Vale Laura Chaffey MBE

It is with sadness that I record the death of long term party member Laura Chaffey who passed away at her beloved St Luke’s on Sunday 27 May at age 94.

Miss Chaffey or Sister Chaffey as many people knew her was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 1980 New Year’s honours in recognition for her services to nursing at St Luke’s Hospital Darlinghurst and for her charitable work. For all her working life Laura was in the nursing profession and for many years she was the sister in charge of the fourth floor at St Luke’s in thoe days when St Luke’s was the major surgical hospital in the City’s east and before St Vincent’s Private Hospital was built. Most of Sydney’s major surgeons operated at St Luke’s and there was always a long waiting list amongst those who had the misfortune to be ill to get onto the fourth floor where Laura’s kindness and compassion were renowned.

But to many people Laura was more than a nursing sister; she held strong, compassionate, progressive liberal political views based on the Menzian tradition and no doubt because she came from a family with a strong commitment to community and political service.

Born in Tamworth in 1913, Laura grew up in a political household and saw her father Frank campaigning for a better deal for rural people. He was soon elected as the local Country party member for Tamworth in the NSW State Parliament where he served as Agriculture Minister in the pre-World War II Stevens UAP-Country Party Government. Her late brother Bill succeeded his father as the local member and he too served as Agriculture Minister in the Askin-Cutler Liberal-Country Party state government.


Laura was believed to be a life long member of the Liberal Party belonging to the Elizabeth Bay-Points Point branch since 1974 (as far back as the branch records go) and was well known for lending her considerable support and encouragement to many an Eastern suburbs aspiring political leader and was last seen just before the March state election attending the local Liberal campaign launch. She was very proud of our local representatives including her fellow branch member Don Harwin MLC and member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull.

Our community and the Liberal Party is a lesser place when we say goodbye to people like Laura Chaffey. I will always be thankful for the encouragement she so unstintingly provided in her inimitable clipped and precise way, always tinged with her wonderfully dry humour and wry smile.

Her funeral will be held at 1.30pm on Friday 1 June, St Marks Anglican Church, Darling Point.

(Pictured Laura Chaffey with Malcolm Turnbull at a Liberal party branch function.)

Listen to Jan Ghel Danish Architect

Visiting Danish Architect Jan Gehl’s media conference earlier this week is available to listen to on podcast. Note Council's information to the media below:

World-leading expert Danish Architect Professor Jan Gehl was the guest speaker
at a press conference on Tuesday. Professor Jan Gehl and his team have been engaged by the City of Sydney to conduct a Public Spaces and Public Life survey just as he has done in London, Copenhagen, Wellington, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Zurich. Gehl's study will be a landmark urban design initiative for the City to help strike a balance between people, cars and the built form. His Sydney study has been commissioned by the City to feed into our long-term strategic plan - Sydney 2030.
"A good city is like a good party - people stay longer than they planned to because they are enjoying themselves,” Professor Jan Gehl said.

"With smaller households, longer lives and increasingly spread dwellings, the public realm and public life obtains an increasingly important role as the direct meeting place between society and the individual.

"A good public realm where people from all walks of life naturally and casually meet is important for democracy, social cohesion in society, the notion of an 'open city' and the feeling of safety."

To hear Tuesday’s conference, download the podcast which is available on the City of Sydney website.

Danish Architect inspires Sydney's future

Reader's of eCouncillor will be well aware of my great passion for Copenhagen and all things Danish. So it will be no surprise that I am excited that the City of Sydney has engaged the professional services of Jan Ghel the renown Danish architect to undertake a 10 month study of the Sydney CBD. The objective is to facilitate pedestrian and related activity and to 'reconquer' Sydney for the people on the streets. With 400,000 daily workers and visitors our streets and public spaces need to be more than conduits between work, transport and shops.

Ghel has worked for cities all around the world including Melbourne where most observers would agree his guidance has turned the Melbourne CBD from desolate car dominated streets in the mid 90's to a vibrant and bustling CBD full of people, art and activity today. Melbourne Council gives him the credit for changing city policies in the mid 90's. The City of Sydney's hope is that Ghel can guide our city towards a path of a more quality urban experience and enhanced human scale public spaces in the CBD. This will mean challenges including ultimately taming the dominance of the private motor vehicle in the CBD. But other cities are doing it and the results are not just a more livable city but higher economic productivity and social cohesion.

