Kinselas battle cuts close to the home
Oxford Street is not what it used to be for Michael Hartigan.
Mr Hartigan has been living in the area for twelve years and says big licensed venues have come to dominate Darlinghurst. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s gone downhill big-time because there’s too many licensed venues in the area,” he said. “We’ve actually lost a lot of the people from the area, both owners and renters, because they’ve had enough with the anti-social behaviour.”
And the cause of this ire? Along with a group of other locals, Mr Hartigan has long been campaigning against large hotels from expanding their premises in the area. But his current battle, against Kinselas Hotel, has seen matters moving a little too close to home.
The hotel has lodged a Development Application with City of Sydney Council to expand its premises and to convert a part of the building to a smoking and gaming area, just six meters from Mr Hartigan’s apartment.
He said other tenants in the building share his worry that the increase in noise and smoke will affect their quality of life. “It’s people’s sleep, it’s their health, it’s their homes,” he said.
“Some people are working two jobs to pay their mortgage. And for whatever reason, I don’t quite understand, the Council and the Land and Environment Court seem to bend over backwards to accommodate these smokers.
“With all the trouble, if you want to start cleaning up Oxford Street, I think we need less licensed venues in the area and they should start closing a few of them down, knocking back their DAs when they change hands, and put in fresh DAs.”
Mr Hartigan fears the planned upgrade to Kinselas will further add to the area’s increasing level of anti-social behaviour. “One of my main concerns is that with all the anti-social behaviour in the area and the alcohol-fueled violence, the last thing we need is a larger hotel,” he said.
“People from out west, their venues close – and then they come in here and they park in our streets and they disturb us residents from our sleep with their cars and their doof-doof music. And they throw rubbish out of their cars and they piss up against our properties.”
by Ehssan Veiszadeh
