small patch of green outside and - worst of all - leaving their needles scattered all over the grass, right where kids play.

Loughborough Park opposite is now dangerously littered with needles, we've got crack heads hassling residents and kicking in the doors of the block (the residents now have to pay extra for the 24hr concierge) and the fire escapes are all trashed by drug crazed nutters.

I think Coldharbour Lane could use some other kind of development right now....

(On a general note: I am for the prescription of clean heroin coupled with a well-funded treatment, health, education and after-care support program designed to get addicts off the drug. And punitive penalties for the fuckers selling the shit.).

 

[Trotboy]

Ed

I'm precisely not suggesting that somewhere be provided where I live because it's not Coldharbour Lane. As you illustrate, and those of us who live & work amongst it every day know only too well THIS is the problem area. THIS is where the problem needs to be dealt with. Or are you suggesting we put them all in cattle trucks & take them to Poland?

What 'other kind of development' do you have in mind, Mike? Do you seriously think that the Hotel, branch of Waitrose, and 'boulevard' proposed in Lambeth's UDP are going to improve the situation?

The problem won't go away without being dealt with. Where in Brixton, within staggering distance of where these people are, do you suggest?

Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.

 

[jonesy]

Most people rough sleep in Brixton purely for the proximity, proliferation, strength and value of the drugs that they are reliant on. I have worked with rough sleepers for a number of years and have seen characters from such famous spots as Kings Cross moving to Brixton to take advantage of this market. Goods can be shoplifted in Brixton Rd, sold in the market in Electric lane and the cash exchanged for drugs in Atlantic road before being consumed in any one of a dozen dank corners yards from the town centre. Convenient ? YES! Also most of the rough sleepers in Brixton get treated like shit primarily by their dealers who find it very amusing to give an 8 stone Junkie a good smack in the face before he gets his gear. They are verbally and physically abused as par for the course and take it for granted as part of the life they lead. The dealers are the Scum of the Scum I only wish they would wipe each other out, they prey on and make their money from some of the most desperate people in our society. Oh! and whilst we're at it Brixton could do with a bus station so you could actually walk on the pavements sometimes

 

[editor]

Face it: you don't give a fucking shit about the people who live on Coldharbour Lane, do you?

We've already got more drug dealers/bad boys/crackheads per square inch than anywhere else in Brixton, yet you seem to think a scheme to attract even more is a good thing.

If addicts want to get helped off their addiction, it would appear to me to be stunningly obvious that you put them in a treatment centre somewhere out of the sphere of influence of those who prey on them.

I say: take them out of the circumstances that are feeding their problems and addiction and give them proper treatment and counselling in a way that makes it less likely for them to be drawn back in.

What's the point of undergoing a counselling session if the second you walk out of the place there's a mass of dealers offering you smack and all your junkie pals around offering you more?

That's like an alcoholic trying to give up drinking while living in a pub stuck in a permanent happy hour.

And tell me this: why should the residents of CL have to put up with the likes of you - presumably living somewhere much nicer and safer - telling them that they should have yet more addicts dumped on them?

If you're that concerned, why not suggest some nice properties round your area, free from dealers and crack heads?

 

[pooka]

For once, I have some sympathy with Trotboy's point. I don't think a treatment centre as such would be a good idea for CHL, for all sorts of reasons, not least getting people away from temptation must be an important aspect of treatment.

But a 24h information/drop in place would be useful, ideally where people could self refer for treatment and get transport to a centre there and then. People who's lives are seriously deranged by drugs need to have services taken to them - they're often just not organised enough to read leaflets, book appointments, get themselves across town and so on.

Moreover, such a place would send out an important signal that Brixton is not simply acquiesing to the activities of the dealers. A stroll down CHL most evenings, and it doesn't feel like that.

Incidentally, it was reported at the Brixton Forum meeting that Lambeth has received £1.2m to spend on anti-crack measures, which has to be spent by next March. They're planning a meeting ('fraid so, but open I believe) in October to decide what to do with it.

 

[editor]

But an information/drop in place would be useful, ideally where people could self refer for treatment and get transport to a centre there and then

Now that I have no problem with, although I'd suggest that such a centre should be in a highly visible location (like the High Road by the tube station), so that incoming addicts could immediately get good advice.

