Rhetoric alone is not climate action
Once upon a time, Canberra tourism included views of tree-lined suburban streets. That was Canberra as we knew it – a city in a landscape. The ambience was greenery and open spaces.
Category Archives: green infrastructure
ACT Government and Open Spaces
Why don’t they get open spaces
With Canberra being a “city in a landscape”, why does the ACT government not understand the value of landscape and open spaces?
Cherry picking your values 2
follow-up on a community groups choosing their values
Proposal to answer queries – a follow up piece
More on Bill Pye Park Ainslie and the YWCA
An article was published this week about the proposed building of social housing on a site now leased by the YWCA on the corner of the block that is largely Bill Pye Park in Ainslie.
Cherry picking your values
Community Group as developer chooses to ignore basic values
When the ACT government announced it had approved the development application by the YWCA to build social housing on the corner of Bill Pye Park in Ainslie*, there was a collective sigh of frustration from residents.
ACT Government on Town Cramming
More Town Cramming for Woden
For the ACT’s Labor/Greens coalition politicians, planning is not something they worry about much despite it being something of major concern to residents.
ACT planning directorate past its use-by-date
The ACT Government’s planning directorate has an impenetrable structure that reminds me of the “Star Wars” concept – the Borg Hive – called The Collective.
Continue reading ACT planning directorate past its use-by-date
ACT Government lacks design leadership
A pamphlet arrived in Dickson letterboxes that won’t bring much joy to the other areas of the city. It announced that $3 million is to be spent on Woolley Street, Dickson.
Watson community knows about planning
The ACT Government is a planning failure
When the Watson Community Association (WCA) puts forward the community’s views about a proposed development, it does a really thorough job.
ACT Minister for heritage in trouble
The clock is ticking on this ACT Minister
Having been in government for four months, Rebecca Vassarotti, ACT Minister for the Environment and Heritage, should now have a firm view on heritage and comprehend that her role is about being a leader in the stewardship of Canberra’s environments.
ACT Planning learn nothing
planning blunder follow planning blunders
Think back to 2015 when Chief Minister Andrew Barr had to back down on a mess of land dealings locally known as the Manuka Land Swap.
Australian War Memorial as vandal
Memorial declares war on its trees
The residents of Canberra love this city because of the trees. There are numerous occasions when people have had to rally to save our trees.
ACT Government questionable housing program
Zone changes to maximise profits
Several community associations have had presentations about an ACT government initiative titled the “Demonstration Housing Project”.
Continue reading ACT Government questionable housing program
ACT Government chops down more trees
In the lead up to the October ACT election, trees were an item of interest to anyone wanting to be elected.
ACT Greens not so green
ACT Greens – all talk and not much action
When governments don’t want to do much about something that requires actions, they hold inquiries, set up “Have Your Say” websites, present loads of useless stuff to public gatherings, talk a lot as if they are doing something and produce draft strategies.
ACT Government Stupidity Halted
ACT Greens save park from bulldozers
While the October ACT election returned a new version of the Labor/Greens coalition, this result was not because it was respected.
over-development in Woden
lack of planning and havoc in Woden
It has been about 18 months since I wrote a full piece about the Woden Town Centre and the ever-increasing planning issues that plague residents.
Yes Minister! rules ACT Government
ACT planners review their own rules – not joking!
Canberra residents care for their homes, their streets, their suburbs and wish that the urban environments and facilities were maintained and enhanced for future generations.
National Capital Authority failures
NCA continues to be tricky
There’s a new level of frustration within Canberra’s community groups with how the ACT government conducts itself on planning and development.
ACT Planning has to change!
or better still – sack themsleves
When it comes to the ACT government and planning and development, 2020 was not a year to be celebrated.
Canberra community groups have fun
Local enthusiasm for trees and parks
When community groups bring residents together to collectively do something for their suburb, good things happen.
ACT Greens challenged on planning
ACT Government and the ACT Greens
Wandering down a street in Auckland, NZ, in early June 2016, we came upon a small group of people having a laugh about an advertising poster.
A day out in Braidwood
Making the time out to visit regionally
Earlier this month we ventured out for the day to meet a friend at Braidwood. She was from the south coast and so Braidwood meant we both travelled just over an hour.
