Readers' letters from Friday 15 Aug 2008

Crumpsall is better off without you

I  WOULD like to respond to the letter about Crumpsall which I found insulting, incorrect, racist and frankly, daft (Grass is Green, Postbag, August 7).What is the writer complaining about? NHS policy for allowing ‘rehabilitation or care in the community cases to roam about’? Too many schools in the area? Was it central government policy, local council policy or the ‘dreaded’ immigration policy of a government I imagine the writer is not too keen on? He seemed so angry and confused.Where did he get his figures from, some guy in a pub? A community consisting of ‘around’ 80 per cent non-English. (Did he mean British or white perhaps?) Or maybe it was local landlords or the economic shifts in areas that take place as, over generations, people die or move on and children find that they can’t afford to keep the large family home, are forced to sell, split the property among siblings and, in some cases, larger properties are split into bedsits and flats. I’m not a fan of absentee landlords or run-down flats, but well-maintained properties are more affordable for a younger generation.He rants from his delightfully green Cheshire. If only things were the same as years ago. Mrs Thatcher was encouraging people out of work, grassing over mines and pit villages, selling national industries and toying with a policy of ‘care in the community’.The writer is concerned that such people mix with children. What should we do? Bring back heavy sedatives, Bedlam, the birch, arm the police, build higher fences around schools? Stay at home, lock the door and be scared?Does he have happy memories of men in suits and hats, smoking pipes (it wasn’t bad for you then), walking briskly to important meetings? Were there women in flowery dresses shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables as children played with hoops in streets free from cars? Grass is Greener makes several assumptions in his letter. He assumes that we all want to be posh. He assumes that posh is good and clearly, better than common. He assumes that Cheshire is both good and posh. Near where I live, I sometimes see people less fortunate than a lot of us and if I can, I’ll give them a hand. I do this because they live in my community. I’m not wild about the state of some property and that shops sell alcohol irresponsibly. I get irked when I see bins intended for paper filled with rubbish and I can never understand why some people will place a can on a wall and think it isn’t litter.People talk about how things used to be. However, it’s not necessarily the truth. All things have positives and negatives and the problem with looking back and reminiscing is that we fail to notice who and where we are NOW. Horrible things can happen anywhere, any time.I live in Crumpsall. I chose to live here and moved, ironically, from Cheshire. I like Crumpsall, I like the mix of people, the trees, the parks and the houses. I know my neighbours, their families and visitors, people in the pub and snooker club, postman, bin men, people who drive by and wave. This is the community you call ‘a dumping ground’. For what? You are clearly talking about people. People live where they live and we all live with them. To refer to anyone as being ‘dumped’, shows ignorance and insensitivity. However fortunate some people are, they are never satisfied with what they have. There will always be greener grass elsewhere. Striving for it can lead to frustration, anger, bitterness and an unpleasant sense of living in the past as the life you’re living passes you by. I’m glad you got out too.

Kieran Lennon, Crumpsall

We're happy here

AS a lifelong resident of Crumpsall (80 years), I am tempted to say Grass is Greener is a snob and I am glad they left.The comment about care in the community is ill-informed and offensive.Residents are aware of the area’s imperfections, but through tenants’ groups, councillors and other community activities, Crumpsall is improving environmentally, socially and culturally.It is much greener with more tree-lined streets than 30 years ago. We have easy access to the motorway and the Metrolink. North Manchester General Hospital provides excellent facilities. Social services and the care of the elderly are well funded.Many of us have stayed in Crumpsall and are happy here. I only hope the writer’s neighbours show more concern about one another and the rest of humanity than he seems to.

Crumpsall supporter

Buses are better than cars

CLIFF Brown has been watching the buses on Wilmslow Road, and describes as ‘obscene’ a bus with 10 people on it (Postbag, August 12). I invite him to replace that bus in his mind’s eye with 10 cars, each with one person in it and ask him if he would prefer to wait in line at the traffic lights behind one bus or 10 cars?I agree with him that bus de-regulation created many problems for us in the Eighties. But he clearly hasn’t read about the proposals in the TIF bid, as several of his ‘alternative’ proposals are already central components of the bid. Under the TIF proposals the large number of bus services on Wilmslow Road will be replaced by two limited-stop express bus services each running every three-five minutes, one to Piccadilly Station and Gardens and the other to Salford Central and Salford Crescent. All other buses will use parallel corridors – for example a new cross-city service from Didsbury to Prestwich. The problem of buses being delayed while people board and find the right fare and collect their change will be solved by the Oyster-style smartcard payment system, which will dramatically speed up boarding times.Mr Brown has also apparently dreamt up a price of £60 per week for travelling to work. He seems to have plucked this out of the air, as the average congestion charge fare will be less than £3 a day in today’s money. Drivers should check the   rules carefully, as only one in 10 weekday drivers will pay the congestion charge. Those who choose to pay will benefit from faster journey times, while those who either choose to leave their car at home or don’t have a car (that is around 50 per cent of Manchester households) will benefit from a vastly improved public transport system. That’s why I am urging everyone to vote for a multi-billion pound investment in Greater Manchester’s transport infrastructure.

Jonathan Whitehead, Prestwich

Just crazy

YESTERDAY, the MEN carried two stories involving GMP. The first was about a teenager who reported her father to the police because she objected to being disciplined for being involved in anti-social behaviour on an innocent neighbour.The second was about a man going about his lawful business and trying to make a living who was violently attacked by a mob of thugs.The result? The father who disciplined his child with a slap was arrested, put into a cell and given a caution. The man who was violently assulted? No immediate police response. Victim contacted two hours later. No arrests.This is why council-tax payers do not feel safe and why they have lost confidence in the police. The police need to make every rank above sergeant sit a new exam. It should be called ‘Do I have any common sense’. I suspect the vast majority, especially those at the very top, would fail.

Common sense please