[matilda] Cooling the Towers is in peril.

[Gareth Roberts]

Hello People,

 

I was wondering if anyone has a really radical idea, you know so blinking
out there that no one has ever thought of it. In fact words don't exist that
can describe this idea it is so blinking genius. NO? Oh dear. We're shafted.
Again.

 

The Cooling Towers. It's another inevitable outcome. It's another stitch up.
A done deal. Just like the Leadmill. Just like the E-Campus. Just like the
Pop Centre. Just like Matilda. It's a fix I say. You see the establishment
loves to see the little men and women get excited about something, only to
take it away and smash it up. Death by slow bleeding. Except you don't know
your bleeding until your dead.

 

What should we do? We should revel in our position of weakness. Our
inability to do anything expect watch and gasp. Talk about it in romantic
terms of endearment, you know like when you think of old friends, and days
gone by. Reminisce about how great they were, how wonderful those cooling
towers were, how great it would have been, if only..

 

Don't you see?! They can take away the towers, but they can't take away the
idea of the towers.. Once they have struck them down, they will become more
stronger than they ever were. You know like Obi-Wan Kenobi, only real.

 

What should we do? We should leave Sheffield. Escape like rats from a
sinking ship. One mans heaven is another man's hell, and this time the
balance is tipping the wrong way. Even if they kept the towers, turned them
into Sheffield's "Angel of the North", what would be the outcome -
gentrification, city living dickheads, rising costs, crime, drugs,
prostitution, seafront penthouses.

 

Don't you see?! The best thing that could ever happen is about to happen.
They'll take away the towers, and we'll be left with nothing. and
everything. Wallowing, stricken, smashed on the rocks - and out of the ashes
a phoenix will rise. We don't need your poxy f-ing towers. Keep 'em. Grind
'em to dust. See if we really care.

 

Even if the towers stayed, and they were made into something wonderful,
magical even, imaginations unbound, words cannot explain. those corporate
f***ers would come along and claim them as their own. Sheffield's on the map
again, Sheffield's the UK's most innovative city, the most creative city -
fine, great, wonderful, but you ask yourself - and you know who you are, you
Town Hall dwelling suits - what is it exactly that makes Sheffield all that
and so much more? Not the buildings, not the posh water features, or the
fancy dancy MDF high rise slums of the future wank that excuses itself for
architecture these days - no none of that. It's one thing, and one thing
alone - the people.

 

So people. Are you listening? The question is this - do you fight to win, or
fight to lose. And in this particular case what exactly is a win?

 

Come you c**ts. Let's have it.

 

  _____  

From: Go [mailto:go.sheffield at gmail.com] 
Sent: 27 September 2006 16:49
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foster; W Hazel; worldwarfree at riseup.net
Subject: Cooling the Towers is in peril.

 

Hello everyone,

This is Go bothering you again for your support and attention for just a few
minutes. Nearly a year ago we were going full whack to try and get the
Cooling Towers in Tinsley, Sheffield, to be part of Channel 4' s Big Art
Project. Thanks to you lot, we managed to get down to the final 6 winning
sites and had the chance to make the Cooling towers project a reality. There
was only one problem...Eon (the company that own Powergen). They own the
towers, and the land around them, and were not interested in supporting any
kind of artwork on the site. They announced that they were going to demolish
the towers as they were unsafe. 

That was then. Now, after several months of site surveys, negotiation and
political goings on way above our heads, Eon have come to their final
decision. And surprise bloody surprise, they haven't budged an inch. The
towers are still meant to be coming down by the end of this year. 

Eon, clearly, are idiots. They have listed all the reasons why the towers
have to come down, but have failed to choose very valid ones. They claim
that the majority of Sheffield is in favour of the towers being demolished.
What they have overlooked, is that their survey is of 500 people, with only
half of that (250) favouring demolition. If their maths is as good as ours,
then they have forgotten the fact that nearly 500 of you, including local
councillors and Antony Gormley, nominated the towers for the Big Art
Project. In my book, that's a few more. 

They also claim that their plan will bring more jobs to the area. Oh dear,
they're wrong again. Will they never learn? Building a massive Toys R Us or
whatever they go for, will not usher Sheffield into a Golden Age of economic
happiness. Whereas, potentially, an internationally acclaimed artwork, and
new icon for the city, might just attract a bit of attention and investment.


Clearly, I should be mayor.

We wanted to tell you all this because you are the ones who helped us get
this far, and we couldn't have done it without you. You deserve to find out
like this rather than reading it in the papers. 

But we may need to call upon your good nature again at some point soon.
We're not willing to let some goon from an electricity company tell us that
Sheffield is not worth it. We're not willing to let someone without even the
tiniest bit of vision stop us after we've come this far. Without meaning to
get all OTT and melodramatic, this is war. 

It's The People versus. Eon will wish they'd never started on us. We're
double hard and all that. The thing is, who determines what our landmarks
should be? Who chooses the way we want our city to be? Who decides what to
do with our icons? 

We don't think it should be some suit who doesn't get it.

This city is yours.

We'll be in touch.

Go x
-- 
GO Sheffield

Post-industrial City Lovers 

>>>> www.dontgo.co.uk <http://www.dontgo.co.uk/>  

-- 


We're sending you this email because we think you'll be interested, and
because you're extremely patient and good-natured. If you don't want to
receive emails from us, let us know. Big love. DON'T SLEEP ON SOUTH YORKS x 
 <http://www.dontgo.co.uk> 

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