MEDIA COVERAGE
Welcome Signs
The recent launch of Pyrmont Action, the reformation of a local ALP branch, and the continued growth of the Pyrmont-Ultimo Chamber of Commerce are encouraging signs that Pyrmont-Ultimo is being reborn as a community prepared to stand up for itself. Perhaps the most heartening development is the emergence of a community group prepared to fight for retaining the Water Rats siteat Elizabeth Macarthur Bay as open parkiand.
Some people may dismiss such a campaign as being Quixotic, even hopeless, with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority determined to turn the site over for development. Others may see the campaign as ill-timed, commencing almost simultaneously with the selection of a design concept for the site, completing the first stage in the site development process. That process included an extensive community consultation process which has been hailed as a model for public participation in local planning.
The News acknowledges that the community consultation process was exciting and innovative. It commends those community members, notably the community representative Geoffrey Twibill, who invested considerable time, energy and personal expertise in making the process work.
We must not forget however that SHFA had to be dragged and pushed to the consultation table. Willingly and warmly embracing local communities has never been part of SHFA’s culture, or the culture of its predecessors.
Nor should we forget that the consultation process had one fatal flaw.
At all times it was conducted according to SHFA’s agenda and
within the boundaries SHFA set. That meant the option of restoring
the site to parkland was never canvassed. What may well have been the
community’s preferred option was locked out of the process.
If this indeed is the community’s preferred option, it must now
say so, loudly and clearly. It need not be too late. The winning design
is exactly that a concept still awaiting its conversion to reality.
Preventing that reality may not be easy, but it need not be impossible as the community campaign to save Callan Park demonstrates. Ultimately the Callan Park campaign was won.
August 2003 - The News
