WE look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1985...
Housing Executive man see Unity Flats problems for himself
A SENIOR Housing Executive delegation, headed by Regional Controller Billy Cameron, was conducted on a tour of Unity Flats yesterday by members of the local Tenants' Association who have been pressing for a major refurbishing scheme in the Carrick Hill complex.
It comes during a two year battle by residents for extensive improvements to their homes
The major stumbling block at present is the refusal of the Housing Executive to install solid fuel heating as part of an overall refurbishment scheme.
The Executive has come down strongly in favour of Economy 7 type heating. During the walk about, the Housing Executive representatives met Vivian Anderson of the North Belfast Resource Centre and local GP, Doctor McKeown, both of whom have supported the campaign for better housing in Unity.
Tenants' Association spokesperson Sean Maskey said the visit was to give the Executive heads an opportunity to view conditions in the complex before a public meeting with local people on Wednesday 10th April.
"We made sure they saw the rat infestation, dampness and blocked bin chutes during the walk about," he said.
"These are only some aspects of the intolerable living conditions people here have to endure. We hope this visit will spur the Executive heads on to implement all the improvements being demanded by tenants – including the provision of solid fuel fires."
After touring the flats, the Executive team met briefly with Sean Maskey and Tenants' Association chairman Frank Dempsey in the Trinity Street Community Centre.
LOOKING BACK: Back in March 1985 Kelly and John McCrory from Stewartstown Park and their cousin Aidan McCrory from Dunmurry had a successful weekend at Ballyclare Festival of Speech and Drama where they won several awards
Editorial: Don’t fall for agreement discussion nonsense
YOU can take it from us that all the talk this week about a settlement being imminent to our British problem is mere balderdash.
What Fitzgerald and Thatcher mean, when their utterances are stripped of all the gobbledegook about acceptable security forces and judicial changes, is that they are going to have a crack once again at breating life into the Six County State.
Despite the fact that the Six County State committed suicide in the late Sixties by refusing the meagre reforms demanded by the civil rights movement doesn't matter. The British and Irish Governments have never lost hope that they can somehow do a Lazarus job on it and bring it back to life.
If the truth be known, the Six County State is as dead as the Dodo and no amount of wishful thinking can bring it back again. In fact, the very idea of a separate British state for the Six Counties only exists in the feverish minds of George Seawright and his followers who would burn all the Micks to create a bit more "Lebensraum" for "The True Brits", and in the confused mind of the advertising agent who composed the jingle for the IDB's ad. "Come on N'orn Ireland, Come on."
The vast majority of Unionists, despite all their protestations to the contrary, would prefer full integration with England, to being lumbered with a Six County State where they wouldn't have it all their own way and you can be assured that the vast majority of the Nationalist population don't want it.
So, unfortunately for us we will have to put up with another bungled "initiative" by two governments that seem to be out-bidding one another in incompetence, and which will leave more bodies on the streets and more people in prison.
Let's hope that the SDLP and more specifically the SDLP leader, John Hume, doesn't fall for this ruse, because it would seem that all the manoeuvring is aimed at getting him involved in this life-saving exercise also.
On the other hand, in a week which saw three "Tailors Dummies" giving evidence in a court of law, anything is possible.
Convert Turf Lodge shopping centre for community use
A TURF Lodge shopping complex should be converted for community use or demolished.
That’s the view of Sinn Fein's Lily Fitzsimmons who believes local people are fed-up with the dilapidated complex which has fallen into disrepair since it was built over ten years ago.
"I have written to the Housing Executive, enclosing a petition backed by 99 per cent of local people demanding urgent action on this eyesore,” she said. "The people of Norglen Gardens are fed up with the rubble and mess while the residents of the adjoining Downfine estate are wary of the health hazard posed by rats which infest the empty building.
Lily Fitzsimmons says a number of proposals have been made by local people about the future development of the complex.
"Some people have suggested refurbishing the shops and the maisonettes above them to provide much-needed housing, she said.
The Sinn Féin spokeswoman says she has also written to the DOE asking what plans they have for the run-down complex.
