Letters

Don’t fence us in!
It was disconcerting to read your front page article ‘Please fence us in! Are our new parks a death-trap for children” (City News. 15/01/09). I write to correct a number of false and misleading assertions in relation to the Water Police Park in Pyrmont.

Statements regarding lack of shade are untrue. A purpose-designed shade canopy, 5m X 25m, will be located on the western side of the playground. It will provide a significant shade area as well as ample seating for parents and carers as well as space for stroller/pram parking.

Over 55 trees are to be planted within, and immediately adjacent to, the new playground. These trees are advanced stock ‘ most of them 3’4 metres tall. All natives, the trees have been chosen to marry the specific needs of an urban playground, i.e. shade/safety/biodiversity/park maintenance and management. Two ‘super advanced’ fig trees ‘ over 5m when installed ‘ will have large, spreading canopies. These figs, indeed all these beautiful trees, will provide shade and, of course, wonderful ambience.

I appreciate that the fear of dogs is very real for some people. However, the park has not been formally designated off-leash. The community consultation, which will influence the decision, has not yet taken place and thus the decision has not yet been made.

The new playground has been sited in the safest, most protected area of the park. The existing stone wall, adjacent to Pirrama Road on the southern and eastern perimeters of the playground, provides security and creates an impressive back drop for the playground. Substantial barrier walls with plantings along the edges will be situated on the northern and western sides. There are generous seating areas adjacent to all entries. These have been designed to provide waiting and observation areas for parents and carers. The playground is away from the water and in an area that is least exposed to the wind. It is close to parking and adjacent to the kiosk and toilets.

Current documentation in relation to ‘world’s best practice’ for building playgrounds discusses the negative impacts of fencing. There is evidence that some parents/carers ‘dump and switch off’, presuming that children left in a fenced environment will be OK.

Council will provide a secure environment which balances safety and an exceptional play experience. It is understood that parents and carers will provide responsible guardianship.

It is worth reminding ourselves of the privilege and great good fortune we will share once this exceptional regional park has been completed. We will have one of the world’s best play environments in one of the world’s best settings. Many communities would yearn for such a gift.

Marcelle Hoff, Deputy Lord Mayor

Please fence us in!
The new playground at the ex-Water Police site should be fenced and shaded. I am delighted to learn there will be mature trees and hope they will shade the sand pit and the swings which are located to the east and north of the playground. However the large northern exit is only some 10 metres from the platform which will be under water at high tide. Children who love going up and down steps will have no idea that the platform ends in a drop into deep water. The Sheltered Cove in many ways resembles a pool and will be a magnet for curious children.
I have a grandson who I have been minding and would have been lost without the amenity of the fenced play area in Bicentennial Park in Glebe. There I could chat with other mothers/grandmothers knowing that if he ran off he wasn’t in danger of drowning or being run over. Whilst there is a wall running round the road side of the playground there is also an entrance/exit on to Pirrama Road. It is open and has no gate. It may be more aesthetic to leave the play area unfenced but I think it is crazy to leave it open so near the water and the road.
There will certainly be no opportunity to sit and relax on the seating provided. It’s such a pity as the playground is fantastic (apart from its unfenced status) and could be a wonderful asset for the two local preschools. I won’t go into the dog issue. I just hope they can all read!

Carole Twist, Pyrmont

Off-leash nudists
I’m fascinated by the dog-leash debate that’s raged in Sydney’s media. I’m a nudist and would love some of the freedoms afforded dog owners by Sydney Council.
Could we please use the city’s parks for picnics and recreation as they do in Europe, weather permitting’

Stuart Baanstra, Alexandria

Locals slam injecting centre
The statement in City News (15 Jan) that 70’80% of residents and business suggested that the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre improved amenity in Kings Cross, by taking injecting off the streets, is deeply misleading.

It is the only Injecting Room in the world which sanctions illegal drug use as a ‘health
initiative’ in a Government-funded ‘safe room’. What public message does this give’

Many in the medical profession question this expensive service.

Ask local businesses who have been forced to close. Ask the banks who relocated to Macleay Street. Ask the residents who watch the daily criminal dealing from those coming into the area to sell drugs to addicts on Darlinghurst Road and adjacent streets.

Ponder where the illegal drugs came from to provide 7.500 drug incidents at the MSIC.

Who supplied these drugs to these addicts’ Where did they supply them’ On the local streets of course. Drug selling is illegal, isn’t it’

Where does the money come from to purchase these costly drugs in the first place’ Through Centrelink payments, plus illegal street dealing is the answer. Now addicts seek another $5/7 daily payment, no doubt to supplement more drugs.

Locals want the Injecting Room and K2 removed from our village streets, believing the newly expanded St Vincents Drug Support services, a block away, to be a superior treatment centre.

Many residents are fed up and intimidated with the sleazy, criminal dealers, hanging around the station and shopping strip, posing ongoing problems for our hard-working decent Police officers.

We believe the Salvation Army and other church organisations who opposed this facility in favour of proper hands-on assistance offer the only way to get the addicted healthy.

Our Health services are in financial crisis, with nursing numbers due to be cut back, yet the MSIC continues to request funding. Is this fair to the seriously ill’ Addicts can make a choice.

R.E. Hall and Darlinghurst Residents

Editor’s note: There have been three telephone surveys conducted of Kings Cross residents and businesses, in 2000, 2002 and 2005. These were conducted by independent evaluation teams using random-digit dialling to ensure fair representation of the community. The response rate was high, 75% or more on each occasion.

Nearly 2000 responses were collated in total.

Support for the MSIC has increased over time. Three quarters of local residents are supportive, and 68% of local businesses. When looking at residents who have been in the area for five years or more, and thus more aware of the history of Kings Cross, support for the MSIC increases to 80%.

The MSIC is funded from confiscated proceeds of crime.