08/09/11

Businesses have the right to vote in Local Government elections, but you wouldn't know it.

16/08/11

See how two State Government Departments have fobbed the issue off. Not what you would expect from a Liberal Government that is supposed to give a toss about business.

Fobbed by Local Government Minister

Fobbed by Small Business Minister

See here for the response to the Small Business Minister.

==========================

Dear Minister

Thanks for your reply.

I appreciate the information you have provided regarding mentoring and small business support, but perhaps you have missed my point, or more likely, I have not made it clear enough.

Personally, my business does not need help, so if that’s what you thought I was getting at, sorry.

My concern, and the reason I spent the last seven years as committee member and then VP of the Local Business Partnership was because of my alarm at the state of the local main street, in this case Oxford Street.

As I have said, I am not concerned for my business, I have a niche and am up to speed on social media and contemporary forms of marketing and in fact, we moved off Oxford Street ten years ago because it was already in decline prior to the RTA’s and CoS’s ham-fisted upgrade. This was primarily due to a combination of socio-cultural factors, nailed irrevocably into place by said upgrade.

It was in the course of my involvement with the Darlinghurst Business Partnership and the contacts with other like-minded groups this afforded me that I came to see that what was happening to Oxford Street was part of a broader phenomenon.

Without getting into details, the vastly more penetrative marketing tools available to Malls and combined with the simple fact of the Internet, is threatening your Main Streets, and thus your urban life in a very serious way. No workshops or seminars or the like can compete with these forces and no local business group can hope to muster the muscle to compete on their own. They lack the capacity.

Couple this with the strange and worrying focus that NSW Tourism, through Events NSW, has on, surprise, just putting on Events that simply people attend and leave, and with City of Sydney’s myopic focus on the CBD and the paltry amount of business rates it returns to the business sector, and you end up where we are today.

It’s the reason Sydney has slipped to number three on the list of desirable domestic holiday destinations behind Melbourne and Brisbane

SHFA could be a model, as too could the way that Melbourne takes pride in and actively promotes its Main Streets and has a functioning 24-hour city economic policy.

London has just appointed a retail Tsar for the very same reasons.

Please don’t think that, as a small business owner, I don’t appreciate the fact that you make all the varied programs available through the smallbiz website, but without a dedicated, coordinated, active signaling and championing that you, as a government, value your Main Streets and the culture they provide, you will continue to see them deteriorate.

For all the above reasons I have left the local business group, happy as they now are to simply take council’s money and dance to the networking event tune without even a peep of advocacy.
I am now focusing solely on my businesses, but it still makes me sad to see Sydney sell itself so short on the domestic and international tourism markets. You wouldn’t believe the number of visitors who ‘accidentally’ find themselves on the Eastside (2010 & 2011) who have never even heard of Newtown.

Really, destination, whole-of-year, whole-of-city marketing is not so hard to grasp, why NSW is still so blindly focused on events is baffling.

I hope this information helps you understand the dilemma somewhat.

Regards

Stephan Gyory

20/07/11

meh!

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/down-and-out-in-drear-street-20110709-1h7mw.html

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/sydney-in-third-place-in-fight-for-domestic-travellers-20110616-1g637.html

15/07/11

A letter to the Minister for Transport regarding NSW's new Transport Authority:

Ms Gladys Berejiklian, MP
Level 35 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000

Dear Minister

It was with great interest that I read the article in today’s SMH: http://smh.drive.com.au/rta-to-be-killed-off-20110715-1hh3r.html

I was, however, troubled by the following statement:

"The focus for the integrated transport authority is the customer, be it a public transport user, a motorist, pedestrian or producer such as a farmer or manufacturer. The customer will be at the centre of everything we do."

Possibly one of the greatest problems with the RTA as it currently stands is that it does not consider the communities that cars travel through. The statment above seems to reflect the same kind of thinking, the kind of thinking that lead to the creation of economic and cultural wastelands like parts Parramatte road and Lower Oxford Street, Sydney.

This is the same kind of thinking that now seem to inform the debate on Light Rail up Oxford Street, where the leading proposal is that there will only be two stops between Hyde Park and Moore Park.

This kind of two-dimentional, mass-transit thinking completely ignores that fact that viable cities have a fine grain, and that it is this fine grain that makes different parts of different cities appealing different parts of communites; creating character, amenity and livability, all things a an international city should be striving for.

To consider points A and B as isolated entities to be connected by the straightest, fastest, least friction-causing line possible is to completely ignore the fact that we live in distributed, interconnected networks with many, many nodes. The internet doesnt work by simply connecting A and B, nor does the economy, and no one with an inkling of how the world works today would debate this.

I sincerely hope that this new agency will concern itself with the bigger picture as well as its’ “customers” and perhaps take as a guiding principle the following concept, articulated by some contemporary writers here, but well known to cultures the world over:

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” Don Williams, Jr. (American Novelist and Poet, b.1968)

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” Greg Anderson (American best-selling Author and founder of the American Wellness Project., b.1964)

I implore you, in the creation of this new entity, not just to co-ordinate all modes of transport with each other, but to co-ordinate transport with the communities they serve and pass through.

