[ssf] They Have been now about to fall..

[worldwarfree at riseup.net]

At the end of this year, 70 years of history will be demolished. The death
of 'Salt and Pepper' looms like a dark mushroom cloud over Sheffield. What
the nuclear bomb could not manage in Threads, e-on are going to do and
demolish the Cooling Towers.

Last year sculptor Antony Gormley, the creator of the Angel of the North,
stepped in to the controversy over the future of the towers saying it
would be an act of "cultural vandalism" to knock them down. One could not
agree more.

So e-on are going to build a new BIO-MASS power station on the site and
have pledged £500,000 towards a new piece of artwork to replace the
"unique" towers. September 11th some are saying inside job, here we have
one and those doing the "cultural vandalism" are more than happy in what
they're doing.

I would like to ask e-on to also donate four wind turbines to power a pump
that will deal with the excess water due to Meadowhall being built, the
water being pumped onto Blackburn Meadows returning them back to their
former use as a flood plain.

Also, that e-on and the owners of  Meadowhall (British Land) donate a sum
of monies to clear the rubbish and debris in the River Don, a car still
remains under the viaduct. This was talked about in The Sheffield
Telegraph letters page over 2 weeks ago and much of the rubbish and debris
are from the recent floods.

Since the 1970's (when Salt and Pepper closed) the various owners of these
cooling towers and her land around them have failed to do anything with
Salt and Pepper themselves, along with said land around them. However
Mother Earth has turned this area into a strange bucolic urban landscape
and now what has eased some of the pollution over the next 5 years will
slowly be ripped up and built upon.

Why should it be just the privilege of those in Nether Edege to live on
Tree lined Cherry Blossom Streets?

There have been various efforts over the years to plant Cherry Blossom
trees around Tinsley turning the streets near J34 of the M1 into tree
lined ones, this in turn helps ease the pollution plus also adds more
bio-diversity to the area. Of course these efforts have failed, rumour has
it a shopping center in the area refused to give a donation towards the
cost when the place opened in 1991.

The widening of The M1 and the continued building plans for the future of
this area are only going to add more to the problems of this community.
You can not simply build your way out of congestion, neither can you do
the same with lack of social housing, we have to look towards alternatives
as a solution to both.

But of course we could save The Cooling Towers, place some Wind Turbines
to power a Water Pump, clean up the River Don and the Canal (laying decent
paths to open up for bikes and people), extend the Supertram (allowing
bikes) to Rotherham with a stop at Magna and one at Blackburn Nature
Reserve. And to landscape The Meadows. I could continue but i guess you
get where one is coming from.

London has Heathrow and the Third Runway, we have e-on and their crass
plans with little regard for the community around Salt and Pepper and the
wider Sheffield Community. Would it be not better if e-on gave a damn
instead of short term gain.

I know, it all sounds a little utopian to ask those who are about to
commit another act of "cultural vandalism" on the history and culture of
Sheffield, however one day we might understand that 70 years is a long
time and no doubt will have played a part in where we are in Sheffield. Is
it too much to hope the likes of e-on will begin to start understanding
this?

Like David Cameron, i have naive dreams of real Anarchy on the streets not
his idea of Anarchy, I also dream the Cooling Towers will stay. However
one is a realist, so I'll ask for an open conversation with e-on and
British Land who own much of the land around the towers to sit down and
talk about the needs of the people living there and not look just towards
their own profit and gain at the cost to this already blighted community.

Current images and further thoughts to be found, as always, at
pretentiousartist.com

I feel the need to hug some trees

0742
Broomhill, Sheffield S10