#VISION Liberal's railyard plan: new stadium & entertainment

[Paulns]

Brilliant idea! What I cant believe is that people whinge when there's no vision and then when there is a vision they whinge again???? Its no wonder why the rest of Australia still thinks SA's a rust bucket and backwater. Not my thoughts but unfortunately thats still the reality for SA unless people in this state start thinking and visualising with a more positive attitude rather than just knock every idea thats released.

[pushbutton]

They've only just spent millions upgrading AAMI stadium so why consider demolishing it and replacing it with a new stadium in the middle of the city centre where it will just cause unnecessary traffic congestion and parking problems? Having said that, admittedly AAMI stadium could do with even further upgrading but I don't think it's beyond repair and it's certainly a far better location than the CBD railyards.

As for the rest of the riverside precinct proposal I don't see anything in that fly-through that makes it look appealing to me but I guess if it were really revitalised properly it could be a good thing.

[Briggzy_03]

Brilliant idea! What I cant believe is that people whinge when there's no vision and then when there is a vision they whinge again???? Its no wonder why the rest of Australia still thinks SA's a rust bucket and backwater. Not my thoughts but unfortunately thats still the reality for SA unless people in this state start thinking and visualising with a more positive attitude and not just knocking every idea thats released.

Just because some people don't like the vision doesn't mean they're thinking backwards, it just means that they don't agree with some things being put on the drawing table.

You suggesting that people's ideas of SA as a rust bucket and backwater is what's wrong. I think you'll find that the majority of people with half a brain and who aren't from SSC or frequent news.com.au actually think quite positively of Adelaide and South Australia as a whole.

[Vision For Adelaide]

We think this is brilliant (I mean it looks exactly like our plan in 3D www.visionforadelaide.com)

NO - we dont like all the elements - but this is a vision, its subject to change

The hotels will be built by the private sector, we would suggest that the buildings themselves may end up looking very different in the end. Probably better as this has been done using a small budget.

The fact that transport stops literally under all of this is fantastic. The oval will bring people to the city and the precinct every weekend, holding allot of this up.

When people say this is unsustainable in a city of this size you need to remember: Adelaide has a tiny share of the tourism industry in this country which is completely undeserved, but understandable seeing though our governments refuse to really go hard interstate with bigger campaigns selling things like Fringe, the flinders etc and as such our reputation precedes us, its changing slowly. Our hotels are normally fully booked during this period, our population is tipped to double and in roughly the same time it will take to build this.

VISION ladies and gentlemen is understanding what you need later and having the guts to do it now.

We see commonwealth games,We see national swimming comps, We see more international rugby and soccer matches and We see a bouyant SA economy driving an expansion that we havent seen in 20-30 years.

And we see a "build it and they will come" effect, this will be an amazing attraction during a Fringe or Adelaide Festival it will be truly staggering.

This proposal is better as it centralises so much in one place so it can all feed of each other for year round attractiveness to Adelaide, it doesn't remove an Adelaide stadium, it creates a new one and gives us options. We keep the Character of Adelaide Oval, and we create new history with a bold plan.

Our point is then this, see through the cheap plan, to what it will become with a bigger budget and the people behind it. Think about what we'll need to compete with other cities attractions, and think about what we'll need in 15 years when we have 500k more people within the city limits, and what we'll need to sustain that.

VFA Team

[Nort]

Our point is then this, see through the cheap plan, to what it will become with a bigger budget and the people behind it. Think about what we'll need to compete with other cities attractions, and think about what we'll need in 15 years when we have 500k more people within the city limits, and what we'll need to sustain that.

VFA Team

I'm all for optimism, but I cannot see anything boosting Adelaides population by half a million in the space of 15 years.

[Will]

This is a visually stunning proposal. One which based on the responses received on this forum, would certainly be a vote winner for the Liberals.

Hence, I am intrigued as to why this project has not been mentioned by the Liberals during the election campaign? Why is there no mention of it on their website? Why is there no press release? Why is this website the only place where this is available for view?

Why?

Could it be, that, this project is no-longer Liberal party policy?

Denny Crane, has admitted that "Isobel has not committed to building any of this".

As someone who is really into politics, I have seen this trick before. It is exactly what Tony Abbott is doing with his maternity leave scheme. When an opposition realises they are in no position to win an election, they propose policies which they know they cannot fund, but because they have no-chance of being elected, it only serves to change the focus of attention of the press. Remember that, this project was announced by Martin Hamilton-Smith, at a time when the opinion polls had Labor with a 60-40 two-party preferred rating. MHS knew this project had no real chance of winning, so it really was no big deal. It only served to show how the Rann governemnt had 'no vision' for the CBD.

Now that the Libs actually have a chance of winning, do you actually think, its just a coincidence how quiet they have been regarding this issue? They know, that this project does not stack up commercially. They know that this is just pie in the sky.