Regards

Stephan Györy
0414 581 919

PDF

01/07/11

Well, London has figured it out.

"The Government's attempt to stop the rot is the appointment of TV retail guru Mary Portas to the post of "Retail Czar". But for these local shops, Portas's appointment is too little too late?... "

link

28/06/11

One can only hope these words turn into actions but it's fair to say that we have heard our fair share of words. The reaction on the street so far has been, shall we say, resigned cynicism. Would that this were not the case!

It is interesting to note the language. The document (link below) repeatedly uses the phrase ‘perceived’ lack of daytime trade, which basically means they are ducking the obvious, protecting themselves from goodness knows what, for what can only be assumed to be the usual, bureaucratic reticence to take responsibility for anything.

On a positive nore they do refer to Lower Oxford Street, which means thay have finally and, at least tacitly, admitted that the area is a town centre in its own right - distinct from Paddington.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Lord Mayor Clover Moore tabled a Minute calling for the Chief Executive Officer to investigate a range of options to activate Oxford Street, including:

• Utilising City-owned properties on Oxford Street for the provision of affordable creative spaces

• Utilising City-owned properties to achieve a greater diversity in Oxford Street’s mix of commercial and retail businesses to support the daytime economy

• Encouraging and engaging private property owners to work with the City to ensure a diverse and robust daytime economy; a significant village centre for Darlinghurst and Surry Hills and an important focus for cultural and creative activity

• Develop strategies to improve Oxford Street’s amenity by: moving traffic from the kerbside; changing bus operations to reduce noise impacts; improving pedestrian crossings and making physical improvements to support Oxford Street’s potential use as a light rail route.

READ THE FULL DOCUMENT HERE

24/06/11

Warm Regards
Stephan Gyory
0414581919

09/06/11

09/06/11

This email is about the state of Lower Oxford Street and my thoughts around the role of the 2010 Partnership.

Upfront, I have to advise you that after having a second stab at getting back involved with the Business Group, I have resigned as Vice President and have also left the 2010 Partnership. This is not something I did lightly but I have come to the sorry conclusion that the partnership serves no one’s interests other than the councils'.

Frankly, through design or not, to volunteer on a business group in Sydney is to sign up as an indentured servant of the ever fattening Economic Development Department at council, whose sole job, it seems, is to tick an ever-lengthening list of boxes while paying lip service to the people they are supposed to work with and support.

The fact that every warning and bit of information we have given them over the last seven years has come to pass, seems to elude them and still they press on with airy-fairy, out of touch and out of date plans that no one consented to or even thinks make sense.

So, I have done this now for the same reasons that Andrew Duckmanton (Grandma Takes A Trip), Marc Althshuler (Oxford Art Supplies) and I did in December 2009 when we decided to let the DBP lapse. Our reasoning and thoughts were that while there is a Council asleep at the wheel, who don't know how to care about or engage with the business community, in charge of a 24 million dollar infrastructure disaster that is tearing this area in two, there is simply no role for a networking group that takes council money and puts on nice little events.

Unfortunately, the continued existence of such a group, in this case the 2010 Partnership, formerly the Darlinghurst Business Partnership, means the council can point to it and say 'look, we support business' when in fact they don't support business and they don't support this area.

The group, unfortunately, is effectively a political patsy and distracts from the very real issue of the complete abandonment of Lower Oxford Street by the council; the disastrous way in which they manage their properties and their unexplainable reticence to take responsibility for turning Lower Oxford Street into a Highway, Retail Desert and Night-Time duo-culture.

In fact, the entire model the council uses to engage with business is flawed. Even though small and medium businesses in this City contribute over half of the Council's rate revenue, are 14% of the city’s workforce, 37% of all business and 13% of floor space, for some reason all Council wants from us in terms of engagement are some tea-party-organising, personal agenda-driven, isolated, competing groups that are completely ineffectual in the face of this relentless bureaucratising of everything the council touches.

Instead of adapting to the way the world is, this council wants the world to adapt to the way they think it should be and unfortunately the only way to get through to them is not to work with (read for) them but to constantly ask them hard questions in public.

Tenants with no leases. Abandoned five year old actions plans. A complete lack of vision for Oxford Street. A horrifyingly myopic focus on the CBD. Reactive Policy created on the fly. Generic, top-down thinking. That is City of Sydney council and by taking their money and jumping through their bureaucratic hoops we simply legitimise their way of doing business.

Further to this, they have just advised that there will be NO FURTHER ACTIONS from the Darlinghurst Roundtable they held on 6th May (the minutes I distributed earlier this week). That’s right – no further action – the exact words were ‘the traders in the area wanted to be heard, the roundtable achieved this and the council has no formal plans for further action although many of the thoughts will be considered by council officers when making decisions’ and this was from a mid-level Economic Development bureaucrat and goes completely against the CEO’s email of 2 weeks previous suggesting they wanted to move forward on all points we raised! But she is away now so it seems the machine is running itself again.

And that is the point, one hand doesn;t know what they other is doing doing, yet they don’t want to engage with or listen to the electorate/rate-payers as they think they know best, when it is clear from their actions (and lack of them) that they don’t.

