Gone quiet

Nothing seems to be happening with the old Bingo/George Cinema building, at least not that I have seen. It remains boarded up and unloved, a loss to the community. Last night I was at a meeting in the Town Hall discussing the proposed sale of the Powerleague football pitch site. The council officials present admitted the process had been poorly done. Not sure if that will lead to stopping the sale of the land to provide funds to re-build Meadowbank but it might temper the development a little rather than simply looking to maximise the sale price. Which could impact the Council's sums and lead them to try and sell off something else to pay for Meadowbank, as that seems their only strategy to cover a shortfall in funds. But what happens when everything has been sold? And perhaps that is why the councillors from other parts of the city might listen to the four from Portobello arguing against the sale. This time it is Portobello losing a community asset but next time it might be a different part of town. It is easy to agree an asset sale in another part of town but if that is the approach then every sale gets approved and we end up without any publicly owned assets. Could there be another way? There needs to be a change in Holyrood's attitude to local government as well.