London 2012 - Skybar and News

[DarJoLe]

No.

Some pics of the media centre from a local presentation. I guess the main structure is permanent.

[jerseyboi]

we can not see them DarJoLe!

[DarJoLe]

I think they're not direct linking. Right click and download them.

[DarJoLe]

Boris Johnson clashes with Ken Livingstone over Olympic funding
Andrew Sparrow
guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 19 2008

Boris Johnson committed his first significant gaffe as mayor of London today when he said he did not know about a key document relating to the funding of the Olympics.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he was asked about a memorandum of understanding agreed between the government and his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, about the cost of the Olympics.

At first Johnson said he had not seen the memo. But, when he was pressed about it, he said: "I rather doubt that it exists."

He also claimed that the details of the agreement were "far from clear".

But shortly after the interview was broadcast, Today was contacted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which said that the memo did exist and was on its website.

Livingstone then contacted the programme and was interviewed, criticising his successor for not being properly informed.

"I find this bizarre," the former mayor said. He has been closely following Johnson's progress amid speculation that he will try to regain the job in 2012.

"It was published in the House of Commons library, Boris could have seen it as an MP, and I gave a copy to every member of the London assembly," Livingstone said. "It was mentioned in the media."

Livingstone said the memo was important because it established that, if the cost of the Olympics went over-budget, Londoners would not be expected to pay more.

Asked how he rated Johnson's performance, Livingstone said: "I think the idea that he has been mayor and he has not yet bothered to find the memorandum of understanding and brief himself on it before he goes on your programme is bizarre."

Livingstone then had a dig at Johnson's decision to resume his career as Daily Telegraph columnist this week.

"To be fair to the man, he's got to write his Daily Telegraph column. He cannot be a full-time mayor," said Livingstone.

[RobH]

{shakes head}

[Madman]

petty bickering between two political queens - i expect to see more of this over the next 4 years

[huvet]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

So basically the Mayor's official has said what everyone including the ODA already knows- in these changing financial times, there will be increases, and there will be savings.

Nothing particularly shocking there then.

Despite your previous quotes defending Ken's statements on costs. I haven't got time to quote your previous posts. The costings should have taken into account inflation, changes in the market etc.

[RobH]

How could anyone have predicted the credit crunch, the rising price of oil, and the property market slowing, would all happen at the same time; particularly two years ago when the budget was drawn up? Get real.

[DarJoLe]

From The Times
June 20, 2008

Sketch: Boris Johnson's Olympic talk on Today show was like a car crash
Ann Treneman

It was Boris Johnson’s birthday yesterday. The new mayor was 44 and he began his big day by appearing on the Today programme in the 8.10am slot. The topic was the Olympic budget and the idea was to talk up the Olympics Games while laying down the law about cost overruns. The goal was to sound authoritative. This was to be a happy day as well as a happy birthday.

Instead, it was a car crash, and not just a little fender bender either. Boris doesn’t do little fender benders. He does big bizarre multiple vehicle pile-ups in which motorways have to be shut because a lorry of goats was involved and horned animals are roaming the outside lane. Yes, that bizarre. Actually it was even stranger. This time there were no goats involved, just one very large newt named Ken who couldn’t stop himself from calling up Radio 4 to crow on air. Can newts crow? They can now.

So when did things go wrong? I have timed it because, as this was about the Olympics, I like to have a stopwatch to hand. That is why I can report what may be a record. Boris burbled “Good morning!” to Sarah Montague. That took one second. That was the high point.

Her first question was about something called the memorandum of understanding. This document, signed by the former mayor and the former Chancellor, is about who pays if the Olympics overrun. (I love that “if”. Already, I felt like shouting at the radio.)

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Sarah: “Can you clear that up by saying you will publish the memorandum?”

Boris: “Actually I haven’t seen the memorandum.” Crash, bang, wallop. Boris began to waffle about how there couldn’t be cost overruns and how transparent he was being. But at this point the only thing he was being, transparently, was a fool. No decent interviewer could hear that the mayor had not seen this memo and not come back to it.

Sarah: “Are you going to try and see this memo?”

Boris: “I rather doubt that it exists.” I could hear tyres screeching. CRASH, BANG, WALLOP. The capital letters are necessary. This was no longer a lower-case situation.

So would he publish? Boris kept evading the question (as you do when you are being transparent) and announced that the details of the agreement that did not exist were in doubt.

Sarah: “So the deal does not apply?”

Boris: “The details of this deal are far from clear.”