Margaret Timson Park Belconnen
ACT Government fails on parks again
The last couple of years has been bad news for parks in Canberra.
ACT Government ignores Commonwealth Park
Commonwealth Park neglected by government
Attention to a significant piece of national land is being overlooked among the misinformation used to justify the demolition of West Basin.
ACT Government and public sculpture
Need for a new public art policy
Sometime during the last election, a candidate said something about revising the public sculpture program initiated by Jon Stanhope when he was chief minister.
West Basin and City Renewal Authority
Reason to go for a wander
This piece is addressed to the ACT Greens & its members
ACT Government stuffs up social housing
And that’s being polite
Canberra’s community groups are increasingly having to argue for a rethink on the placement of social housing within their suburban areas.
City Renewal Authority a loss cause
Time to give up on the City Renewal Authority
Has the electorate of Murrumbidgee been overlooked again?
ACT Government and Greenery
Canberra’s green infrastructure
Driving west on Belconnen Way, under the Gungahlin Drive Bridge, there is a view that demonstrates how planning and landscape aesthetics are not in the skill set of those who run this city.
Deafening silence of the ACT Greens
Election 2020 and Shane Rattenbury
Many residents who voted for the ACT Greens are disillusioned given how the partnership with ACT Labor has sidelined many planning, development, environmental, heritage and urban issues.
Floriade Canberra 2020
Flowers in the suburbs
It is all happening again in Kingston and, as with other locations throughout Canberra, Floriade Reimagined saw locals planting more than 8000 bulbs and annuals in May.
Ainslie residents and local park rezoning
YWCA as unthinking developer
While attention is on larger issues such as the pandemic and a host of planning and development disasters, it is important to not overlook the ever-present local development issues.
Chris Steel works hard to lose 2020 election
A loser in the 2020 ACT elections?
Chris Steel is currently a Labor-elected member for Murrumbidgee and happens to be the Minister for Something within the ACT Labor/Greens coalition government.
Continue reading Chris Steel works hard to lose 2020 election
ACT Government and West Basin
More spin from the City Renewal Authority
When the ACT’s City Renewal Authority made its announcement on Tuesday (August 11) about the latest plan for West Basin, there was a slight glimmer of hope that, at last, maybe someone was listening. Not so!
West Basin and ACT Government spin
There’s a brochure in circulation about the debate on the future of the green spaces and foreshore along Lake Burley Griffin’s West Basin.
Vote for Greenery
Difficulties for Canberra voters to support greenery
On World Environment Day, June 5, the Canberra Liberals committed to planting one million trees over the next decade if they form government following the October 17 ACT election.
ACT Government land deals
Reminder of the Dickson Land Swap
With the ACT election now just over two months away, Chief Minister Andrew Barr would be urging his colleagues not to remind the electorate of the infamous Dickson land swap.
Stephen Bartos tries to respond
why do people make a fool of themselves?
A couple of week ago I posted on Common Ground and mentioned the chair Stephen Bartos.
Argyle Housing and the Dickson Land Swap
ACT Government entangles Common Ground in Land Swap
Stephen Bartos, chair of social housing provider Common Ground, said his organisation wasn’t involved in the planning processes around the planned Dickson site and certainly didn’t want to be, when he spoke to “CityNews” on June 3.
ACT politician almost gets it right
Here’s praise for an ACT politician. The accolade goes to the Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur for her work in chairing (from 2016) the Legislative Assembly committee on planning and urban renewal and the release of the April report – “The Inquiry into Engagement with the Development Application Process in the ACT”.
ACT Government’s toxic planning
Canberra’s community representatives struggle to find positive things to say about the ACT’s planning directorate. Most have seen too much bad stuff going down.
Mistake being polite with ACT Government
Time to stop being polite to rude people
Artwork: Stephen Harrison
Some of us sit at desks writing loads of stuff to bring about change while the barbarous politicians and bureaucrats just keep on doing what they do best – wreck the joint!
ACT Greens fail to be green
On the last day of April, the Inner South Canberra Community Council (ISCCC) issued a media release advocating the importance of streetscapes, open spaces and trees.
