JERICHO ECHO ARTICLE
May 1996
I live in Cardigan Street, the lower part. There was a time, especially in the Spring or Summer, when young people used to gather underneath the weeping willow by the school. In the evenings you'd see a couple leaning against the wall there, or three or so youngsters sitting on the wall talking, chatting. Then the school put up the unfriendly black railings which at the moment glower from the top of the wall, and hey presto, a public space vanished. If the rationale for this railing was to stop kids from getting into the nursery enclosure, then it has failed, as the kids just get in other ways. Why, I wonder, did this eyesore arrive? For those who, for one reason or another, didn't want to commit themselves to a fully fledged walk on the fields, the wall and trees provided a useful neutral ground, and little groups of chatting people are a very pleasant sight. I notice that a similar fence, but this time in wood, has appeared on the wall facing the canal in the grounds of Whitworth Place. Is this something to do with stopping boaters from leaping over the wall and picking the shrubs, or merely to stop them lingering in the sun? Nowadays, there are fewer public seats in Jericho: one in Mount Street; two in Canal Street. Couldn't there be one in Albert Street near the roses and trees on the corner with Cardigan Street? Isn't it time we began to reclaim some of these places? After all, they are our spaces if we choose to make them so. What about putting a seat in the alley between Cardigan and Jericho Streets? It could be quite pleasant there, away from the traffic. Incidentally, our public spaces are surely too few to clutter up for long with rubbish. If you wish to get rid of old ovens, furniture, soil, etc. you can telephone the Council to have such items collected. Alternatively, if you wish to give your neighbours an opportunity to use some of your rejects you can put them outside your front door. If they do not disappear within a day or two, then you will have to phone the Council. Lastly, congratulations to Oxford University Press for their facelift to the corner of Albert Street and Wellington Street. It looks very artistic and even the local cats have spread the gravel around only a little bit. I hope OUP maintain it; I am sure they will.Author: Carol Guberman, Cardigan Street.