Page 3657 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2013
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they simply could not let it just go to dust. In April 2010 the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate undertook landscaping work in the Green Square area. They replaced the irrigated grass, which had not been irrigated for some time, with drought-tolerant plants and shrubs. They installed some new brick and gravel paths and provided a timber play structure for children. In all, the landscaping cost about $145,000.
Interestingly, this occurred in the middle of what was supposed to be a community consultation process for the Kingston centre master planning project. This consultation process, undertaken by Purdon Associates, extended from August 2009 to September 2010 and was intended to engage stakeholders with an interest in the Kingston centre, to identify key issues important to the community and to identify community attitudes towards the type and form of development that might occur in the area.
The report’s key messages from the first stage of consultation were, inter alia, that the centre was highly valued for its village character, vibrancy, diversity of activities, amenities and good coffee; that the outdoor spaces were well established and leafy but could be more user friendly; and that Green Square could be greener. The Kingston master plan was published in June 2011. One of the comments quoted in that report was from a resident who said:
Kingston must not lose the Green Square which has always been the best feature of the Kingston Shopping Centre. I have enjoyed the green square as a local resident since birth (55 years) and wish that all future generations could experience the natural feel that it has given the centre.
So the issue of keeping the village atmosphere of Kingston and Green Square were well known to government. In fairness, perhaps they thought that upgrading some seating and putting in paths was enough to keep it that way. But in reality the supposed upgrade had the opposite effect. The loss of grassed areas meant that there was nowhere for families to sit with their children, nowhere for children to run around and play while their parents had breakfast, read the papers and had a coffee.
In April this year a group of 20 business owners wrote to the Chief Minister outlining their concerns about the lack of amenity in Green Square. They pointed out, as many patrons and customers had pointed out to them, that the ever-so-efficient drought-tolerant grasses were not conducive to children playing in the area and had a direct effect on declining retail activity. They noted that now the drought had broken The Lawns in Manuka—the equivalent coffee hub to Green Square—were once again restored, that people felt very much at home there and that they wanted a similar environment in Kingston.
I might add at this point that we have people who were concerned with that particular activity—Socrates Kochinos and a lot of his colleagues from Kingston—here this morning. We welcome them here this morning. We have a number of our friends here: Pawl Cubbin, Gabi Radinger and Omar Muscat. We welcome them here this morning.
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