News & Discussion: Adelaide City Council

[Eurostar]

Pleased to see this week an acknowledgement, led by the new Lord Mayor, that maintenance of the city and its parklands has been profoundly neglected in recent years. It seems moves are underway to finally pull us out of a shabby decline:

• https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2023/04/ ... d-neglect/
• https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/04/21/ ... ands-toll/

Why not a scheme whereby a building owner can maintain pavement area outside its business and get reimbursed for doing so.

[Algernon]

Pleased to see this week an acknowledgement, led by the new Lord Mayor, that maintenance of the city and its parklands has been profoundly neglected in recent years. It seems moves are underway to finally pull us out of a shabby decline:

• https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2023/04/ ... d-neglect/
• https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/04/21/ ... ands-toll/

Why not a scheme whereby a building owner can maintain pavement area outside its business and get reimbursed for doing so.

Would be rorted to high heaven.

[abc]

Pleased to see this week an acknowledgement, led by the new Lord Mayor, that maintenance of the city and its parklands has been profoundly neglected in recent years. It seems moves are underway to finally pull us out of a shabby decline:

• https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2023/04/ ... d-neglect/
• https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/04/21/ ... ands-toll/

Walking through shabby streetscapes, Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith is shocked by the decline of Adelaide’s basic infrastructure – but says fixing it requires a council rates boost.

why is this always the solution? they have more rate payers than ever... why cant they look for efficiencies and cost cuts elsewhere?

[SRW]

Rates have been frozen for more than five years in a time of high inflation and increased service demand. Asset renewal/maintenance is structurally underfunded by about $8 million per year IRRC. On top of that, debt is maxed, growth is slow, and COVID cuts already deep. Raising revenue is likely the only viable pathway out of neglect unless the state government can be persuaded to pitch in for capital zone or parklands (unlikely).

[1NEEDS2POST]

Pleased to see this week an acknowledgement, led by the new Lord Mayor, that maintenance of the city and its parklands has been profoundly neglected in recent years. It seems moves are underway to finally pull us out of a shabby decline:

• https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2023/04/ ... d-neglect/
• https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/04/21/ ... ands-toll/

During covid, council decided to waive fees for site hire to encourage events to return to the city. That's why we're seeing so many more events. Site hire fees are waived until 30 June 2023: https://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/commu ... ark-lands/

Even during normal times, it's not that expensive to host events in the park lands, so they could just charge more for hosting events in the park lands.

[SRW]

Seems the tide is turning on rental e-scooters in the city with the Council unlikely to extend the 'trial' beyond April next year:
'End of the road threat for city e-scooters as council puts foot down' — InDaily

I have to say, despite initially viewing them positively and using them many times, I'd now be happy to see them gone. They're more nuisance and hazard than benefit as people misuse and mistreat them, with none of Neuron, Beam or council taking any responsibility to manage.

Perhaps if banned they can be still be permitted for limited periods during festival time with adequate staffing/management, as they admittedly do help the 'last mile' problem in the absence of a city loop tram and underground rail.

[abc]

really nowhere in the Adelaide postcode is too far to walk and the kind of people that need assistance won't be riding these kinds of scooters

[Nathan]

Concepts designs for the revitalisation of Hindley St, Melbourne St, Hutt St, and O'Connell St — with separated bikeways on Hutt and O'Connell:

https://meetings.cityofadelaide.com.au/ ... tation.pdf

Hutt St:






O'Connell St:

[ChillyPhilly]

Outstanding, but these renders are missing light rail lines!

[Nathan]

Outstanding, but these renders are missing light rail lines!

The O'Connell St plan mentions that the median design has an allowance for future tram line.

https://aws-ap-southeast2-coa-dmzfilese ... Link_5.pdf


More detailed plans for each of the others:
Hindley St
Melbourne St
Hutt St

[ChillyPhilly]

Excellent. I'll give it a read.

[Nathan]

Interesting though, that allowance is for a single track, with dual side boarding, and a ground level power system to avoid overhead wires and poles.

I can see a single track being fine if the line terminates at Barton Tce, but surely it would be a problem if ever extended to Prospect...

[crawf]

All these concept plans look great, though where's the plan on the street that sorely needs it the most... Grenfell/Currie Street.

I don't understand why both levels of government continue to neglect such an important street like Grenfell/Currie and leave it in a derelict state. Over the last decade it has seen developments like the Sofitel, Ibis, Rundle Place and earmarked for more significant builds in the coming years. Yet there has still been zero improvement and is now a mismash of cracked pavers, bitumen footpath, decaying shopfronts, extremely poor lighting, poor tree coverage with a four lane highway straight through the middle. Hardly a street to feel any sense of city pride, if anything it's embarrassment.

Focus first on Grenfell/Currie Street, then the other main streets.

It shouldn't also just be the city council picking up the tab, the state government should 100% allocate funds and even towards improving the entire CBD core as a whole. They are attracting all these major events to Adelaide (which is great), though spend the money beautifying the city to make tourists and investors want to come back here.

If I was tourist visiting Adelaide and staying at the Sofitel. I'd be appalled at the neglected state of Currie Street.

[Nathan]

All these concept plans look great, though where's the plan on the street that sorely needs it the most... Grenfell/Currie Street.

I don't understand why both levels of government continue to neglect such an important street like Grenfell/Currie and leave it in a derelict state. Over the last decade it has seen developments like the Sofitel, Ibis, Rundle Place and earmarked for more significant builds in the coming years. Yet there has still been zero improvement and is now a mismash of cracked pavers, bitumen footpath, decaying shopfronts, extremely poor lighting, poor tree coverage with a four lane highway straight through the middle. Hardly a street to feel any sense of city pride, if anything it's embarrassment.

Focus first on Grenfell/Currie Street, then the other main streets.

It shouldn't also just be the city council picking up the tab, the state government should 100% allocate funds and even towards improving the entire CBD core as a whole. They are attracting all these major events to Adelaide (which is great), though spend the money beautifying the city to make tourists and investors want to come back here.

If I was tourist visiting Adelaide and staying at the Sofitel. I'd be appalled at the neglected state of Currie Street.

Agreed, it desperately needs doing, but I suspect it's a case of council wanting state government to do it, and state government wanting council to do it.

I also applaud the inclusion of the separated bikeways in the Hutt St and O'Connell St plans, but we still haven't completed the Frome St bikeway yet after 9 years, or made any headway on the east-west bikeway. Even just that section between Rundle St and North Tce which was apparently paused due to construction of Adelaidean and Yugo — but that's been completed for a year now and nothing has happened.

[Mpol02]

I love thee street updates. Are these likely to actually happen??