Consultation going through the motions in Chippendale

While the former is speculation, the latter may be true. Over the three years since Carlton and United Brewery announced its closure, residents and workers remain concerned about the proposed site development. A public meeting held last month at the University of Technology, Sydney, by a Sartor-appointed expert advisory panel, aimed to share and clarify information. However, problems seemed to arise before it began. A resident told the meeting that she was informed of the meeting only by an opposition community group's leaflet the previous day. Another complained that he was notified on the weekend before the Tuesday night meeting. "This meeting wasn't advertised properly. People don't know about this meeting tonight," Jeanette Brokman, a residents' group co-convenor, said at the meeting. "We tried to advertise as widely as possible", chair Chris Johnson said. An advertisement was placed in the Sydney Central Courier and 4,000 leaflets were distributed. A further 1500 were Sent after Ms. Brokman complained. The meeting was marked by frustration from members of the audience. Examples include: "I'm absolutely flabbergasted that an issue like density isn't there" [on a list of topics to be discussed]"; "This was really only a token meeting. We are in a process of looking at the issues," Mr Johnson said. "We need to look at the total context to see what we have got.”

[Have you Heard - South Sydney Herald September 2006]