| What happened to Swansea 22:18 - Aug 11 with 12921 views | keeponrockin |
I don't like to slag off my home town but I have to say these days I'm finding the place thoroughly depressing and am seeking to leave asap for various reasons.
Everywhere I go there seems to be junkies, people just shouting profanity, the town is a sh1thole, the roads are a joke, roid heads galore the list is endless.
It saddens me because it should be a great place and it does have some great qualities but I'm losing the love at the moment and I never thought that would happen. What's going on? [Post edited 11 Aug 2014 22:20]
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:35 - Aug 12 with 1797 views | perchrockjack |
And Lifey is GOD S example to us all not to suffer vexation to the soul. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 09:48 - Aug 12 with 1783 views | lifelong |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:35 - Aug 12 by perchrockjack |
And Lifey is GOD S example to us all not to suffer vexation to the soul. |
You've got me confused now Perchy 
Lot's of threads on here recently on how bad Swansea is, as you say, it has never been perfect, in fact parts of it are vastly improved to what it was in the early 70's. I love living here and wouldn't live in places like London, Liverpool, Manchester or Cardiff for anything, we're all different eh? |  | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 10:20 - Aug 12 with 1762 views | dgt73 |
| What happened to Swansea on 23:03 - Aug 11 by keeponrockin |
I would first of all bull doze high street, I would scrap the extortionate parking charges & be extremely radical in relation to the town centre planning.
I would have zero tolerance policing to clean the streets up.
I would invest heavily in marketing and using our status as a premier league town, I would bring back the Tram for the Mumbles and get stalled projects moving.
I would shrink local gov, reduce local taxation.
Fundamentally I would advocate a dramatic shift in culture to 'can do' not talk, talk and more talk.
I could go on, but in reality not a chance in hell of my vision just like the roads it'll be patch and mend. |
There are many places in Swansea City centre where you can park for free. Hope your very happy when you move away. [Post edited 12 Aug 2014 10:23]
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| What happened to Swansea on 10:37 - Aug 12 with 1748 views | Cottsy |
| What happened to Swansea on 23:03 - Aug 11 by keeponrockin |
I would first of all bull doze high street, I would scrap the extortionate parking charges & be extremely radical in relation to the town centre planning.
I would have zero tolerance policing to clean the streets up.
I would invest heavily in marketing and using our status as a premier league town, I would bring back the Tram for the Mumbles and get stalled projects moving.
I would shrink local gov, reduce local taxation.
Fundamentally I would advocate a dramatic shift in culture to 'can do' not talk, talk and more talk.
I could go on, but in reality not a chance in hell of my vision just like the roads it'll be patch and mend. |
Ok now how do you propse to fund all that while making a saving of £70 million at the same time and remember that the Social Services bill has to be paid for first before you do any of it.
You've knocked down High Stand scrapped parking charges.Great. You've also just lost tens/hundreds of thousands of pounds of income so that £70 million has just gone up and the Social Services bill still needs paying.
Zero tolerance policing? Great. That's going to be an increase in everyone's rates though as the police are going to need more manpower and more space to process arrests that would have previously been cautions.
You've reduced local government and reduced local tax. Great. Are services going to be reduced as well? How are you going to balance financial payouts for those losing their jobs? Don't forget £70 million, Social Services.
Edited (Forgot about the tram)
You are going to reinstate the Mumbles tram. Great. What is the business case for it? Who is going to run it the council, a not for profit trust or private company? Ae the long term benefits of the tram going to offset the short term disruption and expenditure? What are the operational costs likely to be? How many people are likely to use it?
You talk about a 'can do' culture but you also talk about wanting to leave. You talk about what you would do but you don't seem to be doing anything about it. Why aren't you putting yourself forward to be elected at the next council elections, getting yourself out in to the community making a difference, putting pressure on your ward councillors to make the changes you want to see? [Post edited 12 Aug 2014 11:34]
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| If man evolved from monkeys why do we still have monkeys? |
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| What happened to Swansea on 10:45 - Aug 12 with 1743 views | epaul |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:48 - Aug 12 by lifelong |
You've got me confused now Perchy
Lot's of threads on here recently on how bad Swansea is, as you say, it has never been perfect, in fact parts of it are vastly improved to what it was in the early 70's. I love living here and wouldn't live in places like London, Liverpool, Manchester or Cardiff for anything, we're all different eh? |
I absolutely love living in London Rog, I know many don't. What it brings to me with it's diversity and multi multi culturalness makes me very happy. Although as previously said Swansea is my home at heart and I fukin luvs it |  |
| The hair and the beard have gone I am now conforming to society, tis a sad day
The b*stards are coming back though |
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| What happened to Swansea on 10:50 - Aug 12 with 1735 views | Jackfath |
I recently went to Cardiff on a shopping spree. I was very, very impressed with the centre.
