Interesting tid-bit

Apparently, half the households in Redfern-Waterloo do not own a car.

Crossing City Road

In the Sydney Central Courier this week, the Chippendale Residents Interest Group argues for a bridge over City Road to better link Chippendale to Victoria Park. In response, City of Sydney agrees there is a need to better link Chippendale to Victoria Park, but argues that a pedestrian crossing is a better option that a bridge, and says a request is with the RTA already.

I'd have to agree that a pedestrian crossing makes much more sense than a bridge. My only concern is that RTA has rejecetd requests for pedestrian crossings on City Road in the past, so what will prevent this happening again?

Global warming is good for you!

Here's the link.

It's like something out of a mockumentary.

Boundary Lane Children's Centre

How could I blog about our neighbourhood for so long without publicly thanking the crew at Boundary Lane Children's Centre?

Thank you!

We know our boys are safe when they're in your care.

Sustainable House

I keep hoping the sustainable house on Myrtle St will have an open day in which they waive the $990 tour fee, but so far no luck. Looks like I'll have to make do with perusing the website, admiring the native plants growing in the front porch, and catching glimpses of solar panels when we walk down Paints Lane.

Blotting out those Broadway buses

I'm borrowing a pair of Phitek noise-cancelling headphones, and I'm not looking forward to giving them back.

When I walk to work in the city, I can now hear Sonic Youth more clearly than the Broadway Buses. When I pound the treadmill at Victoria Park Pool, I can now lose myself in the Cosmic Psychos, rather than pay TV muzak. (Which, by the way, they had on softly when I first paid my subscription fee, but they now blare out at full-blast.)

Who said money can't make you happy? If it means I can buy a pair of my own, I'll be in heaven.

Iemma picks his agenda...

...and it's not transport. It's law an order. Not a huge surprise, really.

Crime and social dislocation are huge and important challenges, but for Iemma the real challenge will be in portraying himself as "tough on crime" without decending into the public judge-baiting and ghetto-bashing of the Liberals. Or maybe he won't worry about that too much. Sort of a "vote for us — we're as loud as the Liberals only we have a decade of experience" strategy.

Where does that leave public transport? So far, not on the election agenda of either major party.

The people of Chippendale who should be able to help us all by selling their cars still cannot afford to do so. And everyone else either still spends more than three hours a day in traffic, spewing carbon into the atmosphere — or is cut off from mainstream Sydney completely. And another election cycle rolls by.

How depressing. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to distribute preferences.

Google Maps comes to Australia

Here's the link for Chippendale.

I will change my vote for transport

Today, first the first time in a long, long time, both The Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald led with NSW's transport crisis.

It's time for lightrail in the city. It's time for heavy rail to the outer north-west and south-west. It's time for normal ticket prices on the airport line. It's time for integrated, electronic ticketing. It's time for secure bicycle parking at train stations. It's time to connect people across Sydney to jobs and universities that are near the city without craming everyone into cars and buses and killing us all with global warming. It's time for leadership.

The newspapers can rattle the chains, but I fear that NSW Labor thinks if they ignore it long enough it will go away. And they could be right, so let's not let them ignore us.

That's why I pledge, today, that I will change my vote for transport. I have been a life-long Labor voter. Every election since I was 18, I have either voted Labor or voted minority (Green/Democrat) and given my preferences to Labor ahead of the Liberals. But in the coming election, if the NSW Liberals present a credible integrated public transport policy and Labor still hasn't begun implementing basic concepts that Carr first began discussing almost a decade ago, I will do the unthinkable and vote Liberal.

But this will only work if it's a mass movement. If you're willing to do the same, forward this as an email or write this as a blog post. If the momentum builds and we get a real movement, my vote is up for grabs.

Citizen defence

AAP is reporting that patrons in a hotel in Abercrombie St threw bar stools at would-be armed robbers until they fled. A few months ago, The Daily Telegraph reported that a newsagent in Abercrombie St also fought off an armed robber. Takes hutzpah.

Glebe blog

Our neighbours in Glebe and Forest Lodge have a blog of their own. The main focus seems to be on preserving remnant bushland. I've made a mental note to go find these trees myself next time we have a sunny Saturday.

Peace and Batman

Last week forty odd people aged between eight months and seventy years descended on the Pine Street Peace Park to celebrate our oldest child turning four.

The Peace Park is a truly tranquil and secluded spot only a block back from Cleveland Street, but you'd never know it was there. It's a perfect safe haven to head when the kids are stir crazy and we, like lots of local parents, spend a fair bit of time there. It's become a real meeting point and I know one Parents' Group that meets there regularly. A friend said it reminded her of parks in Europe, probably because most locals either have either small or no backyard — much more typical in European cities than ours — and so rely on communal outdoor spaces.

Back to the party. I'd been waking in a cold sweat all that week, petrified that we'd arrive armed with balloons, cup cakes and various super-hero accoutrement and find a poorly-publicised community event was already in full swing and we'd have to re-route to our place. Where the hell would I put all those bodies in our tiny terrace?

Thankfully, we found the park empty and Sunday was a gloriously sunny day indeed. After a medicinal long black from Mark Anthony's cafe, we were ready to inflict some order on the event. Laying out Batman party plates and whistles, hanging balloons around, pouring juice into Batman cups.

Birthday Batman, and his ragtag assortment of super-friends (Spidermen, Catgirls, more Batmen and boys) suffered an interlude of relative order to share the booty during Pass the Parcel (musical accompaniment on acoustic guitar). I'd even planned some extra loot for local kids who happened to be in the park and wanted to join in the fun.

The cafe did a roaring trade in takeaway lattes and long blacks as the adult contingent made the most of their kids being well and truly occupied for two hours in the safety of the park.

That's when I noticed the army of small feet grinding Batman chocolate cake into the grass and thanked some divinity or other it wasn't my carpet. I suspect this is not the last party we'll host at the Peace Park.

Eternity

That's what it says on the signboard at Barney's, after the fire.

The words, of course, invoke the work of artist Arthur Stace, who was a congregant.

They also remind us of the church's history of duelling signboards with the The Broadway Hotel across the road. To see a permanent memorial to "the publican and the priest", cross over to the corner of Shepherd St and Broadway, and read the words embedded with metal into the footpath.

Fire at Barney's

St Barnabas Church has been gutted by fire. A piece of history lost in an instant. There will be many long faces I'm sure.

Abolish second residential parking permits

In our area, residents are allowed two parking permits, despite the fact that most homes are the width of one car, and therefore the amount of available parking is the equivalent of one per home. This is crazy!

I'm not asking for a double garage with internal stairs to the game room and spa. I just want to avoid having to carry two kids and shopping two blocks in the rain to get to our parked car in the morning.

City of Sydney, please install parking meters and abolish the second residential parking permit now!

Cardinal George Pell on global warming

"Some of the hysteric and extreme claims about global warming are also a symptom of pagan emptiness"

Source: Crikey

Good grief!

Church Mouse Journal

The Catholic Church in Redfern has been in turmoil over its relationship with parishioners, particuarly the Aboriginal community. Anyone wanting to stay on top of this should keep an eye on Church Mouse Journal.