When: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Where: Erskineville Town Hall
Time: 7pm

Get ready for the Newtown Candidates Forum on March 15th, 7pm at Erskineville Town Hall. So far Jenny Leong and David Hetherington – Labor for Newtown are confirmed.

The candidates will be asked to answer the following 3 questions based on the top issues raised by residents in our survey:

1. What will your party commit to that will reduce the impact of climate change and speed up the transition from fossil fuels to renewables?

2. How will you ensure that there are guaranteed increases in public, social and affordable housing in all new developments and that these remain in perpetuity?

3. What will you do to improve the connectivity of public transport in NSW as well as increasing cycling and walkability in our urban areas?

Cohosted by RedWatch, Friends of Erskineville and ARAG

A State Election Candidates Forum for the seat of Heffron is being held on Wednesday, 8 February at 7pm at the Alexandria Town Hall by:

• The Alexandria Residents Action Group (ARAG) and
• REDWatch

As in past years, we survey residents to determine the key issues that you want to hear about from each of the candidates.  Each candidate will be asked to address the issues within their allotted time.

Click on the survey below or the image and tell us what matters to you.

2023 NSW State Election Candidate Forum – Seat of Heffron Survey

Survey closes 1 February 2023.

You may be aware of our campaigns to ensure barrier-free access to the new southern concourse at Redfern station, and to build a new pedestrian bridge to connect South Eveleigh and North Eveleigh.

We’d love it if you could help by making a submission to those responsible. It won’t take long and we know from experience that individual submissions carry the most weight.

Please copy & paste the text below, modify it as you see fit, or even write your own. The easiest way is to use the contact forms linked here:

David Elliott
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-transport-veterans-and-western-sydney

Rob Stokes
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-infrastructure-cities-active-transport

Dominic Perrotet
https://www.nsw.gov.au/premier-of-nsw/contact-premier

Thanks, and Happy New Year!

Attn:       
   The NSW Minister for Transport and Roads, David Elliott
   The NSW Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport, Rob Stokes
   The Premier of NSW, Dominic Perrotet
 
I am writing to express my concern about two key issues as a resident of Alexandria and urge you to take action immediately:

- Barrier free access at Redfern Station and
- The need for a bridge from South Eveleigh to North Eveleigh.


Barrier-free access at Redfern Station

It is important that barrier-free access is provided across the new Southern Concourse at Redfern Station.  Although we understand that Transport for NSW has indicated that the matter is still being considered if as I believe, this will still require an Opal Card or Credit Card to tap on and off, this presents a barrier to free access for the community.

I urge you to ensure that the Southern Concourse is barrier free.
 

Building a bridge between South and North Eveleigh

The NSW Government is undertaking several major developments in the area that will impact the whole area and see the increased use of this already busy transit hub.

Two of those proposed developments currently under consideration are rezoning proposals for the Paint Shop sub-precinct in North Eveleigh and the Large Erecting Shed in South Eveleigh.

Neither of these proposals commit to delivering the bridge connection that has been in the Redfern Waterloo Authority’s plans for the precinct since at least 2006.

The community has advocated for a bridge across the railway tracks in their submissions to the Department of Planning and Environment for these two proposals.

This bridge would be a vital connection to bring communities together and for easy access to key facilities such as the University of Sydney campus, Carriageworks and the Gibbons Street bus interchange.

I urge the NSW Government to commit to providing an active transport bridge across the railway tracks using the proceeds of the sale of Australian Technology Park.

This must be delivered as part of the redevelopment of land in North and South Eveleigh, and not delayed indefinitely.

Friends of Erskineville are organising a public meeting to discuss the proposed development at North Eveleigh.

The North Eveleigh Paintshop precinct is 5 hectares of precious, heritage-rich public land adjacent to Redfern Station that the NSW government plans to privatise and commercialise.

In 2020, the land was transferred from RailCorp to the controversial Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE), described as an ‘accounting sham‘.

The project was announced in July and declared State Significant Development, giving the Planning Minister complete discretion to overrule the usual planning processes.

The plans will result in 1.4 hectares of publicly accessible open space: essentially an office park with a small amount of ‘affordable housing’ and no public housing. In a recent Sydney Morning Herald article, former City of Sydney councillor Philip Thalis described it and other related plans as the ‘bastard offspring’ of Barangaroo. Our community campaign for an active transport bridge to South Eveleigh has been ignored, despite being promised as far back as 2006. The meeting will have an introduction from REDWatch’s Geoff Turnbull with plenty of time for discussion. Local Greens MP Jenny Leong and Labor candidate David Hetherington will be there to hear your views and respond. Councillors William Chan, Sylvie Ellsmore and Linda Scott will also be joining us.

Come along to this important public meeting to learn more and discuss what the community really needs. If we want our neighbourhood to be the best it can be, we need to show that we care and get our elected representatives to help us achieve it.

WHERE: Erskineville Town Hall
WHEN: 2pm Sunday November 6th
MORE INFO: Facebook event link

As you may know, ARAG along with Friend of Erskineville and Redwatch have been campaigning for a bridge to connect the North and South Eveleigh precincts. For some reason, even with the proposed massive redevelopment of North Eveleigh, a bridge is not part of the plan. We feel it would connect the communities and facilities that are currently a world away “over the train tracks”.

You can find out about the proposal and how to write a letter here (it’s really easy!)
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/build-a-bridge

Our good friends at FoE are holding a stall outside Carriageworks on Sep 10th from 8am to 1pm with the aim of picking up more support for the proposal.

If you’re able to help them on the stall, please contact them at friends@friendsoferskineville.org

We are looking to getting our regular meetings up and running again soon, and would like to add some new members to the ARAG committee. If you would like to join and help, please email info@arag.org.au !

It is with great sadness that we advise that Eric Jackson has passed away after a short illness.

We extend our sincere condolences to Patti and his family – he will be greatly missed.

Eric was a long time Alexandria resident who was often found walking his beloved dog, the latest one being  Harley who is quite a character.

He had an extraordinary memory for the history of Alexandria and many of the memorable things that have happened in our neighborhood.

Eric was a great supporter of the Alexandria Residents Action Group and helped out by delivering the flyers for the monthly meetings and the Alexandria Sunday Funday.

He was a man who enjoyed life and I know that we will miss his smiling face and willingness to share a story.

Vale Eric!