Clover's eNews—Friday, 16 December 2005—No. 277LONG AWAITED METRO STRATEGY DISAPPOINTSThe State Government’s Metro Strategy, outlined in the “City of Cities: A Plan for Sydney’s Future” report is a welcome contribution to planning Australia’s global city, but would benefit from further cooperative work with the City and other Councils to address key issues. The long awaited Strategy fails to address Sydney’s transport and infrastructure needs, with a distinct lack of financial commitment. More plans on these key issues are still to come next year, and the strategy currently appears to re-badge a collection of already announced ad-hoc policies. The Metro Strategy provides no long term strategic vision for transport infrastructure in the CBD and inner Sydney, even though it envisages a dramatic increase in the residential and working population by 2031. The Strategy states:
Instead of providing new measures, the strategy relies on “improvements” to existing transport. There is no acknowledgement that the CBD’s roads, buses and rail are already at capacity and bring City to a standstill on a daily basis during peak periods. The strategy sets a “target” of 55,000 new dwellings for the City of Sydney by 2031. This suggests a total residential population of approximately 245,000, about 25,000 more than Council’s current projections. The Strategy similarly estimates that the City will provide 58,000 new jobs by 2031. However, the Strategy gives little emphasis to the provision of ancillary services and infrastructure to meet this employment and residential growth. The approach seems to be waiting until growth occurs, rather than planning the infrastructure in advance. The Strategy recognises the need to develop capacity and encourage economic growth in regional centres, but does not fully acknowledge that the Sydney CBD is the driver of our national economy and international gateway. Infrastructure investment is integral to promoting economic growth, and it must have priority as an up-front investment in Sydney's future. It is false economy to treat transport infrastructure as a development cost to be minimised or indefinitely deferred, given the long lead times for major projects. The social and environmental costs and the risk of jeopardising our future standard of living and prosperity are too great. It is a damning reflection on the Strategy that an alliance of developers, green groups, business leaders and social agencies has already formed to express their united criticism. This alliance has “rated five of nine core areas of the plan as either poor or only marginally sound”. The more detailed plans promised by the Government will need to address the strategy’s deficiencies, hopefully through further effective consultation, if Sydney is to properly plan for a prosperous and sustainable future. COUNCIL ACTS ON INCLUSION STRATEGYOn Monday night, Council voted to support Councillor Hoff’s progressive strategy to improve access and equity in the City of Sydney. Our new “Inclusion Strategy” is intended to achieve both physical infrastructure improvements and attitudinal change. The City will appoint a consultant to carry out an “Inclusion – Access and Equity Needs Assessment Study”, similar to the work recently undertaken to assess child care needs in our local government area. The study will develop a comprehensive strategy to ensure all people, particularly those with disabilities, can be involved in the full range of city activity. The Chief Executive Officer has been asked to provide needed resources, including staffing, to develop and implement the Inclusion Strategy. An Advisory Group will also be established, with expressions of interest for membership invited in the New Year. While we need to ensure physical barriers to accessibility and mobility are removed where possible, attitudinal barriers often have an even greater impact on preventing people with a disability from achieving what the rest of us take for granted. The term “inclusion” reflects a progressive approach, encouraged by the message of this year’s International Day of people with a Disability. The theme, “Don’t DIS my Ability”, was a powerful call to change attitudes and stereotypes, reminding us that our focus should always be on supporting all people to use and develop their abilities. KINGS CROSS COMMANDER WELCOMEDI welcomed Superintendent Mark Murdoch, the new Kings Cross Police Commander, to his new post last month. I pressed him to maintain active, consistent, and systematic policing in the Kings Cross Command, in response to the complex challenges relating to drug dealing, violence, strip clubs, the sex industry, and youth crime. Woolloomooloo has specific crime patterns, and I arranged another meeting between local residents and Superintendent Murdoch to discuss residents’ concerns. I supported residents’ request that police build good relationships with local people and maintain a strong presence in Woolloomooloo – keeping the Woolloomooloo Police shopfront open with permanent officers, maintaining regular foot patrols, ensuring prompt response to crime reports, working with local community organisations, and appointing an Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer. Youth crime has been an ongoing issue in this precinct, with residents concerned about young people who they say do not attend school, and engage in crime and anti-social behaviour. Kings Cross Police run mentoring programs and recreation camps; Woolloomooloo PCYC and Juanita Nielsen Centre also provide activities to divert young people from crime and anti-social behaviour. Youth service providers are working to coordinate recreation activities. I have asked the Minister for Community Services to lead coordinated action to help these families through intensive family support services similar to that operating in Redfern. I also asked her to liaise with Plunkett Street Public School, Kings Cross Police and the Department of Housing to break the cycle of young people becoming alienated, missing school, and starting a crime career. SOUTH DOWLING STREET NORTH TRAFFICFollowing local residents’ requests, I asked the Minister for Roads to provide a safe pedestrian crossing on South Dowling Street North between Oxford Street and Flinders Street. I have long supported calls that this residential section of South Dowling Street be protected from large volumes of through traffic and be converted to a local road. I convened a meeting last week to hear community views on pedestrian crossing proposals recently prepared by RTA officers. While there was some support for a signalised crossing, residents were concerned about loss of trees, reduced access and loss of parking spaces. There was overwhelming support for northbound traffic headed to Darlinghurst Road to be diverted to the much wider Flinders Street, via a right hand turn into Oxford Street. I will take residents’ requests to the Minister for Roads. NEW START FOR THE ABBEYRestoration of key heritage buildings will be the focus of the proposed redevelopment of the historic Abbey site in Glebe, following approval by Council this week. Council’s decision paves the way for work to begin after a 30 year community campaign to save the site from overdevelopment. The site has been in a state of disrepair for years, with Glebe Society President Bob Armstrong suggesting that “it’s been lying hollow and becoming more and more liable to vandalism and decay”. The proposal will see the “Abbey” and “Reussdale” buildings restored and re-used, while the “Hamilton” building will be rebuilt as a replica, since the building is no longer structurally safe. Council endorsed an additional condition to the consent proposed by Cr Phillip Black to ensure that all possible materials from the original Hamilton building are reused in the replica. Council’s decision will result in a mixed use development with four commercial suites in the restored Abbey building, seven townhouses, reuse of Reussdale as a single dwelling and the creation of two dwellings in the replica building of Hamilton. 31 car spaces will be provided on site, well below the 42 maximum allowed within the Leichhardt planning controls. The most recent development application prior to this proposal sought 46 car spaces, the demolition of Hamilton and erection of 22 townhouses. Council’s refusal of this proposal was upheld by the Land and Environment Court. EVENT ALERT!
WWW.CLOVERMOORE.COMClover's eNews is a regular update to keep the community informed on important issues, events and campaigns. To join the free email subscription list, email clover@clovermoore.com with SUBSCRIBE eNEWS in the subject and your name, email address and suburb in the body of the email. You can also subscribe here on line. — Clover Moore, Independent Member for Bligh |
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