22 June 2006

In This Update

Redfern Waterloo Urban Design Study Community Meeting Saturday 24 June 2006 2 – 4 pm

CUB Site Declared State Significant - Council loses Control of Site

Aboriginal Tent Embassy Arrives on The Block

REDWatch Meeting with Gary Moore – Wednesday 5 July 2006 6pm

Redfern Waterloo Street Team Documents

Macdonaldtown Stabling Project – Community Update

REDWatch Membership

RSS Feeds on REDWatch Website

Problems and Solutions in Urban Renewal in New York

Coming Events (entered on the REDWatch website)

Redfern Waterloo Urban Design Study Community Meeting Saturday 24 June 2006 2 – 4 pm

A second community meeting for the Waterloo and Redfern Urban Design Study is to be held at Redfern Town Hall Saturday afternoon - 24 June 2006, between 2pm and 4pm. At an earlier meeting in April the consultants sought information from the community about desired building character and built form in these areas. Based on this meeting the consultants have now prepared recommendations and incorporated them into a Draft Urban Design Study for the area. The consultants will present their ideas and will finalise a plan following the meeting, incorporating your comments for consideration by council and formal public exhibition. The study will then be incorporated into the City Plan, to guide building controls across the Local Government Area, while tailoring development to suit each area’s unique needs. You can download the Community Meeting Invitation (PDF 196Kb) or find more information on the design study at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Development/CityPlan/SiteSpecificPlanning/Redfern.asp.

The council’s process in the Urban Design Study, of talking with the community throughout the process of developing the study and the resultant control plans, stands in stark contrast to the recent lack of community involvement in the process used by the RWA to develop its Draft Built Environment Plan, which went straight to exhibition without any prior community consultation process.

CUB Site Declared State Significant - Council loses Control of Site

Following the City of Sydney Public Meeting held on Thursday 15^th a letter writing campaign was conducted to try and stop the Minister from taking over control of the CUB site. At a lunch time address to the Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW on 21 June 2006 the Minister announced that he was declaring the CUB site state significant. In a media statement CUB to become a State Significant Site the Minister said the contribution for affordable housing for Redfern Waterloo would be no more than 3 per cent of the development value of the site and that the concept plan would provide the same level of community benefits as those flagged by the City of Sydney, or better. The Minister said “I have appointed an expert advisory panel to work with residents and the developer to optimise design.” The panel will be chaired by Chris Johnson from the Department of Planning, and includes: Michael Collins, Chair of the Heritage Council NSW; Neil Bird, Deputy Chairman of Landcom; and Lucy Turnbull, former Sydney Lord Mayor. The Minister justified taking control by saying “Designating the CUB site as State Significant and preparing a concept plan will cut six to 12 months off the development process, which has already dragged on far too long.” The CoS issued a media statement attacking the decision which can be viewed at the following link City of Sydney Response to the CUB site Anouncement. The Greens MP Sylvia Hale also issued a media statement Are Urban Slums the Price of Labor’s Re-election? in which she reminded people that “Donations from property developers now make up a major part of the Labor Party’s campaign funds”. Ms Hale was also quoted in the media as saying “Property developers have donated over $9 million to the Australian Labor Party over the last five years. In the same period the number of property developments 'called in' by the Minister for Planning has increased by 800 per cent from around 30 per year to around 250 per year." The decision, announced to developers in the lead up to a NSW state election, should not hurt Labor party fundraising.

Media comment on the story from the Daily Telegraph Sartor seizes $800m project - 22 June 2006 , the SMH Sartor’s grab for control puts residents in a froth and AAP can be State takes on beer development - 21 June 2006 AAP can be found on the REDWatch website. Background on the CUB Site issue can be found at The CoS Carlton United Brewery Project and on the REDWatch site at CSPC hands CUB to Minister - 7 June 2006.

Having watched unfulfilled promises of consultation and community involvement in nearby Redfern Waterloo, Chippendale residents are understandably apprehensive about the Ministers move despite his assurances. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Minister, in his letter to Clover Moore and other CSPC members, indicated he wanted floor space ratio increases on the site which residents do not believe can be achieved without significant impact on the surrounding amenity. This conflict between greater development on a site and local residents trying to lessen its impacts is a problem that the Minister should be very aware of. The Daily Telegraph reported on June 17 2006 in Not in Frank's back yard that “Mr Sartor has found himself in the middle of a planning dispute that involves a development that would back on to -- and overlook -- his Beverley Park home”. Chippendale residents can only hope his own recent experiences will make him more considerate of their concerns about being overlooked by an up to 100 metre high development.

Aboriginal Tent Embassy Arrives on The Block

On Sunday 18 June 2006 this week tents associated with the Aboriginal Tent Embassy started to set up on The Block. The embassy works to bring Aboriginal issues to public attention Australia wide including in Redfern Waterloo. Bowie Hickey, a local host of the Embassy, asked us to publicise their presence through our update and extend an invitation for people to visit them.

Bowie attended the Redfern Residents for Reconciliation (RRR) meeting on June 21. She spoke of the discussions that they have had with the Aboriginal Housing Company, who owns the site, Superintendent Catherine Burn, from Redfern Police Station and Councillor Marcelle Hoff, from City of Sydney, to ensure that they receive support to be able to maintain a drug and alcohol free presence on the first urban land returned to Aboriginal title. After a week of rain one of their major problems is that they are running short of dry fire wood and have to buy it. One area where our readers may be able to assist is by donating firewood. To keep the fire burning they need dry, unpainted wood but not smaller kindling or garden clippings. A covered wood box will be set up on The Block to keep the wood dry so you can drop off wood when you visit the embassy. If you have firewood, live reasonably close but can not get it to The Block, John Bartholomew from RRR is prepared to collect reasonable quantities if you leave a message on his phone at 9557 6120.

