Boris Johnson as Mayor - what are the implications for London's development?

[gegloma01]

Originally Posted by london lad

Now this thread is obviously dominated by diehard fans of both Mayors but the fact remains one was in power for 8 years and the current one will have been in for 8 years and has 4 more years. The election is done and dusted surely we should be asking what we want to see in London for the next 4 years and beyond. Most things take years to plan at any rate my worry is there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of strategic vision.

Embryonic talk of Xrail 2& 3 is being talked about , which is a good thing, there seems to be a focus on post legacy work for Stratford and the Olympic park , again a good thing but what about the rest of London? Surely there should be talk of more pedestrianisation of grand squares and walkways, decluttering, more transport improvements for whoever takes over in 4 years to carry on with. No one can say the plans for the embankment for example were not a good idea, the river side walkway could be a good idea but that is largely a private initiative that seems to have fallen at the wayside.

We are constantly told by people here how London is one of the richest and greatest cities on the planet. Surely its not much to ask where these grand plans that other major cities continue to develop and implement. Look at NY has done with is highwalk for example.

From my external point of view, Boris now indeed benefits from some of the past very good decisions taken by Ken. It is actually inherent to the nature of political cycles. That's said, Boris had to endorse these decisions to bring them forward.

I fail to understand its "strategic vision" of Boris To be honest, I do not believe he as anything very precise in mind. The pressure is high to cut public spending (and increase taxes) to reduce the budget deficit.

The priority for the UK, and London, is to ensure its solvency, especially as you are not immune to the EU sovereign debt crisis, that will likely lead to the Euro-break-up, and its associated devastating economic and social impacts.

[spindrift]

More fibs from Boris:

Boris Johnson’s links to News International came under fresh scrutiny today after it emerged he had an undeclared dinner with Rupert Murdoch days before the Metropolitan Police launched a new inquiry into phone hacking.

The Mayor of London met Mr Murdoch at his home in London on 24 January 2011, at a key time in the growing pressure on Mr Murdoch’s British newspapers.

It took place three days after the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson resigned from Downing Street and two days before the Met opened Operation Weeting into illegal voicemail interception.

Mr Johnson, whose responsibilities include policing and who previously chaired the Metropolitan Police Authority, had previously insisted that he had declared all his meetings with News International, saying on 23 May: "My meetings with News International have already been made public."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...g-7869579.html

Boris tried three times to get the hacking investigation shut down after his cosy dinners with Murdoch.

[Rational Plan]

Shame you don't include the bit where the lunch has been declared on the Mayors website for over a year.

[menganito]

"the dinner is NOT declared in the register of hospitality..."

That?

Or are you refering to the dead link provided by the mayor's spokeperson?

[DarJoLe]

Another epic fail under Boris's mayoralty.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...r-7899270.html

[potto]

also what are his post olympic plans? Has he actually outlined anything yet?!

[potto]

Originally Posted by Rational Plan

Shame you don't include the bit where the lunch has been declared on the Mayors website for over a year.

well that was a waste of Mayor time

http://www.todayonline.com/Business/...ions-in-the-US

Rupert Murdoch snubs Britain and says he will invest his billions in the US

News Corp chairman tells Fox he has 'moved on' after abandoning BSkyB bid amid phone-hacking scandal

Updated 06:04 PM Jun 29, 2012

LONDON - Mr Rupert Murdoch appears to have turned his back on Britain following his humiliation over the phone-hacking scandal.

[Rational Plan]

Originally Posted by potto

well that was a waste of Mayor time

http://www.todayonline.com/Business/...ions-in-the-US

Rupert Murdoch snubs Britain and says he will invest his billions in the US

News Corp chairman tells Fox he has 'moved on' after abandoning BSkyB bid amid phone-hacking scandal

Updated 06:04 PM Jun 29, 2012

LONDON - Mr Rupert Murdoch appears to have turned his back on Britain following his humiliation over the phone-hacking scandal.

I think you should thank Ed Miliband for that.

[thedurringtondoctor]

Murdoch can fuck off good riddance to the cunt.

[Rational Plan]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

Another epic fail under Boris's mayoralty.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...r-7899270.html

What did you say in 2006 and 2007 then when pedestrian deaths rose two years in a row? Anything? Or since Ken was in power nothing at all.

The reality is the number of deaths fluctuates year to year, you can only really measure the true trend once you take an average over several years.


Ken did not invent road safety, it has been a long slow slog that has been going on for many years. As each junction is improved, speed bump, road narrowing has occurred, roads have become safer. Also as people no longer allow their children to go to school on their own that has seen a big decrease in deaths as well. British policy has been consistent for decades. The DFT has been trying out various road safety schemes for a long time, over time this has filtered out as guidlines to councils.

For many years a big chunk of councils road budget has been allocated to small scale road safety schemes. Council transport plans are dominated by bids for safety scheme packages that comply with government rules.

Look at the accident rates in London.

In 1986 293 pedestrians died in London, by 1997 this had fallen to 160. But had been a low of 119 in 1995.

Fatalities fell to a low 89 in 2005 but rose to 109 in 2007.

There is potential for a continued reduction in deaths, but at some point that will level off.

Even if google cars comes off and no car or truck is manually driven anymore, cyclists and pedestrians will still be manually driven, so some accidents will still happen.

[kerouac1848]

The end of crumbs from Murdoch's empire is more than worth the price for shrinking his destructive influence.

