Dear Supporter,
Car parking on and funding for Moore Park
In the Stadium EIS submissions, the SCG Trust and sporting codes lobbied strongly for the retention of car parking on Moore Park (what the SCG Trust refers to as “onsite parking”). We believe it’s possible to remove car parking from Moore Park and still provide convenient parking facilities in the area, and in a way which will enable drivers to get away more quickly and reduce traffic congestion. We explain how in our EIS submission, which you can see here.
Last Monday there was a terrific opinion piece in the SMH by Vivienne Skinner, a SMP Committee member: Moore is less: our frumpy neglected park. If you missed it, you can see it here. The same day, we wrote to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces urging the Government to (1) commit to removing car parking from Moore Park progressively over the next 2½ years, and (2) commit $40 million towards the Moore Park Master Plan. The letter is short and direct, and you can see it here.
Today’s Sun Herald contains a short article here (longer version online) on our call for the Minister to address the car parking issue and commit $40 million to restoring More Park. If you share our views, we encourage you to write to the Minister and say so. If the Government doesn’t agree to remove car parking and remediate the Park at the time the stadium’s being redeveloped, we’re concerned that it will never happen.
Stadium redevelopment
In a report on the most recent CCC meeting, the Paddington Society representative identified a raft of issues of concern to the community where she believes the CCC is making little headway. One thing is clear: If the expected impact of the stadium is beyond the perimeter of the site – and car parking on Moore Park is perhaps the best example of this – then in INSW’s view it’s always someone else’s responsibility.
In addition to the seven concerns identified by the Paddington Society representative, we can add three more where we believe INSW is disinterested in the community’s concerns: the visual impact on Moore Park of signage and the banks of steps to Driver Avenue, traffic impacts and storm water run-off from the stadium’s hard surfaces onto low-lying Driver Avenue and Moore Park.
We’ve written to Minister Stokes urging him to request his Department to set out a plan about how these broader community concerns will be addressed and who’ll be responsible for doing so. You can see our letter here.
Our 4th AGM
Our Annual General Meeting was held on 13 October. Office holders remain unchanged. You may be interested in my Report, and particularly my comments on the Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Anzac Parade Obelisk and the proposed memorial notice boards.
Michael Waterhouse
Convenor
27 October 2019
