The Development of Greenwich Park - Research Paper Example

Introduction Greenwich Park, a historically reputed place, not only offers solace to the locals situated near the Hudson River, Batten kill and the surroundings nearby, but also has proved itself to be an attraction to a number of tourists attracting lots of foreign currency into the local coffers. It is designed into a very lively atmosphere with many cool things to do like fishing, canoeing, swimming in the batten kill river, playing golf at the local courses, beautiful roads for having fun in bicycle tours etc. The outside of Greenwich is also quite comfortable with a number of restaurants and a beautiful main street so that more tourists could be accommodated at any point of time. History and the current usage of the Greenwich Park Greenwich Park is popular for its historical importance of Saratoga wherein the ever mighty British forces met with defeat against the American forces. The French, the Dutch and the Spanish followed suit and declared their independence later to grow into powerful nations. Thus American independence is the inspiration against the despotism which the British wanted to access to, by gaining control over the world. This place, being the witness for such celebrated victory of one of the best battles ever fought in the world history, the importance does not need any explanation. The war at Saratoga has its roots in 1975 when John Burgoyne, the then British General, estimated that his army could win if it was led in the route of the Hudson river Valley, forming three armies so that New England could be isolated and the discontent arising in that area could thus be crushed off forever, failing which, their command over the world would come to an end. The three separate armies were formed in the following manner: The first army comprised of 10,000 loyalists and soldiers which took the route of Canada to invade the South of Saratoga. Colonel Barry St. Leger led the second army to invade into New York eastwardly with Lake Ontario as the point of departure. The troops of the British led by General William Howe, were to proceed to the Hudson highlands to push their armies into the Northward of Saratoga. The plan was to combine the first two forces comprising of the German rented troops near Hudson River for a meeting which would give tactical training to the troops to face the war from the South. As the third army was already headed towards the North, the American troops would have to face the war from both the sides thereby dividing their forces in both the directions which would force them for a defeat as outlined by General Burgoyne. The American soldiers however outwitted the troops from both the directions by building defenses. Bennis Heights was the place where these defenses were built in such a way that the river and the road could be equally hit by the cannons placed on these heights. As the war prolonged, the British supplies were almost finished along with their men thus giving a winning hand to the American soldiers who were 13,000 approximately in number. In this way, the Americans could claim their independence from the colonial rule of the British. Saratoga which is the place for such victory has from then been pronounced as a place of historical importance attracting not only locals but also foreign tourists into the park. Saratoga is now divided into 3 parts namely: the battlefield, the historical park which is in the north of Battlefield with a distance of 7 miles and a monument of Saratoga which is a ½ mile away from the historical park. The battlefield depicts the history of the war through brochures and film orientations for which there is an entrance fee. The national park has the Schuyler house, the restored house of the American general and the monument proclaims about the American victory against the British. The next in importance in the Greenwich Park is the Roger Island – a center for the visitors which has in it written rules for ranging which every fighting forces or irregularity in nature still follow. These rules depict the military tactics which the U.S. army valued the most and as such, this place was spiritually very much attached to them. This place is now open from June – August of every year wherein Indian and French encampment wars are conducted annually by actors and the general public. They demonstrate the history live and also drills are conducted in this period. The rail road which is built underground in this Park from Greenwich Park to Easton is one more watchable place. In addition, the long routes give ample scope for the local residents to relax and go biking every now and then. To entertain them along with the other tourists, some events are conducted like the County fair of Washington offering the best fruit and vegetables of the farms in Greenwich to the public, the Whipple festival of the city is conducted in the Mowry Park. Bike races and theatrical and musical performances at Hubbard Hall are also famous. The cost for offering such services to the people is taken care of by the membership fees which the park collects from its members. The members of this park have many facilities like plans for insurance, opportunities of advertising, business referrals thereby paving way for development of self and the economy as a whole. (Anon. 2007). In this way, the park provides great pleasure and