[jamiefearon]

Originally Posted by thedurringtondoctor

Murdoch can fuck off good riddance to the cunt.

This is the only time language like that is allowed on this forum. Murdoch you are a cunt, please never come back to the uk.

[spindrift]

Just 2 days ago the Mayor of London, was telling an audience at a debate broadcast on radio that cycling was getting safer.

Yet, even Transport for London admits that the cycling casualty numbers are 'statistically significant'.

The TfL announcement points out that the number of people cycling on London's trunk roads has increased 173% since 2001, so a 36% increase in serious casualties is represented as an improvement.

As one commentator points out below, the likely increase in cycle trips in 2011 vs 2010 is probably around 5-6% (the official figures haven't been released yet) against a slightly smaller increase the previous year. Whichever way you look at it, the rate of serious injuries to people riding bikes seems to be growing faster than the growth rate in trips made by bike.

What's more, London's roads are getting worse for everyone. Unless you're in a car. There were 2% FEWER casualties among car occupants in London last year versus the previous year. Look at the figures for pedestrians, though, and the change is shocking. 77 pedestrians were killed on London's roads last year, up 33% on 2010.

That's outrageous.

This is the Mayor who has:

Ripped out pedestrian crossings and reduced the green man times for pedestrians. Why? So that car drivers get a smoother journey.

Refused to budge on making cars the priority in a major redesign of the junction at Blackfriars Bridge - a place where 36% of rush-hour traffic consists of people on bicycles and masses of people need to cross the road.

Only recently, said that the majority of people injured while cycling are law-breakers and have only themselves to blame. Even the Daily Mail wrote an article decrying his comments as patently unbelievable.

Last month he repeated his assertion that you simply need to 'have your wits about you' to not be killed or crushed on London's roads.

Built his cycling vote in 2008 on the concept of Cycle Super Highways and promised that "on these routes the bicycle will dominate and that will be clear to all others using them".

The reality is that he seems to have refused to let Transport for London build a segregated bike track out from Whitechapel to Bow roundabout - the scene of two of last year's deaths. It is parked cars and buses that 'dominate' on the cycle super highways. In fact, they are such a joke that Transport for London told people to avoid using the official cycle route to the Olympics that it had just finished building.

Is now belatedly and meekly hinting at an 'evolution' of his road policies in favour of better, safer roads for cycling and walking.

Frankly, Mr Johnson, a meek and mild 'evolution' is not enough.

I do not want to become a statistic to the fact that you have ignored every warning, you have ignored best practice from cities like New York and Chicago and Montreal.

http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.co.u...-cyclists.html

That Boris can come out with ridiculous remarks like his "62 %" nonsense and then refuse to explain or justify says it all. Boris has made London more dangerous for vulnerable road users. He's a cyclist for PR purposes, he has no actual interest in making London safer.

Slightly OT, but this horrible case is an example of how the justice system fails Londoners:

http://road.cc/content/news/60616-dr...ond-road-death

Driver involved in Eilidh Cairns case told he faces jail over second road death
Joao Lopes pleads guilty to causing death of 97-year-old pedestrian; Kate Cairns criticises system that fails victims and their families


7 comments
by Simon_MacMichael on June 29, 2012 - 12:04
Gavel
Joao Lopes, the driver of the lorry that killed cyclist Eilidh Cairns in 2009, has been told he faces jail after he pleaded guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of 97-year old pedestrian Nora Gutmann in Central London last year. In reaction, Eilidh’s sister Kate, on behalf of her family, attacked a justice system that she says “assumes the guilt of the cyclist” and fails the families of victims.

Ms Gutmann, who had settled in London after fleeing Nazi Germany prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, was killed as she crossed London’s Marylebone Road in June 2011.

Appearing at Isleworth Crown Court on Wednesday, 56-year-old Lopes, a Portuguese national who lives in Stratford, East London, also entered a guilty plea to a separate charge of knowingly causing the recording of false data relating to digital driving work records, reports the Camden New Journal.

[DarJoLe]

Whilst everyone's distracted by a new cable car...

London Sees A 43% Rise In Rough Sleeping
http://londonist.com/2012/07/london-...h-sleeping.php

[thedurringtondoctor]

I must apologise for my outburst against Murdoch. I do not have tourettes and don't normally swear at all. It is just that some people make me angry. Please don't anyone mention Simon Cowle or there might be another outburst.

[jamiefearon]

Did anyone see Britians got Talent, wow such great singers good to see them in the top ten charts where they belong. I had look at 1960's top ten it had really noisy band - I think one was called Pink Bloyd, a popular girly band at the time.

[cnapan]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

Whilst everyone's distracted by a new cable car...

London Sees A 43% Rise In Rough Sleeping
http://londonist.com/2012/07/london-...h-sleeping.php

Is there no end to the evil of Boris?

[UrbanG]

Originally Posted by cnapan

Is there no end to the evil of Boris?

he's not evil, just incompetent

[Octoman]

It's been a good start to his second term IMO. Delivering the cable car and the new routemaster in time for the Olympics is a real achievement.

He is pushing ahead with his electric car scheme now and hinted on the radio that he might be open to considering the future of the congestion zone once it is in place.

[ill tonkso]

If he can pull it off, bringing the Suburban Rail routes under TfL/London Overground will be by far the single best thing he has done.

Even those of you who don't like him have to admit, that is a good - progressive - idea.