I have been assured that the photograph is not one of mine it was taken specifically for the newspaper.Any publicity regarding the reckless damage of community property is okay by me if it leads us in the right direction to stopping this. It is a shame that whoever took the photo didn't stop by as the story around this particular patch of slabs is significant. If you are having a sleepy Saturday, then by all means tune out at this point.If you look carefully at this photograph you can, for yourselves, see the whiter slabs towards the edge of the road. These were all renewed by the pavement replacement service following my tour of the street with 2 Officials from within.It was during this meeting that I discussed with them, the discussions I had already had with other officials about the possibility of replacing the tree. These two officials promised me that they would talk to the tree people as the logic of the workings of the Fortress meant that the tree people could not fund a tree, but the pavement people could fund a bollard to stand where the tree should be. The other difficulty arose around the notion that the bollard people could not and did not work with the tree people (this was system and structure based and not at all personal, I understand).The other issue I discussed was when the chitty was signed off for the work from within (I am not insisting on a day trip to check on the site the front line workmen could be trained to use their experience) and the workmen turned up - the first question, I would venture that might be asked was, why had the damage occurred?If the answer is a high probability that a developers delivery had driven along the pavement and there was no possibility of retuning the tree to its original position to act as a bollard, then why not lay the bedding for the slab on a harder surface instead of the sand with a gap these were laid on?Pavement work around here is met with intrigue by the neighbours so often there are several witnesses to the gap in the sand under the surface. One neighbour will recognise himself if I quote he watched a run being replaced as if they were intent on making two jobs out of the work. All are pretty dismal at the loss to public funds and living in such a run down area mostly caused by a small number of developers being allowed to rampage through the streets.At the end of their visit the two officials said they would talk to the tree people and this run of slabs (in the published photo) would have to be replaced. No further action with the tree and the slabs were indeed replaced and were indeed smashed to almost this state, within a couple of weeks.
Sarah Felstead ● 7003d