satisfaction to the tourist and the locals alike. Current Plans for the use of the park in the London 2012 Olympic Games: The London Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (LOCOG) for the 2012 games met with the Greenwich park associates and discussed about the plans to conduct the 2012 Olympic Games at the park. In an answer to the concerns regarding the up keeping of the park, the LOCOG has promised the following considerations: The preservation of the Park characteristics, The ecology protection, Maintenance of the original state of the park during and after the games, As little closure of the park as possible at any point of time. There are still some voices being raised against this decision. However, without caring for these concerns, progress in terms of drawing the time table, public meetings and exhibitions have already commenced. The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic park had record number of 3000 people, which is almost 50% more than those who attended in the past. These people watched the construction work progress underway like the stadium for the events, centre for aquatics, villages, bridges for the athletes, roads, utilities etc. Jackie Brock Doyle is the Communications and Public Affairs Director and Edmund Nuttall is the contractor for Parkland for these events. Local Communities are also involved so that they showcase Greenwich more effectively to the world for the advantage that they have some sporting interest in their lives. Venues with stunning features which are very unique are being drawn, one such example being the Meridian line. The Handball Arena has new designs for effective visualization of the event. The authorities are planning to build Kayak centre and white water canoe center. Six new Park Cameras are erected to have an all day view still images of the events, updated throughout. Along with these, efforts are taken up to rebuild the infrastructure of London eastwardly. The visitor’s vehicles contracts are assigned to outside parties. Designs are also being released for the village commutation and 300 workers and more in number are working on site as of date. In spite of all the progress, some celebrities who are concerned about the Park’s ecology preservation are voicing their resentment for conducting the games in this Park and are also gathering some public interest in this topic while authorities are paying deaf ear to their pleas. (Anon. 2008). A Survey of opinions among a small sample of current undergraduate students at GSM: A local survey about the conducting of the Olympics at the Greenwich Park among the current undergraduate students at Greenwich School of Management has revealed that they are not very much interested in the happenings. They have voiced certain concerns as follows: Hosting of horse racing events at the park which is only 185 acres in area is quite small for the purpose and also, there are chances that the ground may suffer damages on a permanent basis. 311 structures are erected temporarily for which there would be no legacy after the games as they are to be dismantled after the events. Even though the Director of LOCOG has expressed that equestrian’s would get an encouragement towards sports, the fact is that the area of the park is not spacious to room all the followers of the sports to view the event. In a way, it would result in an embarrassment of the equestrians rather than encouragement. The erection of Dart boards at the venue involving a cost of £25million to be dismantled after the games has attracted huge criticism citing the reasons of erecting the same darts in the internationally accepted shooting centers would help for practice in the future, a privilege not currently existing in Britain. The closure of circular roads of the South during the events means a lot of traffic chaos in and around the place. The shooting centers are built just adjacent to the roads that if any misfiring happens, there is every possibility that the pedestrians or motorists could be at loss. Most of the Woolwich common is meant to be closed in the event of the games being conducted there. This means that the short cut road to the Queen Elizabeth hospital would be closed. In spite of the LOCOG’s consideration to close the park for the least possible time and allow the locals whenever possible, a minimum of 2 months is sure to be taken for the events which means that all these days, the locals cannot access the park. Some students think that this decision is wrong fundamentally and as such should be reversed as the event organization in the park may require some of the age old trees to be uprooted which is damaging for the park as a whole. More and more concerns reveal that during the construction phase for the events also, there is not much privacy left for the students that they could stroll around or race on their bikes in their leisure as most of the area is under construction for some event or the other. Moreover, once their graduation ends at the GSM, they may not be able to stay in that place and their dream to access the park during their study would only remain a dream. In a way, they are missing the opportunity for which their seniors were entitled to and they are now forced to lead a four walled life with no suitable, cost free place for outing. These concerns of the local students are immaterial for the authorities because they