Cameron Rose, Councillor for Southside/Newington, Edinburgh - Conservative
The cafe in Nicolson Street where J K Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter stories is to re-open as a cafe after years as the Buffet King. There will be an opening party this evening with public opening on Monday. More details here. This is another indication of the extraordinary growth in cafe culture popularity - as reported on this blog here and here.
Actually, today's catch-up summary covers two weeks.
We have featured Danny MacAskill on this newsblog earlier this year. The videos of his sensational stunt riding were partly shot in locations familiar to readers of this blog such as George Square, the Meadows and Warrender Park Terrace. After tripping on a pavement, he has an injury which will keep him out of stunt biking for a couple of months - as this BBC article and video report. Danny is from Skye and lives in Leith.
Yesterday this blog reported the remarkable story of a car stolen in Lutton Place, pursued by the owner - who then battled to thwart the thieves as he clung to the moving vehicle. Further details are contained in the police press release requesting witnesses and in this article and this BBC report.
Some will doubless ask whether his efforts might not have led to his serious injury. But on the evidence we have you cannot but admire and congratulate Stephen for his bold, persistent and courageous attempts to thwart these common thieves whose reckless, life threatening actions need to be very severely dealt with.
On 27th November there will be a variety concert to mark Homecoming year and amongst the contributors will be Prestonfield Primary pupils. The concert will be at Liberton High School at 7pm. More details here.
Earlier this month this newsblog commented on the growth in cafes and coffee shops in Edinburgh with the added observation that it comes at a time when pubs are struggling. This article in the Scotsman today confirms the growth in coffee shops with some Edinburgh wide figures. And my successful local moves for the relaxation on unjust restrictions on coffee shops will have helped.
Yesterday about 5:30pm a Kia Sedona car was stolen in Lutton Place. The owner was nearby, chased and clung to the car as it was driven in Dalkeith Road and then Holyrood Park Road. The car made off and the owner was thrown off, relatively unscathed. The full story can be found in the police press release. Two culprits are being sought by police.
Edinburgh University scientists are joining researchers at CERN in Switzerland to search for the elusive Higgs Bosun particle. More details here in The Journal, one of the student newspapers.
Last night Sciennes School Council held a meeting on the proposed installation of traffic lights at the junction of West Savile Terrace and Mayfield Road. Views for and against the proposal were expressed though it is fair to say the majority of parents present were in favour of the proposal. Also present were local residents, the Council's traffic engineers and some local councillors. This page on the School Council website also reports the meeting and more details of the proposals and the casualty record for the junction can be found here. This previous post contains the background and my views.
Having been away over the week-end this is a belated post to acknowledge that a man has appeared in court charged with murder in relation to the death last week in Nicolson Street
Two London journalists are behind an initiative to encourage tennis in local parks through leagues - including on the Meadows. They have set up a site localtennisleagues.com which services the creation and maintenance of eleven local tennis leagues.
The Edinburgh site, encouraging Meadows leagues, can be found here. It has been set up by Nigel Billen and Sally Kinnes. It is in addition to the Meadows Tennis Club which also operates from the Meadows. Five weeks ago this newsblog reported consideration being given by Edinburgh Leisure, the Council arms length company operating the site, to an upgrade of tennis facilities on the Meadows.
Here is the account of the birth of three hedgehogs in the reception area of Prestonfield Hotel a few weeks ago.
The death in Nicolson Street earlier this week is now being treated by police as a murder enquiry. Here is the police press release which indicates they wish to trace her husband and provides a description.
Grange/Prestonfield Community Council has now appointed a new Chair. John Palmer took over tonight and the remainder of the community council are:
Yes, the noises of the Southside and Newington ward are mapped visually here. Just put in your postcode and select 'consolidated' and day or night to get a graphical representation of the degree of noise routinely mapped for your area.
First there is Blue Peter, which is launching Operation Smile, this year's appeal, in part with the help of James Gillespies Primary School. More details here.
The other option is the Grange/Prestonfield Community Council which is at 7pm at Cameron House Community Centre in Prestonfield Avenue.
Karen Wong's restaurant in St Leonard's Street has been charged £11,000 for water used over a quarter. More details here, and here is how it has been reported elsewhere.
Police are treating as unexplained the finding of a body in a flat at 10 Nicolson Street at lunchtime today. They have carried out a full forensic examination and information from local people suggests the deceased is from the Sudanese community. The woman appears to have been found in a bath and police enquiries are understood to be focusing on an incident in the early hours of this morning.
More details here, including an unconfirmed report of the dead woman's name.
There is an Introduction to Astrophotography at the Royal Observatory Visitor Centre at Blackford Hill tonight between 7 and 9pm.
The first meeting of this Community Council to take place after the elections will take place on Wenesday 21st October at Cameron House Community Centre in Prestonfield Avenue, when the new office bearers will be elected. Local residents throughout the Grange/Prestonfield area are welcome.
The Energy Saving Trust is offering grants in this area for energy saving measures in the home for people in the categories listed below. If you know of anyone covered who would benefit, have a look at the Energy Saving Trust website site.
Grants can be for central heating, insulation and a variety of other measures. Contact Kim Rowe at the Energy Saving Trust (kim.rowe@energysavingtrust.org.uk) or call 555 7891
Today a further workshop for The Causey Project takes place in the Informatics Centre in Crichton Street. The Ideas Workshop takes place between 10:30 and 4:00pm and includes a visit to the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments in Bernard Terrace. The Causey is a project looking to create a more attractive street in West Crosscauseway.
The tenement garden at 48-60 South Clerk Street won its category in this year's Edinburgh in Bloom competition. Nominated by Julian Bukits, who has masterminded the superb display over a number of years, the garden is a brilliant testament to hard work, innovation and community action.