For me and all other listeners the memo of understanding was now a memo of misunderstanding. I was completely befuddled. Boris kept spouting that there could be no cost overruns and that these would be the the best Olympics since they began in 753BC. (Even this was wrong, it was 776BC.) He ended by denouncing the idea that he could compete with David Cameron to be leader as a “load of twaddle”.

Finally, something I could understand and, as it turns out, that is exactly what it all was. For within seconds we discovered that the memo of misunderstanding not only existed but it was on a government website and within minutes the former mayor was on the radio too.

Ken found it bizarre that Boris had not bothered to find the memo before coming on the programme. “But then you have to be fair to the man,” chortled Ken. “He’s got to write his Daily Telegraph column and so he can’t be a full-time mayor.”

Ouch. Now that is the sound a newt crowing.

[gorgu]

I can't believe you lot voted that fu(#!ng cn^t into power he is a total joke. Ken had his failings and I know that the ecomony over there (sitting here in Sydney) is in trouble, but the sooner you lot realise that the economy is in trouble because there is a global slow down the better.

Ken being ousted was a shame I reckon, now you have an idiot in power and if the election goes the way it is looking, you will have a Tory government (shudders for a second thinking about it) with all those toffee nosed private school boy, up the bum wan#ers running the country By 2012 it will be an English olympic games as Scotland (and I being a scot based in Oz) will happily vote for independance in Scotland rather than see those twats in charge again.

Labour are in trouble, but for god's sake people wake up to the reality of the alternative!

[delores]

totally agree, the old boys club will be a terrible mistake for Britain, Stupid public schoolboys playing with politics again with no interest in real issues that effect most peoples lives....pandering to the rich typically ignoring major issues like infastructure...or am I talking about labour?

[jerseyboi]

There'll be no boulevard of dreams on the road to the Olympics 2012

A new Labour experiment, a reality TV show or a place where “hoodies are policed by robotic dogs” – these are the damning verdicts on the proposed new name for the road to the Olympics.

The A13, which runs through East London to the Olympic site in Stratford, is to be renamed by the local council in honour of London hosting the games in 2012.

But Tower Hamlet’s plan to give it the grand title of “Olympic Boulevard” has fallen foul of the brand police at the London Olympic Organising Committee. Instead, the road from Aldgate East, which could do with all the regeneration it can get, has the unglamorous moniker of “High Street 2012”.

The suggestion has received a less than warm response. “High Street 2012 is not that inspiring. It sounds a bit naff,” said the Rev Michael Peet, the rector of St Mary and Holy Trinity Bow. “Olympic Boulevard sounds more swish.”

Brand experts said the name did not project the right image. “High Street 2012 sounds like a new Labour experiment or a reality TV show. It conjures up futuristic images of automated fried chicken bars where hoodies are policed by talking robotic dogs,” Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of UK Superbrands & CoolBrands Councils, said.

Tower Hamlets Council proposed Olympic Boulevard as part of its big Games project to galvanise the community and make part of the borough “in effect, an Olympic site”. The committee supported the plan to improve the environment, but could not approve the name.

The killjoy attitude contradicts the experiences of other Olympic cities. Los Angeles renamed 10th Street as Olympic Boulevard for the 1932 Games while a stretch of Swan Street in Melbourne was similarly rebranded in 2006 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Games.

from the times

[Pompey77]

High Street 2012 - thats shocking.

[DarJoLe]

I think The Times is trying to provoke a reaction by purposely getting their wires crossed. The project 'High Street 2012' is the name for the masterplanning of Whitechapel High Street, Bow Road and Stratford High Street for renovating it in time for the Games, as it will feature prominently during the Marathon. There isn't a real impetus to change its name, it's simply the name of the overall tarting up project. And if Tower Hamlets were to change its name, Olympic Boulevard would be allowed. It's simply that the name of the project couldn't be Olympic Boulevard because that goes against LOCOGs rules on branding things 'Olympic' that aren't anything to do with the ODA or LOCOG. In fact I'm surprised they even allowed High Street 2012 as 2012 is part of the terms people can't use in promoting anything London 2012.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by gorgu

I can't believe you lot voted that fu(#!ng cn^t into power he is a total joke. Ken had his failings and I know that the ecomony over there (sitting here in Sydney) is in trouble, but the sooner you lot realise that the economy is in trouble because there is a global slow down the better.

a global slowdown yes, but the fact that the UK is massively in debt, over taxed and poorly led by captain indecisive has nothing to do with the global economy.

Labour are finished because no one trusts them after Iraq, the broken promises of a EU referendum, 42 days etc and most people believe it's time for a change.

You talk about Scotland, but last I checked Labour have even been rejected there.

