Letters: Can’t Beare that park
Your excellent exposé on Council’s so-called ‘upgrade’ of Beare Park, Elizabeth Bay, highlights the fiasco behind this expensive, multi-million dollar design mistake (City News 15 Jan). Safety concerns are made worse by the lack of proper night lighting. This park is a black hole at night, with nefarious activities occurring in the shadows that increase locals’ well-founded safety concerns. The community can be thankful for papers such as The City News.
Lisa Knight, Elizabeth Bay
A great article on Beare Park and it was interesting to read of similar problems at Pyrmont.
It’s hard to see what they have spent $6 million on. Certainly no new play equipment (which was listed as part of the upgrade), no shade, and not much planting, but a lot of removal including the beautiful art deco railing that surrounded the pond.
As the newly laid grass is suffering from lack of water, with large areas turning yellow, I emailed council asking them why the park was not being watered with the new underground stormwater storage system. So far, no reply.
However last week I noticed workers mowing the grass and the next day Clover Moore arrived with entourage. I wonder if she realizes that the park always gets spruced up the day before she visits’
I raised the watering issue with the project officer and have since seen the sprinklers running.
If only the architect had spent some time in the park, observing what it is used for, perhaps money would have been saved and the various users of the park better accommodated. I hope that more money is not wasted on ‘interpretive’ items that no one understands unless informed.
Is there any way of finding out how the money was spent’ Is there a Council responsibility for ‘transparency’ of spending’
Elaine Paton, Elizabeth Bay
Your letters are welcome in The City News. Please keep them as short as possible and provide your address and phone number (not for publication) so we can verify your bona fides. Letters may be edited. Email to michael@alternativemediagroup.com
