June 9th, 2006
Media Release (Joint release with Sylvia Hale)
Greens spokesperson for planning, Sylvia Hale MLC, and Sydney City Councillor, Chris Harris, have condemned the decision of four government appointees to overrule the three elected members of the Central Sydney Planning Committee and ask Planning Minister Frank Sartor to ‘call in’ the Carlton United Brewery site in Chippendale.
“If the Minister bows to pressure from Fosters to increase the number of units and height of the towers, the impact on Chippendale’s residents will be enormous,” Ms Hale said.
“Not only will Chippendale’s population treble, but the development levies that would usually fund the community facilities needed to provide decent living conditions for residents will be diverted to Redfern/Waterloo.
“This is an exercise in robbing Peter to pay Paul. The government should be providing the funds Redfern/Waterloo so desperately needs, not stripping them from Chippendale.
“Good planning should not result in minimal sunlight, few community facilities and almost no open space. Yet this will be the result if speed and appeasing the developer are the Minister’s dominant concerns.
“The people of Chippendale and of the city of Sydney elected the Council to plan for their future. The Minister should not step in and usurp that role,” said Ms Hale.
Greens City of Sydney Councillor, Chris Harris, says the draft planning controls supported by the Lord Mayor already allow 1800 units, 1750 cars, two towers the height of a football field plus other towers with 20-plus storeys.
“Over 500 of these units could see no sunlight. It is already looking like a slum - how could it be made any worse? It looks like Mr Sartor is willing to give it a try! It is amazing just how much those political donations from developers can buy,” Councillor Harris said.
Posted in Media Release, Development
June 6th, 2006
Media Release
At last night’s City of Sydney council meeting Greens Cr. Chris Harris offered the Lord Mayor the chance to put real substance behind her constant media calls for light rail. The Lord Mayor, Ms. Clover Moore, not only refused the offer but used her casting vote to veto the opportunity.
This was after the Lord Mayor’s office had leaked two reports on light rail thirty six hours earlier to the media but had waited until one hour before the council meeting to hand over those same reports to city councillors. Why?
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Posted in Council, Transport, Media Release
May 8th, 2006
Media Release
Greens Cr Chris Harris has requested that council staff to prepare a report on how the City of Sydney can provide better pedestrian access between Chippendale and Victoria Park. The issue of a pedestrian bridge spanning the North Western section of Chippendale and Victoria Park has long been an aspiration of residents who live in this rapidly expanding part of the City of Sydney.
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Posted in Council, Media Release
April 24th, 2006
Media Release
Following on from the disturbing departure of City of Sydney Council CEO Mr. Peter Seamer, Greens Councillor Chris Harris has obtained explosive legal advice that indicates that the Lord Mayor has acted outside her authority
According to this advice, the Lord Mayor’s power to negotiate a settlement with Mr Seamer would depend upon whether he resigned or was sacked and the Lord Mayor should immediately reveal the details of the CEO’s departure to the Councillors.
Cr Harris: “Whether the Lord Mayor forced the CEO to step down or whether she accepted his resignation with a negotiated confidential payout I have clear legal advice that the Lord Mayor has acted beyond her powers. If the CEO has resigned, as the Lord Mayor claims, the Lord Mayor has no authority to negotiate a settlement. If he has been terminated then the Lord Mayor has acted unlawfully in failing to consult with the Councillors.”
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Posted in Council, Media Release
April 22nd, 2006
Media Release
There was strong interest in the Forum on Homophobic Violence on Oxford Street held at Slide on Tuesday evening. Those who attended were local residents, the Darlinghurst Business partnership, City of Sydney’s new acting CEO Monica Barone, ACON President Adrian Lovney, Det Inspector David Egan-Lee from the Surry Hills Police plus many members of the local GLBTI community. Greens Cr. Chris Harris was the only City of Sydney Councillor to attend the meeting.
Speaker after speaker reinforced that physical violence and verbal vilification of the GLBTI community was a regular feature of life on Oxford St particularly in the higher risk times of Thursday-Saturday evenings.
Many speakers spoke about the importance of having a more visible police force as a way to curb aggressive behaviour towards GLBTI men and women. Views were mixed on the installation of CCTV cameras on Oxford St with privacy concerns and fears that the cameras would be used for other agendas aside from that of anti violence raised.
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Posted in Media Release, LGBTI