Short of it is, I was there in an hour. Why anyone would consider going to Swansea centre as a destination when you could be in the capital within 60 minutes beats me.
We do not need a centre the size that it currently is. Something akin to Carmarthen centre (on a slightly larger scale) would suffice. |  |
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| What happened to Swansea on 10:50 - Aug 12 with 1736 views | waynekerr55 |
| What happened to Swansea on 09:35 - Aug 12 by dickythorpe |
Did anyone see the Hairy Bikers in South Korea? There's an example of a country that had feck all and built itself up.
Somehow I think the "Welsh" apathy towards big ideas and success is a huge stumbling block.
"Wales/Swansea isnt profitable" I hear.......Well maybe we need to show that it is!!
Quite how Is why I probably work in a warehouse and not sit at local authority board meetings.
But some out there must have ideas that can work? |
I'm going to say something controversial here - it is all about mindset. 30 odd years on we still blame Thatcher for the downfall yet cities like Liverpool and Manchester (which she was happy to cut off and leave for dead) found the spirit and determination to re develop and get better. Are these cities perfect? Absolutely not. Do they have problems - absolutely. If the city is to rise from the ashes then it needs people to take control - hold their councillors and AM's accountable for their non action. And most of all - take some responsibility, rather than looking at blaming factors outside of our control. |  |
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| What happened to Swansea on 11:26 - Aug 12 with 1718 views | yescomeon |
I am not from Swansea, I was born there but after moving to Pembrokeshire I only returned for university and ended up staying for about 5 years. It is a place I consider home to me, as much so as Pembrokeshire. I've lived in a few places but when I am in Swansea I just get a feeling that I don't even get when I return to Pembrokeshire anymore. I have lived with many people from outside of Swansea in my time living there and it was a fellah from Belfast who said something about the place that was interesting to me as it struck a chord with me. He was comparing Swansea with Cardiff and he told me about a time he was over visiting Cardiff and was in the pub and met some Spanish, they both agreed that Cardiff, although nice, was missing something, it lacked soul. That is what I believe is what makes Swansea a place that is great to live. Yes there is plenty of bad things that have been mentioned on this thread, but at the end of the day for me there is a sort of indescribable feel about the place, and that is what makes me want to return at the first opportunity I get, which unfortunately is a good few years away yet. |  |
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| What happened to Swansea on 12:14 - Aug 12 with 1679 views | controversial_jack |
| What happened to Swansea on 10:50 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
I recently went to Cardiff on a shopping spree. I was very, very impressed with the centre.
Short of it is, I was there in an hour. Why anyone would consider going to Swansea centre as a destination when you could be in the capital within 60 minutes beats me.
We do not need a centre the size that it currently is. Something akin to Carmarthen centre (on a slightly larger scale) would suffice. |
But have you driven through Ely recently? | | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 12:32 - Aug 12 with 1660 views | LeonisGod |
| What happened to Swansea on 10:37 - Aug 12 by Cottsy |
Ok now how do you propse to fund all that while making a saving of £70 million at the same time and remember that the Social Services bill has to be paid for first before you do any of it.
You've knocked down High Stand scrapped parking charges.Great. You've also just lost tens/hundreds of thousands of pounds of income so that £70 million has just gone up and the Social Services bill still needs paying.
Zero tolerance policing? Great. That's going to be an increase in everyone's rates though as the police are going to need more manpower and more space to process arrests that would have previously been cautions.
You've reduced local government and reduced local tax. Great. Are services going to be reduced as well? How are you going to balance financial payouts for those losing their jobs? Don't forget £70 million, Social Services.
