This is a local road for local people!

The road to mistrust

As the incoming Obama administration readied for the White House, former senior Clinton advisors wrote a report: “Change You Can Believe In Needs a Government You Can Trust”. With public mistrust so high, they warned the new administration to move cautiously before pushing through any transformational agenda.

UNSW’s College of Fine Arts should have read it. UNSW’s big-bang approach to ramming residents with the construction fallout from the $50 million redevelopment of its COFA campus are pure hubris over commonsense.

Rather than building trust, COFA has inflated mistrust. Instead of building bridges, COFA planned an ambush. Once again the Community feels that COFA has no regard for their concerns, their fears or insecurities, leaving us disheartened and very, very angry.

Major "take-outs" from the Thursday meeting

In as straightfoward and dispassionate manner possible - here are the major takeouts from the Thursday meeting.

COFA + UNSW presented a new and more comprehensive Traffic Management Plan for Demolition, Excavation and Construction of COFA, in Paddington, prior to lodging with Council. This plan is for the whole duration of the project, 27 months, instead of just demolition, which is what their previous plan detailed.

'Community' Summary (a summary of the summary)

a) Albion Avenue and Selwyn Streets will get 27+ months of construction trucks
b) The east end of Napier St will get 25+ months of construction trucks 
c) The residential end of Greens Rd will get 27+ months of construction trucks
d) These are in breach of the DA commitments made to the NSW Director General in 2008

How was that for you, dear?

From a resident who attended the Thursday meeting at COFA

I don't know about you but I felt confused and a little bit unwell after the meeting.
I spoke to some of my neighbours the next day, and they were all saying the same thing – they felt, like me, that they'd been bruised, battered, pushed around and manhandled. That they'd been mistreated – grabbed, shoved and mauled.

And they wondered why?