A tunnel too far for Oxford Street?
BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS .
Sydney Matters Lord Mayoral candidate Angela Vithoulkas has a plan which she thinks will solve Oxford Street’s problems once and for all.
“We know what the area needs, it needs bold strong plan,” Angela Vithoulkas told City Hub.
Along with Clr Edward Mandla, who has joined the Sydney Matters Team, the team is calling for a “cut and cover” tunnel that would start at College St near Hyde Park and run up the street until it reached Syd Einfield Drive.
Vithoulkas said traffic was the common problem on Oxford Street, and the tunnel would go some way towards addressing that.
“It affects everybody in the local community, including both residents and business owners and it is stopping outside people from attending the local business.”
Clr Mandla said that the state government could be enticed to come on board if local businesses and residents showed the government it was a plan they wanted for their area.
“We know a little bit about government lobbying, when the people have a plan for an area, and it is splashed in the newspapers, and there is a movement, it is amazing how quickly the state government could buckle to that,” Clr Mandla said.
President of the Darlinghurst Business Partnership said it was great that people in council were taking an interest in the area. He said it was important that the council was open to new, bold ideas.
He said in his experience the council bureaucracy could not deliver for local businesses. Instead, he called on the council to deliver more funds for business support because of the millions of dollars in rates local businesses put in council coffers.
“There is scope for the City spending more money, I would be against them doing it internally, the last thing we need is more bureaucracy.”
Mr Gyory said the tunnel could have the potential to have the unwanted effect of taking more people off the street. He said foot traffic had been made worse by the introduction of the lockout in the area. This he said could further decrease the levels of foot traffic in the area.
“We like people being on the street. The risk of people being under the street, is taking people out of the area. The biggest issue isn’t parking, even though everyone has a story about how they couldn’t find a park.”
He said that some of the existing council owned buildings had been left derelict.
“A lot of them have been empty for years, this is an opportunity to have some retail, some affordable housing, some apartments up the top maybe five levels, make sure those apartments have parking, and you can rejuvenate that area.”