And it is interesting to this discussion that Denny Crane has popped up again after such a long absence. We have been 'dreaming' about Spire since 2003. Surely, he knows how difficult it is to secure funding for ambitious projects. And compared to the Liberals proposal, Spire pales into insignificance. So how can we possibly look ourselves in the mirror and genuinely believe that the same private sector which has been so reluctant to finance a residential building, will finance this project?

This is a great dream, but unfortunately, that is all it will be. And I think the Liberals and their sympathisers are being very mean by promising something they deep down know they cannot deliver.

[olliepee]

As much as I love the squeeky clean smell of this, I can't help but look and laugh... I know it's a 'vision' but it's a bit of disneyland too!

I'd love a riverbank prescient but I just don't think it would work being this far down the west side of the city. Sadly not enough people live down there... It's not like Brissy where the buildings (and people) are both sides of the river... It'd just end up being a ghost town.

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread but does anyone know what Labour plan to do with the demolished RAH site if they get in?

[Denny Crane]

Will, a couple of corrections if I may.

Hence, I am intrigued as to why this project has not been mentioned by the Liberals during the election campaign? Why is there no mention of it on their website? Why is there no press release? Why is this website the only place where this is available for view?

This entire thread was established right after Isobel Redmond did her media launch at the end of last year. The Liberal Party used this mud-map and the 3D graphic to sell their message. This thread would not exist had they not released their plans to the media. It is Liberal Party Policy.

Denny Crane, has admitted that "Isobel has not committed to building any of this".

I have not ADMITTED anything. I recall her saying at the time of the launch that the a Redmond Government will not be builing private-sector facilities.

Now that the Libs actually have a chance of winning, do you actually think, its just a coincidence how quiet they have been regarding this issue? They know, that this project does not stack up commercially. They know that this is just pie in the sky.

Obviously you're not into politics as much as you say you are. Isobel Redmond has said, every time she's been asked about this proposal, that she would, in her first 100 days of office, set up a Riverside Development Authority to undertake a thorough investigation of what can actually be done on the site. Just because Water, Health, Education and Corruption Poll better and matter more to most South Australian's, does not mean that this has fallen off the radar.

And it is interesting to this discussion that Denny Crane has popped up again after such a long absence.

Don't confuse my absence for some conspiracy theory. I have been nursing a dying parent for the last 18 months and haven't had much time for this forum or any of life's other perplexing ironies. I know, better than most, the impact of the GFC and what it can do to projects. But how long do you think its going to last? Some of the comments on this website astound me no end some times.

[Stubbo]

Hello! I have been reading on Sensational Adelaide for a number of months now, really enjoy the discussion that is well thought out and (mostly) rational and positive.

I thought I would finally dip the toe into the water and join up.

I am definately not an architect, engineer or planner, but have a strong interest in all things construction and the eternal questions surrounding 'how does that work'....

One thing I will say about the Liberals plan for the Riverside is there are significant questions surrounding how will it actually work, even I can see that. What the Liberals plan does for me, more than anything else that I have seen, is make me excited to live in Adelaide in 15-20yrs time. Sure there is significant doubt in my mind that it will be built to the scale that is displayed, but who cares? It is grand, it is exciting and I want it. Isn't that the essense of the whole process? Even if half of it is built within the next 10 years (surely chopped and changed through different governments) I believe that would be a positive.

Like the rest of you, I am pumped that Tower 8 is being built and that the Harris Scarf development looks like it is going ahead, but am still annoyed that the Westpac building is still yet to be superceded.

I guess after so many years of slow incremental improvement, I want Adelaide to go for it, and actually take a bit more of a risk.

Before anyone says anything, I do not have any party affiliations and have voted for both sides of politics......

[Prince George]

Is that all that we've got to choose from in this state? Tweedledum and Tweedledee parties offering the same vision with window-dressing differences? "Oh but their hospital's here and their sports precinct is there, but in our one the sports precinct is here and the hospital's there" - big deal, whoop-dee-frickn-doo. For all the white elephants that each of them are parading around in front of us, I'm not hearing much talk about what I think is the "elephant in the room": what the hell are we all going to do for a crust?

Call me a selfish git, but what I want to hear about in this campaign revolves around me, me, me. In particular, I'm looking to see what their plans are for my career possibilities, and not just their sheer number, but their qualities as well - can I find satisfying, compelling, challenging, interesting (etc) work here in the city of Adelaide? And then there's our kids: my altruistic side wants them to be able to acheive their potential and realise their dreams, but my selfish side wants it to be easy to visit them (or them us) and so wants them to be able to do that here too. And likewise all those friends of mine that left town to go to Melbourne, Sydney, London, Seattle, or San Francisco - I want them to feel like they could come back too. (And, let me tell ya, the ones in Seattle aren't staying there for Qwest Field or the Space Needle)

So here we have each of our "major" parties loosening the purse strings and throwing the V-word around; is this going to do it, am I going to find a host of opportunities and an exciting future? Well, I can imagine some service industry jobs getting created, maybe some retail, probably some administrative, and a handful of executives to run the places.

