New Portobello High School - PPAG/"Save Porty Park"

[wangi]

[wangi]

[Bob Jefferson]

[seashell]

Go on - post the amended version on their facebook page!

[Bob Jefferson]

I would, but I think I have to be invited first. Their last Facebook group was open and was very quickly over-run by local people who were in favour of the new school. They don't seem to like getting involved in debate. Funny that.

[seanie]

Well I've been posting. Assume it won't last long.

[Bob Jefferson]

Oh yeah, you just have to pretend that you 'Like' their page. This should be fun, while it lasts.

[Porty]

I like it.

[Pal of Porty]

What a disgraceful scaremongering poster.

Pity they forgot to mention that no addiional kids will be crossing the A1 once the school is built and that the design has cleverely included an 'inner ringway' of paths so the kids do not even have to use the pavement, never mind the road.

Totally out of order.

[Pal of Porty]

Talking of the PPAG Facebook page - have you seen the photo of the young kids enjoying themeselves? Must have been a wee while ago because the ones I know are about 6 feet tall now!

[Porty]

I appear to have been blocked from posting on the "save Porty Park" facebook page and think a couple of my posts have been deleted. No worries tho' Bob and Seanie can fight the fight with consumate ease.

[wangi]

Not sure why you guys are going over all the same ground again... Anyways, looks like nobody there has read this:

i.e. purchased by City of Edinburgh for £25k (a not inconsiderable sum), plus a further payment of £839-17s-8d to reimburse the cost of creating Duke St (now Park Ave)! I wonder where the "it was gifted" myth came from - was that the original park & golf course site (bounded by Christian Path to N, Hope Ln to W, railway to S and Brunstane Rd to E - now the HLR industrial estate)? (See , although there's an 1896 one that shows it proper...)

[Porty]

I note that "Save Porty Park" is doing an Alison Connelly; removing posts that reveal the real them. Pathetic.

[seanie]

I kid you not, but someone's now posted a Michael Jackson video to rally support.

[wangi]

But we're still safe on the Godwin's law front?

[rmolehusband]

[seanie]

I think you'll find Goodwin's Law first came up back in 2006 on this subject.

[wangi]

[wangi]

[wangi]

Regarding Bob he's never been a moderator/admin on Talk Porty (i.e. since 2007) and has the same access as anyone else. Back on the Portobello Online forum he stood down in 2006, or so? Before that I can fairly confidently say there was no "dastardly tricks" either.

Any moderation done to posts - and there's very little of that - is clearly marked to ensure transparency. Blank/deleted posts in any of the school threads is a result of their author taking that action - not me.

Cannot comment on individuals and if they've posted here or not (and haven't even looked).

L/

[Porty]

The longevity of this place,I consider TP a continuance of POL, is a testament to fair stewardship and moderation. If the powers at be chose to bar posters for no good reason and consistently delete posts that don't suit them it simply would not last.

[seanie]

[Porty]

I think its faux pax by the author. Unless he's bracketing park improvments along with proprty development?

I can't imagine that GD is as dense as her posts portray. She seems to be deliberately goading Seanie, refusing to acknowledge any of the facts he puts forward and keeps banging on aboutthe council website being down. Does she know about the filter that prevented certain comments being made?

[SoupDragon]

[Makaveli]

I must say I have never seen the 'c' word used on FB before!!!! I do hope none of the kids drawing the famous poster are reading the SPP page as there may be one or two awkward questions for some parents tonight!!!

Think it also shows the desperation on the side of a losing campaign.

[seanie]

Savage Stalinist editing of the page. The PPAG leadership are devoid of any intellectual integrity at all.

Shameful.

[rmolehusband]

[rmolehusband]

I think you had a Lucky escape Sean, sounded like Mr. Bean was planning to give you a roasting.

[seanie]

I think there were more than one person as mod; the posting style kept changing.

[seanie]

Weird how some people take an argument against their views as some kind of personal insult.

[Nelson Hatstand]

Always take a screengrab.

[seanie]

It's also weird how a lack of moral character, whereby it's acceptable to simply invent 'facts' and delete inconvenient points of view, is coupled with such incompetence that it takes the best part of a week to work out how to delete dissenting views. Why would anyone give money to such people?

[Bob Jefferson]

It was inevitable that they would eventually resort to deleting dissenting views. PPAG has a history of this. They did it on their own website and have already abandoned their previous Fb page when they discovered that the only posters were in support of the school. I'm currently on holiday, otherwise I would have taken the time to copy the threads. I had assumed it was Dave C who had set it up but I could be wrong. Ironic really that it was the PPAG.supporters who were incapable of conducting a civilised debate without resorting to insults and childish name-calling and yet it is our posts that are removed. Still, fun while it lasted and must go down as yet another huge own-goal from PPAG.

[seanie]

[seanie]

As to why this proposal will improve the amenity of the park overall;

Firstly the golf course is unaffected. The school does not encroach in any way and a continuous boundary east to west ensures that the most direct routes to and from the school will be along Park Avenue and Hope Lane, not across the golf course. The two will sit side by side quite happily.

Secondly, the area where the school will be sited is designated as playing fields, but the pitches are poor quality and can’t sustain much use. The two, floodlit, all-weather pitches for the school are to be freely accessible to the community, and will be a huge improvement. Far more people will be able to access higher quality sports facilties. So that function of the park will not only be retained but enhanced.

Thirdly, apart from the limited use of the pitches, the park is used mainly for dog-walking. As part of the project, new paths will be installed through the perimeter woodland to the east and west of the Park, and along the frontage of the school where there will be a public plaza and an area of public green space. These paths will increase the accessibility of the site and allow more people to enjoy the area. The school is located to the western end, with the pitches to the east and at low level due to the sloping site, so people will still be able to enjoy the view out over the golf course to the Forth and towards Arthur’s Seat. Again a significant function of the park function will not only be retained but enhanced.

Outside of those functions the park is little used at present. Since those functions will be improved, the proposal strikes many of us as achieving a good balance. Not ideal granted, but the best outcome out of what were very limited options. Instead of the rather negelected and underused space that exists at present, the school and park combined could create a very vibrant new focus for activity that can benefit the whole community.