NCA and inequity in decisions
How the horse paddock grab is about inequity
Residents are often taken aback by the culture of disrespect for locals that has become firmly embedded within the ACT’s political and bureaucratic ranks.
Inner-South does Floriade
Canberra’s community groups have embraced the opportunity to do what they wish they could do more often – instead of banging their heads up against Canberra’s planning disasters.
NCA takes away community horse paddocks
Secretive land swap with ACT Government
Alternative facts are being used to deny the ramifications on a national asset and on the lives of Canberra’s active equestrian communities as the public wakes up to the ACT government’s secret land swap with the NCA.
ACT Government avoid facts on West Basin
The City Renewal Authority uses spin rather than facts
In November, Juliet Ramsay of the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians presented a paper to the Australian ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites).
ACT Government to trash West Basin
NCA trades North Curtin horse paddocks
It’s not often that the community sector gets stunned completely by an ACT government development announcement.
ACT Government allows urban blocks to be neglected
More rubbish, more neglect, more bureaucracy
In September 2019, when I wrote about the regulatory disaster that was taking place in Paperbark Street in Banks, many people responded with like stories from across Canberra.
Continue reading ACT Government allows urban blocks to be neglected
ACT Government attack on Dickson residents
Yvette Berry continues her Boris Johnson moments
As the COVID-19 crisis took hold and people bunkered down, residents hoped for less stupid things by the ACT Planning Directorate.
The degradation of Canberra by the ACT Government
Canberra’s lack of good design
After any neighbourhood auction, the conversations usually follow a similar line: will the property be occupied and the garden maintained or will it be up for demolition for yet another large, grey box with the established greenery taken away as rubble?
Continue reading The degradation of Canberra by the ACT Government
Sneaky planning moves by the ACT Government
the tricks of Yvette Berry MP and other ACT politicians
As the ACT’s state of COVID-19 emergency gets tougher, people look to those in authority that they should be able to rely on – those they want to trust.
Continue reading Sneaky planning moves by the ACT Government
fence-sitting Greens let Labor run amok
ACT community betrayed by ACT Greens
Before the 2016 ACT elections the Labor Party indicated that it was to make changes to how planning and development happened.
The ACT Government spins about trees again
More spin about trees but nothing changes
When the government slipped through the unique variations to the rules for south-east corner of section 72 Dickson, all the local government members, including Green/Labor member Shane Rattenbury, signed off on this most inappropriate action by the planning minister.
ACT Government hospital mismanagement
Woden Valley Community deal with serious issues
Woden Valley Community Council (WVCC) meetings have commenced the year 2020 with priority themes that are much the same as in 2019.
ACT Government on climate emergency
When an emergency is not an emergency
In May 2019 the ACT Government declared a climate emergency. The expectation would have been for high-profile urgent actions.
ACT Greens and Trees
ACT Greens throw stones at themselves!
A tree came down earlier this week in Dickson (above).
Looking at the trees nearby, it will not be long before more of these trees meet a similar fate.
ACT Minister links a tender to philanthropy
More questionable behaviour from an ACT Minister
Previously I reported that there remains a looooong list of dubious matters involved with the proposed building of a Common Ground apartment complex on Section 72 Dickson. These date back to the infamous Dickson land swap.
Continue reading ACT Minister links a tender to philanthropy
ACT Government’s inability to listen
Residents speak but the government interprets
In August 2019, Ben Ponton, the ACT’s chief planner, said: “Your feedback plays a key role through your unique ability to communicate useful observations into issues that may affect your neighbourhood…”
And the reality?
Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot
a very simple solution: Trees
Because what you do next – today and tomorrow, and every day after that, Counts
So make it count
ACT Minister continues vandalism behaviour
Berry Bulldozers Dickson Residents again
The year begins with yet another event around Dickson section 72 (Dickson parklands) involving ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry doing her best to upset and alienate the voters within the inner north, just in time for the 2020 elections.
The ACT Labor/Greens Government fails Canberra
The Singapore government of the ’70s, led by Lee Kuan Yew, was hell-bent on building a modern and prosperous city/state. It took a close relative to point out that if he wanted tourists to visit, then he needed to stop bulldozing the old stuff.
Continue reading The ACT Labor/Greens Government fails Canberra
Parrots and ACT politicians
Using the media to mislead the residents
Taking the time to observe the many birds in our garden provides a complete distraction from the more serious matters of life.
