Marcus Garvey library imbroglio covered by Buzzfeed

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 16, 2015 at 13:04

Hurrah for BuzzFeed and the journalist Fiona Rutherford for her thorough and detailed report! 

As many people as possible need to have access to accurate information on the Marcus Garvey Library scandal. To learn about our Council's dismal failure to properly consult.  Plus its misleading propaganda - dismissing any alternative viewpoints as "myths". Plus general obfuscation of the issues.

I hope that nearly everyone now knows about the Government's cuts.  And also realises that local councils, including Haringey, have to make appalling choices. Which mean that residents face cuts in services and/or increased charges.

But while the cuts are not avoidable, the PR is both unnecessary and entirely avoidable. Haringey don't have to keep pretending that things are better.

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on October 17, 2015 at 8:42

ONE of the products of the chronically over-funded Communications Department is the 32-page, full-colour publication delivered "free" to every household in the Borough.

The latest issue is no exception to the typical fare of this perpetual Good News machine.

Haringey People'carries a 'story' titled Major Investment for Marcus Garvey. It opens with,

The ever-popuar Marcus Garvey Library is undergoing a £3 million refurbishment to create a brighter, more spacious looking layout.

The closure for "refurbishment" is contentious and has been much discussed elsewhere. Suffice to say that I was disappointed to read the claim that a "more spacious looking layout  [is to be created".

This is misleading because the former library walls will be required to accommodate a displaced Council Customer Service Centre and usable library amenity space will approximately be halved in size.

Up until recently I admired the Council's commitment to our Library Service.

CDC
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 17, 2015 at 10:50

Let's not be too sceptical, Clive. The words "more spacious looking"  are not flagrantly dishonest. Mirrors, windows, reflections from polished floors. All things are possible. In the film Casablanca  they shot the famous airport scene with a quarter-size wooden plane.

In my teens I was an avid reader of science fiction. Books and magazines with lurid covers. They had fascinating tales of alternative universes. Clever plots where the laws of time and space were as bendable and stretchy as used chewing gum.

Astounding Haringey Magazine is simply an updated local revival of the genre. Stranger things have appeared in our borough.

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Permalink Reply by JJ B on October 23, 2015 at 5:07

Is that a new children's playground? Surely looks like one that Fuzzybody People would want to PRomote!

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