As for public school boys, tell me what school did Tony Blair go to again?

[DarJoLe]

Coe rejects London Games cynics

Lord Coe rejects stereotypes of teenagers as hoodies and video game addicts

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter

Lord Coe says the London Olympic games will leave a positive educational legacy by "changing attitudes" among young people.

The chairman of the 2012 organising committee rejected the stereotyping of young people as "hoodies".

"I don't take the depressing tabloid view of the world that the game is up," said Lord Coe.

The London games will have an accompanying schools programme, based on Olympic themes and values.

Introducing the 2012 plans for education, Lord Coe argued that the games would provide a way of "opening doors" for young people.

"You can read lengthy and turgid articles about how young people are all losing creativity, because of the internet and PlayStations," he said.

The days are gone when large chunks of young people are going to wander into a building with the word 'sports centre' written above it.

But even in playing computer games which simulated sports games they were taking a step in the right direction, he said.

"I don't see a generation out there who are lost or are hoodies, I don't see the world like that, when I go around that's not what I see."

But he said there was a challenge to find the right way to appeal to young people.

"The days are gone when large chunks of young people are going to wander into a building with the word 'sports centre' written above it."
But he says that in his own experience in athletics he had seen the way that sport could help young people, giving them role models and sense of self-esteem.

When he was at the Haringey Athletics Club, he says that the coaches and the club provided a vital sense of stability, including for young people from the Broadwater Farm Estate.

This was something substantial rather than quick-fixes, he said. "We're not in the 10 days to thinner thighs approach."

He also spoke of the importance of teachers in inspiring young people - and how a teacher had put him on the path that would lead to winning two Olympic gold medals.

This east London building site will be the Olympic stadium in four years
"It was a geography teacher, called David Jackson, who introduced me to track and field, because he witnessed me running around some rugby pitches in a secondary modern in Sheffield.

"He thought I had a bit of a skill. The fact that I'd been running because I'd been sent off for swearing hadn't quite grabbed him."

Lord Coe also rejected the idea that the image Olympic movement had suffered any long lasting damage from the demonstrations over Tibet during the parading of the Olympic torch for the Beijing Olympics.

"It wasn't a particularly edifying three days, but it hasn't done any lasting damage," he said.

There was a long history of a political background to the Olympics, from Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics in 1936 through to the Moscow games in 1980.

Lord Coe said that sport had a good record on bringing together communities and had achieved more by "a country mile" than formal politics.
In the four years to the London Olympics there will be a rolling programme of events for schools and colleges.

Schools will be invited to join a network of Olympic-related events and projects. This will not be limited to sports projects, but will be a wider interpretation of ideas about excellence, fair play and mutual respect.
"The values can be expressed across a huge range of topics," says Nick Fuller, head of education for the 2012 games. He is also keen for schools to share their ideas for how best to use the Olympics as a starting point, whether it is in culture, citizenship, sustainability or enterprise.

Mr Fuller wants to apply these values creatively - such as encouraging more young people to apply to university, perhaps by universities making sports facilities available.

Brenda Bigland, head of Lent Rise primary school in Buckinghamshire, said she had opened an online Olympic chat-room for her pupils, where they could make their own suggestions for ways that the school can mark the games.

Paralympian, Ade Adepitan, said that "as someone who grew up in the East End, I know how much the games can change things for the better".

[huvet]

Originally Posted by ChingfordFlanuer

With respect, Huvet, you cheeky bugger!

If you aren't a right winger I apologise, you come accross as yet another naysaying doom monger like our buddies at the Evening Substandard, who, I can only assume, are mightily hacked off that an area of London they think is marked on the map by "Here be monsters" has had the temerity to win such a glittering prize. Don't believe me that the paper is WestCentric to their very bone marrow? You obviously don't read it.

The endless biased reportage and nit picking are boring.

I am a council tax payer in an olympic borough, the "childish" entusiasm is born of a fierce hope that this event will see opportunity flourish in my part of the world, nothing too controversial there, if you don't like that, tough, the naysayers have plenty of other outlets for their billious rantings.

Although not an archetect, planner or builder I have been a regular visitor to this site (mostly as a lurker) for some time. I have an interest in urban renewal, transport, sport and London in particular.

I am a strong believer that environment plays a big part in sociology.

I defended DarJoLe because he regularly updates this thread and keeps us up to speed on happenings, this site is a rare haven for positive olympic news and he is a valued contributor.

I hope this isn't too polemical a reply for such an erudite and knowledgeable construction insider and that my own lack of expert knowledge may be excused.

