We have had Rushanara Ali since decades as Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow and here in Bethnal Green I feel increasingly like living in a Ghetto.
According to some data collected by Andrew Wood, taken from his Twitter feed, the following is the case:
Tower Hamlets is one of the best funded local authorities in the country according to @TheIFS analysis 3rd highest Police funding per person 9th highest Local Government spending Only as regards NHS spending are we average (we have few old people) See statistics as published.
Overall, related to all other boroughs, we get 16.7% more government funding than other boroughs. Yet, what is being done with that money and how do local councillors portrait this help?
Constantly we get told that the government is rubbish because it’s Conservative, the same government that gives us all that extra funding. People got brainwashed into voting Labour and now they took the opportunity to self-govern with an Aspire led Council. But what do we get for all this funding?
The area is taken over by Graffiti not only in the Brick Lane area, but also down the whole of Bethnal Green Road now.
Tourists come to Brick Lane to take pics of the ‘artistic’ graffiti, it has become a sort of freak show of Inner London dilapidation.
A typical Allen Gardens Graffiti, off Brick Lane. This area is also totally covered all round with graffiti.
There are business who make a living out of selling specialities, which could be described as fringe. A bit like Obeye’ has taken on many names in the Caribbean, such as Obeah (Jamaica), Shango (Trinidad), Santeria (Cuba), Voodoo (Haiti), or Ju-Ju (Bahamas), we have Brick Lane culture in Bethnal Green.
Yet there are many lovely shops with huge potential, really loved and looked after by their owners. This charm has real boutique effect and deserves the right setting. Vintage is very popular in this area, as well as leather goods.
The Curry shops in Brick Lane also get tourists to come into their restaurants and make a living out of this.
The only change that is proposed happens through the proposed Brick Lane masterplan. This however includes only a small area. I fully support the Brick Lane development, as it is the only development, which doesn’t include antisocial decorating of our buildings but actually builds new business and living opportunities, which are of high and acceptable quality. The traders in Brick Lane really keep their shops tidy.
Many businesses in Bethnal Green Road have changed. All of whom don’t mind having their premises adorned by graffiti. Rushanara Ali, Labour MP, seems to enjoy promoting this type of culture in Bethnal Green.
Many previous immigration populations resided here like the French Huguenots (who improved the area), Jewish settlers, all of which carried out their business until they dispersed and settled throughout the country. Neither changed he appearance of buildings as it happens now.
Yet, under Rushanara Ali we see a marked dilapidation of the area.
I’m not saying that the businesses are not run properly, but they certainly do not care about the looks of their premises. Police can only interfere if the premises owners complain about the criminal damage to their property. Obviously nobody complains. The ‘Broken Window effect’ stimulates crime and ASB. This also includes the BT owned phone booths.
At the same time, there are homeless shelters in the area, which are occupied by many people who loiter around and have lifestyles of the undesirable kind, needing help and often addicted.
On three consecutive days I got approached or insulted by local residents of homeless shelters.
Day 1 – a homeless man asked me how my night was at 6:10am in Brick Lane
Day 2 – a homeless man rode his bicycle (likely stolen) at me calling me a cunt at 8:05am.
Day 3 – a homeless man offered me a ladies dress and 2 jackets (all in original dry cleaning wraps on hangers) at 6:15am in Brick Lane.
The idea of what is a good lifestyle seems to have gone out of the window completely.
I know Tower Hamlets Police patrol the market areas of Brick Lane on Sundays to prevent the sale of stolen goods and the Flower Market in Columbia Road to protect visitors from theft and being mugged.
Yet, the whole scene is so bad now, that not even the police intervention alone will be able to turn this around.
We need a good member of parliament who actually is interested in he culture and improvement of the area.
Incidentally Aspire Council has stopped trying to improve he nearby Whitechapel market area too.
What we really need now is a Conservative MP who can inject the much needed vigorous change in the area, that is good for business and stops the degeneration of the area. I certainly don’t feel like spending much money in any of the shops and they way it looks right now. As it is the Conservative government supports the people of this area, but the money given to us is not used in the most effective manner.
Also there are many complaints about uncollected rubbish in the area of Old Bethnal Green Road especially. And the area around St. Matthews church is plagued by drug users and ASB. Why is it that the drug trade is so vigorous in Tower Hamlets. Isn’t it that the extreme amount of graffiti represent the drug user mentality prevalent in the borough?
Cleaning up buildings and stamping down on graffiti, stopping the ‘broken window effect’ would help.
Johanna Kaschke 
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