Reclaim Brixton movement - meetings and April 25th protest planned

[ska invita]

Quick, we're going to need 'trigger warnings' and 'safe spaces' next lest someone gets a teensy bit offended at a chant of 'whose Brixton, our Brixton'.

Christ almighty.

a lot of people like to romanticise the paris commune, but what they tend to forget is just how disruptive to bus services the barricades were

 

[pesh]

 

[han]

To me, 'our Brixton' means the one that everyone who lives here loves, the one that property developers and Network Rail are on their way to destroying due to their concern for nothing but cash.

 

[han]

There's nothing exclusive about it, unless you're on the side of Foxton's and Network Rail.

 

[Up the junction]

Am I missing something, is Foxton's a firm of estate agents with an average sized office almost opposite the tube?

 

[Greebo]

Am I missing something, is Foxton's a firm of estate agents with an average sized office almost opposite the tube?

Suffice it to say that that particular estate agency/letting agency chain has form, and IMHO unpleasantly antisocial form at that.

 

[Orang Utan]

Am I missing something, is Foxton's a firm of estate agents with an average sized office almost opposite the tube?

Yes. Estate agents are parasitical businesses and Foxton's are amongst the worst of them.

 

[cuppa tee]

satire.............http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...m-brixton-from-guardian-readers-2015042797754

 

[Up the junction]

Indeed, at worst it is a parasite though, arguably, more properly the agent of parasites.

 

[stethoscope]

Indeed, at worst it is a parasite though, arguably, more properly the agent of parasites.

I think that tends to let them off the hook a bit. They are much more involved and interconnected in the whole dynamic of estate/letting agents-property developers-gentrification-loss of social housing than merely 'agent of'.

 

[Orang Utan]

I think that tends to let them off the hook a bit. They are much more involved and interconnected in the whole dynamic of estate/letting agents-property developers-gentrification-loss of social housing than merely 'agent of'.

The Foxtons agent in that New Statesman article gleefully predicting that soon Brixton will have 100% private housing.

 

[299 old timer]

The Foxtons agent in that New Statesman article gleefully predicting that soon Brixton will have 100% private housing.

That seems an easy prediction to make, given that none of the main political parties are committed to building social housing, or trying to do anything about the runaway greed of developers and landlords. And I mean proper social housing, not this ridiculous "affordable" cobblers.

 

[Orang Utan]

That seems an easy prediction to make, given that none of the main political parties are committed to building social housing, or trying to do anything about the runaway greed of developers and landlords. And I mean proper social housing, not this ridiculous "affordable" cobblers.

Sure, I was merely illustrating the venality of estate agents

 

[Up the junction]

He's a salesman. If it wasn't property it would be second hand cars.

 

[Up the junction]

I think that tends to let them off the hook a bit. They are much more involved and interconnected in the whole dynamic of estate/letting agents-property developers-gentrification-loss of social housing than merely 'agent of'.

Okay, that's interesting. I was curious as to what people think distinguishes this agent from every other agent in Brixton.

 

[Orang Utan]

He's a salesman. If it wasn't property it would be second hand cars.

What's your point?

 

[editor]

Yes. Estate agents are parasitical businesses and Foxton's are amongst the worst of them.

I'd put local landlords and developers Lexadon in that list too.

Case study 48 Trent Road was converted to four flats by its owners, Mr Jerry Knight and Lexadon Ltd. Because three planning applications had been refused for such use and the owners had failed to resolve the matter informally with the Council’s Planning Enforcement team, planning enforcement notices were served requiring the cessation of the unauthorised use of the property as flats.

The owners failed to comply with the requirements of the planning enforcement notice within the prescribed periods and as a result, prosecution proceedings were instigated against the owners. In addition, planning enforcement officers and planning lawyers worked with the Counter Fraud Team’s accredited financial investigator (AFI) to pursue a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) application in respect of the profits made through this unlawful activity. Our AFI has specific powers under the POCA legislation to acquire financial information on defendants from banks and other institutions.

A confiscation order hearing took place at Inner London Crown Court on 8 September after the owners had admitted failing to comply with the planning enforcement notice. The financial investigation established that the defendants had derived benefit totalling £143,000 from the rental income received in respect of the property since the expiration of the enforcement notice period.

The court ordered that all unlawful profits made from the venture be repaid to the public Page 276 purse, applying a confiscation order for the full amount of £143,000, of which £53,000 was awarded directly to the Council to be used to fund further enforcement and investigation activity. The judge commented that these offences were particularly flagrant and that the owners had deliberately flouted the regulations.

As a result fines totalling £26,000 were also handed down with the defendants also ordered to pay Council costs of £7,000.

http://moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk/doc...5-Sep-2014 19.00 Corporate Committee.pdf?T=10

Classy.

 

[editor]

Okay, that's interesting. I was curious as to what people think distinguishes this agent from every other agent in Brixton.

How about this for starters:

Described by the Independent as the “Estate agent that gives estate agents a bad name“, The Guardian had this to say about Foxtons business ethics:

Staff were paid minimal basic salaries plus commission so that, according to one former employee, they were “driven to do almost anything to clinch a deal”.

Dodgy practices included pulling down other agencies’ For Sale boards and putting up their own for properties they weren’t even selling.

