It's not every day that the President of the United States of America tweets about your town. Here in Wandsworth, we woke up last Friday morning to Donald Trump tweeting that his predecessor ‘sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for peanuts, only to build a new one in an off location for $1.2bn’.
The previous morning, I chaired a meeting with the Police and council colleagues about security in the area of the new US Embassy. Opening this week, the new US Embassy is in Wandsworth in our major regeneration area, Nine Elms, which is anchored by Battersea Power Station. My meeting had the particular focus of a possible visit by President Trump to officially open the building next month.
Less than 24 hours later, the President explained he had different ideas in his tweet, which hit all the headlines on Friday morning.
Here in Wandsworth, we are always looking for new ambassadors for Nine Elms, but on the face of it, President Trump's tweet suggests he is not first in line for the job. Some will see the President's description of Nine Elms as an ‘off location’ as a snub.
I'm not so sure.
Nine Elms is London's biggest and most significant regeneration area. Is it possible at the same time to be the most grand and prestigious a location, and also a regeneration area? They are different things.
If you haven't visited Nine Elms yourself, here's what you do. Walk down Millbank from the Houses of Parliament, taking a left at Vauxhall Bridge. Then, take a right along the new river path with Battersea Power Station framing the view ahead of you. You'll see the extraordinary new US Embassy on your left. Keep walking, and you'll get to Battersea Power Station. Walk around the site (it's the biggest brick building in Europe) and it will take your breath away. Here, you will find an emerging community with restaurants, bars and a stunning riverside public realm adjacent to Battersea Park. No wonder Apple has chosen this site as its new UK headquarters.
It will provide some 20,000 new homes and create 25,000 new jobs (even after construction finishes). It will have a tube extension opening in two years that will get you to the West End or city in 15 minutes, a new linear park and opened up riverside access. All of this along with schools, health facilities, even a planned pedestrian bridge over the Thames, funded entirely by developers.
The President's choice of words is, as ever, interesting. As a New Yorker, he would be familiar with the term ‘Off Broadway’ to describe the performing arts scene that is not Broadway itself. I have always preferred Off Broadway to Broadway itself. It's more energetic, more creative, edgier, somehow more real.
As an example, the Tooting Arts Club's production of Sweeney Todd, which was first produced in Tooting three years ago in London's oldest pie and mash shop, sensationally transferred to off Broadway after Stephen Sondheim visited the original show. It's still going strong at New York's Barrow Street theatre. That's not fake news.
Similarly, Wandsworth (south of the river) is more Brooklyn than Manhattan. If you're visiting New York, I recommend a stay in Brooklyn over Manhattan. Brooklyn is better value, centrally located, diverse and energetic.
So, we shouldn't be defensive about our new status as an ‘off location’. It's a badge of honour that the US Government chose to make this massive investment in our borough and in so doing kick started a process that has brought thousands of jobs, homes and public realm improvements to south Londoners.
There's another reason why the President's tweet may be more welcome than it seems. His visit would have been an enormous security headache, and was sure to attract protests and demonstrations on a significant scale.
If I tweeted (and I don't), I might just quote our greatest playwright – ‘for this relief, much thanks’.
Paul Martin is chief executive of Wandsworth LBC