This area deserves more than that. Ideally, we need a thriving business group that is focussed on getting more people here during the day, but unfortunately any time people put their hands up to join, their passion and enthusiasm get systematically whittled down until the group implodes under the pressure of having to bash their heads against the same bureaucratic wall, ad infinitum.

So, while I will continue to act and speak up for this area and attend meetings and attempt force council to account for themselves, I will do this as an individual and so I implore the current leadership of the 2010 partnership to fold, what has become not only an irrelevant organization, but a rudderless distraction serving no one’s goals but the councils’.

Stephan Gyory

PS - Snakebean just shut. House of Fetsh just gone. (Another) Pie face opening up at Taylor square

------------

Hi Stephan
Well done I agree and I suggest you send this to the Premier and the minister for Local Government Cheers from one who also tried

------------

Hi Stephan,

Sad to see you’ve finally been forced to give up thru the exasperating lack of vision by the council. You did a brilliant job and always showed and energetic interest that was admirable.
Let hope the future doesn’t get fucked up too much by Sydney City..
Good luck.

------------

Hi Stephan-
I meet you whilst you were down in Melbourne.
I appreciate all the effort you've put into this.
So so frustrating - it would be nice if they got their shit together.
We're all doing our little bit on our block on Crown St.
Thanks for all the effort you put into this.
best,

------------

Hi Stephan. Couldn't agree with you more. Ditto all the other "villages" making up the city of Sydney. None has any direct contact with council, no representative from council who gives a damn about small business. We are simply a tool for tax. Like to chat with ylou sometime. ************** has stopped all its time wasting dinners and networking and become a pressure group. Create a public disturbance via the press. Nothing gets done otherwise.

------------

Excellent !

27/04/11

Well, we have been granted an audience with the powers that be at City of Sydney Council. It was not the independently facilitated, open forum of all stakeholders (Business, Council, Landlords) that we had hoped for, asked for and been promised at the City East Community Update in October 2010, but it is something and it's good to see that the agenda - an official Council document - acknowledges what we have been saying about Lower Oxford Street for years.

PDF - DARLINGHURST BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

NB: It must be noted that the efforts to revitalise Taylor Square, as mentioned in the City East Community update above, a little more than lip service. The Markets in Taylor square are not run by council nor were they instigated at Council's behest. The idea to purchase T2 came from our quarter and it was a last ditch effort to stop Taylor Square being cornered completely by night time businesses. There is currently no legitimate plan, that we know of, to do anything else to try and fix the social and cultural vacuum at Taylor Square and the plans (food hall/grocery-based department store) to 'revitalise' Council's large Property holdings along the north side of Lower Oxford Street, are not only four years out of date, but have been completely gazumped by the re-development of the old Water Board building on the Crown Street reservoir.

Council's management of their own properties on Lower Oxford Street, which they have outsourced to, what is by all accounts, a negligent and out of touch property management company, are shameful and had any private company operated in this way, heads would have rolled long ago.

24/02/11

1/12/10

This is only the the latest in the seemingly neverending series of events that show clearly City of Sydney Council's almost complete disdain for small business. I include their press release first and then a series of reponses from community stakeholders to complete the picture.
-----------------------------------------

City of Sydney Media Release

New Panel Shaping the Future of Sydney Retail Industry, government and the City of Sydney have joined forces to shape the future of retail growth in Sydney.

The City of Sydney has created the new retail advisory panel - 17 leading businesses and stakeholders tasked with positioning Sydney as Australia’s best retail destination.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said the panel would identify and create opportunities for the retail sector to capitalise on major events and tourism campaigns.
“The City of Sydney led Retail Advisory Panel is all about delivering great outcomes for Sydney retail businesses. It will provide advice on how to meet consumer demand,” she said.
Panel members include Westfield, Transport NSW, Australian National Retailers Association, David Jones, IPOH, Dymocks and Tourism NSW.
Minister for Tourism Jodi McKay said Sydney’s dynamic fashion and food scene was boosting the city’s global appeal as a shopping mecca.

“Visiting shoppers are worth more than $1 billion each year to the retail sector in Sydney and NSW,” Ms McKay said.

“Working with Sydney’s leading retailers and with the tourism industry, we can help visitors to Sydney make the most of their trip and encourage them to stay longer and spend more.”

The retail sector employs more than 14% of the City’s workforce, makes up around 37% of all businesses (7,400 businesses) and 13% of floor space in the City of Sydney area.

