East End allotments hopefully won't be destroyed by Games

Commonwealth Games Village

BBC: "We will vigorously question the Commonwealth Games project"

Dear Mr ...

Thank you for your comments on our coverage of the Commonwealth Games project.

Please accept our apologies for the long delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we are sorry you have had to wait on this occasion.

I have passed these on to the reporter Hayley Millar. I can assure you that we will vigorously question the Commonwealth Games project as it progresses from now to 2014.

Thank you for your interest and your concerns.

Regards,

Atholl Duncan
Head of News



---------Original Message-------------


As there has *never* been a successful "regeneration" project carried out by Glasgow City Council or any of its friends in private industry, why was Hayley Miller's report on the the Commonwealth Games so devoid of any substantive criticism? Am I paying a licence fee in order to hear propaganda from the likes of Steven Purcell, who has never seen a demolition or school closing he didn't like? Any chance the lack of critical voices will be rectified?

Commonwealth Games "Health Impact Assessment"

You may have seen surveys if you went to your doctors surgery recently. They were asking you why did you think the Commonwealth Games would be great, etc. Anyways, the results were to be posted on the Council's website in August - well, basically, now.

But the results aren't up yet.

Maybe Jo-Ann Welsh knows - why not drop her an email: joann.welsh@glasgow.gov.uk, or better yet, give her a ring: 0141 287 4460.

Ardenlea St Dalmarnock

From Games Monitor 2014:

Ardenlea St in Dalmarnock is the site of the new Athletes Village for the Commonwealth Games. Margaret Jaconelli purchased her flat in 1976 and she and her family have lived alone on Ardenlea St. for the past 5 years. All the other tenants were rehoused and now the council are threatening to evict Margaret and her family. Her story can be viewed in the film clip below:

Games Monitor 2014

There's a new website looking at the Commonwealth Games:

http://gamesmonitor2014.wordpress.com/

What is the Games Monitor?

The Games Monitor is an emerging group, or network, of people raising awareness about the impacts of ‘regeneration’ via the Commonwealth Games 2014 (CG 2014), and the Clyde Gateway Intiative (CGI).

Who are the people behind the Games Monitor?

We come from many different backgrounds: locals, activists, campaigners, academics. We are not backed by any political party/organisation, and none of us receive any money for the voluntary work we do with the Monitor. We are always happy to include more people in the group.

What does the Games Monitor do?

Our blog provides a clear, critical and accessible point of information about developments in the East End. We intend this site to be a hub for information exchange, publication and solidarity networking. We also want to start establishing contact with other groups in the area, who are concerned about the impacts of the Games.

What’s wrong with hosting the Games? Won’t it bring benefits to the people of the East end in Glasgow?

Despite all the hype, the lessons from many previous ‘mega-events’ like the Commonwealth Games, is that they typically run over budget; that ‘regeneration’ often causes displacement because of rising rents and prices; that there are often harmful environmental costs due to construction and road-building; and overall, that these types of events are typically more about private property development and ‘city-building’ (building an image of the city) than about the needs of local people.

But won’t the Games and the Clyde Gateway development go ahead anyway?

Yes, but we want to make sure that as many local people are involved in the process as possible, and that the real needs of the people of the East End are given voice, and have a chance to influence the outcomes of what is after all, the biggest regeneration programme in Scotland.

How can I get involved?

Check our contact page for our e-mail address. We hold regular meetings, and we intend to hold public meetings, conduct local history walks and make contact with other groups in the area. If you have any ideas you want to involve us in, or any information you want to share, then let us know and we’ll be happy to work alongside you for a better Glasgow East.

Sunday Herald: "I won't move out of my home for the 2014 games"

'I won't move out of my home for the 2014 games'

TEN  months after Glasgow rejoiced at being awarded the chance to be host city of the Commonwealth Games, a major regeneration project is under way to prepare for the Games and to transform the city's poorest areas. There is just one hitch: the last remaining residents in the area earmarked as the athlete's village are refusing to move out.

On Ardenlea Street in Dalmarnock the tenement row lies empty, neglected and crying out for demolition.

For the past five years Margaret Jaconelli, 50, her husband Jack, 50, and her 15-year-old son, Aarron, have been the only residents of the tenement block. Everyone else has been re-housed as part of the Clyde Gateway Project over five years ago, but Jaconelli refuses to move.

"I feel isolated because we don't have any neighbours. I have become a recluse. I don't even have a postcode any more, the gardens are littered with rubbish and no-one comes to clean it up. It's almost as if we no longer exist."

With the Commonwealth Games approaching, the city council is desperate to demolish the whole street, but Jaconelli says she will stay until she receives the compensation she believes she is due. She says she has so far been offered only an 80% ownership of a house in Cranhill, which she has turned down.

"I just feel like the council are coming in and taking my life away, my house away," she says. "They are not interested in me, I'm just a wee person and they think they can just walk all over me. At the end of the day they can all go back to their homes in the evening, but this is my home, my livelihood, it's all I have got."

Councillor George Redmond says there is an end in sight and that will be in the form of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on the property: "It is in no-one's interest that Margaret and her family remain there, especially after all this time. I am sympathetic to a point, but this is a larger issue. The local area needs certainty so that the games can take place and Ardenlea Street needs to be demolished. For the greater good of the area someone needs to take it on the chin."

Redmond claims a CPO has been placed on the property, but Jaconelli and her lawyer deny this.

Lawyer, James M Carmichael stated: "No CPO has been served on Margaret and if there was there would need to be time to contest it and to seek adequate compensation. I actually wish they would serve a CPO on the property so I can take it to the Sheriff's Court and we can get the issue finalised and make sure Margaret gets the adequate and rightful compensation that she is due."

Meanwhile, back at her ground-floor flat in the derelict street, Jaconelli is hoping for a solution to be made soon so she can move on with her life.

"We have been in limbo all this time - I am frightened to leave this house unoccupied for more than a few hours. The surrounding empty flats are continually broken into, vandalised and set on fire. We need to move on from here."

As winter approaches, the family is not looking forward to another winter in the flat. "For the past five winters my heating bills have been sky high, I am effectively heating the whole tenement," Jaconelli says, but she remains defiant. "I'm not budging. If the council don't give me the proper compensation that I deserve then I won't be moving anywhere. I will sit right here till 2014 and watch the Commonwealth Games from my window."

11:30pm Saturday 20th September 2008