Amenity Is A Two-way Street
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday December 10, 2005
Jonathan Gillis of Darlinghurst speaks of residential wellbeing and amenity, but is considering only that of his immediate neighbours (Letters, December 9). Getting cars off residential streets and onto arterial roads, as Mr Gillis puts it, might be an appropriate objective for suburban neighbourhoods but ignores the fact that in East Sydney there is no clear distinction between residential and business districts.
He repeats what has become a common fallacy in the road closure and Cross City Tunnel debate: that these cars are trying to get across the city. They are not; they are trying to get into it.Stephan Gyory Darlinghurst Jonathan Gillis has well learnt the mantra of a vocal minority of East Sydney residents - close their streets in the name of their "urban amenity". This sounds reasonable unless you live in Woolloomooloo, where residential streets are now swamped with traffic. Since access to the harbour crossings has been blocked from Palmer Street off William, a good part of our traffic flood in fact comes from Mr Gillis's neck of the woods, en route to and from the North Shore.He speaks of "urban values". Could they be summarised as "I'm all right, Jack"?Michael Gormly WoolloomoolooFor motoring aficionados, rather than those who merely wish to get from point A to point B, the route from William/Park streets to the Anzac Bridge is a daunting challenge via a monumental collection of turns, lights and lane changes until the penultimate sign points directly into a street designated "No Through Road". After that it gets exciting.I am seeking venture capital for my new board game, which I call Find the Bridge. Of course it will have a few false-positive signs, including one (temporarily lacking) where you do not pass go or collect $200 and you return to William Street.Len Green Rose Bay
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald