dave_medlo

Go Sheffo are a local fanzine that I occasionally write for. A couple of years ago they had an incredible idea to convert the now defunct cooling towers on the outskirts of Sheffield into giant works of art. Designs were submitted from people all over the world and the idea really caught the imagination of the local people.

Then they went and won the Channel 4 Big Art competition and the idea looked like it might just actually happen - especially when Antony Gormley, the artist behind the Angel of the North, backed them. This could be an amazing thing to happen to Sheffield, one that could cement our reputation as a leading artistic city and help shift the public impression of us beyond just Meadowhall and a dead steel industry.



But now they've hit a problem. Eon, the company who owns the Towers, have suddenly decided that they want to destroy them - something that wasn't really considered before this idea was mooted - and the Sheffield City Council, in yet another example of selling out the populace in favour of big business, have stated that the area is prime for retail regeneration. The last thing Sheffield needs is another large Meadowhall to squeeze more soul out of this city.

We need your help.

Please please please read the email below and help us out in anyway you can. It's desperately important that you sign the petition. This is a project that I feel very strongly about and we really need a wealth of signatures to help us. It won't cost anything and will only take a moment and I'd totally appreciate it. If you're so inclined please forward it on to other people... if you email it to five people, and they email it to five people and so on... it'd be just like the Three Investigators.

Thanks.
Dave


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This is Sheffield calling. Our city needs your help.

We've had an idea to change the way the world sees Sheffield. To make our city better. It's a project called Cooling The Towers. But it's all under threat. Please take five minutes to read this email. Then forward it to everyone else.

This is the best idea Sheffield ever had.

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Cooling the Towers

There are two cooling towers on the edge of Sheffield, next to Meadowhall and the M1.

Currently they mean grey, industrial, Full Monty. Sheffield is over.

We want to turn them into massive works of public art that mean what Sheffield is now: green, creative and different. And amazing.

We've been working on this for two years and from running an initial competition for ideas in our fanzine GO ( www.dontgo.co.uk ), we're now working with Channel 4 as one of the winners of their Big Art Project ( www.channel4.com/bigart). Channel 4 love the idea, and have applied for funding to make it a reality. This is possible. We're almost there.

BUT there's a baddy in the story. They're a big baddy. The owners of the site are called Eon. They own Powergen. After four months of negotiations, and all our arguments for why this is a good idea (which you can find on our website) they've decided to knock the towers down and build another industrial shed.

Sheffield wins again.

We think this is too good an idea and too good a chance for Sheffield to just give up, and let them have their way. Knocking these towers down will be a tragedy.

So we need your help.

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What if you're not from Sheffield? This still affects you. It's just another example of A Big Corporation with no brains doing what they want and ignoring people like you and me. We're not luddites and we're not revolutionaries. We've just got a good idea and they're not interested in listening. Who decides how our cities develop, what they mean? Us or them?

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HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

SIGN THE PETITION
Someone's already set a petition up. You can see how strongly people feel. Sign it here http://www.petitiononline.com/tct2/petition.html

GO TO MYSPACE
We're working on a proper website, but for now this is the digital HQ. This is where you'll information and updates. Be our friend. Get your friends to be our friends. www.myspace.com/coolingthetowers

EMAIL EON
Tell them why they're wrong. For some sample text, click here. Email the chief exec here: paul.golby@eon-uk.com That's Dr Paul Golby to you. Evidently he's not got a doctorate in Doing The Right Thing. It only takes five minutes. Do it now.

TURN EON OFF
If you're a customer, tell them you'll change power suppliers if the towers are knocked down. In fact, just do it now. Why not go a bit greener? Eon produce more CO2 every year than the whole of Croatia. Change to Ecotricity www.ecotricity.co.uk/switch

SHOW YOUR FACE
We're going to create a photographic petition. As well as a list of names, we want to actually show the world how many people support these towers and this project. So if you do, take a picture of yourself, or the towers, or of you holding the phrase 'THE TOWERS ARE OURS' and send it to us with your name and location. We'll put it on the website. And tell your friends to do it too. Send it here go.sheffield@gmail.com

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We love this city so much. We're not going to sit back and watch it lose out again. We're tired of Sheffield being the loser. We want people across the world to know what this city means, realise how brilliant it is.

We don't want another toys r us.

Please help us.

Love from

GO X