Well, at least this is what it should be.
Yarralumla does Christmas
Big Red Bows and a Jolly Suburb
Is there a more significant way of celebrating Christmas than with a tree?
Yes, with lots of trees! How about a suburb of trees? This is what the Yarralumla Residents Association is doing for Christmas this year.
Canberra and trees
Thinking about trees at Christmas time
It’s Christmas! A time to be jolly.
A Christmas tree is such a positive symbol. No matter how crazy or plain, Christmas trees, like the real ones, bring joy. And we could do with a lot more fun in life.
Molonglo – An ACT Government planning mess
When the ACT Legislative Assembly voted in October to establish a committee to examine the planning problems that plagued the development of the Molonglo suburbs of Wright and Coombs, it would follow that this signalled that someone may be paying attention to what residents have been saying for the last few years.
At least that is what we should be thinking.
Canberra Brickworks and Doma
The suburb where common sense took 32 years!
The Yarralumla Residents Association (YRA) is 32 years old.
The association was formed because of the first proposals to redevelop the Brickworks site on the western edge of the suburb.
ACT Greens and spin
Into the inner-north letterboxes has appeared a pamphlet from one of our local members, the ACT Greens’ Shane Rattenbury. There will be more from others given the October 2020 ACT elections.
The problem with the Greens’ pamphlet was the spin. The heading read “Putting our climate first”.
City Design Commission
Urgent need for Design in Canberra
Canberra has an enviable reputation as a designed and planned city.
Unfortunately, the shine has come off this accolade over the last decades.
ACT Greens and trees
Another example of when the ACT Greens proved to be a disappointment – A Collective Fizzer
ACT Government and changing flood map information
How did the water recede from the ACT Flood Map?
Here’s an issue now being looked at in the inner north – and no-one has yet to work out what happened.
Continue reading ACT Government and changing flood map information
ACT Government and trees
Let’s talk trees
It was announced on Wednesday (October 23) that the government is reviewing the ACT’s Tree Protection Act. Good news! Maybe.
The devil is in the detail and we are talking about a government that we have learnt not to trust.
ACT Greens and trees
Greens do not react to more trees being removed!
The ACT government is hoping to plonk Common Ground onto Section 72 in Dickson and is asking for feedback on the concept design for the building and site design.
more on Canberra and trees
Bureaucracies can be so out of touch with reality. Not for the first time there are serious questions around decisions being made about the fate of trees in the suburbs of Canberra.
The catalyst for this piece starts with a sad story in Holder where a resident is being driven crazy by decisions about the obvious need to remove an inappropriate tree next to his house.
West Basin alternative facts
Here’s a tale of the use of alternative facts by both the government and a couple of its supporters.
Yvette Berry insults Canberra’s inner north residents
After almost a decade of residents saying very clearly what their preferred options were for a precious community site within Dickson in the inner north of Canberra (Dickson Parklands) , residents have been told that Yvette Berry, Minister for social housing (housing clearances mostly) is to announce that her wonderful deaf government is to build on this community site. Click here for the opinion piece published in City News.
for another instance of Yvette Berry’s talent – click here – being dismissive about the urgent and long over due needs for sports, community and cultural facilities in Woden.
Griffin impugned for the West Basin’s awful future
Good journalism is welcomed and embraced. Journalism that is written to promote bad decisions by government must be called out. Here’s an example of the latter. The author, Tom Greenwell, starts well by making some points about Walter Burley Griffin’s planning for Canberra. But then he commits the crime of using Griffin’s name and visions to justify some outrageous developments being planned by the ACT Government (Urban Renewal Authority again!) that will destroy a wonderful part of the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin. Click here for the article in City News.
and for more about West Basin alternative facts – click here; includes letters from Richard Johnstone of kingston – a supporter of West Basin developments.
And for more on the arguments against what Tom Greenwell has written – click here for a very well informed piece by Penny Moyes, one of the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians.
