BIDURA SOLD! , the heritage house at 357 Road, and the Children’s Court behind it, have been sold by the NSW Government for $33 million. There was no community consultation. The site was advertised as having a 27 metre height limit, and was said to be suitable for residential development of up to 100 units. Bidura Children’s Court was one of only 3 dedicated Children’s Courts in the metropolitan area. Others are at Parramatta and Campbell- town. You heard it here! A spokesperson for the Department for Justice said that " the Depart- April 2015 ment has two years to identify a new courthouse site and relocate staff". One option under consideration is reopening the antiquated Metropoli- Four more years of attacks on public housing tan Children’s Court in Albion Street, Surry Hills which was closed in 1983. Since its re-election the Baird Government has offered no so- HANDS OFF GLEBE CALLS ON THE GOVERNMENT lutions to high house prices, high rents, and public housing sell TO STOP THE SELL OFF offs. In Sydney, growth in rents is outstripping growth in in- GIVE BIDURA BACK TO THE COMMUNITY come. Only the wealthy are able to afford decent housing. ————————————————————————————————————————————————— The new Minister with responsibility for housing, Brad Haz- Pay up, Mr Baird! zard, was previously the Minister for Planning, We hope to meet with him soon. The Baird Government has more than enough money to pay for a mas- sive increase in public housing and full and proper maintenance of exist- Jamie Parker, our local MP, has been re-elected and will be ing homes. joined by new Green member Jenny Leong (Newtown). We The surging Sydney property market continues to deliver a stamp duty look forward to working with the Greens, the Independent for bonanza to the NSW government, giving it a record take of more than Sydney Alex Greenwich, and the ALP. $1 billion in January and February alone. The housing crisis will not go away. It is time the NSW Govern- The government's last budget update in December revealed a surplus ment took action to alleviate the plight of hundreds of thou- $272 million thanks largely to the stamp duty windfall. The latest reve- sands of people in NSW faced with inadequate or overpriced nue figures suggest that the surplus will swell further. housing. Residential sales alone delivered $465 million in stamp duty in January and $396 million last month. Hands off Glebe and the Glebe Grapevine promise that we will continue to fight for the rights of public housing tenants and will The record receipts for the first two months of the year show NSW is on track to exceed the estimates in the 2014-15 budget papers. These fore- campaign for a massive increase in public housing to ensure cast a stamp duty take of $6.1 billion. that everyone has an affordable, secure and decent home. SAVE THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM The Glebe Grapevine is a publication of Hands Off Glebe Inc. If you want to help to save the Powerhouse, visit the Facebook page Contact: P.O. Box 145, Glebe NSW 2037 www.facebook.com/savethepowerhouse for campaign updates, or contact Facebook: Hands off Glebe [email protected] to join the mailing list." Ring Denis on 0418 290 663 or Julie on 0426 503 351 E: [email protected] www.handsoffglebe.org Authorised by Denis Doherty P.O. Box 145, Glebe NSW 2037

Under the Arches Cowper Street developments The Grapevine visited Wentworth Park to talk to people who have made You have probably noticed that work has begun on the Cowper their homes under the arches of the rail viaduct. The residents include Street site, after it lay idle for four years. people who have been homeless for many years. Some struggle with Civil works (sewage pipes etc) are being done in preparation for the mental health and addiction problems. One is in full time work but does subdivision of the site into five lots. There will be one lot for afford- not earn enough to pay rent. able housing, two lots for social housing and two lots which the gov- We were told that nearby residents treat “the Archers” in a friendly way, ernment intends to sell off for private housing. and give them food and blankets. Services such as Mission Australia Earth works are supposed to be completed by Christmas. The con- visit and assist where they can. tractors are permitted to work each day from 7am to 6pm, and to Sydney City Council told residents 1pm on Saturdays. They have been asked to control dust on the site that Sydney Trains, which owns the which was covered in fill containing asbestos, most of which was land under the arches, had com- removed after demolition of public housing homes four years ago. plained about their camp. They were evicted, their tents and other belong- If you notice dust coming from the site, or contractors working ings were taken away. Council has outside approved hours, call Paul Hunt, the Development Direc- since apologized, and offered to tor, on 8753 9083. store the residents’ property until Once the subdivision is com- accommodation can be arranged.. plete, building plans will be sub- Council has also organized services to speak to the residents about al- mitted to Sydney City Council. ternative accommodation. The campers have been promised accommo- Council will assess the plans and dation in the future, but this will mean a long wait. prepare a report for the Central When the Grapevine visited, the first cool winds of the coming winter Sydney Planning Authority were blowing through the arches in the late afternoon of an otherwise (CSPA) which is the “consent gloriously mild day. The rough sleepers had erected wind breaks, and authority” for projects worth more were confident that Council services and the locals will provide enough than $50 million. blankets for the colder months. The CSPA comprises four peo- Sydney City Council still insists that no structures can be erected and ple appointed by the Minister that only swags are allowed. Tents and mattresses are not permitted. for Planning. Until 17 April 2014, that was Brad Hazzard. He is now Residents said Council had been helpful in some ways. They promised the Minister with responsibility for housing. The other three members not to confiscate people’s’ possessions again, and not to hassle resi- are Lord Mayor Clover Moore and two other Councillors. The CSPA dents who complied with Council rules. Council also provides a rubbish is required to take residents’ objections into account. collection every two weeks. Hands off Glebe oppose the scheme. We say: Several campers expressed concern about street kids who also live in = All the land should be retained for public and affordable hous- Wentworth Park. They asked: “Why aren’t there people caring for these ing, not sold to developers; young kids?” = High rise, high density development has no place in Glebe. It will Problems of homelessness in Sydney can only be solved by the State destroy the character and the amenity of Glebe. Government spending some of the billions of dollars they collect in prop- erty taxes to build more homes. It is criminal to privatise the dwindling stock of public housing and In a rich country we should not have people sleeping in parks and under public land when there is a housing affordability crisis. A home is a arches. A decent home is a human right. human right, not just another way for rich developers to make even more money. Thanks to Richard, Teddy, Nick and Paul.