“Sydney needs an integrated strategy to keep us globally competitive, innovative and vibrant,” Ms Moore said.
Retail Advisory Panel members:
Clover Moore MP, Lord Mayor, City of Sydney
Don Grover, CEO Dymocks Group of Companies (Chair)
Richard Sheldrake, Director General, Department of Industry & Investment
Glen Byres, Executive Director, NSW, Property Council of Australia
The Hon. Patricia Forsythe, Executive Director, Sydney Business Chamber
Stephen Found, Managing Director, The Capitol Theatre
Catherine Gallagher, Acting Executive Director Marketing & Events, SHFA
Victor Gaspar, Group General Manager, IPOH Pty Ltd
Chris Gough, Director, Visit Sydney, Tourism NSW
Andy Hedges, Director Shopping Centre Management & Marketing, Westfield Group
Professor Ken Maher, Executive Chairman, Hassell
Carol Mills, Director General, Communities NSW
Margie Osmond, Chief Executive Officer, Australian National Retailers Association
Liane Rossler, Dinosaur Designs
Angela Vithoulkas, Director, Vivo Café Group
Benjamin Webster, Regional Manager, Sydney CBD, David Jones Ltd
Les Wielinga, Director General, Transport NSW

Media Contacts: Maya Catsanis 02 9265 9553, 0409 045425
Andrew Parkinson (Minister McKay) 0447 202 091

Maya Catsanis
Media and Communications
City of Sydney

Tel: 02 9265 9553
Mob: 0409 045 425
mcatsanis@cityofsydney..nsw.gov.au

=====================================

Dear Lord Mayor,

I was greatly disheartened to learn that the City of Sydney has convened a new retail advisory panel comprised solely of large CBD corporate interests including Westfield, Australian National Retailers Association, David Jones, IPOH and Dymocks. The recent opening of a massive billion dollar shopping mall in the city centre poses a grave and serious threat to small businesses throughout the City’s village precincts. In order to recoup its investment into the Pitt Street mall, the retail giant will seek to suck even more trade from the surrounding precincts at the expense of small, independent retailers around the City fringe, thus posing a significant threat to the lifeblood of the City’s unique, village high streets.

Why isn’t the Lord Mayor convening a Small Business Advisory Group instead? Why is the City convening a retail panel made up solely of traders from the big end of town? Shouldn't she be representing the interests of the little guy? Our unique urban villages are under threat. Small businesses from Oxford Street to Glebe Point Road are doing it tough. Not long ago, Glebe was a thriving urban enclave chock-a-block full of small shops offering original, non homogenised goods and services. Nowadays the Broadway Shopping Centre generates more revenue than the whole of Glebe. Across town, Oxford Street’s daytime economy has been sucked dry by Westfield Bondi Junction. And now with the opening of the Pitt Street mega mall, even more small retail businesses on all sides of the CBD are under threat. Many will go out of business because of Westfield -- which delivers the same sanitised corporate consumer culture as chain franchise outlets all around the globe. If the Lord Mayor were to join me on a tour of San Francisco, I trust she wouldn’t want to visit the new Westfield on Market Street.

Tourists to a global city seek authentic urban experiences, not identikit retail outlets in multi story mega malls. The claim that putting resources into advancing the interests of major retailers will in anyway support tourism is misguided and ill informed. Retail chain stores in mega malls in downtown City centres are not draw cards for global tourism. Having sat on the Sydney Reference Group for Tourism NSW for a year, I can tell you that most major tourism operators agree that the death of the City’s authentic village precincts is one of the reasons global tourists are not spending time or money in Sydney. Sydney’s tourism numbers are substantially down in large part because of the Westfield juggernaut. International tourists used to spend three days in Sydney, now they spend less than a day and a half before they fly off to Melbourne or Queensland to find an authentic Australian experience.

Rather than support Westfield as it seeks to drain money from the surrounding precincts, the Lord Mayor should vigorously support, champion and celebrate the few remaining small businesses that create a unique urban village in what remains of Darlinghurst, Newtown and Glebe. The Lord Mayor is urged to immediately convene a Small Business Advisory Group to address the faltering local retail environment. The City’s business support grants and economic development unit are all a start, but the Lord Mayor cannot afford to assume the City’s struggling village precincts are being looked after; not when Westfield has opened a billion dollar mega mall in the heart of the City. Residents and workers take pride in living in villages with some of the world’s best cafes, shops and high streets in the world. International tourists are attracted to a global city that has its own unique charm and authentic identity. Surely the Lord Mayor does not wish to preside over a City that shifts more and more retail trade into Westfield and surrounds. By not convening a Small Business Advisory Group at the same time that she has convened a group for mega retail interests, she is sending the wrong message at the wrong time.

Lawrence Gibbons
President
Pyrmont Ultimo Chamber of Commerce
2010 Darlinghurst / Surry Hills Business Partnership

=========================================
Well said.
Clover, this is a short sighted vote grabbing insult to the City’s City of Villages concept

Regards
B. N.
=========================================
Hi Monica

How about putting strip retail on an equal footing with shopping centres for once and reprogramming the parking meters to make the first three hours FREE?

Regards

S. T.
=========================================

Four weeks ago at the City East community meeting (Heffron Hall), in front of 100 people, the City of Sydney CEO promised a workshop for small business in our (Lower Oxford Street) area. This was in response to me having pointed out that a) we had been asking for one for two years and b) council had not come back to speak to businesses in the area since the 24 million dollar footpath went through six years ago. It was also indicated that this should go ahead post-haste.

We have since heard nothing about this except for being told by the Economic Development Officer that this would now be rolled up into the existing Cultural Quarter framework: not what we asked for; not what we were promised!

