You are reading a single comment by @clarion and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@clarion
Great meeting - very positive.
As someone who used to estimate crowd sizes as part of my job, I would say there were 500 there. Superb bike parking facility, but nowhere near full, although there were a lot of bikes locked to railings. It was quite funny passing the long queue of cars waiting to get out afterwards.
I think it was a mistake for DE not to turn up. I think they'd have been able to get their case across. I don't think it was booing, so much as laughter when it was announced that no one would be there.
DE are in a bit of a bind. They want to have some certainty about the future of the site. But, as a charitable trust, they would be acting ultra vires if they granted a long lease to a scheme or group which couldn't demonstrate a sustainable model.
To be fair, the figures presented (very realistic, IMO) don't really offer a fully sustainable model, until we factor in about 40% of donations IIRC. The revenue gap is on top of the issue of raising £190000 for track renovation and godknosewot for restoring the grandstand and erecting more buildings to support some of the other functions suggested.
But it is all doable, and the turnout last night proves that people and the relevant institutions do care.