Page 3517 - Week 11 - Thursday, 19 September 2013
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Let us go to the detail of the issue. Thirteen suburbs across Canberra suffer from being home to a derelict petrol station site. This means derelict blocks with overgrown grass that are covered in graffiti, with builders’ rubble, fences that are gaping and shade cloth that is falling down. Some of these sites have materials that are fire hazards.
Let us talk about the small local shops, the heart of our local suburbs. There are many that are rundown and dilapidated. I am not saying they are unsafe, but I am saying it does not look right for the ACT. One of these shops in Rivett has an ongoing health concern of bird waste. This bird waste is not only an eyesore but a health and safety hazard, despite the opinion of the government. Many of the local shops across Canberra are in need of a fresh coat of paint, as they have been left to become neglected and dilapidated, with garden beds that are now a bowl of dry dust as though we were still in the middle of the drought.
Although there are many wonderful playgrounds in Canberra, including the new play area at the arboretum, many local suburban playgrounds are only 90 per cent of the way there. They, like many of the shops, are in need of some maintenance. Again, I am not pointing out safety issues; I am talking about the feel and the look of these places.
There should be at least a minimum number of playgrounds which are completely fenced, which would be of great benefit to those parents and carers supervising more than one small child at a time or looking after children with some special needs. The old, dry tanbark at the base of many playgrounds is used as a litter tray for local cats and dogs, and the aged bark is hard and dry. There are playgrounds with problems of inappropriate graffiti, not to parents’ delight. I noted six phallic symbols on the playground next to one of the unfinished, abandoned houses in Amaroo.
There are many grassed areas across Canberra in need of more regular mowing. I know it is an expense, but it just does not seem to be quite doing the job. Many residents are so frustrated that they are mowing laneways and local grassed areas themselves. They complain to me about the amount of rates that they pay and what they are getting for it.
In the older areas, many of the footpaths are in need of more maintenance. Some have been ground down. I understand that this is an activity that has been undertaken recently, particularly in some older areas—grinding down the cracks in the pavement. While that is an improvement, it does not completely solve the problem of safety. In many of the newer suburbs they do not even have footpaths, and there are issues with that as well. One gentleman who works at Cooleman Court was sharing with me how his wife fell out of her electric wheelchair near Rivett shops when trying to negotiate cracked footpaths.
There is urban renewal going on in older areas. Many young couples are spending all they have and more to move into older homes. They are doing a great deal of work and spending a lot of money on improving their own houses and front yards, but it does not seem like the ACT government is keeping up with this renewal.
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