Letters
- Author:
- Shant Fabricatorian
- Posted:
- Thursday, 25 February 2010
Cruise Terminal the way forward
The Cruise Passenger Terminal will be a really positive part of the future for White Bay. It will protect the area from Meriton-style residential development. Importantly, once fully operational, it will also provide 700 jobs for local young people, including hundreds of blue-collar, maritime jobs, and jobs in local restaurants and cafés. This is why it is strongly supported by local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce.
Balmain has been home to maritime industries for 150 years and maintaining a working harbour is strongly supported by the local community. A working port at White Bay will help protect the social diversity that is the best thing about this place. After all, this is Balmain, not Mosman.
Cr Darcy Byrne
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March 15th, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
The Cruise Passenger Terminal belongs where it works well in the tourist location of East Darling Harbour, aka Brangaroo. It does not belong in the residential suburbs of Balmain and Rozelle at White Bay. Verity Firth, Labor State member for Balmain, gave the community an ultimatum – Maritime (the Cruise Passenger Terminal, with its associated commercial conference and events centre) or Meriton (meaning high-density residential). Ms Firth, and Clr Byrne, both belong to the party in Government in this state that can ensure that Meriton development does not take place on the public harbour foreshores of the Balmain peninsula. Instead of handing out ultimatums they should supporting the community’s call for a new masterplan for these foreshores which was promised by the Premier in 2007. The passenger terminal at Barangaroo is a casualty of the government’s change of mind which has meant the winning design for Barangaroo has been thrown out and replaced by the intense development plan favoured by Mr Paul Keating. There is a desperate need of more public amenity and open space in the inner-west area and the foreshores of White Bay would help provide this, along with enhancement of Sydney harbour foreshores. The cost of relocating the Passenger Terminal means less funds are available for improvements to current public transport and other much-needed public facilities, such as hospitals. If the State government is determined to relocate the Terminal the better alternative would be Glebe Island, which already has the infrastructure to meet its needs, room for expansion if desired and will impact to a much lesser degree on residents of the inner west.