Woolley Street, Dickson… overdue for an upgrade. Photo: Paul Costigan
“Why does the Chief Minister pour hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars into the inner north through the City Renewal Authority to implement silly activation programs and pop-ups?,” writes “Canberra Matters” columnist
PAUL COSTIGAN.
WITH Canberra being a “city in a landscape”, why does the ACT government not understand the value of landscape and open spaces?
Paul Costigan.
The Chief Minister’s favoured agency, the City Renewal Authority, has more plans for Woolley Street, Dickson – our China Town/Eat Street. It is indeed overdue for an upgrade. But the remnants of the authority’s former efforts remain as a testament to bad design and inappropriateness.
Filling in the lake at West Basin… 140 of 187 submissions lodged during the consultation period expressed opposition to the project.
It’s taken more than a year to bludgeon, under freedom of information, details about the secretive land swap between the ACT government and the National Capital Authority. But despite appeals to the Ombudsman, the taxpayers remain blind to the values involved in swapping 32 hectares of land at Curtin for 2.8 hectares at West Basin. Reporter
BELINDA STRAHORN discovers that elements of the bureaucracy weren’t too thrilled about the deal, either…
THE true cost of the controversial West Basin land swap deal remains hidden behind a series of heavily redacted documents, obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation.
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Another world… inside the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate’s new Northbourne Avenue offices at Dickson.
“The archaic bureaucracy collective that forms the planning directorate is overdue to be broken up for the sake of Canberra’s lifestyle and the city’s contribution to the future of the planet,” writes “Canberra Matters” columnist
PAUL COSTIGAN.
THE ACT Government’s planning directorate has an impenetrable structure that reminds me of the “Star Trek” concept – the Borg Hive – called The Collective.
Paul Costigan.
Anyone who is assimilated into this collective is transformed from being a thinking individual to being a drone – they no longer speak plain English, instead they mutter the spin of the day.
PAUL O’CONNOR, of Hawker.
COLUMNIST Paul Costigan is on the mark again in “Canberra Matters” on April 22 (“Time for leadership in good landscape design”) with his remarks about poor retail sales outside the Canberra Centre.
One major reason for this was passed over, namely, car parking. You park in the multi-storey car parks, walk directly into the centre, shop then go home.
There’s no foot traffic through the old heart of Canberra, through places such as Garema Place.
These desolate areas and closing shops will increase if and when the current government surrenders the current car parks outside the Magistrates Courts and the Canberra Museum and Gallery to apartment builders. Farewell Sydney and Melbourne Buildings’ restaurants and shops. We do not all ride push bikes or catch the tram .