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Rosen, Pipe and Dalston Town |
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Friday, 06 June 2008 |
An interesting exchange has been going on between Jules Pipe- Mayor of Hackney - and Michael Rosen - Hackney-based poet and Children's Laureate - about the impending fate of Dalston Town Centre.
On 6 May 2008 Rosen published an article in the Socialist Worker newspaper called 'New Labour's Private Degeneration' in which he lambasted Hackney Council for handing Dalston's "regeneration" over to bankers and property developers instead of improving the area for it's local - predominantly working class - population.
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=14820
This story was picked up by Clapton Pond blogger and Guardian newspaper writer Dave Hill, who contacted Jules Pipe for comment and received a 'sneering rant' back in return, accusing Rosen of being part of the 'Keep Hackney Crap' brigade. Dave Hill published this on his blog-site on 20 May 2008.
http://davehill.typepad.com/claptonian/2008/05/hackney-mayor-j.html
Rosen hit back a few days later and quite rightly asked Pipe why it is that all the benefits of the so-called regeneration of Dalston will go to the property developers, while Hackney Council Tax payers pick up the bill and get nothing in return except concrete tower blocks they won't even be able to afford to live in.
The debate has now moved to the pages of the Hackney Gazette...
http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/content/hackney/gazette/news/story.aspx?brand=HKYGOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshkyg&itemid=WeED29%20May%202008%2013%3A17%3A35%3A657
For what it's worth, Hackney Independent thinks Michael Rosen has it just about right.
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