Dancing in the streets
A group of inner-city locals and small business owners put on their dancing shoes and rallied against government plans to convert Union Square to into a CBD Metro station last Saturday.
The ‘Save Union Square Dance’ saw various speakers voicing their opposition to plans for the demolishing of four historic terraces at numbers 3, 5, 7, and 9 Union Street.
Elizabeth Elenius, convener of Pyrmont Action, has lived in the area for nine years and said she worried Union Square would be closed during Pyrmont station’s construction.
“I feel very strongly about it and certainly I’ll be lying in front of the bulldozer when the time comes, if it comes,” she said.
“It’s a special place for me and it’s a special place for the community. The people who are threatened by acquisition are living in limbo and are very, very upset.”
Ms Elenius said protesters weren’t disputing the CBD Metro, or even the location of the station. “All we’re just disputing is the entrance – we can’t see why it has to be such a huge entrance, when all through cities in Europe there are quite modest, little entrances that just exit onto the street and make minimum impact,” she said.
Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker, who was also present at the rally, agreed construction plans for the station entrance were over the top. “What’s so crazy is that if you go to New York or London, an entrance to a metro is a few meters wide and quite discreet. Whereas what they’re proposing in Rozelle (and Pyrmont) is building massive glass boxes and demolishing eight properties, getting rid of almost 50 jobs,” he said.
“It’s the type of proposal that needs to be seriously rethought.”
In response to community pressure, Transport Minister David Campbell announced last weekend the public would have input into the design of the final stations in Pyrmont and Rozelle.
But Cr Parker said the government had consistently failed to consult the community on the project. “Instead they seemed to be determined [and the CBD Metro] seems to be run more by accountants and engineers rather than having a community focus,” he said.
“If you speak to the councils, whether it be (City of Sydney Mayor) Clover Moore or myself at Leichhardt, we’ve put forward constructive suggestions and they seem to be ignoring them.”
A number of alternate sites have been proposed for the Metro station, including one under Star City Casino, but all have been opposed by Sydney Metro.
Ms Elenius urged the government to listen to community concerns and seriously consider other sites for the Pyrmont station. “The bottom line for Pyrmont Action is it shouldn’t be a matter of cheapest alternative,” Ms Elenius said.
“How can you measure the disruption to the families who have lived and worked on this square for 15 to 20 years and invested their lives in their businesses?”
Cr Parker believes the money set aside for the CBD Metro could be spent on other shovel-ready projects. “When you look at that total investment in excess of $12 billion – maybe even $18 billion – there’s a wealth of other projects that the government could be implementing now. The north-west heavy rail, the south-west; inner city CBD light rail; they’re things that are ready and can be built now,” he said.
“Whereas this mini-metro from our mini-premier, doesn’t deliver for Sydney.”
The closing date for replies to the Metro’s Environmental Assessment is October 12. Respondents had a little over a month to compile their responses to the 450-page development document.
At last week’s Council meeting, the City of Sydney passed a motion calling on Sydney Metro to extend the due date for responses to the Environmental Assessment to December.
“There’s very little time now for us to get the expert advice we need in order to put in our submissions, so we just have to do the best we can,” Ms Elenius said.
by Ehssan Veiszadeh