We are still waiting to be contacted, but it’s painfully obvious from this new advisory panel where the Lord Mayor's heart lies, and it is not in her villages.

Stephan Györy
0414 581 919

========================================

From Monica Barone. City of Sydney Council CEO:

Hi
I have spoken to staff and they confirm they are working on a workshop and will be in touch. However we think it would be hard to have this workshop before Christmas.

Also - we do have a small business representative on the retail panel.
thanks
m

Lisa and Jan pls file and Jan pls can I have an update re this forum and can you pls set a date soon and advise Stephan and others

========================================

Monica, with all due respect one appointment of a CBD based operator of cafes, no matter how lovely the individual is, to a panel carrying such a obvious leaning towards large corporate based interests does not representation of small character based business in the villages make.

When Lawrence and myself asked the Minister for Tourism last year how the Government saw the importance of the Villages or Precincts outside of the CBD, and were advised they were 'vital' to the presentation of this city from both a tourism and retail perspective, it seems most unusual no person or body that has immediate and hands on retail experience and knowledge of what is happening in the Villages has been included and even more unusual there is little reference to the Villages/Precincts in the press release(s).

This is especially unusual given:

• A Lord Mayors Advisory Group for the Oxford Street precinct that was in existence as a feedback point on these exact issues was disbanded in 2005/6
• The marketing of Sydney as a destination has been under the City of Villages banner for sometime now - the CBD is just one of those villages is it not?
• The much anticipated Economic Development Strategy initially due December 2008 that would guide this discussion has now been postponed to 2011/12 (http://www.cityofsydney..nsw.gov.au/Business/CityEconomy/EconomicDevelopmentStrategy.asp) AND
• That Sustainable Sydney 2030 has Vibrant Economies and Local Villages as one of it's CORE outcomes (http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/2030/theplan/)
To create an Advisory Panel that seems to have the make-up that will ensure the CBD is working in isolation to the villages seems to be a very unusual and regressive strategy that would be quite disruptive to all of the above goals.

Given it has been quite a shock that such a group materialises with minimal discussion and with such perceived clout would it be possible to provide us all with an overview of the Terms of Reference, defined outcomes and suggested time lines/delivery for this Retail Advisory Panel.

It would be very interesting to know who this eminent panel will be advising, what they will be advising about, what is the intent or outcomes, with what authority, how they are going to engage with other businesses in the City, if there is any larger public or business inclusion/consultation period intended, what the time lines are and what budget allocations they may have.

I am aware that Council is meeting today so appreciate you will be most busy but given the importance of this could you please advise when you would be able to provide the above information.

Many thanks,

Andrew Duckmanton

=====================================

Dear Monica,

The Three Saints Square Project recognises the CoS’s efforts in establishing a Retail Advisory Panel (as per the CoS press release below) as the Lord Mayor said “to identify and create opportunities for the retail sector to capitalise on major events and tourism campaigns” with the advice of panel members including Westfield, Transport NSW, Australian National Retailers Association, David Jones, IPOH, Dymocks and Tourism NSW.

We believe that small business is very important, particularly in regards to the survival and success of high streets and cross streets in the villages.

Therefore we support the aspects of the discussion in the community (below) which request
1) More appropriate Small Business and Village representation on the Retail Advisory Panel to provide a better balance between big and small business and to ensure that the interests of small business and the villages are adequately addressed, &
2) The establishment a Small Business Advisory Panel to focus specifically on CoS policies and how they impact small businesses, to ensure that CoS policies provide an environment which encouraged the establishment, sustainability and growth of small businesses.

Yours Sincerely,
Sue Ritchie
Convenor
Three Saints Square Project.

11/05/2010

This piece from the local newspaper mentions a council spokesman, but not by name. Hopefully the promises of this nameless beaurocrat is worth the electrons its printed in:

http://sxnews.gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/visionless-inept-frustrating-006918.html

=====================================

Visionless, inept, frustrating’
WRITTEN BY BRENDAN BOLGER | 08 MARCH 2010

The City of Sydney Council has been sharply criticised for its lack of consultation with business owners along Oxford Street which has contributed to the demise of the “gay iconic strip”.

Local resident, “caretaker” vice-president of the Darlinghurst Business Partnership (DBP) and co-business owner of The Record Store Stephan Györy said Council has a “habit of planning for us and consulting at us”.

The DBP said it encouraged Council to purchase the vacant T2 premises on Taylor Square, which it congratulated for preventing it becoming another night time venue on the strip, but said it was now concerned that Council will “arbitrarily” decide what was needed at the site.

Council announced in January that its purchase of the “notorious” T2 nightclub would pave the way for “community-based options” including a bicycle shop and repair centre, a cafe, a tour company and a place for cycle groups to meet.

It said in a statement that a local survey from June 2008 found locals wanted less nightclubs, pubs and clubs but wanted more cafes, restaurants and local services.

Györy said however that Council’s creation of the Oxford Street Cultural Quarter under its Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan had placed “layers and layers of bureaucracy between [commercial interests] and the Council”.

He wrote to Council in February to “urge” they commence community consultations for input into “possible additional uses” at the site, but said he has since been ignored.

