This article about a "crackdown" on retailers in Civic (Canberra's "city" heart) who dare to display their wares on footpaths without a permit - even though there is no such permit they could apply for - is the sort of thing that really irritates me.
Canberra is famously neat. Not quite Swiss, but rivalling Singapore. There is no outdoor advertising permitted, and land uses are strictly zoned and segregated. There is very little mixed use in Canberra.
Decades ago, the now deceased but still famous Gus Petersilka battled the bureaucrats by putting tables from his cafe on the footpath, single-handedly bringing al fresco dining to Canberra. His long-fought and hard-won battle is now the stuff of Canberra legend, celebrated even in official government plagues around the place. He brought cosmopolitanism to the capital, and not before time. The area around his cafe, which still operates under his name, is now a lively strip filled with popular cafes and year-round outdoor diners and coffee drinkers.
So why oh why are today's bureaucrats hassling the independent music retailers and bookshops that are displaying their goods on the footpath, not very far from Gus's cafe? They add much needed life and colour to Civic, an area now dominated by a grotesquely over sized indoor shopping mall. These activities ought to be encouraged, not persecuted.
If it weren't all so counter-productive it would be pathetic; as it is, I just find it all very sad. The ACT government does little to help Canberra shrug of its "boring and lifeless" labels with this sort of overly vigilant bureaucratic behaviour.
29 August 2009
27 August 2009
Melbourne Writers Festival
I have not posted in a while, mostly because I have been super busy with my studies of late, but tonight I went to a really fabuloous event and had a great time so thought I'd do a quick post about it.
There seems to always be a festival on in Melbourne, and currently it is the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Tonight I went to an event called Babble's Liner Notes, where a group of artistic and comedic types are each given a song from an iconic album and then they do some sort of spoken work response to it. This year they did Michael Jackson's Thriller. In between the performances there was a great band playing some of songs from the album. It was all quite fun but a particular standour for me was the hilarious Yana Alana and her response to Billie Jean.
I'm not sure how often these Liner Notes events are on but based on tonight's show I'd say they are well worth going to!
There seems to always be a festival on in Melbourne, and currently it is the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Tonight I went to an event called Babble's Liner Notes, where a group of artistic and comedic types are each given a song from an iconic album and then they do some sort of spoken work response to it. This year they did Michael Jackson's Thriller. In between the performances there was a great band playing some of songs from the album. It was all quite fun but a particular standour for me was the hilarious Yana Alana and her response to Billie Jean.
I'm not sure how often these Liner Notes events are on but based on tonight's show I'd say they are well worth going to!
08 August 2009
Scott says yes to "suburban" high-rise residential development
Well, it's a qualified yes, but in the case of the controversial and recently approved plans to build a 38 storey residential tower with a retail podium and 6 storey office building on the corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street in South Yarra, in the heart of a major inner urban activity centre and at the nexus of multiple public transport options and a range of excellent amenities, I am all for it.
This site badly needs a high impact, snazzy high-rise development to form an appropriate gateway to the busy shopping and entertainment strip of Chapel Street. The renderings for the new building look great. I think the high-profile corner facade of retail podium would make perfect premises for H&M's first Australian store (hint hint to H&M!)
I think it's a shame that the council opposed this development, because it ticks all the boxes for a perfect location for high-density housing and it will upgrade what is a lacklustre corner of prime real estate. It will have minimal amenity impact on surrounding residential and commercial premises. It's amazing how so many people are still opposed to sensitive and smart high density design like this on the one hand (ie when it's in their backyard), but on the other we can have so many (of perhaps the same) people vehemently opposed to expanding the urban growth boundary and instead advocating for just this type of medium to high density infill development in strategic locations well-served by transport and amenities. I think expanding the growth boundary for more low density sprawl on the periphery is a major mistake and future planning catastrophe; but not expanding the boundary must mean more development such as this proposed Capitol Towers in South Yarra - so long as that development is sensitive to existing character, heritage and amenity, which this development is. We need a series of well-planned, predominantly high-rise (but with a mix of building types including terraced housing), high-density nodes around the city: South Yarra is an obvious one; others cite Box Hill, Frankston, maybe Footscray as other options. I'd also say West Melbourne and the area immediately north of Docklands needs to be examined. It's the obvious solution, and developments like this one and other high-rises planned around South Yarra are a good start towards it. It's a shame the local council takes an opposing view, rather than working with the reality and seeking to exert some positive influence over future projects.
