Originally Posted by
Waterways
Should all those visitors be stopped from coming then?
That is so. The Kings Dock. The local councillor wanted the keep the water spaces and have a vibrant community of apartments, and normal leisure activities around the place with the odd hotel here and there. What do we get. Big business wanted a large money raking attraction that will bus masses of people in and out. They got it. A soulless arena. We do need an arena - not in that place though. A prime case of big business having precedence over the people.
You got that generally right!
You asked "Should all those visitors be stopped from coming then?" and that's an interesting question. Do you really want to live in a City that is always inundated with tourists? Rome was stunning, but the streets were filled with dodgy food outlets, cruddy bars etc simply because it is easy to offer bad service and quality when you have tourists as the main source of income.
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I would argue that we DONT want too many, for this reason.
Politicians and "investors" are always mouthing off about how this or that is "good for the city" or "good for our economy" etc; what they usually actually mean is good for themselves in some way.
What is good for the city, any city, is to be found by asking it's population what they want to see, we never have this opportunity.
I have several lovely books "A pub on every corner" etc (I'm still trying to find a copy of "It all came tumbling down" any ideas appreciated) that describe the destruction of the city's true heritage, its streets, buildings etc and this is still going on today, right now.
Why is it good for the population for Liverpool to house the largest retail center in the EU (if I have my facts straight) ?
I live in Birmingham just now, just outside of here is an outdoor museum called "The Black Country Museum" we visited it recently and I was saddened.
The museum is superb, entire streets still as they were in the 30's and earlier, even a pub that still operates. The streets and shops were just like I recall as a kid in Liverpool.
Kid's in Liverpool now, born in the 80's or later, will have almost no idea how lovely this was, little shops, owned by people who cared, colorful windowframes, each shop distinctive.
I highly recommend this museum, and I have nothing but contempt for those in authority who choose to destroy such character, we dont need tourists in droves, we need to value our past and preserve rather than replace.
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