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Duke of Westminster and Les Puces de Saint Ouen

by An American in London Wed Oct 17th, 2007 at 03:26:17 AM EST

Excellent column by Agnes Poirier in The Guardian today about how the Duke of Westminster has bought Les Puces, attempting to raise the rents 35-70 % and eventually wants to build office buildings, shopping centers on the site.
The link is :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2192730,00.html


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I remember coming to live in London not long after the Covent Garden Fruit market moved out to Docklands and Covent Garden itself briefly became a gloriously eclectic and vibrant market.

They swore that development would preserve the character of the area.....

Camden Lock is now going the same way.

The toxic combination of exclusive private property in the Commons, and deficit Money, destroys everything worth preserving.

<bang head on desk>

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Wed Oct 17th, 2007 at 07:38:26 AM EST
whilst i sympathise, to a certain extent that is the way of the world. An area develops a certain bohemian chic, that atrracts other wealthier people who wish to acquire such "edgy" glamour. rents rise and eventually over a couple of iterations, the original outsiders who made such a place attractive are pushed aside.

It happened in Greenwich village in New York. It happened several times in London, Islington, Covent Garden, Notting Hill and now Soho have all driven out the underclass who made it worthwhile, as happened in an earlier era, Hampstead (now one of the most expensive suburbs in London).

Paris has been lucky, but I cannot see how it can remain immune. The Duck of Westminster may well be amongst the more grubby of money-grabbers, the instinctive avarice of the already unbelievably wealthy is strong within him. His is a generational gluttony, but it happens in all places at all times. If not him, then somebody else. Even if not with the covetous deliberation, it would have happened anyway.

Evolution is life, it's how cities breath.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Oct 17th, 2007 at 04:27:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Paris has been lucky

Heh ?!?

Paris is very segregated socially. And the popular classes remain now only in the North East and a small bit of the south east ; the rest has been thoroughly bobo-ized.

And the west has been the property of the aristocracy for a long time.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Oct 17th, 2007 at 08:19:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
i reckon the real reason they hate these places is they know people don't pay taxes on every transaction, it's a kontrol thang...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty
by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Oct 17th, 2007 at 02:32:35 PM EST


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