News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[omada]

Heritage - Why do we have to "trap" our cities architecture in the Victorian Era ? All in the name of "heritage" - is the architecture really that great? Does ornate plaster cornices and cast iron mouldings really turn you on?? Do the same principles apply to say 50s or 60s buildings? Our CBD should evolve, architecture has evolved, we require more from buildings these days - we need buildings that better suit our environment for a start!

Look I like the odd "heritage" building myself, but we have enough Cottages etc etc in North Adelaide, heritage listing the whole of the CBD would stifle development like never before.

[Wayno]

Heritage - Why do we have to "trap" our cities architecture in the Victorian Era ? All in the name of "heritage" - is the architecture really that great? Does ornate plaster cornices and cast iron mouldings really turn you on?? Do the same principles apply to say 50s or 60s buildings? Our CBD should evolve, architecture has evolved, we require more from buildings these days - we need buildings that better suit our environment for a start!

Look I like the odd "heritage" building myself, but we have enough Cottages etc etc in North Adelaide, heritage listing the whole of the CBD would stifle development like never before.

I might be proven wrong, but most of the "soon to be announced" heritage buildings won't cause grief to developers or stifle development. I can imagine the majority being in North Adelaide side-streets and the southern 'cottage' regions of the CBD. In many cases it might be the facade only that must be retained - which only adds more character and interest to the city-scape.

As an aside, back in the 1950s people were actually ashamed of buildings we now call heritage. In many cases they demolished some beautiful buildings, or placed aluminium cladding over the ornate facades to hide these 'old' buildings I believe this even included one side of the beehive corner building - Omada, would you want that building to be demolished? For a city to have character it should respect and retain aspects of each generation - be it art, or open space, or buildings from the 1800s, or 50's/60s...

I suppose i'm saying your statement seems overly terse...

[skyliner]

It's the degree to which we take things - excessive degree bringing the likes of aluminium cladding, little appreciation for current designs etc etc. Eg I for one am a great fan of SA steam locomotives - all the rest being imposters - to which my wife says 'everyone to his own opinion - but lets get on with what works best'. Total loss of the past things is wrong too - it is degree rather than extremism. (Though I do suspect, relatively speaking, that in Adelaide there is a heavy lean to preservation - such as with 179 KWS proposal).

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[david]

Notes from Councillor David Plumridge - Issue 32
- Visit to Melbourne
- Population Growth
- DAP decisions
- Council Meeting outcomes
David

NOTES FROM COUNCILLOR 32.pdf

(318.17 KiB) Downloaded 158 times

[monotonehell]

Thanks again for your thoughts and observations, David.

I wonder if you could outline the concerns the petition regarding the Sturt Street bike lanes raised? That came out of the blue.

[Brando]

Notes from Councillor David Plumridge - Issue 32
- Visit to Melbourne
- Population Growth
- DAP decisions
- Council Meeting outcomes
David

NOTES FROM COUNCILLOR 32.pdf

Why on earth would you accept an invitation from an obnoxious and arrogant tool...? Robert Doyle is an idiot, regardless of what we can learn from Melbourne. Money would have been better spent in another capital city with equal or better success, invite or not..!

[Howie]

Thanks for your newsletter once again David.

[Nathan]

Thanks again for your thoughts and observations, David.

I wonder if you could outline the concerns the petition regarding the Sturt Street bike lanes raised? That came out of the blue.

That's an interesting one. I've ridden down the bike lane, and I think the idea is great. My issue with it is though is it's just amounted to some islands - the piece of road for the bike lane itself wasn't even touched - meaning it's still a rough bit of road, with numerous seams where it's been patched up over the years, and a gutter that takes up 1/3 of the lane. Now if the lane could be re-surfaced, then we'll be talking. Oh, and it's covered in gravel. Guess the workers forgot about that last stage of cleaning up after they finished.

[UrbanSG]

The whole bike lane has been a waste of time and money. The road itself is in a poor condition so if you expect the bike lane to be perfect good luck. Having it protected one way and then a standard bike lane over the other side of the road is just stupid. Hell I even saw people riding there bikes on the footpath the other day instead of this 'special' bike lane.

The 'special' lane has removed a lot of parking. The footpath widening on the southern side of the street looks terrible with asphalt used between the pavers and the kerb. The whole thing has taken weeks and weeks to complete and looks cheap and rushed even though it has taken so long.

It seems like a huge waste and time of money as it seems like a one-off (I hope to hell it is) and I don't think it could be implemented around many other parts of the CBD.

What the Council needs to do is focus on ensuring all of the painted bike lanes around the CBD actually link up and don't just stop at the most important/dangerous areas. That would help a lot more than this one-off crazy bike lane.

Regarding the petition. If you work or live down this section of Sturt Street you would understand why it got so many signatures.

