Photos posted online of the latest desecration of St Andrew Square have met with a huge response.
Yesterday, we asked readers if there was anything they'd like to say to Essential Edinburgh about the changes, and we later invited Council leader Councillor Andrew Burns to gauge the reaction.
At the last count, over 40,000 people had read the post online and made over 20 comments. A further 28 comments were attached to Edinburgh Spotlight's related coverage. Not a single response was in favour of the new arrangements.
Typical remarks were:
Alasdair Mac a'Bhàird Grass isn't practical for the Square if they want tens of thousands of people there twice a year - I think it should be decked or paved all year round.
Colin Tate It makes me mad. They just can't leave it as a peaceful green space. For some reason it has to host funfairs, exhibitions, ice rinks or other events which leave the square a disgraceful, churned up mess. One thing follows hard on the heels of another. It's now no longer a garden, it's an event space. If I had my way, I'd make sure it was taken out of 'Essential Edinburgh's' hands completely.
Paul Burgess I'm getting sick fed up with the endless tacky events being held here. The gardens are being ruined. What's wrong with using castle Street which was pedestrianised at huge expense and now sits empty? Let us enjoy summer chilling in the square without all the distractions. Enough!!
Gary McLean-Quin Meanwhile, George Street - which would be ideal for all this and was great two years ago when the festival was set up there - is now an illogical, tacky, untidy mess. St Andrew Square is an oasis of green in the city, being ruined. Essential Edinburgh obviously makes somebody money but has been a total failure aesthetically. Crazy!
Beth Thomson Please please leave it alone. Just because the Garden is there doesn't mean it should be a free-for-all in terms of 'events' Peaceful green space is what we need so BACK OFF!
Lizzie Rynne @CityCycling
@theSpurtle its supposed to ge a park. An accessible green space. Where folks go to relax & recuperate. The lungs of the city. @AndrewDBurns
Essential Edinburgh and Councillor Burns have yet to reply.
The Tellytubbyland-style decking, fake hedges and performance space now covering the recently relaid grass will accommodate the Jazz Festival (17–26 July) and Fringe (7–31 August). We understand that they will be dismantled in September, leaving a beautiful new mudbath for all to enjoy before set-up begins on another winter wonderland in November.
In total, Edinburgh citizens will have had uninterrupted access to the green heart of the East End for about 3 weeks in 2015. Very few locals seem to think this is enough.
Judging by the self-confidence of its chief executive Roddy Smith, as evidenced in his June presentation to the New Town & Broughton Community Council (Issue 242, p.1), we do not expect Essential Edinburgh to be much moved by this public discontent. Politicians, on the other hand, are likely to be much more persuadable ... particularly in the run-up to the City of Edinburgh Council election in 2016.
Wherever you live in the capital, we urge you to contact your local councillor and Council leader Andrew Burns and insist that they take steps to reclaim St Andrew Square for the people who elected them.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
