Summer streets to hit Glebe following success in Surry Hills

By ELLA SMITH

Paella, empanadas and nachos will be on the menu tomorrow at Glebe Point Road, with the street closed to traffic as part of the City of Sydney’s efforts to boost local communities and businesses.

Ana Attianese, chairwoman of the Aid Migrants of Spanish Speaking (AMIGOSS), will be offering Spanish and Latin cuisine and sangria to people visiting the pedestrianised high street as part of the Summer Streets series.

She hopes people will come for the food, but stay for the dancing. AMIGOSS is offering three free half-hour dance lessons in salsa, bachata, and reggaeton.

The organisation was founded in 1975 to provide family-like connections for Spanish and Latin migrants to Australia. Nowadays, with the advent of the internet and social media, “it’s not as useful as before to have a new family here,” Ms Attianese said.

She says that the Sunday event will provide much-needed engagement with the community, particularly younger generations.

“It’s a big opportunity for us to get more visibility, and also more services to the community. Knowing the community will [help to understand] what the community wants,” she said.

The pandemic significantly diminished the organisation’s activities; while their childcare kept running, workshops spanning food, cinema, art, language and counselling were “impossible” to do online.

Street success

Businesses in Glebe are hoping for the success and sunshine of last weekend’s Summer Streets event at Surry Hills.

Caroline Butler-Bowdon, Executive Director of Public Places at the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), visited the high street.

“Everywhere you looked there was energy on the street with smiling faces, people dining alfresco and people dancing to live music,” she said.

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The DPIE has backed the City’s Summer Streets program under its $6.5 million Open Streets program, which forms part of the state government’s $66 million Alfresco Restart Package.

“[It’s] about re-energising our streets and creating a sense of excitement and discovery in local streets and town centres,” Ms Butler-Bowdon said.

This funding boost reflects a refocus from Sydney’s urban planners and the DPIE to increase foot traffic and make the most of urban spaces in a city that has historically been designed for cars.

The programs were informed by the DPIE’s Public Spaces COVID-19 survey, which showed that nearly half of respondents spent more time in public places than before the pandemic, and that use of high streets increased since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Glebe Summer Streets program will take place tomorrow, Saturday 12 February, on Glebe Point Road from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.