The Dame at first thought this reader was pulling her elegantly turned leg......how wrong she was.
The story is incredible.......but, true.
It appears our council has taken pity on the hapless Charlie Saatchi and lobbed him twenty grand of our money!
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| TAKING US FOR A RIDE |
Clearly frittering away our money is so routine that in the council papers it's described as:
Decision Rating: Decision is Routine/low public interest!
To add insult to injury the Council rationalise this extraordinary waste of OUR money by suggesting that the gallery has a 'community benefit'.
Any benefit accrues to wheeler dealer art entrepreneur, Saatchi.
His gallery, in partnership with contemporary auction house, Phillips de Pury and Co, acts as money making publicity business...IT IS NOT A CHARITY!
In fact, Charlie gets an amazing deal to be in the 70,000 sq.ft Duke of York Building, so the £20,000 grant is mere bagatelle to a man who spends £30,000 a year on flowers.
But, of course, certain very dull and mundane councillors love the idea of patronising edgy art....at our expense...and when there are residents in desperate need.
Mr Holgate, it was you who took this damned fool decision and El Dame is very cross with you!
Who authorised this? Saatchi Gallery exists to promote Charles Saatchi's collection so he can flog off bits when he needs to pay off the Domestic Goddess. Clearly, our councillors love to hobnob with Saatchi: makes them feel important.
ReplyDeleteIn which case they're much sadder than their mugshots suggest.
DeleteThat's hardly a secret.
DeleteThe Unholy Alliance of Cllrs Moylan and Dent Coad questioned Cllr Lightfoot in some detail about this outrage at the November Cabinet and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee (albeit from different perspectives). All to no avail of course, they could not stop the payment or insist there was any kind of contract or agreement attached to it.
ReplyDeleteCllr. Lightfoot is perfectly happy defending the indefensible in the Council chamber. On occasion in such a manner as to cause those witnessing the spectacle to consider calling an ambulance.
DeleteLord Rock FM and Cllr Lightfoot have anger management issues and I am happy to see if I can assist with medication
ReplyDeleteLord Rock FM? Have we missed something?
DeleteI'm not sure a lack of "medication" is the problem ...
DeleteNot available over the counter or prescription. Perhaps under the counter?
DeleteIf Holgate did indeed authorise this then the halo must have clearly fallen off.
ReplyDeleteIt's long been Council planning policy for RBKC to let its modest estate of retail freeholds to businesses that "support the community" e.g. chemists and sub post offices.
ReplyDeleteIn 2012 RBKC let a small shop in Portobello Road for £50,000pa ex to an Italian gelaterie - 25 metres from an existing gelaterie. Naturally, within weeks the first ice-cream shop closed. Now the second shop seems to have given up.
At a recent public meeting, Cllr Lightfoot shouted a local resident for complaining about the loss of local amenity shops. According to the Councillor, RBKC cannot afford to subsidise business.
Lack of foresight clearly doesn't even begin to describe this Council.
DeleteAs for Lightfoot - has he really begun shouting at residents? It was bad enough when he went off the deep end in Council.