Boris Johnson's vision for 2012 is short-sighted
Boris Johnson is trying to make a lot of noise today about his plans for the .
Johnson says he wants London to be during the Games.
"People will hugely enjoy it and for those who don't enjoy it, it'll all be over in a flash," predicts Johnson.
"We believe that London in 2012 is going to be the place that people want to come and have fun and see the Olympic Games so we've got to get ready on that basis."
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The London Mayor will tell a meeting of the Olympic board how he plans to set up four "live sites" with big TV screens to show the action in the capital and put on pop concerts.
These are free sites for people who don't have tickets for the Games.
They are an attempt by the Mayor to copy the party atmosphere of last month's Winter Games in Vancouver which I have already blogged about.
Interestingly, the targeted the national media for his announcement, even though most people outside of London wouldn't have a clue where most of the sites are.
Okay, if I live in Bolton, I probably know where is but , and ?
Maybe he did that because Londoners won't necessarily be that impressed by these plans. They understand their weaknesses better.
Johnson's aides claim the sites will be much bigger than Vancouver's. But let's have a look at the details.
Vancouver has a population of nearly 600,000 compared to London's 7 million.
The city set up two live sites in the city centre for the Winter Games (I went to both of them) and they were visited by around 34,000 people per day.
London's four sites will cater for 102,500 in total. That's three times as many people as Vancouver. But London has 11 times more people than than the Canadian city and the summer Games are a much bigger event than the Winter Games.
So, are Londoners really getting a better deal, especially when you consider that there will be 56 other sites around the UK?
Hyde Park is the biggest of these sites with a 50,000 capacity but it won't be a new development in 2012.
The Park has a huge concert area which is used every summer for the Proms in the Park concert series.
The Mayor is just piggy-backing something that will be there anyway.
The other parks are Victoria Park (in east London) - a site for 40,000 people - and two on the South Bank - and Potters Field (close to Tower Bridge) - for 8,000 and 4,500 people respectively.
One of the important elements of the Winter Games was a site in Richmond, a town just outside of Vancouver which hosted the speed skating events. It set up a during the Games.
This is exactly what is missing from the Mayor's plans - sites away from the action where people on the outskirts of London can feel they are part of the Olympics.
Boris talks about not being a "" Mayor (that means he says he cares about people who live on the end of underground lines as well as those who live in the middle of them) but his Olympic plans are not really targeting people outside of the city centre.
You might argue that London has the Games anyway and doesn't need to have these live sites. But Vancouver, through their Richmond site (called the O Zone), showed that sites away from the action are even more important that those at the heart of it.
Johnson didn't get to see this. Unlike the Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and her Conservative counterpart Hugh Robertson, he decided not to go to Vancouver to learn from the Canadian city.
I get accused of criticising the Olympics too much. But I'm very impressed by the way the facilities are being built in east London. Take a look above at my latest report on the Olympic Stadium.
But I'm not sure we are going to match Vancouver's party atmosphere without an expansion of the Mayor's plans.
I'm Ö÷²¥´óÐã London's Olympics Correspondent, which means I report on every aspect of the preparations for 2012. I'm going to be telling you what people are saying about London's preparations - both in the Olympic corridors of power and on the streets of the capital - and I want to hear your views.
Comment number 1.
At 29th Mar 2010, foonyroo wrote:Why such focus on the negative? I'm not sure if you have a vendetta against boris, London, or both.
London doesn't have to put on any screens. The fact that it is, and they are not just in central, eg. Trafalgar, Leicester Sq, Waterloo etc shows a greater spread of coverage. If Boris placed the sites in Zone 4 or outwards, the amount of people they would cater for wouldn't be worth it. Even if more screens were commissioned, the extra cost, not to mention including staffing, would draw strong criticism in that domain too.
Victoria Park is East London, Potters Field will be the epicentre of South London, and Jubilee Gardens connects central. Forgive me for assuming that "non Londoners" know how to use google maps.
Why needlessly look for the negatives, when in reality, the 2012 Summer Olympics should be nothing but a celebration. Unimpressed by this.
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Comment number 2.
At 29th Mar 2010, Simon Sonic wrote:Mr Warner, I accuse you of criticising the Olympics far too much.
That feels better.
I think that you are right. Four wide angle TV screens for 102,500 is not enough for 7 million Londoners. I think that your anti Boris theme is a bit rich. You suggest that he is a cheap skate for using a venue that is not new and already exists to do just what he is going to use it for. Sounds pretty good common sense to me. If he was to suggest that a new venue should be built just to house a five thousand inch flat screen, you in the Boris Bashing Corporation (Ö÷²¥´óÐã) would be onto to him like a hyena after a dead parrot. Leave the poor man alone he is taking a responsible attitude to the use of existing facilities.
