The expensive Golden Mile

Follow the grey brick crossing

At the end of February this year the roadway of a minor one way street leading off the part of Oxford Street referred to as the Gay Golden Mile had been torn up. A few days before the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade it was resurfaced with asphalt and all the barriers and equipment were removed. After about a week later the equipment and barriers were back and the roadway was torn up again.

We eventually got to see the purpose of this activity. The painted pedestrian crossing was replaced with a cobblestone painted pedestrian crossing. But it turned out that this was just a minor squandering of ratepayer and taxpayer money.

Friends of Clover 

Before the Mardi Gras Parade, Sydney City Council, without seeking permission from Main Roads who has authority over this road, arranged for coloured stripes to be painted over the zebra crossing at the other end of this section of Oxford Street. It was conceded that the crossing was a danger to pedestrians and drivers with people posing for photographs on the crossing as shown above, but most likely in the early hours of the morning when the pubs were closing.

It cost the taxpayers an estimated $110,000 to strip the asphalt from the crossing and then replace it, so the zebra markings could be restored. And the taxpayers got off lightly. Clover Moore was demanding that the State Government employ lollypop officers for 24 hours a day to patrol the crossing.