 

[Trotboy]

Mike

I don't give a shit about the people who live on Coldharbour Lane? For fuck's sake, Mike, I know you get worked up by the fact there's the word 'Socialist' at the end of my posts, but that's a bit thick, frankly. Several members of our Party live on the Moorlands Estate. I don't, I live in Wandsworth, do you want me to move to Coldharbour Lane before I give an opinion? My railway arch (Office) is just off Coldharbour Lane, and if I did live here, it wouldn't make any difference to what I'm saying.

You won't get rid of the dealers without removing the demand. You can take dealers off the streets every day & more will be there tomorrow to replace them. You can't treat people away from where they are - away from where they LIVE, in many instances. You won't remove the DEMAND until you get people out of the cycle with treatment and in order to properly control it you have to be able to prescribe them clean drugs. No-one is going to go and get robbed & beaten by a dealer giving them toxic shit when they can get clean drugs prescribed.

So how would this attract more dealers? Do more dealers get attracted by a shrinking market?

It's a fine idea to "take them out of the circumstances that are feeding their problems and addiction and give them proper treatment and counselling in a way that makes it less likely for them to be drawn back in." Very good, let's see the resources being provided to do just that where possible - have a residential centre somewhere else that people can be referred to. Have it in my street in Wandsworth if you want - if you could get Wandsworth Council to agree - there's a vacant derelict property there that would do very nicely.

If you think my one bedroom bedsitter in Wandsworth is nicer than your Council flat then please let's swap! Or at least I would seriously take you up on it if I weren't moving back to Devon next week.

Mike, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not in power in Lambeth any more than you are. I'm not shouting down your suggestions hysterically, so why are you shouting down mine? Just because I'm a member of the Socialist Party?

Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.

 

[fanta]

Trotboy is correct.

He clearly is not suggesting that: 'a scheme to attract even more [drug dealers/bad boys/crackheads] is a good thing.'

Rather he is advocating some sort of help centre within close proximity to where they are - Cold Harbour Lane.

This is sensible surely? Trotboy has asked you Editor just where you suggest would be a better place, you have not answered him!?

The fact that Cold Harbour Lane is plagued by the dealers and wannabe-gangsters is by the by - getting rid of them is a job for the police and should of course go hand in hand with the setting up of any help centres.

Can't you see that your analogy of the alcoholic trying to kick the drink while living in a pub is flawed? Pubs are legal, smack and crack selling bastards are not, they shouldn't be selling that poison at all!

Removing the victims to elsewhere does smack of NIMBYism. The problem is here so it needs to be dealt with here. I agree with your comments about the need to prescribe clean heroin coupled with a well-funded treatment, health, education and after-care support program designed to get addicts off the drug. And punitive penalties for the fuckers selling the shit - but why not do all that right where the problem is?

(By the way, I live on CHL between Loughborough Junction and Camberwell)

 

[han]

I agree with Mike on this one. Of course you need to treat people where they live, but why in the epicentre of where Brixton's drugs problems are? A drop-in drugs health centre would be far better placed yes, in Brixton, but a bit further out. Coldharbour Lane has got enough on its' plate as it is!

I've got a couple more additions to the wish-list:

- trim back the trees in Josephine Avenue, and put up some really bright street lighting. Sod light pollution, I'm sorry, but this really is a creepy and dangerous road!
- fill up the potholes in the roads PROPERLY. There are so many big potholes that have been 1/2 filled up, for chrissakes! It doesn't take a genius to work that one out! See the hole, fill it entirely with tarmac, and voila! There are loads of potholes round by the Hobgoblin and Brockwell Park which have been filled up in the middle only, so have mini potholes either side. A nightmare for cyclists!
-Collect rubbish on Effra Rd/Tulse Hill more often. The street often resembles a dustbin, with chicken bones etc. scattered all over the street. Revolting.
-Keep the Lido open!
-Have residents parking in the streets around Brockwell park. Lots of people drive into Brixton and use our streets as a carpark, and walk to the tube to get to work in Central London. Grrr!

 

[Trotboy]

Fanta

I also wasn't solely suggesting Coldharbour Lane just because it's the epicentre of the problem. Anywhere in central Brixton would do - Mike's suggestion of Brixton Rd would be fine IF there were anywhere available.

The point is that Lambeth Council own two derelict lots on Coldharbour lane MORE THAN big enough to serve these purposes, and their location is ideally suited.

Steve Bush,
Lambeth Socialist Party.