Grassmarket Sunday Morn'
Mardi Gras - Now that its over, read residents reactions
First Impressions!
What a pity the Council have managed to spoil one of the well established and well loved Grassmarket events.
After years of gentle music coming from the sides of open beer lorries, no two adjacent ones playing at the same time, this year we had a stage erected at the west end. The Lord Provost and his wife (and someone else connected with the Jazz Festival) making speeches extolling the wonders of the new events arena and the Jazz Festival, and suddenly all hell let loose with music blaring out at an amplified volume that made staying in my flat quite impossible.
There were at the beginning (I don't know what happened later) other bands struggling to be heard above the din. So I am afraid I left Edinburgh for the rest of the weekend.
I must admit I am getting really cheesed off with the way the council and its advisers have turned this open space into a free for all for anyone who dreams up a bright idea. Oh that a councillor actually lived here!
That is the second time I have been driven out of my flat by the volume of amplification right outside my window!
Sunday Morn'
I woke up this morning to carnage around my home. We had urine and beer inside our door way, around the door frame and a smell to alert us to this. Outside, the new planters were torn and tattered from a night of abuse. And the events team were unloading their vans getting ready for another day of "Grassmarkets" beside our homes.
Whatever your views about the events and market activity- perhaps you enjoy them - we cannot escape the true facts around them; Grassmarket residents are being hit from all sides with extra noise, mess and disturbance. Every day-time event, no matter how "nice" it may be, requires several hours of fit up and take down time. This amounts to anything between 12 and more additional hours of daytime activity.
With most events there is accompanying, amplified music. I cannot shut out this sound from my home whilst it is playing outside, nor can I listen to music of my own choice inside my home.
The increased "footfall" brings attendant litter and refuse requirements. Often this leaves the street in a dirty, stone stained condition, until the street cleaners arrive. Residents often have to endure noisy street cleaning during the night, I am regularly awakened at 3am from this disturbance.
All this new daytime "family focused" activity makes no difference to the night time activity of Grassmarket. My own thoughts are that it actually increases the amount of noise and crazy activity from parties marauding the area. After all, if you generate a party atmosphere during the day-time why stop just because the children have gone to bed?
The bike businesses also contribute to the noise and ethos of "Party Time in the Plaza." I see around 20 of these bikes circling the area at weekends carrying, screeching passengers.
Like many of you, I have given up a great deal of time and effort trying to influence positive changes for my community. I have lived here for over 25 years and feel pretty passionate about the area. Over the years I have written, spoken and listened a lot to councillors, M.Ps, council officials.........you name it they've had my attention. Recently I remarked to one of our current elected councillors that I had no faith in the democratic process and that change cannot come through that route. If we want to change things for the better in this area we have to achieve it through our own efforts and with our own agenda. For me this means residents working together, starting with the things that we agree about and seeing where that takes us.
Our differences will amount to less than the things we have in common, and if we cannot agree to that then we are doomed to failure!
After all that jazz
I don't know what you're waking up to this morning or what you've got planned - croissant? bacon roll? - well, if you're interested, I'm just off to wash my front door which someone (or two or three) urinated on as part of last night's festivities. I don't know if they used the letter box but I'll also have to wash the stairs, as well as the pavement - just to be on the safe side.
You may also be interested to know the fate of the planters during yesterday's/last night's party. Barely two of the 18 or so planters have been left undisturbed: most of the plants have been uprooted, a dozen or more plants have been scattered on the ground, and virtually all the planters have bottles and cans stuffed in them.
I am now going to check if the police have anything on their CCTV surveillance cameras - or am I wasting my time?
After all that jazz