REDWatch Co-ordination Group Report for 2015-2016
Introduction
As the spokesperson for REDWatch for 2015 – 2016 I have learnt a lot about our local community and also REDWatch so before I begin the report, I want to thank everyone who has given me this opportunity to be spokesperson. In the report, I will first talk about the snap shot of this year and what happened in REDWatch then I will talk about the major events we were involved with. I would then like to do recognition to our members and provide a list of our meetings. I will finish with a summary.
Snap shot
This has been the year of elections, we have had the Federal and Council elections and REDWatch co-hosted with ARAG, Foe and CRIG Candidate forums for Federal and Council candidates which were a big success.
REDWatch helped run tours with SquatSpace for their 2016 Tour of Beauty. This tour showcased the area to artist as part of the Benallie festival and several of members helped with the tour which took place over three Saturdays. REDWatch also conducted tours of Waterloo public housing for UTS and Sydney University students. All these tours were part of our fundraising for the year as well as part of us educating people about the areas issues. Ross Smith was a mainstay of these activities and with his passing both he and his contributions will be greatly missed.
REDWatch members have been active and vocal around the current development proposal to our area and have attend multiple meetings outside our regular meetings. Central to Eveleigh has continued to be a major focus both with their own consultations. Especially about North Eveleigh and with Council becoming vocal about the density and scope of development being proposed.
There was also the shocking news that the Australian Technology Park (ATP) has been sold off to Mirvac and was followed by the sudden news that the ATP conference centre was shutting down in early 2017. REDWatch was active in working with council to assess the potential impact of the sale and in pushing for the covenants on the sale that hopefully will provide better protection for heritage and public access than might have eventuated without the covenants on the sale.
In addition the Waterloo station announcement just before Christmas 2015 linked to the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing estate has made this a focus for the second half of the year and this will be an area of focus into the future.
WestConnex and the traffic it will funnel into our already congested part of the inner city has also been a focus of our concerns.
As members we have had several meetings around urban development and what makes a community healthy such a green space. As members we have all been active in protecting our communities and also making sure others know what makes them special.
We also started a Facebook page for REDWatch and this has drawn in another group of people with total of 167. As residents of the area, we understand the huge impact this has directly to us but also to the wider communities. Overall we have had a very successful year protecting and celebrating our wonderful community.
In summary the major events this year were:
- The proposal of the redevelopment of Waterloo Housing Community
- The proposal of the development of the North Eveleigh site
- The sale of Australian Technology Park
- The announcement of the closure of ATP conference centre (2017)
- The Federal Election
- The Council Election
List of meetings
- 5 November – Health and Urban Renewal
- 6 December – End of year party
- 4 February – Why does inner city Sydney need affordable housing?
- 3 March – Film screening: Waterloo (1981)
- 7 April – Green Spaces in the Inner City
- 5 May – Community forum with Urban Growth NSW
- 2 June – How can we balance night life and residents?
- 22 June – Federal Candidates forum
- 7 July – no meeting
- 4 August – General discussion
- 20 August - Lord Mayor Candidates forum
- 1 September – Local Government matters
Recognition
I would like to thank Geoff Turnbull for all his work on REDWatch and teaching me about the area in a more detailed manner than I could have ever expected. I would like to the two co-facilitators of REDWatch, Alexander Turnbull and Emma Bacon. It’s been great working with you and also getting to know you even better than before. The three of us have bought a younger demographic into REDWatch. Jenny who is the secretary and been very good with the emailing and taking notes. Jenny has also regularly attended other community forums. I would also like to thank Michael Mackenzie-Shreenan and the Factory Community Centre for all their support and allowing us to use this wonderful space. I would also like to thank all the REDWatch members who turn up to our monthly meetings, it wouldn’t be worth it if no one turned up.
Special mention needs to be made of Ross Smith who has been a key member in REDWatch from its early years until he passed away earlier this week. Ross had so much experience of the area and was very willing to share is knowledge with anyone who listened. He worked very hard on the Tour of Beauty and other tours and has been another great mentor for me. Ross has also done a great job as Treasurer and kept the books balanced. All of this of course on top of his many other involvements in the public housing and ALP communities. All these involvements bought an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the area and its issues which will be impossible to replace. We will miss him greatly. Vale Ross.
Summary
The challenges have been talking to government developmental bodies and knowing how to cut through the red tape but REDWatch is a great residents’ action group to get through it!
Alice Anderson (Spokesperson)