Dougie’s Election 3

Dougie on UNION TERRACE GARDENS

I met an old mate the other day

Hadn’t seen him for ages

We talked about this and that

And, of course, the other

We got round to Union Terrace Gardens

My mate is an alternative kind of guy

And I just assumed

(Careful with assumptions)

That he’d been a No voter in the referendum

Not at all

He’d voted Yes

Puzzled, I asked

Why?

‘Union Terrace is totally run down’

Quo he

‘Something’s got to be done about it,

It’s a crumbling bit of Victoriana’

My answer was that ALL are agreed

That something should be done

That all sides of the debate begin

With ‘something must be done’

But why the Ian Wood plan?

But I’ve got to take my hat off to the Yes campaign

(I voted No by the way)

They managed

(whether purposefully I don’t know)

To present the debate as

(1) The Ian Wood Plan

Or

(2) Leaving it as it is

Brilliant

Of course

The whole thing isn’t over

We remain a city divided

The Alice in Wonderland economics of TIF funding

Might still vanish down the rabbit hole

And there may well be a surprise or two

Down the road

Not least the result of the local elections!

But one thing the No campaign has to do

Is gain some ground

On the ’something must be done’ front