The
people of Glasgow are being conned, millions of pounds of taxpayers
money is being poured into an elaborate party for athletes and VIP's,
it goes by the name of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, of course there
is the promise that there will be a legacy for the citizens of
Glasgow. That legacy will most likely be a mountain of debt with a
handful of land speculators making millions. The East End of Glasgow, as far as I am concerned, is one of the many rich areas in our
city. Not rich in material wealth, but rich in the resilience,
diversity and ingenuity of its ordinary people, priceless wealth.
Materially it is one of the most deprived areas in the country and
has been for many years. Having been ignored by the city council for
years, the East End now finds itself surrounded by multi-million
pound developments. Vast amounts of money are changing hands but the
ordinary people of the area are not involved. Instead they are being
removed and on occasion forcibly, by eviction order. Apart from the
money being poured in to the massive construction in the area there
has been the money shuffling between the old boys network. Former
CEO of Glasgow East Regeneration Agency, (Labour MSP Ronnie Saez and
friend of Frank McAveety) was made redundant from his post with a
pay-off of £500,000, approved by Glasgow councillors Catherine
McMasters, James Coleman and George Redmond. Councillor Redmond was
the arrogant guy who told Margaret Jaconelli and her family when they
were forcibly evicted from their home, to “take it on the chin”.
Other councillors have made a wee killing from this conman's bonanza,
One Graham Duffy of Grantly Developments (Parkhead) since 1988 he has
been holding on to a piece of derelict land in Millerfield Street, Dalmarnock.
The site was named as the site for the Athlete's Village and Duffy
done a deal with the council and sold them the land for a tidy little
sum of £5.5 million, a stratospheric rise in its value of 12,000%.
Former Glasgow Rangers boss David Murray's company a few years ago
bought a piece of land for £375,000 and out of the goodness of his
heart, to help the development of the Commonwealth Games sold it on
for £5.1 million. And so it goes on, millions changing hands among the sharks, public
money ending up in developers pockets, while the residents of the
East End and evicted and scattered to the winds, in most cases taking
their deprivation with them as it is all they have ever received from
the council.
This film
tells the story of one East End family and what the “games” means
to them.