In his letter, Györy suggested Council changes the community consultation format from public forums and adapt to new technologies.

“For what would surely be far less than the combined financial and time costs of a physical process, you could very simply conduct an online poll,” he wrote, adding that “suggestions” could be included in the poll.

Györy told SX the DBP had also requested an independent facilitator if the consultations were to continue in a forum format, but were flatly refused.

“They just won’t have meetings they can’t control,” he said.

He added that since the multi-million dollar Oxford Street “upgrade”, Council has not once consulted with business owners about the effect the infrastructure changes have had on the entire environment.

DBP caretaker president Andrew Duckmanton said the DBP had originally mooted the cycling centre plan, but also suggested that community organisations have access to the top floor and that the post office be moved back into central Darlinghurst to revitalise the area.

“They are visionless, inept and frustrating,” he said and showed “a lack of support for the daytime economy”.

He said due to the lack of a clear vision for Lower Oxford Street, which he said Council claimed has an economic impact of $540 million per annum, it had left the commercial aspect of the area in an “unsure environment”.

“Even the gay identity is not really grounded,” he said.

“How can it work if the community does not support it, the community is there on the ground every day. We’ve become insular as a community. Somehow this has got to change,” Duckmanton said.

A Council spokesperson said the Oxford Street Cultural Quarter Action Plan was a response to locals who requested that Council build on the area’s strengths.

“Oxford Street and its vicinity have long been appreciated as a creative and cultural centre both locally and internationally … a rich cultural experience for residents and visitors,” she said.

Consultations will be continued with the community in 2010 to develop a deliverable action plan and will be informed by “interviews, workshops, formal consultations and research,” she said.

Meanwhile, Taylor Square could hold regular farmers’ markets comprising 44 stalls that would mainly sell organic produce and “artisan” food products but would also offer cooking demonstrations from local chefs and education resources for sustainable urban living.

Sydney City Council has received a proposal from Sydney Sustainable Markets Inc to commence running the markets each Saturday from 17 April between 8am-1pm for the next 12 months, excluding public holidays

16/03/2010

It is already doing this, as you can tell from the appearance of yet another convenience store next to the Colombian Hotel. How this 1500 people strong multimillion dollar entity (CoS) cannot see the link between our arguments and their alcohol and violence problem, is hard to comprehend. They have themselves acknowledged the problems by supporting the Liquor License freeze and 2am lockout.

One can only put it down to the fact that Clover will not go within 1000 yards of anything that smells of risk. Parks are nice and safe, so she keeps making them. (Note: I am not against parks and acknowledge the necessity of public domain upgrades)

On questioning them, council will insist that they are doing lots for Oxford Street. Let's see them hold a community meeting in the area and put that proposition to the local community.

But ho, they also insist they have meetings for the area, down in Surry Hills and up in Potts Point and when you tell them they are failing to communicate with this community, they insists they are not, failing to see the extreme irony in that proposition.

NB: There has not been a community meeting in the Lower Oxford Street area since the conclusion of the Gateway Project five years ago. When one council staff member was presented with this fact she blithely replied that she thought no one would come.

======================================

Councillors & CEO

Firstly, a hearty thanks for your purchase of the T2 building at Taylor Square. It is good to know that you have begun to respond to our pleas for active management of the area.

To give a bit of context to this email, the suggestion to create a bicycle hub at Taylor Square, which originally came from Andrew Duckmanton of the DBP, was only one part of a broader strategy to “Reclaim the Square”, a concept CEO Monica Barone verbally signed off on at one of our meetings* with her late 2009.

I now write to urge you to consult with the community on possible additional uses for these premises.

A bike hub may attract some people over time, but things like a council one stop shop or post shop would attract a lot of people right away and it is vital for the long term rehabilitation of Taylor Square that it is of use to the largest possible cross-section of the community.

I don’t need to remind you that 2010 is possibly the only postcode in Sydney surrounded by post offices, but containing none. Odd for an area with ¾ billion dollar/year economy and that is home to 25,000 residents.

I would also like to suggest that community consultation does not need to follow the model you currently adhere too. For what would surely be far less than the combined financial and time costs of a physical process, you could very simply conduct an online poll, supported by a direct mail campaign to mop up the non-internet users. Short of that, you already have a very comprehensive email list of community (residents & business) stakeholders.

Just take a poll on the uses you, and we, currently have proposed, as well as providing an fields for additional suggestions.

I was going to wait to bring this up at the Lower Oxford Street and Surrounds [OXLO] community meeting that you are planning for the area, but have decided that the matter is too urgent to leave lying about.

Two other small matters:
1) It seems that in your renovation of 118 Oxford Street you have installed track lighting instead of low energy bulbs.
2) Seeing as how you actively discourage car use in this city, could you please provide e-waste recycling facilities at your one stop shops and also, instead of having a half-yearly stationary collection day in Pyrmont, perhaps you should consider a year round, roving one, like the breast screening bus, just park it in 52 different places a year, a week at a time.
Thank you for your time
Stephan Györy

08/02/2010

12/10/2009

Yet another piece, you would think that the various levels of government would be interested in getting together with the local community (residents & businesses) and tap their local knowledge for suggestions on how to solve this problem. But no, they are too busy off being ineffective and covering their asses.

