We’ve said it again and again and again and again.
Whilst Essential Edinburgh’s gimcrack stunts have a certain short-term carnival glamour, they are not the real thing.
St Andrew Square is being used too often and too intensively for the wrong purposes.
The latest evidence squelches and is hideous to behold.
If you don't like it, tell the perpetrators how you feel here, and please copy us in on any correspondence.
The authentic Edinburgh – not the so-called Essential Edinburgh which also brought us perspex greenhouses on George Street – deserves better.
We need to show some self-respect. We need to stop selling ourselves for a swift jingle of change and some cheap fairy lights.
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@theSpurtle What a mess!
@theSpurtle @feeclandee @edinspotlight @LillyLyle @markybhoy Melville would be spinning in his grave at the destuction of this Square!
David Cameron @Notthatdavidcam
@theSpurtle I'm sure it'll only be a day until there'll be a 3 week stretch of Valentines kissing cabins & stalls selling roses #whatgrass
@EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC how is this allowed to happen to St Andrew Sq? #mud
@dunedinhen @theSpurtle @feeclandee @edinspotlight @LillyLyle @markybhoy st andrews swamp. Not a nice addition to the city.
@speybaysoul @theSpurtle @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @NTBCC money! And a very blinkered clowncil.
@speybaysoul @theSpurtle @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @NTBCC total stupidity.
@CityCycling @theSpurtle @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @NTBCC let's RT and tell them so! Shocking abuse of the cityscape
@speybaysoul @theSpurtle @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @NTBCC & it requires annual planning permission....so submit objection
@thespurtle @feeclandee @dunedinhen @edinspotlight @lillylyle @markybhoy @ellatasm That is an utter disgrace, they take the money and run.
.@theSpurtle We know now that local firms are subsidising the sq through @EssentialEdin - they must be delighted to see outcome.
@Edinburgh_CC @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC @TheScotsman it is meant to look like this!!!
@speybaysoul @OldGlenbogle @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC It's high time they laid it in causey setts!
1/5 @Edinburgh_CC @EssentialEdin @theSpurtle Outline brief for St. Andrew Sq: Creation of a publicly accessible garden and major new space
2/5 ...within Edinburgh city centre, providing an oasis of tranquility, and an improved pedestrian @Edinburgh_CC @EssentialEdin @theSpurtle
3/5 The scheme was also intended to address anti-social behaviour by improved lighting & planting @Edinburgh_CC @EssentialEdin @theSpurtle
@EssentialEdin @theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC in case you've forgotten the brief for #standrewsq http://www.landscapeinstitute.co.uk/casestudies/casestudy.php?id=52 …
@theSpurtle @feeclandee @dunedinhen @edinspotlight @LillyLyle @markybhoyDesolate middle? No big deal. But they should have cleaned the paths
@SophiaPangloss @speybaysoul @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC or held events in non-grassed places!
@OldGlenbogle @speybaysoul @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC True, plenty space in Parliament Square...
@OldGlenbogle @speybaysoul @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC There's even "Godforsaken Festival Square"...
@SophiaPangloss @speybaysoul @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper @Edinburgh_CC @theSpurtle @NTBCC and Festival Sq, Mound, Castle St, etc!
@SophiaPangloss @theSpurtle @OldGlenbogle @speybaysoul @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper or the hardscaped waste of space triangle behind EICC
@allytibbitt @theSpurtle if local businesses are losing money & @EssentialEdin claims to be nonprofit making...who is benefitting from this?
Gary McLean-Quin I've written. I walked through the square yesterday - and people were aghast at the damage. This will take many months to fix - but what more is lined up?
Wonderful festive events are of course welcome and a joy but this square cannot take this level of abuse.
It's really that simple. And obvious!
Michael Traill Its only to be expected that there will be some damage after such a large scale event. Im confident the ground will be returned to normal as soon as possible.
- Michael Traill Im sure a brief conversation with essential Edinburgh or Edinburghs Christmas will resolve this quickly. Possibly an oversight / mistake rather than a deliberate act to piss people off. But yeah, i agree, a clean path ASAP would be ideal
@CityCycling @theSpurtle @OldGlenbogle @speybaysoul @EssentialEdin @edinburghpaper Aye, or the Esplanade. Great place fer the Astro Flyer!
@theSpurtle St Andrew Square in the mud is a piddle wrapped in a misery undergoing an enema.
@NewTownFlaneur Och, it's like reading a lost sentence from Gifford, McWilliam and Walker.
@theSpurtle I would rather see it in private hands with the gates locked, but looking green.
Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall
@Motivationprobs @theSpurtle What a mean-spirited, narrow point of view. This city is to be lived in, not admired as a work of art.
@theSpurtle @dhothersall Not at all. I liked some of it. It is the way it is carried out that is incompetent.
Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall
@Motivationprobs @theSpurtle I thought you said you wanted it locked away from public use again.
Broughton Spurtle @theSpurtle
@dhothersall @Motivationprobs The city IS to be admired & widely enjoyed as work of art. Need to find right spots for particular activities.
Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall
@theSpurtle @Motivationprobs Events on green space can cause damage in inclement weather. Always have, always will. No reason to stop them.
@dhothersall @theSpurtle @Motivationprobs No reason not to ensure locations are properly reinstated afterwards.
@dhothersall @paulfcockburn @Motivationprobs For a few yellow-stunted weeks until next tent & decking colony arrives. Too much too often.
@dhothersall @theSpurtle @Motivationprobs gardens owned by the people but the square is still in private hands. The lease should be revoked!
Problem is CEC's vision for 'living' always involves commercial interests @dhothersall, not quiet contemplation @theSpurtle @Motivationprobs
@NTCleanStreets @theSpurtle @Motivationprobs Surely CEC maintains public parks, museums and galleries all offering quiet contemplation?
@dhothersall Why not Festival Sq for this, it's pre-concreted and central @theSpurtle @Motivationprobs
Spurtle are moaners with bees in their collective bonnet, say pundits. St Andrew Square mess is worth it for skating twinkle-fans and barflies according to STV 's Fountainbridge Show. Follow the link here: http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/talking-point-st-andrew-square-about-the-fountainbridge-show-on-stv-edinburgh_uw
Edinburgh public not so sure, though. Vox pop favours fewer events and speedier repairs: http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/what-do-you-think-of-the-mud-at-st-andrew-square-about-the-fountainbridge-show-on-stv-edinburgh_3r