CF

I haven't been seriously back for a while because I expected to be flamed by defenders of Darjole.
I do appreciate your reply. I am not against the Olympics, I do appreciate what they could do. BUT I boringly ask for evidence. We are way past the time when keeping stating heritage is the answer.
I want to see evidence of heritage; where is the masterplan. It is not a difficult question. I have been criticised for mentioning Barcelona, you may not like the heritage but at least they had a plan.
Other posters have stated that the 'credit crunch' has caught the ODA out. Strangely these same posters praise commercial skyscrapers that have not been caught out by the credit crunch.
I would hate this to be another Athens but we need the evidence not the polemic.

[metroranger]

Originally Posted by huvet

I haven't been seriously back for a while because I expected to be flamed by defenders of Darjole.
I do appreciate your reply. I am not against the Olympics, I do appreciate what they could do. BUT I boringly ask for evidence. We are way past the time when keeping stating heritage is the answer.
I want to see evidence of heritage; where is the masterplan. It is not a difficult question. I have been criticised for mentioning Barcelona, you may not like the heritage but at least they had a plan.
Other posters have stated that the 'credit crunch' has caught the ODA out. Strangely these same posters praise commercial skyscrapers that have not been caught out by the credit crunch.
I would hate this to be another Athens but we need the evidence not the polemic.

I presume when you say heritage you mean legacy.
As I illustrated in my previous reply to you the Olympic site is just a part of what was always going to be a much larger development.
I take it that either you have never read my reply or you are unable to grasp the concept.

As for what "legacy" means perhaps we do need a clearer definition.
The IOC & Seb Coe's idea of legacy is probably first class sporting venues in London for future athletes. Boris' to be commercially viable an "O2 North", do you really want to see the Aquatics Centre turned into another Leyton Leisure Lagoon?

As for the cost, this I'm sure could be handled better. How many different QUANGOS have their fingers in the Olympic pie? There are so many unelected unaccountable people involved its almost like China. However leaving it up to commercial forces & competition to keep cost down doesn't work either. There was only one bidder for the stadium build.

The Olympic Village was always going to be part of the Stratford City development. With the "credit crunch" Lend Lease have seen their expected profits fall. Just like the Banks & Northern Rock the free market is great when the going is good but it is straight to the public coffers to bail them out when the going gets tough.

A classic case of heads we win tails you lose.

[DarJoLe]

I think you're putting Barcelona on too much of a pedestal. The Barceona urban renewal project, that famously described as 'turning the city around' by opening up the beach, extending the city eastwards and pouring billions into a central urban renewal programme was already in the works when Barcelona was bidding for the Games, and was still a separate entity when the won the Games. The two were interlinked and promoted together during preparations; but Barcelona is still undergoing rapid redevelopment even now sixteen years after the Games, much of which was a catalyst from the increased investment into the city from the success of the Games.

Putting that into London; what the Games is doing is renovating a swathe of East London but much quicker than any previous project for the site has, and it is from this that Stratford becomes a much more connected part of London, and in turn attracts further investment after the Games and acts as a catalyst to start urban renewal programmes across East London and further down the Thames Gateway.

The legacy masterplan for the Olympic site is already in the public domain, and this is being further worked upon by Dutch architects in terms of the scale of housing, what type they should be, where commercial sites in the sold off land could go, etc. Working with the ODA, the LDA has published several plans post-2012 for a 'ribbon' park to extend south of the Olympic Park down the Lea River to the Thames for a massive eco-park sort of a grander scale Mile End Park. Canning Town at the southern end is at the start of a massive urban rejig, a smaller scale Barcelona if you will, which will bring this deprived area up to standard.

All these projects which before were sort of pipe dreams are now being taken seriously thanks to the actual happenings of the Olympic Park. Yes; so the actual details of where and when individual housing will be built on the site hasn't been finalised yet, but we are still four years away from the Games themselves, let alone actually closing the park and rebuilding for legacy.

Barcelona in 1992 the day after the Games finished wasn't as it is today, but today we can see that the Games and the urban renewal that went on during the Games preparations had such an impact on the city that it is still to this day going through transformation after transformation; and that's what is hoped from London, or more specifically East London, that even sixteen years after 2012 we'll have regeneration schemes taking place in the area.

"Build it and they will come."

[Mo Rush]

well the housing extension of the olympic village forms part of the olympic village planning and is indicated on many site plans of the olympic village. both are being planned, with the village pre 2012 and the extension post 2012. the shuffling around of venues and locations is fine tuning things to get the best possible legacy based on successful venues and locations around the world.