Letters to the editor

St Vincents development too large

I am writing as resident of Liverpool Street, six doors down from the corner of West Street and the site of the proposed UNSWVC.

Over the years our neighbourhood has built up. We are lucky have a great trusting, sharing and caring community here. Even though we’re so close to the city we thrive in the village feel of Darlinghurst and respect our heritage listing.

I believe the height for this proposed development is totally unsuitable and unsustainable for our neighbourhood and I am totally opposed to it.

A massive nine storey development would tower over our heritage listed Victorian terrace houses and Public School. Worst of all, it would take away the precious afternoon sun from our back gardens and create a permanent shadow on this landscape.

Logistically, where are all these new workers and visitors going to park? How will the extra traffic impact upon this area? We find it hard enough to find our own parking spaces and we need a guarantee that this proposal will not make it impossible for us to live our everyday lives here.

The other impact traffic will have is on the school children’s safety. 220 children attend Darlinghurst Public School and there is only one pedestrian crossing over Liverpool Street. Where is that? Situated on the exact corner of the proposed UNSWVC.

Can you picture our tiny children crossing with huge construction trucks powering up behind them? It makes me scared for the safety of my children and I wonder if the school community has even been considered by St Vincent’s because it doesn’t appear to be featured anywhere in the ‘concept plan’ for the development.

Environmentally the building also takes away all the green spaces and there will be not one scrap of land left after it has been completely built over by the new development. What will this mean for stormwater run-off and drainage? The proposed plot has a history of flooding, what will happen to our houses’ porous sandstone foundations? I understand no provision has been submitted for stormwater drainage.

The environmental impact from the sheer volume of human traffic on our gardens and streets from litter, cigarette butts, disposable packaging, noise and air pollution created by heating and lighting such massive buildings reduces our quality of life.

If there is any common sense and decency left in City Of Sydney Council, the plans for stage 2 of the UNSWVC should be revised and reduced, or moved totally to an alternative, more suitable location.

Emma Cotterill, Darlinghurst

Studying for the Rat Race

In response to the article “Rat Infestation in Haymarket”, in the last couple of years we have observed an increase in the rat problem in a couple of UTS city areas. We too recognize that this is a very difficult area for rat control due to the large number of rats that have been observed in the general Haymarket area especially Paddy’s Market and Chinatown.

Mary Anne Claridge, Manager – Central Services Branch, Facilities Management Unit, University of Technology, Sydney

The next asbestos: the silent killer

How many people know that the East Sydney community and surrounds is silently being poisoned? The failure and absolute refusal of state government to filtrate toxic stack and portal emissions is outrageous. The most dangerous elements are minute invisible and odourless particles which lodge permanently in people’s lungs, disgorged by vehicle emissions 24 hours a day into the air we all breathe.

As if this were not enough, we have been totally let down and abandoned by a council which has failed to remove one single vehicle from the locally zoned residential streets of East Sydney. These streets currently carry over three times the traffic volume prescribed by the RTA. The East Sydney community has been utterly failed by both city and state governments. Shame on them.

Jane Anderson,