Today's SMH reports on Jan Ghel:

City with a hole at its heart shown how to get back on its feet

City with a hole at its heart shown how to get back on its feet

A walk on the wild side … Professor Gehl braves the traffic on George Street yesterday.Photo: Peter Rae

Catharine Munro Urban Affairs EditorMay 9, 2007

TRAFFIC managers are good at monitoring car movements, but no one is studying how pedestrians use the roads, says the Danish architect Jan Gehl. The oversight could be costly. Professor Gehl believes Sydney - like Melbourne, which he began to study while on sabbatical there in the 1970s - is a "doughnut", because it has nothing in the centre.

"A great proportion of those who use the streets, they have nobody to represent them … they have gradually been treated worse and worse until, in America, they go home and stay home and watch TV and go to the shopping mall and that's the end of life," he said.

The City of Sydney has budgeted almost $300,000 for Professor Gehl's team to observe how pedestrians use the city centre. Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne have also used his services. Melbourne is on his list of nine international success stories. Its achievements have been measured through counting how much life had entered the CBD: the residential apartments, the pavement cafes and the nightlife.

City of Melbourne's director of city design, Rob Adams, said Professor Gehl's two studies, in 1994 and 2004, allowed the city to assess the effect of the changes they made, including the closure of Swanston Street. "Suddenly Swanston Street is the most successful retailing street in Australia," Mr Adams said.
Sydney pedestrians could also "reconquer" the city from the car, Professor Gehl said. "I have the feeling that we should be a little bit bold here and a little bit brave."

City of Sydney already plans to give pedestrians room to move on one of its busiest intersections. They have been buying properties opposite Town Hall - including the Woolworths building - in the hope of making room for a park.

A particular bugbear is the pedestrian push button at traffic lights. Professor Gehl argues walkers should not have to "apply" to cross the road. In a study of London traffic, he found most pedestrians crossed against the lights. "Crossing the road is a human right," he argues.
A spokesman for the Roads and Traffic Authority retorted that "not getting hit by a car" was "beneficial to human rights".
Professor Gehl suggests creating a continuous footpath on main streets, so that cars have to drive over the raised area. "Then the cars have the problem," he said.
His recommendations on Sydney will be released in September.

Community centre's $20m price tag

From today's SMH - more later.....

Sunanda Creagh Urban Affairs Reporter

THE City of Sydney's plan to build a community centre in Surry Hills, which has exceeded its original budget by more than $13 million, was approved by the council's finance committee last night. The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, used her casting vote at the special meeting. The centre will include childcare facilities, a library and meeting rooms, and will cost as much as $19.9 million. The council's 2006-09 corporate plan budgeted for only $3.6 million. The Deputy Mayor, Chris Harris, said he was told that incorporating green sustainable principles into the building had driven up the cost. "But sustainability shouldn't cost that much. I thought it was crazy it's gone up so much," Cr Harris said. "I think this project is very, very important to Clover Moore because this is the heart of her support in Bligh."

Cr Tony Pooley, the former mayor of the defunct South Sydney Council, said the centre was first planned by his old council. "The Surry Hills community centre started off under South Sydney. Our report in March 2003 recommended the facility would cost $2.2 million. It's just inconceivable how much it's gone up," he said. "It's a bigger complex than South Sydney envisaged. The green stuff is good and there's an extra floor being dug underground but even since we knew about that it's doubled."

Councillors have asked staff to provide more detail on the cost blowout, but so far had been denied it, Cr Shayne Mallard said.Cr Moore said there was no point comparing old and new project plans. "Previous figures were based on a different project proposed by the former council, or preliminary assessments of the current design."

Richard Francis-Jones, an architect with the firm that designed the building, Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, said sustainable building principles should not be blamed for the rising cost of the Surry Hills centre. "To say that that number is due to sustainability concerns is completely wrong. Generally speaking, if one is trying to produce a sustainable building, it may involve additional expenditure but in terms of
whole of life costs it's generally less." Work on the centre, in Crown Street, was due to begin this month but has been delayed by councillors fighting over the cost.