Daily Telegraph Article

Excerpt: "LATE-night revellers have turned Oxford St into a dangerous chicken run, risking their lives and forcing cars to swerve and dodge.

Some people walk, some run - others just put their hand up to halt oncoming cars and hope for the best.

31/8/2009

excerpt: "I don’t think Oxford Street caters well to anyone,” says Damien Eames, head of Marketing at New Mardi Gras. “I rarely go there anymore… Sydney’s mix of planning controls and liquor licensing restrictions means there are very few high intensity night life districts. There are only so many venues that can be crammed into Kings Cross, Oxford Street and George Street. The market isn’t really that competitive and as a result venues can treat their customers as cattle."

http://www.samesame.com.au/features/4436/Has-Sydney-Fallen-Asleep.htm

24/8/2009

For those of you outside Sydney, bear in mind that this city generates 8% of GDP and gets rorted by the feds on GST as well. If we don’t get our PT system sorted out A.S.A.P. Sydney will continue to be a global laughing stock among other world cities: nothing but a pretty harbour and a cold bleak CBD."

16/7/2009

Council recently held their bi-yearly community meetings: June 30 for Surry Hills (at the new Library) and July 9 for Darlinghurst (at the Rex Centre Potts Point). Needless to say there was little to no discussion of Oxford Street as it is so far away from both these venues (bike lanes on Bourke Street and the 311 bus and were the hot ticket items - both issues local to the immediate surrounds).

2 years ago we pointed out that the LAPs (Local Action Plans) reinforced the concept of Oxford Street as boundary and therefore relegated it to the bureaucratic netherworld. We were assured the new LAP's (the Activity Hubs of Sustainable Sydney 2030) would address this issue.

They have not.

This is no surprise and one can only assume that the entire council is either completely incompetent or have some kind of directive to ignore Lower Oxford Street and let it rot.

One can only wonder.

23/6/2009

Comment from Michael:

Oxford started to die 20 years ago when increasing rents forced most people
to move away from Darlinghurst

The 2am lockout was the last nail in the coffin ... lets face it .. its now
a hassle to go out anywhere near Oxford St on weekends these days.. no
parking and no cabs at 2:30am! (and busses on weekends don't come often
enough)

people don't go out there by themselves any more (when that happens you know
its dead!)

I don't know if it can be saved now without some serious changes in
everything from licensing to transport to freedom to move between clubs.

19/6/2009

See here our submissions on the City of Sydney's DRAFT Corporate plan. As you can see, there are serious grounds for concern regarding the City's management far beyond the confines of Lower Oxford Street, as pointed out rather elegantly in the sydney morning herald article below.

18/6/2009

A excerpt from an article in the English Publication Monocle. As you can see, the problems we have outlined are just part of a far larger picture.

"Sydney, says Monocle, may be blessed by nature, have an enviable lifestyle and a thriving restaurant scene which shows Europe the meaning of service. But its cultural life is a bit patchy and it is cursed by an incompetent council that stymies all opportunities that sweep into the city.

Melbourne on the other hand nurtures its entrepreneurial brands, has a thriving literary and cultural life, values its distinct neighbourhoods and exudes self confidence. It is let down only by its sprawl and buckling train network that has staff handing icecreams out to par boiled passengers."

Please do not take this to mean we hate Sydney and Love Melbourne. We don’t buy into that rival city garbage. This is merely meant to serve as another ‘external’ example of our point. That this city is run by people who at best, have their eyes and ears firmly shut…

11/6/2009

Sydney is not a lovely place in winter. The CBD is a biting wind tunnel, Frank Sartor's granite footpaths are stained with the grease from spilled milkshakes, the sun is thin, the faces chapped and there's a pervading pong of rotten cooking oil and urine.

You've more chance of being crippled for life by a wild-eyed skateboarder than you have of finding a delicious and inexpensive meal after 2.30 in the afternoon. In fact, you can walk the entire length of the city from Central to Circular Quay on some thoroughfares and find nothing other than 1950-style cafes doing ham and cheese on toast.

Forget all the "Emerald City" nonsense, to borrow a line from someone I can't remember; Sydney makes Dallas look like Paris.

Here's another line, from the late great French cultural figure and politician, Andre Malraux. In Paris, he said, the city controls the developers. The developers do not control the city. Naturally he said it in French, so it sounded so much better.

Sydney's what you get when the developers run the place. Badly designed, cheaply finished buildings. You can count on the fingers of one, maybe one-and-a-half, hands buildings constructed in the CBD in the last 50 years where aesthetics were given at least an even break with the money. The big institutions, particularly the banks and Telstra, have given us some shockers.

Still, we're used to shockers: the Cahill Expressway and the monorail have helped deaden our response to whatever fresh hell is around the corner. My personal favourites are the overhead footways criss-crossing the city, like vast vacuum tubes sucking consumers from one shopping extravaganza to another. If ever there was a determined piece of civic uglification it is the overhead pedestrian tunnel - the brute force of commerce crushing charm.

