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Taxi
drivers driven to despair, the sculpture vultures questioning the
wisdom of a Nelson Mandela statue and pigeons doing their best to
defy the regularly deployed falcons…… what is it they
say about not being able to please all the people all of the time?
Despite his critics Ken Livingstone has long championed the changes
to Trafalgar Square that he says will make it 'a world-class centrepiece
for a world-class city'.
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Ken
Livingstone
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Ironically,
while the mayor will be the man opening up the new look square,
the plan to change the way it looks wasn't his - he inherited the
scheme from the government when he was elected in May 2000, and
with it the headaches of re-routing traffic around one of the capital's
busiest areas.
Despite the initial problems the changes are likely to be used as
a template for further work around London as part of the mayor's
'100 Public Spaces' programme.
The plan, as with Trafalgar Square is to put people back at the
heart of London's open spaces and architect Sir Richard Rogers has
been handed the task of seeing it through over the coming years.
The mayor told us: "Many of the capital's squares were built
for people but have been taken over by traffic, what we want to
do is return them to their original role at the heart of local communities.
"I believe that pleasant, well designed spaces make a better
city, safer, more inclusive and more enjoyable."
The mayor will clearly use Trafalgar Square as the centrepiece of
his campaign, but work is already under way on 10 smaller pilot
projects around the capital, from Sloane Square to Coulsdon Town
Centre - from Lower Marsh in Waterloo to Gillett Square in Hackney.
The aim over the five years, is to spread the scheme to 100 sites
across London and central to that move will be copying what have
been seen as the successes of the Trafalgar Square project - particularly
the introduction of Heritage Wardens to the area.
This high visibility, 24-hour presence has seen crime in the Square
plummet, and has been copied in surrounding areas like Piccadilly
Circus and Leicester Square.
But while the battles over getting the Square completed have been
won, there's still the small matter of the Nelson Mandela statue
to resolve.
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Nelson
Mandela
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The
mayor's made no secret of his wish to have the former South African
president permanently mingling with pedestrians on the new North
Terrace… but he'll have to overcome critics in the arts world
who say the nine feet bronze being planned by sculptor Ian Walters
isn't up to the job.
And of course there's the pigeons…. Starving them didn't work,
but after two years of rows there is now an agreement in place to
cut back on their feeding, and the daily presence of a falconer
seems to be working its magic.
No news yet from the mayor on whether birds of prey will be deployed
to the new look 100 public spaces !
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through amazing shots of London from high up in a helicopter!