Thursday, November 11, 2004

Sartor gets his toys back

After its crushing defeat in the City Council elections the Carr clan is about to get its revenge by passing laws to put ex-Mayor Frank Sartor in charge of re-developing south Sydney. This would remove significant control from City of Sydney Council.

As usual, the will of the people is but a minor setback for these control freaks and their developer mates.

The spin-merchants are already out, claiming the redevelopment will slash unemployment in Waterloo and Redfern. Demolishing the place will certainly achieve that.

The Tele reports Clover is concerned that there will be proper community consultation.

There will be, Clover -- but if our local experience of the Sartor vision is any guide, the consultation will happen only after the plans are all made and the contracts signed, and a couple of token changes will be agreed to for the sake of PR. Typically for this government, the announcement comes before a Parliamentary committee enquiring into Redfern/Waterloo has delivered its findings.

What's the bet the new plans will involve grey granite, smartpoles and plane trees all in a row? Ah, Frank's 'vision'. Good to see he'll be fully employed now -- sorting out Sydney's water problems must be too small a problem for such a visionary.

Click the headline to see a report in The Australian.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frank Sartor compared to Clover Moore is a breath of fresh air.

The Editor said...

If that's how you see it, you must like breathing diesel fumes mixed with dust from construction sites wafting over ruined communities. Very Mad Max.

Anonymous said...

Better to have smart poles and grey granite provided by someone who at least understands that he can improve the lives of residents in our area area. Smart poles are an insignificant improvement on the dumb poles which have been around for the last 30 or so years. There are really big issues down here. Mr Sartor recently stated that gentrification was necessary to help clean up an area, which I fully support.

There has been little remedial action to improve the quality of our lives for such a long time. The needle van and the growing drug problem has been a catastrophe for our indigenous population . Residents are being mugged and shop keepers robbed. And do not forget what they are doing to each other.

The smart thing would have been to elect a labour state member of parliament or attach this area to a different electorate. We have little in common with the gay end of Sydney ( no I am not a homophobe) as our local member is predominately pre occupied with the Oxford St end of the city. She really does not live in Redfern proper but in East Redfern Or better still in a very trendy part of Surry Hills surrounded by some really smart cafes. She does not really understand our problems but rather mouths off stock standard platitudes about the indigenous. Her decision to locate her office in trendy Oxford St well away from our problems is symptomatic of her attitude and understanding of our problems.

Anonymous said...

The Editors comments about construction sites and fumes is a very short sighted view on what are long term problems. The big problems must be addressed and acted upon. Mr Sartor may or may not have the best answer but at least he does things to improve the whole community. Our issues are not bicycle tracks or if a tree has to be pulled down. They are issues of major social consequences.

Mr Sartor is a big picture person with a vision. He achieves results.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see that Government corruption is still alive and well and living in Sydney and democracy isn't.

The Editor said...

If you want to know what's going on. follow the money. If you really think the Labor headkickers care about the community or social problems your faith is touching. It's the developers who pay the politicians (I can show you the figures) and their profits are the only driver of this new plan.

Gentrification kills communities -- it does not revitalise them. In the end only wealthy people can afford to live in these areas and the lack of diversity makes them really boring. Income-tagged communities never work very well. Read 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' by Jane Jacobs for an excellent analysis of how this happens.

Development cannot solve drug problems. Rather, it shatters the communities that at present offer some support to people with problems. At best it just moves the problem somewhere else -- a NIMBY attitude that is very short-sighted.

If you think it is OK for this government to ride roughshod over democratic process, I'd like to hear why dictatorial behaviour is a better alternative. There is more wisdom in the community than in one man whose party is in the pay of developers and big corporations.

Anonymous said...

So what's the big deal about corruption ? Some well known local politicians rely on inflating their low self esteem to get them to act corruptly. Some rely on inflating their low cash balances. Provided they pay taxes and the funds which are received are disclosed I have no problem with this. Its the low ego which is inflated where there is a problem ( and its tax free ).

You only have to look at the silly council press release distributed around Waterloo with the oversized signature and the self portrait on the cover to realize the low self esteem this person has.

I will support Frank Sartor any day. A good Labor man with a vision.

Please come back Frank we need you

Anonymous said...

Gentrification is the displacement of lower-income residents by higher-income residents in a neighborhood. This generally occurs when an older neighborhood is rehabilitated or revitalized. A good example of this is Newtown.

In the 1960's and 1970's Newtwon was a dangerous and dirty run down area.On any give day you would read in the Mirror or the Sun about inspeakable violece and crime. You rarely hear about this now and I attribute this to the gentrification which has occured.

It certainly has not killed Newtown but rather it has brought it back to life.

Anonymous said...

And talking about smart poles don't you just love the ones in Kings Cross celebrating with glorious red banners the opening of the new library.

They are so pretty. I can hardly wait till we get them in Redfern.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

'In the 1960's and 1970's Newtwon was a dangerous and dirty run down area.'

I lived withing 100 metres of Newtown station for several years during the early 70s and never saw any violence whatsoever. It was a lively town with some of the best ethnic food around. The community was a mixture of students, immigrants and older Aussies, interesting and diverse.

On the other hand, the community there has been screaming in protest since the City invaded their territory and started stripping it of all personality.

Any gentrification there has occurred naturally rather than being forced on it by an autocracy, and it has not displaced a large alternative community which gives the area great colour and interest.

Anonymous said...

In the 1960's and 1970's Newtown had the highest rate of assualt and murder. It was largely as a result of the large immigrant population which used to reside there.

The Editor said...

And now that problem has simply moved further south-west, in a natural progression. The improvement did not come from any grand plan hatched by half-talented autocrats trying to impose their own suburban prejudices on inner city culture in the interests of their developer mates.