Your report was not the eye opener it might have been to your viewers from your perspective. The Olympics, after all is about feats of human endeavour but all we saw on your report was a man hanging around mens toilets. I hope that you don't make a habit of it! Please could we have some coverage on what's happening at the sailing venue in Dorset. I know it's not in "London" per se, but it's still part of the "London Olympics". What's happening to the canoeing venues, have they manage to build any downhill streams in Hertfordshire yet? The Olympics, Mr Warner is more than a stadium in London next to a swimming pool that resembles a dead halibut. A wider perspective required from your viewing public please. Otherwise we might call you a Zone One Correspondent, and we wouldn't want to do that would we?
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Mar 2010, Adrian Warner wrote:Simon Sonic, I know you are a regular reader of my blog and I'm always interested in your views.
I take your comment on Dorset and we are keeping a close eye on the sailing venue because it will a key stage for GB competitors in 2012.
On the Hertfordshire canoeing venue at Broxbourne, don't forget I broke the story in 2007 on the major security problems with the original site which has since been ditched. And I have reported on the changes at the new site. However, it's true, I haven't been there for a while and I'm told the construction work is racing ahead there. I will get down as soon as I can to report on this when we can show the changes.
I'm doing all I can at the moment to show the public how the venues are really taking shape. Remember this is the big year of construction.
But I'm not going to turn into a cheerleader for the Games. That isn't my job when so much public money is being spent on the event.
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Comment number 4.
At 30th Mar 2010, Richard wrote:There are a number of reasons I agree with this post, but there are some points I'd like to make.
I'm not sure putting big screens in the areas at the end of Underground lines is the right way to go about things. London's 7 million inhabitants generally have TV screens at home and the town centres of, say, Croydon, Harrow and Romford are familiar and rather unexciting places for them, not to mention lacking in large public spaces. Why bother going to them? I think most people (well.. certainly I) would rather travel to central London to be amongst the famous sights, to welcome tourists and be a part of what we all feel is London rather than just our local area.
Admittedly, that's just conjecture and certainly I would say that more screens are needed. The additional cost could surely be offset or at least made worthwhile by the increased number of entrepreneurs, food stalls etc around them.
Oh, also, Hyde Park is a total no-brainer. Not having a screen there would be a stupid, unbelievably idiotic move. However, why not Finsbury or Kennington Park as well?
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Comment number 5.
At 30th Mar 2010, PaulyBoy wrote:I can hardly see Potter's field being an epicenter for South London, as it's right by city hall. Perhaps the mayor would like to see the big screen from his office...
One of the major problems is knowing where to put these big screens for the 'free' events.
Big screens in public areas have been successful in the past - the marvellous screen in Liverpool City Centre for example. Channel 4 also hosted hugely successful 'cricket in the park' events when they had the test coverage.
As it will be a massive lottery to be at the games live, I feel that providing a big municipal area where the games can be experienced can only help in creating the buzz that these Olympics are expected to produce.
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Comment number 6.
At 30th Mar 2010, waleso wrote:I was lucky enough to be at the Vancouver Games and I was underwhelmed by the Fan Zones downtown, (although I never made it to Richmond). I remember thinking that it would be something that London would do much better, but now these plans have been announced I'm not so sure.
The LiveCity site in Vancouver was little more than a collection of soulless corporate 'pavilions', where you could queue up to find out about the latest mobile phone. I'm sure there will be a (contractual) element of this too in London. Not very 'Woodstock', but that's not Boris's fault.
They had big big screens but what coverage I saw there during the day often seemed like an afterthought - on delay, parochial and uncoordinated.
The summer games are so much bigger, London is so much bigger, that the Games would really benefit from a thought-through programme of live coverage on these screens, with the emphasis on the sport and not the sponsors. We also need to cater for local fans of other countries and all the thousands of visitors by showing all the great stories of the Games, not just the GB athletes.
I'm not sure these limited sites will live up to those expectations.
In the end though, such will be the interest that these live sites will be deemed a success if it's sunny and a waste of money if it rains for two weeks.
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Comment number 7.
At 30th Mar 2010, refill wrote:I think people are placing too much emphasis and importance on these four official "fan zones" that Boris has announced. The reason people remember the atmospheres in Vancouver and, before that, Sydney was due to the entirely unplanned and spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm that the cities' inhabitants greeted the Games. Sure, these official concerts and big screen will be very visually pleasing for TV and for showing to the world, but the real litmus test for the overall success of London 2012 will be the mood in bars, restaurants around central London and public squares like Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square. If these places are awash with tv screens showing Olympic events, then the rest will take care of itself.
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Comment number 8.
At 30th Mar 2010, rjaggar wrote:I agree with you Mr Warner, but perhaps the Mayor wanted to test the waters before making an enormous announcement which went tits up?
Better to be modest and then see the need for more than make grand announcements which fizzle out eh?
How about Greenwich Park? The Borough of Hillingdon has huge amounts of green fields around its swimming pool/athletics track/cricket club/ski slope complex - could easily do one there. How about around Crystal Palace? Streatham Common? The Northwick Park area?
Those are just places I know.
Any more you had in mind??
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