THINKING OUTSIDE THE SQUARE
With any luck the State government’s plans to bulldoze a row of 19th century terraces to make way for a train station in Pyrmont will be derailed. Under a hastily prepared and still unfunded $5.3 billion proposal, the government announced that a Sydney Metro station and ventilation stack would be located on the southeastern side of Union Square, destroying some of the last remaining Victorian architecture in the heart of Pyrmont village. Over the last fifteen years many of Pyrmont’s historic houses have been razed to make way for high-rise residential towers and office blocks.
Back in February 1997, the City Hub chronicled the suburb’s transformation, reporting: “The last row of historic waterfront cottages in Pyrmont’s Scott and Harris streets stand naked against a backdrop of heavy machinery, which moves in and out of demolished yards, clearing, digging and making way for the future.” A dozen years later and the former working class neighbourhood is now home to multi million dollar apartments with harbour views and some of the largest media companies in Australia including Fairfax, the Ten Network, Nova FM and Google. Stretching down the spine of the peninsula is the Star City casino, whose gaming rooms, theatres and restaurants attract over 20,000 visitors each and every day. Just west of the casino, sits a small oasis of 19th century buildings amidst the area’s towering blocks. Union Square was formed when Union Street was closed off and paved with developer funds from the Casino. Today office workers and residents sip cappuccinos at open-air cafes and school children regularly visit the square to study the contrast of old and the modern.
News that the State government plans to rip the heart out of the area’s last remaining heritage precinct has been greeted with contempt in the usually genteel urban hamlet. On the 4th of July nearly two thousand people assembled in Union Square to oppose the demolition of a row of 19th century terraces near Union Square. Speakers from all sides of the political spectrum addressed the rally, including local green ban hero Jack Mundy, Sydney Lord Mayor and Local MP Clover Moore, Leichhcardt’s Green Mayor Jamie Parker and the Liberal Leader of the Opposition, Barry O’Farrell. The day before the rally, radio shock jock Allan Jones told the State Premier on air he would personally stand in front of the bulldozer if the buildings on Union Square were razed.. Later this month the National Trust is considering listing the row of buildings on the National Trust Register and the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union will consider a motion to impose a green ban on the site. Even the Pyrmont branch of the ALP has passed a motion opposing the demolition.
Amidst a barrage of negative news coverage (Pyrmont is Sydney’s newest media ghetto after all), Sydney Metro has announced that it is reviewing its options. Just north of Union Square on Harris Street, directly opposite Nokia’s Australian headquarters sits a vacant lot. The block has been empty ever since the City Hub detailed the demolition of the workers cottages on the site back in 1997. The land’s current owners, Lend Lease has announced they would be more than willing to have a train station on the lot, which has been fully remediated. Sydney Metro officials have acknowledged that the John Square site is directly midway on the proposed line between Barrangaroo and Rozelle and that in order to access Union Square, the train track would need to dip down several blocks, adding millions to the cost of the line. John Square is closer to Pyrmont’s residential population and office workers would only have to walk two blocks to reach a still preserved Union Square in the heart of Pyrmont heritage village. Fingers cross the State government thinks outside the square.
Online update: Just as the City Hub has come back from the printers, the President of the CFMEU has announced he has imposed a Interim Green Ban on the site. The President of the CFMEU Peter McClelland has issued the following statement:
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“The Executive Officers of the CFMEU have imposed an Interim Green Ban on four Victorian Terraces situated on Union Square, Pyrmont. This Interim Ban is going to a meeting of our rank and file delegates on 31st July 2009 for full endorsement.
There is an extremely broad alliance of opposition to the Government’s current proposal in respect to Union Square that goes across a vast spectrum of the community, including local businesses, residents, unions and even the local Pyrmont Branch of the ALP.
These four buildings were constructed only 100 years after European settlement. The CFMEU has always believed that newly constructed buildings of glass and concrete do not necessarily represent progress. We need to value our architectural history.
We have the opportunity as a young country to preserve our past and not to repeat the mistakes of some other nations, where historic properties were torn down.”
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DON’T DESPAIR, THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES
With little fanfare and even less mainstream media coverage, in late June, the world’s largest media company announced it was shuttering yet another local newspaper. News Limited’s announcement that it is closing down a nearly 40 year old community newspaper in the inner west coincides with the Alternative Media Group’s own plans to roll out the Inner West Independent and to increase the frequency of the City Hub from monthly to fortnightly. The Glebe had served Sydney’s inner west since 1972. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp purchased the once independent community newspaper in the 1980s, and added the title to its Cumberland stable of Sydney publications. And thus began the slow death of the Glebe. In 2007 News announced its intention to also purchase the competing Courier group of newspapers. I could have told you what would happen to the Glebe. Two years ago I lodged the following objection to the ACCC: “Given News Corp’s record of consolidating costs and downsizing operations in order to drive profits offshore to its Delaware based corporation, it is likely that News Corp would shutter either the Glebe or the Inner West Courier .. As local, small businesses on the south side of the Harbour Bridge are well aware, the Glebe has offered low cost advertising, in order to compete against the larger Inner Western Courier newspaper… The loss of media diversity raises serious questions for local Councils, small businesses and for the entire local community. In inner Sydney, the Glebe has provided local news coverage to provide a point of difference between itself and the Courier. Once the Glebe’s need to compete is buried, what incentive will Murdoch have to provide local, community news? If there are any doubts as to Murdoch’s intentions when it comes to managing community newspaper assets, one need travel no further south than Melbourne, where News Corp owns thirty community newspaper assets. In Melbourne, News Corps’ newspaper chain eliminated every community newspaper masthead, rebranding every community newspaper asset as “the Leader”.” Here in Sydney, News has begun rebranding its community newspapers in the same way: the Sydney Weekly became the North Side Courier and the Glebe will now appear as a second weekly edition of the Inner West Courier until inevitably the two weekly editions are merged into one. Since nature abhors a vacuum, the Alternative Media Group will step into the void by introducing the Inner West Independent. Details of our new publication and of our plans to expand the City Hub’s frequency appear in the centre pages of this month’s edition. We look forward to seeing you more often starting in August.
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