Southside Community Council appointed Hilary McDowell as their new chair with the former chair Robert Beaton moving to vice chair. Details of other appointments can be found here.
Earlier this week Marchmont & Sciennes Community Council appointed a new chair and next week Grange/Prestonfield will also appoint a new person at the helm. The inaugural meeting will be held at 7pm next Wednesday 21st October in Cameron House Community Centre in Prestonfield Avenue.
The Evening News has picked up a question I asked today of the leader of the Council. On Wednesday 30th September a Neighbourhood Partnership conference was held at the Hibs Stadium in Easter Road. The answer to my question about the cost was that the overall cost of runnning the conference was £9,579.
If that was all it would not be an unreasonable cost for a conference which was attended by 186 people (£51.50 per person) and which achieved valuable objectives. However, there are two problems.
The Council needs to bite the bullet and abandon Neighbourhood Partnerships. Some of their functions will need to be undertaken elsewhere but for the most part such action will release a large number of council employees to get on with delivering basic services.
Note: You can find more about the local Neighbourhood Partnership here.
The resurfacing of Sciennes Road will start next week. Dependant on conditions, it could take up to four weeks. There area being addressed is from Gladstone Terrace to Argyle Place.
Police are looking for witnesses to an assault last Saturday night in Buccleuch Terrace when a man was kicked on the head. The incident, described as an unprovoked assault, took place about midnight. Details here.
Tonight Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council appointed new office bearers. Susie Agnew has stood down now that she is undertaking full time study and is replaced by Melanie Main. The other appointments are here.
Cleaning out of the gullys is due to take place between now and Thursday (15th Oct) in the following streets: Parkside Street Queens Crescent, Clearburn Gardens, Hermits Croft, Burgess Terrace Prestonfield Crescent, Terrars Croft, McLaren Road, Prestonfield Gardens, West Newington Place, Ventnor Place, Sciennes Road, Blackwood Crescent, Ventnor Terrace, Tantallon Place, Salisbury Road, Cobden Road, Richmond Place, Priestfield Road, Cobden Crescent, Dumbiedykes Road, Priestfield Road North, Bright’s Crescent, Holyrood Court, Marchhall Road, Mentone Terrace, Marchhall Place, Mentone Gardens, Marchhall Crescent, Glenorchy Terrace, Kilmaurs Road, Moston Terrace, Kilmaurs Terrace, Peel Terrace, Savile Terrace, Cameron Park, Cameron House Avenue
Today Blue Peter visited James Gillespies Primary School to prepare for the launch of the latest Blue Peter appeal for Operation Smile. The appeal is to fund operations in India for children born with a cleft palate or cleft lip.
We don't have local figures to hand but there is much concern over the number of pubs which are closing. Southside & Newington ward has seen its fair share of such businesses failing.
However there are signs this is not just a symptom of the anti smoking legislation and the hard economic times. At a guess I would say that for every pub that has closed in the ward in the last two years there have been at least two - perhaps three cafes opening.
So are we seeing a transfer from pub culture to cafe culture? It certainly seems so - and that is no bad thing. Until recently the playing field was artificially skewed by local council planning rules which limited cafes opening before 8am and after 8pm in what were deemed as specially sensitive areas (such as the Nicolson Street, Clerk Street corridor).
When set alongside the opening hours of pubs, that intervention and restriction by the council was not only extraordinary but, as so often in these cases, it was an administrative and enforcement mess. Thankfully pressure to have this anomoly removed was successful earlier in the summer.
It is said that Edinburgh's pivotal role in the Enlightenment was nurtured in its coffee houses. I do think there is more chance of the next intellectual revolution being nurtured in coffee houses rather than pubs.
Yet another exquisite account of life in and around the Grange is contained in the Autumn edition of the Grange Association's newsletter. You can find the incidents referred to in the title in the excellent article by Tom Breheny here (scroll down to page 6). The culprits have been identified as a vixen (the shoe) and a carrion crow (the eggs).
The suffragette procession tomorrow begins on Bruntsfield Links at 1pm. Further details here.
Here is a report of the march commemorating the suffragettes which will pass through the Meadows this Saturday.
A post yesterday drew attention to 41 year old Alan Smith escaping from supervision and committing a breach of the peace. This report notes he has had 3 months added to his sentence.
Mercy Corps, which has its European headquarters in Sciennes is involved in the relief operation after the Sumatran earthquake.
Here, a killer sentenced to 8 years in prison, is released on licence to a supervised hostel after four years, and subsequently is convicted of threatening a policeman in St Leonards. Details from the court here.
Four or so years back there was considerable debate about the potential for a skatepark in the Meadows beside the tennis courts. This postscript post is to note that the city skatepark is currently under construction at Saughton Park. See here for the website for the new park.
The arrival of illegal action on the street along with the 'scabs' stickers on the bins in the ward, indicates the arrival of extremists trying to bully their way into the Edinburgh refuse dispute.
Saturday 17th October has been set for the next ideas workshop on plans to make a dramatic change to West Crosscauseway. Have a look here for the story so far and for details of the location.
The team at the UK Astronomy and Technology Centre, based at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, helped design the Spire camera as this article reports.
Kismot in St Leonard's Street is now offering the said delicacy. It compliments their previous eye-catching offering of a killer curry.
Sciennes Primary School is popular. Today the Evening News highlights some of the pressures that popularity has brought. It is accompanied by a thoughtful editorial.
Saturday 3rd sees the Big Fun Run in Holyrood Park. It is designed to support charities and to encourage fitness. At 5k it is fairly short and entrants can walk or run. There are 86 official charities you can run for including Royal Blind in Craigmillar Park.
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