Please take the opportunity to visit the tent Embassy and talk to people about their concerns. The invitation is open to everyone including Frank Sartor and others making decisions about the future of The Block and other Aboriginal issues in Redfern Waterloo.

REDWatch Meeting with Gary Moore – Wednesday 5 July 2006 6pm

Gary Moore, until recently the Director of NCOSS and Co-chair of RWA Human Services Ministerial Advisory Committee, has recently left to take up a position at Marrickville Council. Michelle Burrell, Deputy Director (Policy) and currently Acting Director at NCOSS has taken over Gary’s position as Co-chair of the HSMAC.

REDWatch has asked Gary to come along to the next REDWatch meeting and reflect on his involvement with the RWA and in the “Reforming Human Services” process. Gary will need to go to another appointment at about 6.45 so it is important for people attending to arrive early so the meeting can kick off promptly at 6pm. Following Gary’s talk there will be discussion of the HSP Phase Two discussion papers if they are available. Both REDWatch and Clover Moore have written to the RWA and the Minister requesting adequate time for the community to consult about the RWA discussion papers prior to the RWA Forum to formulate the shape of services delivered to homeless people, people with disabilities, older people and migrant communities living in the area. REDWatch will meet downstairs at The Factory, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo.

Redfern Waterloo Street Team Documents

On the advice of the Crown Solicitor as to the effect of the recent prorogation of parliament, the Government advised that no documents would be produced in respect of the Standing Order 52 resolutions regarding Redfern Waterloo Street Team. As a result on 6 June 2006 Sylvia Hale moved again for the Production of Documents Order for the documents related to the Redfern Waterloo Street Team . As the documents are due for presentation within 14 days they should currently be available for MPs to read. Members of the public can only access documents which have not been classed as restricted by the government, although the classification on documents can be appealed by MPs.

Macdonaldtown Stabling Project – Community Update

The new Community Liaison Group (CLG) for the Stabling Project held its first meeting on 30 May 2006. The minutes of this meeting and the list of community concerns can be found on the TIDC website at http://www.tidc.nsw.gov.au/ArticlePage.aspx?PageID=762. All complaints and notices of breaches of construction rules must be logged in the TIDC 24 hour Construction Response line 1800 775 465. The call needs to be logged to be taken into consideration.

To enable an online forum for community discussion of the Macdonaldtown project a Yahoo group has been set up at http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/MacdonaldtownCommunityLiaison/ . You can view postings at your leisure or subscribe for a daily update of any messages added that day (when you set up your ‘profile’). The forum will include links for up to date TIDC project info. Photographs, documents, links etc can be added to archive project information (moderator will vet prior to posting). Online polls can be created – simply post a question and votes will be tallied. The forum will help consolidate issues raised. The moderator can circulate a summary to CLG community members prior to meetings and then table to TIDC, Railcorp and Leightons. PLEASE NOTE – You will still need to log all complaints with the TIDC 24 hour Construction Response Line – 1800 775 465. The CLG members will not call the hotline on your behalf. But if you also note your complaints on the Group online forum they can then follow up at the CLG meetings and take a consolidated approach to demanding resolution of resident’s issues.

REDWatch Membership

In positioning itself to keep a long term eye on government activities in Redfern Waterloo REDWatch has now become incorporated. Until recently interested people came along and just became involved, but now REDWatch has to have a more formal membership. If you would like to find out about REDWatch Inc and download a membership form, visit http://www.redwatch.org.au/redwatch/incorporation.

Full membership of REDWatch is open to those who live and / or work in Redfern, Eveleigh, Darlington or Waterloo or immediately adjoining suburbs. People outside this area can become Associate Members. REDWatch also operates a supporter’s email list which you can join at http://lists.redwatch.org.au/mailman/listinfo/supporter . This supporters’ email list is separate from the subscription list for these Redfern Waterloo Issue Updates.

RSS Feeds on REDWatch Website

REDWatch has now added RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds to the In In The Media and Updates section of the REDWatch website. RSS is way you can use to have information sent to you, rather than having to go look for it. The RSS feeds will enable people with Browsers, like Firefox or with RSS Readers (the only option currently for Internet Explorer users), to have the information updated on their webpage, browser or reader as soon as it is added to these sections of the REDWatch site. Please note that the RSS icon on the REDWatch pages shows that you can make RSS connections to these pages. You do not click the RSS icon to do this, but follow the instructions for your browser or reader. Many media sites have RSS feeds as does the City of Sydney Council.

Problems and Solutions in Urban Renewal in New York

Sydney is not the only city in the world where rising real estate prices are forcing out the poorer portion of the population. We found the following article Housing Tighter for New Yorkers of Moderate Pay an interesting reminder that the issue of affordable housing is not just one that Sydney faces and that maybe we should be looking further a field for ideas to address the issues.

In this regard we were also recently pointed to the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation website at http://umez.org/. The site is dedicated to bringing you information about the work of the Empowerment Zone and about Upper Manhattan in general. The Empowerment Zone seeks to revitalise distressed communities by using public funds and tax incentives as catalysts for private investment. In Upper Manhattan, five communities lie within the Empowerment Zone's borders: Central Harlem, West Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. The REDWatch Redfern Waterloo Plan Working Group recently had a presentation on some of the work which has been done in Harlem. The site is well worth a visit to see how another community is tackling similar problems.