have thought of taking a decision regarding the venue finalization only on the cost and revenue basis of the events. As such they have appointed KPMG as the financial consultants for decision finalization, who after analyzing the costs have finally given their consent to the authorities to go ahead with their decision to conduct the games in the Park. Survey of the literature on the post-Olympic plans for Greenwich Park: Based on the opinions as spelled by the locals and the LOCOG, the post-Olympic plans for the Park can be drawn as follows: LOCOG plans to return the Park in the same shape as it has obtained from the societies attached to the park for the conducting of the events. It would erect certain structures to conduct a variety of events like horse riding, white water canoeing, shooting and running events which would be dismantled after the events are over and once these structures would be removed, the park would be as it was before. It will try not to cut down any old trees and at the most only prune them for improved visibility of the visitors. The Park ecology would be maintained and moreover, the authorities would take all possible efforts to allow the locals for the most possible time into the Park when the events are not conducted. The equestrians would be exposed to the world of sporting events and after the games; a whole new sporting climate would be developed in the area giving impetus to more upcoming new talent. The locals, students and certain celebrities on the other hand have concerns about destruction of park ecology, embarrassment, closure of park a minimum of 2 months, closure of some of the approach roads to the park, traffic entanglements for reaching the Queen’s hospital. Above all these, one more concern from the sporting associations is that the LOCOG authorities spending towards the erection of certain amenities in the park to be dismantled later means that they would not provide any legacies to the upcoming sporting talent in Britain. As it is, there are very few such facilities available and when there is an opportunity to develop them, if the money is utilized for permanent structures at suitable places, Britain could help many upcoming sporting stars by providing ample practice amenities. (Gilligan. A. 2008) & (Anon. 2009). A short analysis of the costs, benefits and risks associated with plans: The white water canoe cost estimated at £16 million shot up to £30 million. This shows that the costs are almost set to double for this Olympic. The current staff of 70 is to increase to 100 by 2012. The Government Olympic Executive has reiterated that it would spend below the estimated £9.3 billion which is the public sector funding provision meaning that LOCOG will have to raise the required £2 billion for budget on its promotional efforts. The benefits are not in line with the huge spending, except for some tourist attractions and some sport being inducted into the locals of the Greenwich. The spending is mainly funded by the ordinary taxed individual because the private sector has already pulled out itself from the media sector for which public funds were utilized to bail out meaning that in future also, private sector is not to be relied upon. The risk of such spending in the current recessionary trends that too for no permanent legacies means extra burden on the common man and if the funds are satisfactorily raised, a huge embarrassment on the part of the economy. Hence, care should be taken and funds should be spent keeping all these risks in mind and over staffing and over paying for the executives needs to be curtailed so that the economy will not suffer as a whole. (Owen. J. 2008), (Beard. M. 2009) & (Beard M. 2009). Conclusion: It has been observed that Greenwich Park having Royal patronage is an age old historical place at which, there are plans to conduct the London 2012 Olympic games in between various concerns. LOCOG is maintaining that it would restore the park atmosphere after the games and sports would be introduced to the equestrians. The park has already been chosen by the authorities for the events and there are also construction efforts going on with huge costs. The only request which the ordinary man could do to the authorities, at this juncture is to cut down the unnecessary spending for such games so that his contribution in the form of taxes gets a bit reduced. Internet References: 1. Anonymous. (2007). About Greenwich. Greater Greenwich Chamber of Commerce – Revolutionary War, French and Indian War, Underground Railroad. 2nd April, 2009. 2. Anonymous. (2008). Browse by Tags. London Olympics 2012. 2nd April, 2009. 3. Gilligan. A. (28th August, 2008). Olympics Minister orders rethink over 2012 plans for Greenwich Park. 2nd April, 2009.< http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-olympics/article-23546123-details/Olympics+minister+orders+rethink+over+2012+plans+for+Greenwich+park/article.do> 4. Anonymous. (9th March, 2009). Greenwich: Zara Philips speaks against Park Olympic events. This is Local London. 2nd April, 2009. 5. Owen. J. (9th June, 2008). Olympic Vandalism in Royal Greenwich Park. 2nd April, 2009. 6. Beard. M. (17th March, 2009). MP’s attack Olympic chiefs over soaring wages for 2012. Evening Standard. 2nd April, 2009. 7. Beard. M. (30th January, 2009). Tax Payer Faces Spiralling Bill for Games. Evening Standard. 2nd April, 2009. Read More