Transport for NSW had assured "stakeholders" in October 2012 that all routes considered for light rail had been discounted except for a tunnel under Surry Hills. A little over a month later they released a glossy brochure showing the tram lines passing along Devonshire Street with a dot between Riley Street and Crown Street. The Deputy Director General Chris Lock has since proclaimed this dot to be the raison d'etat for running the rails along the streets of Surry Hills.
It has been impossible to obtain any further information about this dot other than the name. It is called Devonshire Street Ward Park, ironically since it shuts down Devonshire Street as a through connection between Riley Street and Crown and Bourke Streets. It is in fact the stops that caused the trams to be removed from Sydney Streets in the 1950's. With a paired rail system the pedestrian areas for passengers to alight close down a lane of traffic. When the street is narrow as Devonshire Street you end up with what the City Council proclaims as pedestrianization.
Riley Street originally connected Woolloomooloo with Cleveland Street, a street to rival Crown Street. A section was obliterated to give residents of Northcott Place ready access to Ward Park. This was OK because Devonshire Street gave Riley Street access to Crown and Bourke Streets. Now without any consultation or warning the access is obliterated with a dot of a Public Servant's texta.
Devonshire Street is the only connection between these roads south of Albion/Foveaux Streets and its closure creates two ghettos - the Ghetto south of Devonshire Street, the public housing ghetto, and the Ghetto west of Crown Street.
And it gets worse, much worse. The O'Farrell Government has secret agendas that will make access to Surry Hills west of Crown much more difficult from every direction except the Eastern Suburbs, with devastating consequences for all businesses in the area. We will have to prize admissions from the Government before we can discuss these matters.
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