City prepares for Public Safety

After the horrors of 911 and the London train bombings I called upon Council to take practical steps in preparing our city for a public emergency. Since that time the City's CCTV has been significantly upgraded and expanded. High level security meetings between all levels of government have been underway and for those of us on the streets of the city some tangible evidence of planning as the Daily telegraph reports below. Lets hope that these measures are never needed.

Blaring sirens for APEC

By Lillian Saleh May 07, 2007

ALMOST 50 loudspeakers and sirens will be installed across the Sydney CBD under a State Government plan to safeguard the city during the APEC Summit.
With city workers and visitors facing the prospect of road closures at short-notice, they will now also be warned of any security breaches or terrorist threats via this equipment as 21 of the world's leaders converge on Sydney this September. Sydney City Council has agreed to a request by the State Government to allow 49 public announcement and siren systems to be put on smartpoles. It will also allow for the installation of 12 variable message signs (VMS) on the smartpoles – which are multipurpose street poles with street lights and CCTV cameras – and one on the railway structure of the Cahill Expressway.

A copy of a Principles of Understanding agreement obtained by The Daily Telegraph stipulates 13 conditions including that the PS and VMS system "will be primarily used for communicating and assisting the public to safety in the event of a major incident".

The loud speakers and sign boards will be used to alert CBD workers, residents and visitors of a terrorist attack or natural disaster and guide them to safety. But under the agreement, the council will have the right to use the technology at major city events including New Years Eve. In return, the council will not charge the State Government rent for using the smartpoles. The systems are not permitted to be used for commercial advertising or promotional purposes.

"Except in the event of emergency, the hours of use of the PA system, and message relayed, will be limited to minimise disturbance to members of the public," the agreement states.

Liberal Councillor Shayne Mallard yesterday welcomed their installation and called for a public education campaign. "I have previously called upon the City Council to work more closely with State and Federal governments to improve safety for our 400,000 CBD workers and visitors," Mr Mallard said. September 7 has been declared a public holiday for Sydneysiders with the State Government last week launching a tourism drive to encourage residents to get out of town during the September 7 – 9 long weekend. It is understood a state-wide public holiday wasn't declared because it would have encouraged country locals to head to Sydney.

Secret 35% increase in 'Spin' budget

The problem with Council budgets and Corporate Plans is that they are an omnibus of good and bad spending proposals. On one hand the budget proposes expenditure in areas like child care and libraries and on the other hidden away in confidential briefing papers is a proposal to increase the budget for spin for the council communications unit from $5.52 million in the 2006-07 budget to $7.46 million in the 2007-08 budget - that's a whopping 35% and means more glossy brochures and more slick advertising promoting the City - and the Lord Mayor along the way. The Sydney Morning Herald reports today:

Spin cycle: council PR boost hidden in wash

• Sunanda Creagh Urban Affairs Reporter
  May 7, 2007

THE City of Sydney council has secretly proposed increasing funding for public relations by more than 35 per cent.

A confidential document, sent only to councillors, reveals a plan to increase funding for the council communications unit from $5.52 million in the 2006-07 budget to $7.46 million in the 2007-08 budget. The unit includes public affairs, publishing services, community consultation and marketing.

"Spin! Looks like they have been taking lessons from the Labor Party," said Cr Shayne Mallard, who opposes the plan.

The money is not for the PR team of the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, which is funded separately. But Cr Mallard said the Lord Mayor still benefited.

"They are pumping out brochure after brochure with Clover's picture on it. There wasn't a communications department like this three years ago," he said, adding that the proposed change should not have been hidden in confidential papers, unable to be viewed by the public.

The document says increased funding was required "to meet demand for community consultations and higher standards for community information on council services and programs, plus consultation related to [local action plan]projects, the city's capital works and for the Sydney 2030 project in 2007-2008."

The council's chief executive, Monica Barone, said public consultation was anexpensive but important part of the council's $150 million capital works plan for the coming year.

"Every time we [propose a change] to a park or a community centre, we advertise a meeting, talk to people, bring draft designs, we do two or three meetings. Those things cost money but they really pay off," she said.

The proposed communications budget was a fraction of the council's operating expenditure and the figures would be made public once the financial plan was put on exhibition, she said.