The area's so bad it's called Ground Zero but the kids are more like Ground Force!
The area's so bad it's called Ground Zero but the kids are more like Ground Force!
IT is easy to see why a stretch of Govanhill in the South Side of Glasgow has been nicknamed "Ground Zero".
The block in Westmoreland Street typifies the area's problems: neglected slum housing; exploitative landlords and friction with a group of new residents.
The latest arrivals are from Eastern Europe.
Most don't speak English and some don't read or write in any language.
Older residents claim the families' children gathered in the streets or playing in the squalid back "greens" are responsible for much of the vandalism that blights the area. And no doubt some are.
But when the kids from Ground Zero got the chance to turn into Ground Force, they set about cleaning up the neighbourhood in no time.
This week's operation, part of the Clean Glasgow campaign backed by the Evening Times, is the latest in a constant cycle of small interventions across the city responding to complaints from residents and reports from council officials.
Four closes in the street were targeted by a team comprising social work and land services staff, with the help of people sentenced to community service.
Ryan Noble, development officer with Clean Glasgow, organised the clean up.
He said: "We do this across the city, supporting local residents who have asked us to help.
"Often young people want to get involved.
"They enjoy using the litter pickers - they're a bit like grabber' toys in arcades.
"And we enjoy the experience of working with the children."
On a drizzly day, it doesn't look as though anyone will volunteer to help the council staff and offenders on community service who arrive to do the heavy work.
That changes when interpreter Anna Vankova and her colleagues from the South East community health and care partnership arrive.
There are lots of volunteers among the children who want to play in areas that are in a mess and they make vast improvements, while community service assistant Brian McCarthy, below, brings along extra workers to help out | ||||
 |  |  |  | |
As a youth worker in the area, Anna knows many of the children from her day job and she soon has about a dozen kitted out with gardening gloves and litter pickers.
She said: "It was not difficult. I just asked them who wants to help' and you can see how they answered."
The children pick up a range of rubbish, from batteries that have spilled from burst bin bags and bits of old tennis rackets to old toys left out in the rain.
After about 20 minutes there's the threat of mutiny.
One of the boys has just realised he won't be getting paid. And he's not happy.
Community worker Shona Law steps in with the help of the interpreters.
"Hands up everybody who lives here?"
Most of the hands go up, except for the obvious one.
"Okay, hands up everybody who plays here?"
He looks sheepish as he raises his hand and lifts his litter picker.
By contrast, another boy, Dominik, demands more work and says he wants to move on to the next garden where two workers on community service and a supervisor have removed the heavier items.
The clean-up follows a visit to the area by Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell who heard calls for new legislation that could jail slum landlords.
Earlier this week we revealed council and housing association estimates suggest it would cost up to £187million to restore every flat in the area to a decent standard.
Brian McCarthy, a community service assistant with the council's social work department, said: "Govanhill is about the only area where you get all of the social problems in one.
"If we can get it right here, then we'll have a model we can take anywhere."
Even dragging a soaked, muddy mattress through the drizzle, Joe, one of the men on community service, knows it could be worse.
The 27-year-old, from the South Side, said: "This is better than sitting in a jail cell.
"And at least it's doing some good."