Last year it was reported that Foxtons were named as one of the worst letting agents for charging high fees to residential tenants – with London mayor Boris Johnson acknowledging that their fees were “unacceptable”.
http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2015/04/...state-agents-in-brixton-gets-windows-smashed/

 

[mwareing1]

No, that's actually one of the most predictable things people say on gentrification threads.

But it's true! Why forget the history. The buildings, the infrastructure, the architecture. This has also made Brixton what it is today, not just what happend in the past 70 years. To say 'reclaim' is such a shallow word.

 

[peterkro]

I couldn't make it on Saturday but followed what was going on.A big thank you who all who took part showing off the Brixton I've known and loved for 35 years.A special thanks to those who took out Foxtons window and those brave souls who had a go at the police station (not forgetting those that tried to get into the town hall a decent enough tactic, by the way the town hall has been occupied by people before,squatters took it over for a full day some time ago although admittedly we had the support of the workers inside).

 

[editor]

Quick post:
Reclaim Brixton – new video shows the energy, the issues and the fun of the day

 

[editor]

Reclaim Brixton. I'm confused. What back to the affluent area it was before the 1950s.

It wasn't particularly affluent in the 1950s.

 

[Pickman's model]

It wasn't particularly affluent in the 1950s.

it's not been a particularly affluent area.

 

[cesare]

You'd have to go back to the turn of the century for well to do middle-class-ness in Brixton: http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/booth-map.html

 

[ViolentPanda]

Reclaim Brixton. I'm confused. What back to the affluent area it was before the 1950s. It seems we for get that Brixton was a place of grandure and decadence. And life did happen before then. Peoples life's where changed then, just as they are now. It's sad that Foxtons has been targeted. Streatham had a Foxtons before Brixton?!?!!

You haven't read the thread,have you? If you had, you wouldn't have piled in with the most oft-repeated banal question on the subject of gentrification.
You're also historically-inaccurate. Parts of Brixton were certainly affluent in the first half of the 20th century, but other parts were the same old crumbling terraces with 2 or 3 families living in them. My maternal family was one of them during the '30s. We're not forgetting anything, we merely have a somewhat more well-informed and nuanced view of what Brixton was.
As for change, another thing you'd know if you had read the thread is that it's not change per se that has upset people - most of us are well-aware of the rise (and the fall) of the popularity of areas - it's the rate of change, and the fact that the speed is fed by "investment opportunities" and people wanting to buy into some sort of "cred" for living in Brixton.

Try not to be so dumb, eh?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Thank you for attempting to introduce a nuanced analysis. The fact that it is difficult to have such a debate here without being shouted down is the reason many no longer post here.

You can fucking shut it, too!



Sorry, you left an open goal there!

 

[mwareing1]

It wasn't particularly affluent in the 1950s.

As an editor I don't think you need me to explain what Brixton represented in regards to class, shopping, theatres and amenities. We also don't need to talk about electric and the tram. Please look at this image and tell me that Brixton wasn't affluent before!
http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/zebra-taxi-cab.html

 

[mwareing1]

You haven't read the thread,have you? If you had, you wouldn't have piled in with the most oft-repeated banal question on the subject of gentrification.
You're also historically-inaccurate. Parts of Brixton were certainly affluent in the first half of the 20th century, but other parts were the same old crumbling terraces with 2 or 3 families living in them. My maternal family was one of them during the '30s. We're not forgetting anything, we merely have a somewhat more well-informed and nuanced view of what Brixton was.
As for change, another thing you'd know if you had read the thread is that it's not change per se that has upset people - most of us are well-aware of the rise (and the fall) of the popularity of areas - it's the rate of change, and the fact that the speed is fed by "investment opportunities" and people wanting to buy into some sort of "cred" for living in Brixton.

Try not to be so dumb, eh?

Maybe the word 'dumb' is very apt here. Do you honestly think a place that is so close to Central London would stay put. Of course it has rapidly changed. Supply and demand. I believe places out side zone 6 don't change as fast. I think not realising this is 'dumb'

 

[299 old timer]

Maybe the word 'dumb' is very apt here. Do you honestly think a place that is so close to Central London would stay put. Of course it has rapidly changed. Supply and demand. I believe places out side zone 6 don't change as fast. I think not realising this is 'dumb'

It took time, but it was inevitable. The Victoria Line was the first "gentrifier" of recent decades imho, allowing folk quick passage to central London and back. It's not that Brixton exists in it's own little bubble either, just go and check property prices in Streatham...
A work colleague can't find a place to rent / buy in his home town of Beckenham, and is looking outside of London now. The "Reclaim Brixton" issue just mirrors what a mess property is all over the London area, question is: which political party has the cajones to tackle it?

 

[mwareing1]

It took time, but it was inevitable. The Victoria Line was the first "gentrifier" of recent decades imho, allowing folk quick passage to central London and back. It's not that Brixton exists in it's own little bubble either, just go and check property prices in Streatham...
A work colleague can't find a place to rent / buy in his home town of Beckenham, and is looking outside of London now. The "Reclaim Brixton" issue just mirrors what a mess property is all over the London area, question is: which political party has the cajones to tackle it?

Exactly it's everywhere Dalston, peckham, tooting blah blah. The problem is if people are willing to pay. Sadly they are to the disappointment of others.