Brian Tee

I live round the corner on Scutari, and am also a dog lover/owner. While I'm as upset and sympathetic as everyone else here, I just wondered what your dog was doing on the road at 9pm? If the dog was on the lead, then whoever had hold of it would surely have heard any cars approaching and yanked it to safety? I can vouch for all of the comments on speed, as well. As I'm at the bottom of Scutari, where we opted for no speed bumps (for the reasons given - damaging to suspension/wheel bearings/steering bushes), we get regular speedsters (usually young male drivers in hot hatches) ripping up the road at ridiculous speeds. I would suggest that we simply close Scutari Road at the junction of Mundania Road, so that all of our roads on this wonderful 'estate' become 'residential access' only. I did propose this when the council was planning the speed bumps and went into consultation with residents a few years ago. Sorry to hear about your dog, but very interested to hear why it was off the pavement and on the road at 9.00pm at night?

From my understanding of this, it was the Mayor Guilani of New York who took a zero tolerance, rapid response approach to criminal damage, on the basis that (as correctly posseted above), crimes like tagging will encourage more tagging, and the possibility of 'broken window/broken building/broken community' cascades. He implemented the process with the massive cooperation of NYPD, and in a sense 'proved' that when rapid response and zero tolerance are implemented, the problem does not escalate, but will in reasonable time be reduced to a small group of hard core graffiti artists, who operate within a fairly strict code of conduct. ( respecting the graffiti of others, only 'tagging' on non-commercial/non-owned/non-private property). Unfortunately the resurgence of 'old skool' hip-hop among teenage youth brings with it the resurgence of hip-hop gang-culture art. Schools are suffering with it, as the youngsters do not fully understand the 'code' that accompanies the action. The police in Soutwark will deal with offenders who are caught, with Community Service and repeated 'Triage' interviews to encourage remorse, but, as we all know, kids will be kids. Criminal damage it is - at least no-one gets hurt.

I think you'll find Peckham Rye an altogether more cheerful environment. From a community point of view, the dog crowd in PR is close knit, so you are never far from someone who will stand by you. It does have it's occasional yobs & hoodies, and I believe there has been a 'flasher' in the past (long time ago) but the general atmosphere of Peckham Rye is way more relaxed and less 'Yummie Mummie' than Dulwich Park, and dog areas are less restricted too. Come to the Irish Festival this weekend & check it out!!