please empty your brain below
I shall miss the huge McDonalds from the park last year! Still it is nice that there is a new cafe open from day one.

John | 30.07.13 - 7:58 a.m. | #

I went to the Open East festival on Saturday, largely to see the park (and get thoroughly sodden) and I have to agree with your comment about the amazing number of hi-viz-vested jobsworths.

I know it was a festival, even if one largely populated by couples with kids and polite 30-somethings, but it felt as though we were only there on suffrance. "Don't walk there!", "Stop doing that!" and "You can't use that path" rang out almost continuously. There were hit squads to make sure nobody used The Wrong Toilets, and kicking-out time felt like being herded rudely away from somebody else's property.

As a local for 30-odd years, I felt no sense of ownership, and maybe that's the point. It felt like Canary Wharf – you're allowed to walk on this bit here, but not that bit there, and only if we say so because we own all this and you're only here with our grudging permission.

I was present when the rather lovely and well-used Mile End Park opened – living in the middle of it, in fact – and the opposite was true. Yes, desire lines appeared and kids got a bit rowdy, but there seemed a genuine desire to make it a community park for locals to enjoy as they liked.

Fiercely policed nonsense like the no cycling rule at the Copper Box (and let's not mention the access roads round the back of Westfield – ever tried to cycle there?) gets my hackles rising, and increases my sense that much of the park, plus its green rhetoric, arty bits and right-on cred, is mere window-dressing; a grassy decoy allowing property developers to cash in on the land we've all paid for while somebody in a fluoro waistcoat tells us to sit down and enjoy the grass. Or else.

Sorry to rant, but the over-zealous security really got my goat the other day. I doubt I'll be back for a while. Which is a shame, because I used to enjoy the Greenway and the River Lea when it was wild and a little neglected. It was scruffy but at least it was ours to explore and enjoy.

ChrisM | 30.07.13 - 8:49 a.m. | #

Thanks Guy - this is a lovely piece.

Shaun | 30.07.13 - 9:10 a.m. | #

Totally agree with ChrisM. Particulary the bit about the window dressing to cover up the whole point of this area - to allow property developers to make loads of cash.

Who gave planning permission for that over large horrible student building mext to John Lewis - they want shooting. The place will be overrun by outsiders who won't give a dam for the place! And as for East Vilage - a slum in waiting.

Angry long term local of Stratford!

Agent Z | 30.07.13 - 9:27 a.m. | #

I visited the park during the Open East festival on Sunday. It's great to finally get back in and be able to look around but I couldn't help but be a little underwhelmed by the quality of the parkland. It was so bright and colourful during the Olympics but now is a uniform green/light brown and many of the trees and grass looked ill maintained and overgrown.

Perhaps I was spoiled during the Olympics as I'm sure great care went into landscaping the parklands but maybe they could replace some of the security guards with gardeners!

Rob | 30.07.13 - 9:39 a.m. | #

Anyone know what's going to happen long-term to the Manor Gardens allotments? The last I heard was that the people who promised to restore somewhere near to where they were now feel that something as scruffy as allotments has no place in their more corporately-managed reconstruction. Or possibly, it'd be a waste of prime development land.

Pippa | 30.07.13 - 9:46 a.m. | #

I passed through the White Post Lane entrance yesterday afternoon. There was a high-viz person every few yards just in case you strolled through the development areas. It was sad refelecting on the crowds which once populated the thoroughfare around the copper box. It is a pity they did not put a blue plaque to show people in future where the world's largest McDonalds once stood. It is a pity the original Olympic Park was not left open for a few weeks after the Paralympics finished. The new park will never be as nice as it was then. I will be interested to see the green areas that are being developed in the Costa Del Stratford/East Village such as the wetlands and Victory Park (which sounds more 1984 than 2012!)

kissenme | 30.07.13 - 10:06 a.m. | #

I you look at the picture of the big U of RUN you can see what must be a reflection of DG's legs - and amazingly he seems to have three of them. No wonder he walks so far.

Peter CS | 30.07.13 - 11:33 a.m. | #

they definetely should have left the Olympic Park open for all to come and visit/see what it was like for a few weeks post-Paralympics, yes. excellent idea.

I note someone's already planted a Geocache in the new park, and it's already been found... excellent!

geofftech | Homepage | 30.07.13 - 12:09 p.m. | #

We came in through the Hackney Wick gate on Monday and the hi-vis jacket count was certainly high compared with the Westfield/Stratford way we went out. To be fair, though, the area between the Hackney gate and the Copper Box/QE Park was still very much a building site, with white lines being painted and construction vehicles scuttling about. I can understand them being anxious about people coming in that way and wanting to herd us safely through.

Actonman | 30.07.13 - 2:40 p.m. | #

It's a bit unfair to call Sydney's Olympic park a tumbleweed ghetto; there certainly wasn't much tumbleweed blowing when the Lions were winning there a few weeks ago. Although it's something of a concrete jungle most of the venues still hold regular events and I attended four or five of them in the year I lived in Sydney. The Olympic pool is also well used.

Agent Z - post-Olympic Stratford may have its faults but lets not forget how grim the area used to be.

Whiff | 30.07.13 - 7:05 p.m. | #

Whiff

Perhaps we prefered the grimness - Ha Ha Ha Ha

Agent Z | 30.07.13 - 8:01 p.m. | #

Went to the "park" (their word not mine) on Friday, it's more a towpath than a park, I didn't stay to sit down due to the security who were watching me like I was the first person they had seen in days.

I left quickly and went to the marshes to read my book in peace.

SteveB | 05.08.13 - 1:24 p.m. | #











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