Intercom installed in public housing complex

We can now report that the intercom has been installed – possibly as a result of the SSH article and the interest of local member, Carmel Tebbutt.

On the other hand, there are other maintenance matters which, hopefully, will not take that long for that intervention to be accomplished. The hope springs from the stimulus funding now being made available for government properties and the established need.  Against this we might have bureaucratic inertia (or worse) to overcome.

There is an obvious drainage problem at the Darlington complex. A badly-graded path brings storm water to the door of a ground floor unit. The problem is aggravated by additional run-off from an adjacent lawn.

The landlord has “fixed” the problem with a low diverting wall (trip hazard) from the lawn. This does nothing to take away the run-off down the path, and ignores the blocked drain, which no longer carries the storm water (from many sources). Instead, the water finds its own way to Blackwattle Bay, undermining, and breaking up the path, whose continuing grading is still the problem.

This is not, of course, the only maintenance problem for the Housing Department in South Sydney (nor indeed for the particular complex). We mention it as a case study which might allow us to see how well such problems are handled between residents and landlord – without political (or even media) intervention.

Photo: Ali Blogg - Residents Alan, Straun and Henry at the secure front door Source: South Sydney Herald April 2009 www.southsydneyherald.com.au