World full of people

What is the most difficult problem to tackle in a city like London?
crime

traffic jams

water pollution

air pollution

poverty

trash/litter

Meet the Londoners making our city a better place

Look at the pictures and try to guess what projects these people set up.

What problems did they try to solve, in your opinion?

Read the texts and match the pictures to the stories.
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Brenda Peck, People Parking Bay creator

When Brenda Peck transformed a parking spot outside her house into a mini garden, she didn’t expect to go head-to-head with Hackney Council. Frustrated by the amount of space devoted to parking on London’s streets, in 2017 she set up a People Parking Bay with fake grass, a bench and flowers. ‘I wanted to show that a parking space could be used for something different. People loved it,’ says Peck. ‘Mums used it for feeding their babies, locals watered the plants. One couple had their first date there.’ There was even a visitors’ book and a mini-library.

Unfortunately, it came to an end when Hackney Council shut it down a few weeks later. Peck tried relocating it but it was again shut down, despite 900 people signing a petition to save it. But the council did take note of how popular it was and this year launched a programme of residential ‘parklets’. Which means anyone in Hackney can apply to transform a parking space. ‘It’s an amazing result,’ says Peck.

She is now working with charity Living Streets to roll out the parklet scheme across London with an online toolkit to help people apply for parklets through their local council. ‘Replacing even some of these spaces with tiny gardens will enhance community spirit and reduce pollution. My vision is to see a parklet on every street.’

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Tobi Kyerem, Black Ticket Project founder

When theatre producer Tobi Kyerem went to see ‘Barber Shop Chronicles’ at the National Theatre in 2017, she was disappointed to see very few black people in the audience. She bought 30 tickets for the play and took to Twitter to offer them to young black men. ‘The response was incredible, but I didn’t have enough money to buy more tickets,’ she says. It was the start of Black Ticket Project, an initiative to make the city’s theatre scene more accessible to young, black, working-class Londoners. ‘London harbours a lot of culture curated by brilliant artists,’ says Kyerem, ‘but there are a lot of people who can’t access it.’

Black Ticket Project works with venues and organisations to arrange discounted and free tickets. There’s just one stipulation: they have to be good seats. BTP recently ran a crowdfunding campaign to buy 50 tickets for ‘Nine Night’; it ended up raising enough money for 250. Kyerem was blown away by the response to the campaign. ‘The amount of support it received – from artistic directors to publishers to my mates – was a huge shock,’ she says. ‘It was a beautiful moment.’

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Paul Hyman, Active360 founder

Everyone knows that plastic is bad news for the environment. But way before London venues started banning straws, Paul Hyman was tackling plastic pollution in the city’s waterways. A keen watersports enthusiast, he launched Active360 in 2011 with his friend and co-founder Sambit Mohapatra. ‘The idea was to set up a sports company that looked at every aspect: from coaching to the sport’s relationship with the water and its protection,’ says Hyman.

They decided to focus on SUP (stand-up paddleboarding) and in the company’s first year they organised canal clean-ups at Brentford Lock using canoes, SUP boards and kayaks. This has evolved into regular Paddle & Pick events where attendees pluck rubbish out of London’s waterways while paddling around. ‘Clean-ups are good because they bring people face-to-face with the problem and get them interested,’ says Hyman.

However, he noticed that the plastic pollution kept returning. That’s what his latest initiative, In the Drink, is all about. ‘We realised that the only way forward was to tackle plastic pollution at source, so we established a project to help rid the Thames of single-use plastic cups being discarded by riverside bars and boats.’

Hyman hopes it will be the driving force to encourage London venues to shift towards reusable cups: ‘The Thames is one of the most iconic rivers in the world. We can’t afford to let it be ruined.’

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1. What problems did these Londoners notice?
2. How did they try to solve them?
3. What difficulties did they have?
4. What personal characteristics do you need to set up projects like that?
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Find the lines that show that:

1. Brenda had arguments with Hackney Council.
2. Brenda put some artificial grass in her parklet.
3. People supported Brenda in her project.
4. People can apply for a parklet online.
5. Tobi was upset when she saw so few black people at the theatre.
6. Tobi's idea was to help less privileged Londoners see theatre.
7. Tobi helps people buy cheap tickets or have them free.
8. Paul makes people see the problem with their own eyes.

Ask about these people. Change sentences to Present perfect continuous or Present perfect:

1. How long has Brenda been working with charity?
2. How long \ she \ live\ in London?
3. How long \ she \ help people \ with making parklets?
4. How long \ Tobi \ see plays \ at the National Theatre?
5. How long \ she \ offer\ tickets\ to young black men?
6. How long \ she\ run \ Black Ticket Project?
7. How long \ Paul \ know\ about pollution \ in rivers?
8. How long \ he \ run \ Active360 ?
9. How long \ he \ organise \ canal clean-ups?
10. How long \ he \ encourage reusable cups?

Sources https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/meet-the-londoners-making-our-city-a-better-place