The old Carlton brewery site on Broadway, if work ever recommences, will be massively overdeveloped - as will the Barangaroo project. Opportunity after opportunity is missed - Darling Harbour has the unmistakable aura of a tourist clip joint and that other great promise, Pyrmont, is filled with apartments designed for dwarfs.

Every time an area requiring sensitive management comes on the horizon a special planning committee filled with party hacks, mates, real estaters and "planners" gets to work to eviscerate the promise of something uplifting.

Of course, there's the dazzle of the harbour and one or two incredible structures. You can get the odd good Thai dinner in the suburbs and there's the odd terrific new development (witness the new community centre in Crown Street, Surry Hills).

But what's happened to the soul of Sydney? The fact that the place is crawling with merchant bankers doesn't do much for a soul, but the real drag on the spirit has to be sheeted home to the politicians, who at best are ordinary and at worse dubious.

And that's what the city has become - ordinary and dubious.

There's no leader whoever spruiks the spirited talk of the greatness of city life and urban design. You have to go back 30 or more years to the days of the Department of Urban and Regional Development and Tom Uren to recall any government that had a passing thought about urbanity.

It was never on Howard's radar; however, the Ruddites have just established something called the Major Cities Unit, which exists in the Office of the Infrastructure Co-ordinator, the outfit charged with "prioritising billions of dollars in infrastructure investment".

But, when you look at the visionless political oiks of NSW, night after night on the box, you just know we haven't got a hope. It makes you want to see again that little jumping jack Leo Port, the former lord mayor of Sydney, who at least had some energy and always seemed to be rolling out plans and poring over models for improvements and beautification.

Today there's political paralysis. A few years ago the Government had an opportunity to tear down the Cahill Expressway, but was frozen by the thought that there'd be a backlash from the whingers in the bush if a red cent was spent doing something half-decent for Sydney.

Still, the great beer-barn developments in places such as Kings Cross get waved through the development machine, including the Land and Environment Court, while the small bars are stymied in red tape. Try and get a civilised drink out of sight of a poker machine, just keep trying.

John O'Neill, the chairman of Events NSW, had a piece on these pages on Monday. My pulse quickened as he wrote that the Business Council and a whole pile of other worthies think it's about time something was done about the city and the state. "Something radical, a bit out of left field," he teased. This exciting bit of boldness turned out to be "Brand Sydney", yet another marketing exercise, or putting lipstick on the pig. Apparently "Vivid Sydney", a winter wonderland cultural event, is part of the brand. All I noticed was that the Opera House was lit up.

Yet, Sydney always manages to trick its way into getting listed as an incredibly desirable place to live. It's equal eighth on The Economist's latest "liveability ranking". Last year in something called the annual Anholt City Brands Index it came first. Don't believe it.

On second thoughts that's a measure of branding. O'Neill's people are doing well. Shame about our heart and soul.

justinian@lawpress.com.

15/4/2009

Clover, we implore you to recognise the value of the Inner East and be our champion. Help us access state and federal funds. Take charge of Oxford Street! Help us promote the Inner east, with its huge economy, to the rest of the State, Country and World. Help us show that Sydney is more than just a bridge and a harbour.

Stop the meetings. Show the consultants the door, and take some action! PLEASE!

------------------------------------------

This rant was inspired by the following article:

http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au/news/story/newtown-station-urban-blight-lord-mayor/

Newtown station is an urban blight with vacant shopfronts and big problems with disability access, Lord Mayor Clover Moore has said.
In a rant against the station, in the heart of Newtown, Cr Moore said Town Hall would work with the State Government to try and improve the state of the busy transport hub.
Cr Moore has asked City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone to convene a working group of representatives from the council and State Government to work on the problem.
She said a recent meeting with State representatives had identified Newtown as an important hub.
``There is a problem with vacant shopfronts,’’ Cr Moore said.
``Newtown station is an urban and visual blight. Undoubtedly there are [also] disability access issues around the station'

19/2/2009

After having brought this up with numerous council people on numerous occasions over the course of two years, it was only after this email bomb that the bollards were quietly removed. We post here the Lord Mayor’s response to out initial letter and our reply to it, sent today.

The exchange speaks for itself.

30/1/2009

On the 15th of December 2008 we sent an email to Councillor John McInerney asking whether Clover’s Independent team would consider championing the ‘remaking’ of Oxford Street in the way that they were Albion and Crown. We have, as of this date, not received a reply.

13/12/2008

The City of Sydney Planning Development and Transport Committee meeting on Monday the 8th Dec 2008 and unanimously supported Independent Councillor John McInerney's amendment to pursue returning Foveaux and Albion Streets to two-way traffic. The Reason given was that the current one-way arrangement creates freeway conditions that encourage speed, undermine pedestrian safety and divide the Surry Hills village.

We strongly support this kind of thinking and encourage City of Sydney council to consider Oxford Street in their dealings with the RTA.

4/12/2008

Well done, I look forward to watching the progress of the campaign to save Oxford St.

16/11/2008

Really good work from the DBP. I hope the people in council take the time to read it and re-invigorate the strip.