[Suburban Knight]

This article on the Leeds Guardian website is interesting http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2010/oct/13/leeds-city-centre-conference. It has a link to the Leeds facebook page where it has been asked what one thing people want in Leeds City Centre that we don't have.

Look at the facebook link, some of the responses are hilarious and some make you want to despair. So far the ourtight winner definitely seems to be a KFC! :lol:

Kaiden Mc A kfc and a arena a free lazer tag
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Dappa Vine A CASH MACHINE THAT GIVES AWAY FREE CASH ,AND A ,AIRPORT TO CATCH........ dee plane,dee plane! lol
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 3 people
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· Paul Allen A Champions League winning bus parade by Leeds United
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 4 people
4 people like this.
· John Parker a tim hortons coffee shop.
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Tenny Jay KFC ! KFC ! KFC !
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Zac Berrycloth Pizza Hut
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Zac Berrycloth A skip to throw Man Utd fans in!
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 2 people
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· David Wood Fresh Air
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Stephen Ayres A big 24hr Netto next to harvey nicks!
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Paul Mortimer Defo a open air music arena
Rite next to lufc
Enough kfc,s no no no
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Melissa Blackburn A sports dome with water slides
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Gary Jones A beach wud do
14 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Samantha Shuter I am greedy - two things....Selfridges and John Lewis!!! Manchester, Liverpool and London have them, think Leeds is missing them!
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Jonathan Higgins Return of Wendys hamburgers!
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Lloyd Lilley a premiership football team.....
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Andrew Mcgee No foreigners!!!!
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Mike Taylor Majestic
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Sam Foley Jones a massive leeds badge painted on the wall 0;
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Alan Moran Me
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Jk Wailes Escape x
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Joel J Saddler KFC and somewhere for kidz to play
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Simon Donegan a amsterdam style cafe bar to smoke in
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 2 people
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· Catherine Taylor Better paid jobs so I could move back from darn sarf
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Rachel Streets Definitely kfc....x
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Trev Horne sorry andrew mcgee more chance of all the other things happerning then your comment lol
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 2 people
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· Terry Carr statue of DON REVIE
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Matthew Lonsdale A music/indoor arena event to rival the ones in Manchester
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Paul David Ratcliffe I would give confused eric a home! www.youtube.com/user/mrconfusederic
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Andy Cawley A PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM.
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · John Richardson a statue of alex fergerson so we can piss on him.
13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 3 people
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· Hēlēn ✫ Rodger Selfridges defo!! And like evryone else says KFC!
12 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Shelly Pallas a kfc!! lol x
12 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Cain Barron Public weed factory
12 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Connor Jackson eland road gone
12 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Alex Ward Pizza Hut!
12 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Simon Donegan amsterdam coffee barrrrrrrrrrrrrrr keep it will put money back into the city which it defo needs and will stop most of the youth of t day getting up t alsdortsd cos there is nothing for the young people t do in leeds so 90%go out robbing sh...op lifting and doing various other crimes t solve ther bordem ..... legalize cannabis in this country in certain areas of each city with cafes having t have licences to sell but only smoke on premises would bring money back to the country and solve the problems that the police have with them been able to concentrate on the bigger things like class A DRUGS and robbers and burglaries and all the rest of the major crimes that happen
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11 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Laura Welshie Williams Less dickheads.. failing that a KFC.
11 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Gary Woollin A men only shopping centre where buggies and chatting women who have no idea what's happening around them and women with umberellas are barred
11 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Ron Gee Me
11 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Harry Prideaux A Guggenheim Museum!
11 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Tracey Ellis A prison to keep foreigners in till the plane lands ...... to take them where they belong !!!!!!!
11 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Heloise Maresq ‎@tracey : I am french , and I think u suck !!!!!

KFC
10 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Robert Trigg whimpy !!
10 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person
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· Sabrina-leah Mcpherson Me!!!!!!!!
3 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Joe Rainford a metro station
3 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 2 people
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· Leeds How about transport? What do we want? Better buses / underground / monorail
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike · James Bunch KFC...
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Keith Birch A TAX free zone so I can go home
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike · John Stainthorpe Better cycling infrastructure similar to Copenhagen or Holland. More people would cycle around and Leeds would be a happier, healthier place.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike · 3 people
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· Chris Loss More success......but its still a fab

 

[EverLast]

Nice big green park, with an observation tower i don't ask for much, although the observation tower will after be at least be 180m to please me

 

[Ashtonian]

Tramlines

 

[EverLast]

Tramlines

I disagree, tramlines ruing streets scapes imho, they look a right mess going up the street, they also take alot of maintaining too, i think Leeds needs something abit more up to date than a tram system which wont destroy the streetscape.

 

[cmj]

I disagree, tramlines ruing streets scapes imho, they look a right mess going up the street, they also take alot of maintaining too, i think Leeds needs something abit more up to date than a tram system which wont destroy the streetscape.

The overhead wires are probably more visibly intrusive than the actual tram lines.

What would not 'destroy the streetscape' - an underground?

 

[EverLast]

For example, take the tram system in Manchester, for me it ruings the whole streetscape with the ugly wires and lines going up the street, it almosts feels like theres a train track going right up the middle of the road, everyone seems to forget that tram systems do there job but there getting old now, you can only do so much with them, you can update the trams themselfs but the system it runs on will always look a mess, Leeds needs to learn from other cities with these systems as it does nothing but make everywhere look a mess, careful planning needs to be made for Leeds if it wants to be on top, trams are not the way i'm afraid.