This site badly needs a high impact, snazzy high-rise development to form an appropriate gateway to the busy shopping and entertainment strip of Chapel Street. The renderings for the new building look great. I think the high-profile corner facade of retail podium would make perfect premises for H&M's first Australian store (hint hint to H&M!)
I think it's a shame that the council opposed this development, because it ticks all the boxes for a perfect location for high-density housing and it will upgrade what is a lacklustre corner of prime real estate. It will have minimal amenity impact on surrounding residential and commercial premises. It's amazing how so many people are still opposed to sensitive and smart high density design like this on the one hand (ie when it's in their backyard), but on the other we can have so many (of perhaps the same) people vehemently opposed to expanding the urban growth boundary and instead advocating for just this type of medium to high density infill development in strategic locations well-served by transport and amenities. I think expanding the growth boundary for more low density sprawl on the periphery is a major mistake and future planning catastrophe; but not expanding the boundary must mean more development such as this proposed Capitol Towers in South Yarra - so long as that development is sensitive to existing character, heritage and amenity, which this development is. We need a series of well-planned, predominantly high-rise (but with a mix of building types including terraced housing), high-density nodes around the city: South Yarra is an obvious one; others cite Box Hill, Frankston, maybe Footscray as other options. I'd also say West Melbourne and the area immediately north of Docklands needs to be examined. It's the obvious solution, and developments like this one and other high-rises planned around South Yarra are a good start towards it. It's a shame the local council takes an opposing view, rather than working with the reality and seeking to exert some positive influence over future projects.
01 August 2009
Food Inc
Today I saw the film 'Food Inc', which seeks to "lift the veil" on the American food industry.
It's a good film for anyone who knows little about the US food industry, although I must admit I was pretty much aware of most of the points made. Two things did surprise me: one, that 1 on 3 Americans born after 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes, and two, the extent to which major food companies use litigation to silence criticism or even scrutiny of their practices. I'm not sure why that should have come as such a surprise to me, but it did.
I don't think the Australian food industry is quite so bad but it's certainly something we need to be vigilant and informed about.
I think this film makes a good companion piece to Michael Moore's 'Sicko' about the managed care health "system" in the US and the more lighthearted but still eye-opening 'Supersize Me' about the fast food industry. All three films lift the veil on the way important aspects of life in this supposedly democratic nation have come to be controlled by powerful corporate interests to the detriment of the people, especially the millions of poor and lower middle classes. This is not the sort of political and economic system that we Australians should be seeking to aspire to.
It's a good film for anyone who knows little about the US food industry, although I must admit I was pretty much aware of most of the points made. Two things did surprise me: one, that 1 on 3 Americans born after 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes, and two, the extent to which major food companies use litigation to silence criticism or even scrutiny of their practices. I'm not sure why that should have come as such a surprise to me, but it did.
I don't think the Australian food industry is quite so bad but it's certainly something we need to be vigilant and informed about.
I think this film makes a good companion piece to Michael Moore's 'Sicko' about the managed care health "system" in the US and the more lighthearted but still eye-opening 'Supersize Me' about the fast food industry. All three films lift the veil on the way important aspects of life in this supposedly democratic nation have come to be controlled by powerful corporate interests to the detriment of the people, especially the millions of poor and lower middle classes. This is not the sort of political and economic system that we Australians should be seeking to aspire to.
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