[Shuz]

Council; please stop wasting money on half-assed bike lanes, and dodgy footpath improvements. People will like you better the more money you actually put into doing up North Terrace properly! Oh wait.. That was dumbed down too.

[Wayno]

David, thanks for the update.

Good to see relationships being forged between VIC-SA. The benefits can't be underestimated (even if Robert Doyle is personality-challenged as someone else said). Also, consider relationship building with the Brisbane City Council as they are now throwing heaps of cash at invigorating their CBD at ground-level (focus on lane-ways, bike paths, public spaces, amenity, etc). I do believe Brisbane worked closely with Melbourne Council to create their latest plans - perhaps we could take a peek at their lessons learned - no use reinventing the wheel.

And yes, resolving Melbourne's heritage debate has truly enabled Developers to purchase property and put forward plans with high confidence. Hoping similar outcomes occur here shortly.

[Will]

Notes from Councillor David Plumridge - Issue 32
- Visit to Melbourne
- Population Growth
- DAP decisions
- Council Meeting outcomes
David

NOTES FROM COUNCILLOR 32.pdf

I hope that your visit to Melbourne helped you and your fellow councillors see alternative methods to better tackle the competing interests between heritage and development.

In Adelaide, we have the problem that our debate regarding heritage has regressed to the point where if there is a heritage building, there is then a 'character' force-field around it which imposes absurd height restrictions and absurd architectural guidelines. Classic examples include the building at Light Square which if the council had, had its way, it would have been reduced in height and forced the architects to give it a faux-heritage facade. Likewise the outcome regarding 199-200 North Terrace is another failure of the system. The initial proposal displayed world class architecture, yet because of our absurd 'character' principles the end result is a ugly building which displays a mish-mash of architectural styles.

In short, what I want to say is that the best way to pay homage to our heritage is to build equally world class modern structures next to them. The Adelaide method of forcing developers to build bland, beige faux-heritage buildings is not ideal.

[Howie]

Council; please stop wasting money on half-assed bike lanes, and dodgy footpath improvements. People will like you better the more money you actually put into doing up North Terrace properly! Oh wait.. That was dumbed down too.

Comes down to money Shuz. You would've seen from their 08/09 budget they had stuff all to do stage II let alone stage III, and you can't just focus on north terrace and leave everything else out (bike lanes, paving, etc). If you want to see North Terrace done, write to your mp, as it's the state government that should be chipping in for these sorts improvements.

[Nathan]

The whole bike lane has been a waste of time and money. The road itself is in a poor condition so if you expect the bike lane to be perfect good luck. Having it protected one way and then a standard bike lane over the other side of the road is just stupid. Hell I even saw people riding there bikes on the footpath the other day instead of this 'special' bike lane.

The 'special' lane has removed a lot of parking. The footpath widening on the southern side of the street looks terrible with asphalt used between the pavers and the kerb. The whole thing has taken weeks and weeks to complete and looks cheap and rushed even though it has taken so long.

It seems like a huge waste and time of money as it seems like a one-off (I hope to hell it is) and I don't think it could be implemented around many other parts of the CBD.

What the Council needs to do is focus on ensuring all of the painted bike lanes around the CBD actually link up and don't just stop at the most important/dangerous areas. That would help a lot more than this one-off crazy bike lane.

Regarding the petition. If you work or live down this section of Sturt Street you would understand why it got so many signatures.

I disagree it's been a complete waste, it's just been done half assed. If done properly by giving the lane a decent surface to ride on, laying grass on the islands instead of leaving them filled with dirt and gravel, and signposting the lane clearly so that people who have never heard of a copenhagen lane before know what the hell it is - then it can become something quite useful. I have no sympathy for the loss of parking. The less cars the better.

[UrbanSG]

I agree the less cars the better in the true core Adelaide CBD where public transport is very accessible and most employers don't require staff to drive their cars and can afford couriers, walk to other nearby offices or can afford company cars.

The truth, whether you like it or not, is that a lot of businesses in the southern parts of the CBD are smaller businesses who are almost 'suburban' in their operations. They have a role to play in this part of the CBD and often do not have on-site parking. Removing car parks in an area like this simply for a one-off bike lane creates a lot of problems for these businesses who set up in this area with existing parking arrangements.

New developments obviously need to include adequate parking but for existing operations that can be impossible. I agree bikes have an important role to play in transport but I hope you are not one of these bike nuts who one day envisages us all riding them. Maybe in Copenhagen where their city is dense and made for bike riding but not in Adelaide where suburban sprawl rules, it just won't work.

Encourage those who can ride bikes by improved painted bike lanes not one-off Copenhagen style lanes that were announced for political purposes around the Tour Down Under event and belong in Copenhagen not sprawl Adelaide.