It’s not easy being green around Kippax centre
When developers eye off ACT Government green spaces – the trend in Canberra is that those developers get to buy that land and the people lose yet another piece of precious community open space. This is happening with land behind the Kippax shops in west Belconnen in Canberra.The local Labor member is Yvette Berry and she loves to show up with a shovel to be photographed when community land and green spaces are being removed from the public ownership. Click here for the opinion piece in City News.
more CRAPP planning in Canberra
How sad! Yet another glossy ACT Government planning document that is a waste of time and effort – click here for my piece on this CRAPP in City News
The suburb of Watson leads on planning
The Watson Community Association recently conducted consultations to produce the community’s own visionary plan for their suburb. Click here for the piece in City News
ACT Government about to bulldoze a community site
Crunch time looms for Dickson parklands
There’s a long saga at play in Dickson in Canberra. Here’s the latest on this – click here.
and there’s more..
Continue reading ACT Government about to bulldoze a community site
That Manuka tree story continues
Celebrity tree becomes an icon in the fight for trees
A large plane tree, wedged between buildings on the cinema site in Manuka, has almost achieved celebrity status. click here for the story in City News
How green are the ACT Greens?
Greens fail to protect the local greenery
During the last decade the ACT Labor Party has depended on the ACT Greens to form government. What has come of the ACT Greens? Click here
Be afraid, the barbarians are inside the gate
Warning! neoliberal labor at its worst
I wrote a piece about the barbarians now running the ACT’s government – click here for the piece in CityNews.
Downer residents rally against development push
You can tell when residents are hitting the government where it hurts – when the press coverage from the government turns to spin – and more spin. There is no doubt that this is a response to the successes the pesky residents of Downer have had in getting attention through their brilliant “Don’t Dump on Downer” grassroots campaign. Click here.
Someone save these trees from the developers
This a sad tale of people sitting on the fence while part of the heritage of the suburb of Downer is to be removed. Click here.
Mischievous elves dump on Downer
THE ACT’s muddle-headed bureaucrats keep coming up with planning brochures laden down with alternate facts and marketing spin. Ministers then blindly sign letters to residents based on the bureaucrats’ gobbledygook and then wonder why people get upset. I wrote about what is happening in Downer in City News.
Protesting the Dickson promise that never was
No surprise here! The ACT Government often plays with the truth.
Here’s my piece in City News on this.
Neglect and shame of the city’s mistreated trees
The ACT government has failed to care for Canberra’s urban forests. We are constantly losing trees. Click here for my City News article on trees.
Strange tale of the Manuka tree
THE people of Canberra love our trees and when one is threatened unnecessarily, people do whatever they can to save it. Here’s a tale about a significant tree, the ACT’s chief planner, the developer and – the tree’s future. Here’s my piece in City News on this.
Traffic chaos delivered by Canberra planners
Unfortunately what has been happening for years in Canberra, being bad planning and development, looks to continue given the on-going bad decisions by the ACT’s planning minister and his bureaucrats in the planning directorate. Click here.
Urban Biodiversity
The Conversation on urban biodiversity
The Conversation has an article recommending a change to planning to deal realistically with urban biodiversity.
Dickson Parkland retagged a wasteland
Things some people should not say
It came as a shock to hear a community leader class a community site as a wasteland.
Trees and smart planning
Smart city planning can preserve old trees and the wildlife that needs them
Mature trees have horizontal branches that are attractive to wildlife and birds.from shutterstock.com
Trees and the ACT Government
Signs of intrigue within the inner north
First an update on the 2016-2017 ACAT appeal about the proposal to remove the carpark in front of Woolworths and to build an apartment and supermarket complex.
ACT Government makes a mess of consultations
The Dickson Parklands is an important site for the inner north of Canberra.
Continue reading ACT Government makes a mess of consultations
Bad design spreads like a disease
My post last week on the lack of good design and planning that is evident in the more recent parts of Gungahlin definitely caught a lot of people’s attention.
Put landscape and biodiversity first
This post starts with being in front of our house at 6.15 am listening to the cacophony of sounds coming from what must have been a rowdy Christmas Day gathering of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos at end of the street (near the Dickson Drain).
Architecture
Architecture and all that spin
If there is one occupation that I could not imagine doing, it is being an ACT Government planner who spends most of the day looking through development applications (DA) for commercial developments.
Architecture
a note to the ACT Chief Minister
About the architecture along Northbourne Avenue