Broken windows

[simon K S]

Hi Barry,

Firstly thanks for all your hard work on Peckham Rye station, it's really turned a corner over the last year, it looks so much better.

My query relates to the part of the station I know you don't have direct control over. The area and shops outside the front are still maintained to a very poor standard. This is sad as it detracts from your work that has been put into the station and means no matter how good the station gets people will still see the station in a bad light.

The main symbol of this for me is the broken windows in the buildings, there is a report from the US that details the social impact of broken windows, you can read it here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198203/broken-windows

or an extract:

'In a 1982 Atlantic Monthly article titled "Broken Windows," James Q.

Wilson and George Kelling argued that disorder in a community, if left

uncorrected, undercuts residents' own efforts to maintain their homes

and neighborhoods and control unruly behavior. "If a window in a

building is broken and left unrepaired," they wrote, "all the rest of

the windows will soon be broken. . . . One unrepaired window is a

signal that no one cares, so breaking more windows costs nothing. . .

. Untended property becomes fair game for people out for fun or

plunder."

'If disorder goes unchecked, a vicious cycle begins. First, it kindles

a fear of crime among residents, who respond by staying behind locked

doors. Their involvement in the neighborhood declines; people begin to

ignore rowdy and threatening behavior in public. They cease to

exercise social regulation over little things like litter on the

street, loitering strangers, or truant schoolchildren. When

law-abiding eyes stop watching the streets, the social order breaks

down and criminals move in.

'"Stable neighborhoods can change in a few months to jungles," declare

Wilson and Kelling. Disorder also can have dire economic consequences.

Shoppers will shun an area they perceive as being "out of control."

One study analyzing crime in 30 different areas found that the level

of disorder of a neighborhood -- more than such factors as income

level, resident turnover, or racial makeup -- was the best indicator

of an area's lack of safety.'

There are several broken windows around the site (for example the blue building at the front next to the dentist) and I think fixing them would go along way to restoring a sense of order. I was wondering whether it is possible for you to enquire whether the property owners, Spacia could see their way to having these repaired and bringing the general standard of upkeep in those buildings to a satisfactory level.

Cheers

Simon