 

[EverLast]

The overhead wires are probably more visibly intrusive than the actual tram lines.

What would not 'destroy the streetscape' - an underground?

well thats one thing that be worth investing in, but you can get away with on ground systems, and better road networking into the city, cars should be kept at a minimum, with more car parks on the edge of the city centre with some type of transport taking you the rest of the way into the core, simler to a bus, but more of a shuttle type system.

 

[cmj]

We're going to get the wires with NGT anyway. You can't really escape them if you want to go for the 'no street level pollution' thing. Are you suggesting Leeds just sticks with regular buses?

As for train lines running down the street ...

 

[Leeds No.1]

Most of the big needs of Leeds are outside the City Centre I feel.

However, to answer the question, it's the normal list: park, trees, conference centre, better navigation, a contemporary art gallery, better public realm...

With the exception of the conference centre though, these are all in the plans. I'd advocate more squares though; street cafés have really been embraced in Leeds so it would be good to build on that.

I think on the whole it's about improving what we've got rather than adding anything new though.

 

[Leeds No.1]

Is there any point in that barrier being there?

 

[FreddyFresher]

Most of the big needs of Leeds are outside the City Centre I feel.

However, to answer the question, it's the normal list: park, trees, conference centre, better navigation, a contemporary art gallery, better public realm...

With the exception of the conference centre though, these are all in the plans. I'd advocate more squares though; street cafés have really been embraced in Leeds so it would be good to build on that.

I think on the whole it's about improving what we've got rather than adding anything new though.

Contemporary art gallery in the plans?

 

[theboyer]

Maybe they could put KFC in the Corn Exchange. An IMAX screen might be useful too.

cmj - any idea where that photo was taken?

edit - looked at the photo again and thought to google what it says on the flag. Turns out it's a place called Jack London Square in Oakland, California.

 

[Cherguevara]

For example, take the tram system in Manchester, for me it ruings the whole streetscape with the ugly wires and lines going up the street, it almosts feels like theres a train track going right up the middle of the road, everyone seems to forget that tram systems do there job but there getting old now, you can only do so much with them, you can update the trams themselfs but the system it runs on will always look a mess, Leeds needs to learn from other cities with these systems as it does nothing but make everywhere look a mess, careful planning needs to be made for Leeds if it wants to be on top, trams are not the way i'm afraid.

You're elevating aesthetics to a level of significance they don't merit. Who cares in the Manchester tram system ruins the streetscape; even post expansion it's only going to go down four major roads. However the practical function trams systems serve are vital to any growing city; the ability to move large numbers of people into and out of the centre. I don't really know if Leeds does need a tram system, but if it got one it'd do the city a lot more good than an observation tower would, whatever it looked like.

 

[Suburban Knight]

I'm still thinking the facebook suggestion of "a statue of Alex Ferguson to piss on" is winning

 

[pss53]

KFC
Pizza Slut
Underground
A major attraction (landmark of some sort)
More Leeds Badges dotted around (e.g. rhino's tykes, yorkshire cc, leeds utd, leeds coat of arms)

 

[di Livio]

After living in Sheffield, Manchester's trams look as dated as Blackpool's.
Never mind, I'm sure they'll get some public funding for new ones.

 

[Leeds No.1]

After living in Sheffield, Manchester's trams look as dated as Blackpool's.
Never mind, I'm sure they'll get some public funding for new ones.

 

[di Livio]

^^

:lol::lol::lol:

 

[di Livio]

Good comment (?) on the GuardianLeeds website regrading today;s VisionLeeds conference at Clarence Dock.

Mmm. Have to say that looking at the speakers and the agenda, I'm distinctly underwhelmed. Interesting that you mention the Arena and the City Museum, because it is the arts and culture of a city that make them distinctive - not the retail or leisure facilities. So why have you got a whole section on retail and nothing specific on the agenda about the arts?

When people talk about the superiority of Manchester's position, they don't mean they have better shops - they mean they have a vibrant arts, music and culture scene. And though Leeds's arts scene is really beginning to explode, it seems completely independent from the city's decision makers. I have friends in the arts and also friends who run notable venues and restaurants and their complaints are always the same - the City Council is completely uninterested in what they're doing. They're focused - as Leeds always seems to have been - on money and shopping.

If that's going to change, their needs to be a complete change of priorities from those at the top. I'd be interested to know how many delegates attending the conference come from the arts and culture background. I'd wager it's a pretty small number...

And some good old, sour-faced Leeds resentment from screenwriter Mark Catley.

if you could change one thing about the city, what would it be?

It needs to share the wealth, we've got all this investment and development going on in the centre but half a mile in any
direction is depressing poverty, maybe the folk making all the coin might want to filter some through to the unfashionable punters on the outskirts. But maybe I'll wake up and smell the Starbucks and realise the truth in the statement of the rich get richer while… Leeds City Council needs to start investing in people not property.

Which is the best view in Leeds?
The view of the council: Leeds – Live it. Love it. Always makes me laugh, I'm with
Simon Armitage on this, it should read: Leeds – Like it. Lump it.

 

[CleanAir]

I'd change some of the architecture around the station/boar lane area of the city centre. The high rise block on New Station St, Plaza and West Riding house all need to be either knocked down and replaced or else severely reclad. None of this looks good as you come out of the station and go into the main shopping area - doesnt give a good impression.