Page 1508 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Canberra residents are not unreasonable people; they understand that as Canberra grows, demand for services will also grow. They understand that they may have to wait a little longer than they once did. But when I talk with constituents, and indeed residents from all parts of Canberra, I can see that the problems are getting bigger, the wait is getting longer, and sometimes nothing happens at all. Let me quote from a few constituents. One says:
The footpaths in Forrest, Griffith and Yarralumla are terrible. They rarely have a proper curb lip and often end abruptly halfway across a block, requiring you to cross the grass and road multiple times. This doesn’t encourage people to walk or run and makes it virtually impossible if you have either a wheelchair or a pram.
And this from another:
The whole of MacDonnell Street is very dangerous. As I go to work and return in the dark I generally have to walk in the road, ducking to the edge to avoid cars. There are no sidewalks at all between … the Iceland Embassy [and] the Chinese Embassy. There is limited lighting in Arkana Street; no safe sidewalks in many areas.
Given that these are suburbs that were gazetted in the mid-1920s, it is not unreasonable for residents to expect kerbing and guttering 86 years later.
But it is not just a lack of kerbing and guttering that is of concern. The number of paths that are cracked, uneven and positively dangerous to even the most sure-footed pedestrian are an OHS liability of enormous proportions. We have cracked footpaths along main roads that lead to shopping centres, paths that are used every day by residents of all ages—by people in wheelchairs, people using mobility scooters and walkers, and young mothers with prams. They all have to battle the cracks and uneven surfaces on a daily basis.
But they are possibly the lucky ones, because there are many more roads that do not have any footpaths at all. A major road like Stonehaven Crescent at Deakin does not have a footpath on one side; yet it has had houses for probably 50 or more years, and people use it as a main thoroughfare to go to the Deakin shops. It is not an isolated case.
When we go to the issue of lighting, the story is the same. The lights are old; of period but ineffective design; unreliable; and often covered and smothered by overhanging trees. And because they are old, they go out of service more often. As one resident informed me last week:
The street light in Mueller Street has been out of service at least 3 times in the past 2 years. It is very dark at night. I last reported it on 28 March.
We have many enjoyable parks, reserves and grassed areas in Canberra, but, again, too often they are overgrown, untidy and littered with rubbish. A Yarralumla resident told me this only yesterday:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video