As you can see if you can be bothered to look, the sign beneath the broken glass proclaims that Sheffield BID (Business Improvement District) is a network that promotes the idea of ‘Working together for a busier, cleaner, safer Sheffield,’ which is ‘easier to access for all.’
Things don’t seem to be working out very well on the ‘cleaner’ front, do they? Perhaps Sheffield BID is working on a feasibility study to explore the possibility of gilding the piles of puke that are splashed onto West Street with metronome-like regularity every Friday and Saturday night. (Where does Glossop Road end and West Street begin?).
We also remark in passing that leaving broken glass unattended for extended periods of time is not conducive to the notion of safety. Perhaps this guillotine-resembling object is an artwork commissioned to demonstrate an intent to cut off the progenitors of filth and danger at source.
What they mean about accessibility is anyone’s guess. Maybe we could ask that geezer looking into the window of the Corner Shop for the view of the person on the street. Or perhaps we could take the clearly visible presence of definitely one, and perhaps as many as two buses as a sign that the city’s commitment to access has been fulfilled to the extent that might reasonably be expected.
Speaking personally (whatever that means), I’m not convinced that empty slogans represent anything more than a loathsome form of corporate gaslighting.
Sheffield Patrol Group 