July meeting: C2E, Alex Hotel update, AGM

Posted on 12 July, 2016 by Ben Aveling

The agenda for Wednesday’s ARAG meeting (13/7) is:

1. Central to Eveleigh

Development along the rail corridor between
Central and Eveleigh stations.

Guest speaker: Matthew White, Program Director, UrbanGrowth NSW.

2. Update on Alexandria Hotel

Land and Environment Court proceedings have resumed.

There will be a ‘Mediation’ meeting between the developer, and Council,
and Residents: Aug 4, 9:30am, on-site

3. AGM.

Anyone who wishes to become more involved in the Residents Group is
encouraged to nominate to join the Executive.

Sydney Metro submissions close today (Mon 27/6)

Posted on 27 June, 2016 by Ben Aveling

Today (Monday 2/6) is the last opportunity to lodge a comment on the so-called Sydney Metro.

See our previous post for ways to object, or visit the majorprojects website.

The reason I say so-called Metro, is because this isn’t really a Metro. It has some of the features of a Metro, but not the good ones. Continue reading →

Sydney Metro – not what it should have been

Posted on 19 June, 2016 by Ben Aveling

Cities all over the world are converting from single deck trains to double deck trains. Why then, is Sydney going in the other direction?

Why are the Metro tunnels going to be just too small for conventional trains? Why is the Bankstown line being downgraded from double deck to single deck?

EcoTransit, the public transport advocacy group, aren’t impressed.

Submissions on the Metro close on 27 June – see our previous post on this topic.

EcoTransit have released a flyer and a pro-forma submission with more information which you may wish to draw if you are considering preparing your own submission.

Meet the Candidates – 22nd June

Posted on 5 June, 2016 by Ben Aveling

This month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday 22 June, at 7pm, at Alexandria Town Hall. (Not our usual date!)

The meeting will be a Meet the Candidates for the Federal Seat of Sydney, and is being jointly organised by RedWatch, Friends of Erskineville and ARAG. Continue reading →

A resident’s submission on the Sydney Metro

Posted on 22 May, 2016 by Ben Aveling

As you probably know by now, the State Government has announced that the ‘Sydney Metro’ will have a station at Waterloo, immediately south-east of the intersection between Botany Road and Raglan Street.

The first Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project has been released, and is available here. Continue reading →

ARAG thanks Clover Moore and City of Sydney for Opposition to WestConnex

Posted on 22 May, 2016 by Ben Aveling

At last Monday’s City of Sydney Council meeting, Lord Mayor Clover Moore made the following statement of opposition to WestConnex:

‘I can assure the City community that the City Government I lead will do everything we can to expose and stop this destructive project.’

The Lord Mayor recommended Continue reading →

PRESS RELEASE: ARAG WELCOMES WESTCONNEX AUDIT

Posted on 18 May, 2016 by Ben Aveling

Alexandria Residents’ Action Group (ARAG) welcomes the decision by the Federal Auditor General to conduct a Performance Audit in relation to the “Approval and Administration of Commonwealth Funding for the WestConnex project”.

We are pleased by the decision to examine whether the Commonwealth’s involvement was properly informed by appropriate advice and followed the established processes as apply to nationally significant infrastructure investments.

The NSW Auditor-General’s Report into WestConnex in 2014 was damning, Continue reading →

Time to lodge your objection to Alexandria Hotel DA

Posted on 30 April, 2016 by Ben Aveling

Things you need to know about the new DA for the Alexandria Hotel:

Floor-to-space ratio massively exceeds Council’s clearly-stated limit of 2.5:1;
Building height massively exceeds Council’s clearly-stated height limit;
Building size and bulk, and overshadowing of the heritage-listed Alexandria Hotel;
Lack of an approved plan to build over the Redfern-Erskineville rail tunnel;
Lack of approval to access property belonging to the Australian Technology Park;
Lack of off-street resident parking, and
Lack of clear waste-management processes.

For more information, visit savethealexpub.tumblr.com.

To object:

To lodge an objection to a Development Application (also known as a DA), you need to Continue reading →

PRESS RELEASE: GOVERNMENT’S OWN NUMBERS SHOW NEW M5 WILL BE A WORSE DISASTER THAN THE CROSS-CITY TUNNEL

Posted on 22 April, 2016 by Ben Aveling

Alexandria Residents Action Group condemns yesterday’s approval of the New M5.

The New M5 will be a financial disaster for the NSW budget, and for motorists who currently use the M4 and the M5 for free.

The project will not reduce overall congestion.

Ministers Stokes and Gay are misrepresenting the New M5 EIS. Continue reading →

Is Duncan Gay a Time Lord?

Posted on 17 April, 2016 by Ben Aveling

Duncan Gay has said that WestConnex is a “magic tunnel“. It appears it’s also a time machine.

According to westconnex.com.au, using WestConnex to travel the 12k from Homebush Bay Drive to Parramatta Road, Camperdown, will take 15 minutes.

Obviously, that can only be true if WestConnex does manage to ‘cure’ congestion. But let’s suspend disbelief for a moment, while we travel another 3k along Duncan’s Magic Tunnel, beyond Camperdown, to the St Peters Interchange.

Now how long is the total journey?

That’s right, 12 minutes. We’ve travelled 3k in WestConnex, and we’ve gone backwards in time by 3 minutes.

It’s not just a Magic Tunnel, it’s a Time Machine.

This has been said before, but WestConnex does not add up, does not add up, does not add up.

The M4-M5 tunnel is supposed to cure congestion, and it’s supposed to carry 120,000 cars a day. Unless it truly is a Magic Tunnel, it can’t do both of those things.

WestConnex is going to cost $16.8B, or more.

It’s time the traffic modelling was released. And it’s time WestConnex was audited.