The dark side of girl power

The revised design of the Ward Park stop is described cursorily in text only. Apparently the legal advice is that it encroaches only upon the footpath described in the EIS and the EIS had stated that all street trees in Devonshire Street would be destroyed so there was no need to give details of the changes. It appears that the EIS only has to deal with the life of trees: the hazard to the lives of human beings is not a matter of concern.

Diagram from SCCAS

The pedestrianisation of Chalmers Street is such a radical departure from the contradictory designs exhibited in the EIS that there is a whole new set of cropped figures and tables. The text asserts that: "the use of Elizabeth Street as a traffic bypass is consistent with the approach to the broader road network within the city centre (as oulined in the Sydney City Centre Access Strategy (NSW Government 2013a)).

This is blatantly untrue. The SCCAS brochure released on 9/11 2013 contained the figure left which had an arrow pointing along Randle Street with a tag "2" but there was nothing in the text referring to this tag.

Two bus stops are shown in Chalmers Street in circle "1" and the text states: "It is likely that only two lanes will be available for general traffic and bus operations in Chalmers Street based on the needs of light rail operations".

Diagram from SCCAS

The figure showing the "future city centre bus network" in the SCCAS brochure showed, believe it or not, an arrow pointing against the flow of traffic along Chalmers Street.

This figure was reproduced with inexplicable alterations in the EIS and again in the brochure "Sydney's bus future", released a couple of working days before the deadline for making submissions closed. All the available information for people making submissions on the EIS has shown bus routes into the city along Chalmers Street.

No Government Information released before the the EIS was exhibited or at the end of the exhibition period, and none of the contradictory descriptions and deliberately cropped figures included in the EIS would have caused anyone to suspect that:

1. Chalmers Street would be "pedestrianised"
2. A "pinch-point" for bus routes from the south would be created in Elizabeth Street
3. Buses would be trapped in a bus bay at the Foveaux Street intersection
4. People exiting from the Devonshire Street tunnel and the Eddy Avenue entrance to Central Station would be forced to cross tram tracks blindsided to approaching trams
5. Pedestrians waiting to cross the tram lines would be broadsided by cyclists from a two-way cycle path.

The SCCAS document and the EIS itself were designed to deny people making submissions to the EIS in good faith the opportunity to object to the outrageous flaws in the system. The only rational explanation for pedestrianising Chalmers Street is that the Wicked Witch of the North has gotten together with Clover Moore in a conflagration of Evil.

TfNSW is asking the Department if Planning to give its approval to the project without releasing any information about the effects it expects upon bus routes to the CBD. It would be a travesty of the EIS legislation for approval to be given before anyone has been in a position to independently and properly assess the consequences for the CBD.

The Good Side of Girl Power

The NSW premier before O'Farrell, Kristina Keneally told the Independent Commission Against Corruption that "corruption had ultimately been thwarted because two women in powerful positions said 'no'". She was referring to herself and to the former head of Sydney Water, Kerry Schott. The Channel 10 news segment was labelled Girl Power: http://tenplay.com.au/news/sydney/2014/3/27/girl-power

In her evidence she referred to a cabinet minute that wouldn't die until she "drove a stake through its heart". Her government had also rejected the idea of running trams along George Street but O'Farrell would revive this, make the rails two-way and pedestrianise most of George Street, on a personal whim. The ICAC inquiry has emphasised the importance in the Westminster System of having Public Servants with integrity and who give independent advice to the government ministers.

It will probably fall to Penny Sharpe to finally drive a stake through the heart of this preposterous project.