Is that it? Is that our plans for the state? That we'll wait on tables, make beds, and ask if they want fries with that? Oh, and some of us will watch the football in a new stadium. Small, small dreams. In some places, people are dreaming of changing the world, and they're not just flapping their gums, that's what they expect of themselves. Having people that are thinking like that is generating wealth there: it seems that the best our "leaders" can come up with is that if we build a nice golf course, those people might visit us and spend a few bucks in our restaurants.

[Denny Crane]

I'd love a riverbank prescient but I just don't think it would work being this far down the west side of the city. Sadly not enough people live down there... It's not like Brissy where the buildings (and people) are both sides of the river... It'd just end up being a ghost town.

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread but does anyone know what Labour plan to do with the demolished RAH site if they get in?

I think thats the reason this plan is good. The fact is there is nothing down there, in fact, there's very little West of KW Street, aside from Hindley and Gouger. This proposal will drag people to the West End of the city, and reinforce the West End's role as the Entertainment side of town. Everything East of KW is fairly institutional on North Tce. WIth the exception of UniSA, all the museums, libraries, the uni, hospital, etc is East of KW, which is good, because we can concentrate all the entertainment and night life on the other Western side. So far, city development is very unbalanced. The East End has developed considerably faster than the West End, because all the drawcards that city resident want are on the East End of town. This should even out the development, and cause a resurgence in the West End development scene. Also, it will do wonders for Hindley Street. Hopefully the over-flow will see a "good-element" come into Hindley Street and push-out the "bad element". Look at the Cross in Sydney, or St Kilda in Melbourne. Good element in, bad element out.

don't mean to hi-jack this thread but does anyone know what Labour plan to do with the demolished RAH site if they get in?

They are considering the alternatives, but to keep the greenies happy, they re saying that the Heritage Hospital buildings will become student accommodation, and all the rest will be returned to parklands. They also mooted a "Federation Square" type development, but that was a knee-jerk reaction to the Libs proposal I reckon.

[Pikey]

Don't confuse my absence for some conspiracy theory. I have been nursing a dying parent for the last 18 months and haven't had much time for this forum or any of life's other perplexing ironies. I know, better than most, the impact of the GFC and what it can do to projects. But how long do you think its going to last? Some of the comments on this website astound me no end some times.

I'm very sorry to hear that Denny

[contractor]

FOUR hotels overlooking I'm not sure exactly what but it's not the Yarra river or Southbank is it.

Widen the river

[fasterthanlids]

Is that all that we've got to choose from in this state? Tweedledum and Tweedledee parties offering the same vision with window-dressing differences? "Oh but their hospital's here and their sports precinct is there, but in our one the sports precinct is here and the hospital's there" - big deal, whoop-dee-frickn-doo. For all the white elephants that each of them are parading around in front of us, I'm not hearing much talk about what I think is the "elephant in the room": what the hell are we all going to do for a crust?

Call me a selfish git, but what I want to hear about in this campaign revolves around me, me, me. In particular, I'm looking to see what their plans are for my career possibilities, and not just their sheer number, but their qualities as well - can I find satisfying, compelling, challenging, interesting (etc) work here in the city of Adelaide? And then there's our kids: my altruistic side wants them to be able to acheive their potential and realise their dreams, but my selfish side wants it to be easy to visit them (or them us) and so wants them to be able to do that here too. And likewise all those friends of mine that left town to go to Melbourne, Sydney, London, Seattle, or San Francisco - I want them to feel like they could come back too. (And, let me tell ya, the ones in Seattle aren't staying there for Qwest Field or the Space Needle)

So here we have each of our "major" parties loosening the purse strings and throwing the V-word around; is this going to do it, am I going to find a host of opportunities and an exciting future? Well, I can imagine some service industry jobs getting created, maybe some retail, probably some administrative, and a handful of executives to run the places.

Is that it? Is that our plans for the state? That we'll wait on tables, make beds, and ask if they want fries with that? Oh, and some of us will watch the football in a new stadium. Small, small dreams. In some places, people are dreaming of changing the world, and they're not just flapping their gums, that's what they expect of themselves. Having people that are thinking like that is generating wealth there: it seems that the best our "leaders" can come up with is that if we build a nice golf course, those people might visit us and spend a few bucks in our restaurants.

This.

[Waewick]

Sorry but I think the Country has gone too far in the direction of me me me

that attitude is what got us in this kind of mess

Governments are there to create and fill markets thats called private enterprise, perhaps instead of having a big fat whinge why don't you think of something that would help