Parra News April 14 2021

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Tuesday, April 13, 2021
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Editor’s Note
troy.dodds@parranews.com.au
Troy Dodds
@troydodds
Even more papers on the way!
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Issue 21
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Parra Matters
alanmascarenhas09@gmail.com
The area of the Parramatta CBD east of
the train station isn’t fun right now. The
drills and jackhammers start early and
finish late. The air is dusty, making it hard
to keep windows open or hang out laundry
unless you enjoy your sheets covered
in soot.
I no longer live in a neighbourhood.
Just one big construction site. The Arthur
Phillip high-rise school opposite my
apartment took years to build. We will
soon be dwarfed by Meriton’s “cloudscraping”
67-storey glass tower on 180
George Street. Plus another by Dyldam
that will terminate the legendary Albion
Hotel right behind us.
Winding its way through it all will be the
Parramatta Light Rail – a project that’s
currently the bane of many people’s existence.
With the streets closed off, cars and pedestrians
are being re-routed through a
never-ending maze of barriers and witches’
hats.
It’s easy to get irate. But whenever I
do, I look at the worker in the fluoro vest
telling me I’m going the wrong way and
something softens.
These people are so young, toiling late
while the rest of us sleep. And I remember
these projects aren’t just changing the
Index
Alan Mascarenhas
@alanmasc
Will it all be worth it in the end?
News..............................................1-18
Entertainment .................19-27
face of our city and making a select few
developers and companies rich.
They’re also giving jobs to men and
women of different cultural backgrounds
and a sense they’re contributing to something
greater.
The original labourers on the Sydney
Harbour Bridge and Snowy Hydro were
rightly proud of their achievement. They
passed on stories to their grandchildren.
Will the teams that finished laying tracks
this week over Parramatta’s historic Lennox
Bridge one day do the same?
For years, I’ve detected a near-consensus
among everyone taxi drivers to community
activists. Sure, light rail is nice but
this project wasn’t really needed in Parramatta.
It’s costing $2.4 billion to replace train
tracks that were already there (the old
Carlingford line). And the hassle and loss
of precious community space isn’t worth
it.
Are there any lessons to be learned from
the Sydney CBD? For years, George Street
felt like hell on earth. The light rail there
was over a year late and $1.5 billion over
budget. And when it finally arrived, the
tram took longer than the bus.
Yet as people filter back after COVID,
the pedestrian zone has come alive.
Business Directory ......28-30
Sport ...........................................31-32
Close your eyes and you can almost imagine
you’re on Istanbul’s Istikal Caddesi
or La Rambla in Barcelona.
There’s been tremendous pain for residents
and businesses. The result is not
an optimal transport solution. But it sure
beats cars, buses and trucks thundering
down streets.
Now that Parramatta Light Rail is here
to stay, the challenge is to add value to it,
while integrating it with the surrounding
greenery and streetscape.
So we must get on and build stage two
from Camellia to Olympic Park, connecting
the “forgotten Australians” of Wentworth
Point. We must look at the Carlingford-Epping
extension.
Back in 2015, the State Government envisaged
this project as part of a network
encompassing Castle Hill and Bankstown.
Whatever happened to that vision? Between
now and the next election, I would
hope that all political parties present
plans for radial transport connections
around Parramatta. It’s the only way to
ensure the current light rail stage one is
part of something larger that improves
our way of life.
The only way to ensure all that hard
work – and sacrifice – is worth it.
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