Edited (Forgot about the tram)
You are going to reinstate the Mumbles tram. Great. What is the business case for it? Who is going to run it the council, a not for profit trust or private company? Ae the long term benefits of the tram going to offset the short term disruption and expenditure? What are the operational costs likely to be? How many people are likely to use it?
You talk about a 'can do' culture but you also talk about wanting to leave. You talk about what you would do but you don't seem to be doing anything about it. Why aren't you putting yourself forward to be elected at the next council elections, getting yourself out in to the community making a difference, putting pressure on your ward councillors to make the changes you want to see? [Post edited 12 Aug 2014 11:34]
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In answer to where the money is likely to come from to redevelop the centre - mostly Europe during the current funding round 2014-2020.
Some of the thinking is mentioned at the bottom of this piece.
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/High-quality-offices-vital-Swansea-city-
The tram would be fantastic, but there's no way it's going to happen any time soon if at all, for financial and planning reasons (some of the old route is now built over, with at least one bottleneck that would require moving the oystermouth Road - I can't see that ever happening).
They do desperately need to do something to give the place a lift and soften all this concrete they are throwing around at the moment. |  | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 12:34 - Aug 12 with 1655 views | Jackfath |
| What happened to Swansea on 12:14 - Aug 12 by controversial_jack |
But have you driven through Ely recently? |
No. Your point being? | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 12:49 - Aug 12 with 1638 views | dgt73 |
| What happened to Swansea on 12:34 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
No. Your point being? |
The point being just because cardiff has a decent city centre does not make it a better place than Swansea. Ely, tremorfa, splott, llanrumney, st Mellons, Riverside, canton, adamsdown are worse than any area of Swansea and I should know as I have lived in both cities. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 12:56 - Aug 12 with 1629 views | Jackfath |
| What happened to Swansea on 12:49 - Aug 12 by dgt73 |
The point being just because cardiff has a decent city centre does not make it a better place than Swansea. Ely, tremorfa, splott, llanrumney, st Mellons, Riverside, canton, adamsdown are worse than any area of Swansea and I should know as I have lived in both cities. |
I wasn't professing that Cardiff was a better place to live.
I was stating that the focus for us to compete on a direct level as Cardiff centre is mental when it is so close. Much better to use what a smashing centre Carmarthen now has and develop something similar. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 13:05 - Aug 12 with 1622 views | Jackhero |
"there is no place like home, there is no place like home, there is no place like home" Hmm these sparkly shoes didn't work.
Anyway there isn't anywhere like Home. Being from Swansea, living in Swansea (or just outside) and having lived away a long time I can see the 'Soul' Swansea does have. Ok so we do have what seems a backwards and corrupt Council, but slowly slowly catch a monkey I think we are getting there.
High Street (sth of the Station) is slowly being developed. The mess of the boulevard once completed has improved links between areas of the centre. I've walked around Swansea a bit recently, more than I had in over 5 years,with a new outlook and do you know what. We have a great city people should be proud of and if we continue to develop and take pride of where we live it will only improve.
The next improvement which I think has to take priority is the Kingsway. Get rid of that system in place now and get business thriving down there again. It has so much potential.
Even the diversity of cultures now present in Swansea makes it fantastic. The supermarkets down St Helens road, along with Barbers and Restaurants just being one area. Uplands Market once a month and the new Marina market that just started. Boat trips up the river.................................even premier league football........come on you Jack b'stards this is our city. Be Proud. |  |
| Tubbs: Will heaven be like Swansea? Edward: Yes, Tubbs. Only... bigger. |
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| What happened to Swansea on 13:17 - Aug 12 with 1604 views | dgt73 |
| What happened to Swansea on 12:56 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
I wasn't professing that Cardiff was a better place to live.
I was stating that the focus for us to compete on a direct level as Cardiff centre is mental when it is so close. Much better to use what a smashing centre Carmarthen now has and develop something similar. |
What Swansea and most cities need to do is bring in investment with proper wages, because most of these shops in nice new shopping centres pay poor wages and this whole debate is therefore pointless. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 13:25 - Aug 12 with 1498 views | Jackfath |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:17 - Aug 12 by dgt73 |
What Swansea and most cities need to do is bring in investment with proper wages, because most of these shops in nice new shopping centres pay poor wages and this whole debate is therefore pointless. |
Nonsense.
How is Carmarthen such a brilliant little centre now? | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 13:33 - Aug 12 with 1494 views | dickythorpe |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:25 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
Nonsense.
How is Carmarthen such a brilliant little centre now? |
Carmarthen still has its problems Fath - not all were in favour of the new development.
The soul of the town was destroyed by the loss of 2 of the finest pubs(Butchers and Tanners) and indoor/ outdoor market.
It has caused ridiculous traffic jams by not incorporating a "one way in- one way out" traffic system.
Many locals shop elsewhere and get Sainsburys or Asda home deliveries!
And the council are one of the most unhelpful going and have a Chief Exec who is up to all sorts whilst earning more than the Prime Minister!! |  | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:35 - Aug 12 with 1490 views | Jackfath |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:33 - Aug 12 by dickythorpe |
Carmarthen still has its problems Fath - not all were in favour of the new development.
The soul of the town was destroyed by the loss of 2 of the finest pubs(Butchers and Tanners) and indoor/ outdoor market.
It has caused ridiculous traffic jams by not incorporating a "one way in- one way out" traffic system.
Many locals shop elsewhere and get Sainsburys or Asda home deliveries!
And the council are one of the most unhelpful going and have a Chief Exec who is up to all sorts whilst earning more than the Prime Minister!! |
Accepted. However as a visitor there it has made me wanting to come back time and time again. I wonder how many could say that about the Swansea City centre experience? | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 13:38 - Aug 12 with 1486 views | dickythorpe |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:35 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
Accepted. However as a visitor there it has made me wanting to come back time and time again. I wonder how many could say that about the Swansea City centre experience? |
Well that is pleasing to hear. But like all places we enjoying visiting, I am sure it is different living there. | | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:38 - Aug 12 with 1486 views | SilverSurfer |
anyone who thinks that Swansea is rough has never lived in a 'big' city
after 10yrs in Birmingham Swansea is a paradise.
the problem with us welsh is that we are always the first to put ourselves down
theres a big world out there and there is nothing wrong with our small corner of it. |  | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:40 - Aug 12 with 1479 views | Jackfath |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:38 - Aug 12 by SilverSurfer |
anyone who thinks that Swansea is rough has never lived in a 'big' city
after 10yrs in Birmingham Swansea is a paradise.
the problem with us welsh is that we are always the first to put ourselves down
theres a big world out there and there is nothing wrong with our small corner of it. |
To state there is nothing wrong is burying ones head in the sand. Tale a walk around the city centre and there is plenty which is wrong. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 13:48 - Aug 12 with 1467 views | SilverSurfer |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:40 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
To state there is nothing wrong is burying ones head in the sand. Tale a walk around the city centre and there is plenty which is wrong. |
try living in Birmingham, nechells, handsworth all just outside the city centre
when I was there there it was common for machete attacks to happen in broad daylight on the handworths road
there is nothing to compare life in Swansea to Brum.
its a different world | | | |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:49 - Aug 12 with 1460 views | Jackfath |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:48 - Aug 12 by SilverSurfer |
try living in Birmingham, nechells, handsworth all just outside the city centre
when I was there there it was common for machete attacks to happen in broad daylight on the handworths road
there is nothing to compare life in Swansea to Brum.
its a different world |
I am not disputing that.
I am saying that to state there is nothing wrong with Swansea is burying ones head in the sand. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 14:10 - Aug 12 with 1439 views | dgt73 |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:25 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
Nonsense.
How is Carmarthen such a brilliant little centre now? |
If you compare carmarthen with Llanelli both roughly the same size town centres, Llanelli's town centre is run down where as carmarthen has a very nice town centre, but Llanelli has a out of town shopping centre at Trostre and carmarthen does not and this maybe why carmarthen's town centre is nice because its all centred in the town itself. | |
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| What happened to Swansea on 14:13 - Aug 12 with 1434 views | stonedroller |
| What happened to Swansea on 13:49 - Aug 12 by Jackfath |
I am not disputing that.
I am saying that to state there is nothing wrong with Swansea is burying ones head in the sand. |
Swansea is a hole, that's why people love it, that's why people hate it.
didn;t mean to quote u then fath [Post edited 12 Aug 2014 14:14]
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