Funboxes get Burnside residents fuming
Burnside Council is wheeling around another thorny and potentially costly issue, writes Mike Smithson, which is destined to anger more ratepayers than it appeases.
It might appear that I have a grudge against the leafy, eastern suburbs municipal body given a past journalistic offering.
But my ongoing argument, also as a ratepayer, is about prudent and timely expenditure.
Yet another community consultation into a bike park, skate park, scooter park or what ever you choose to call a cement structure with steep curved walls, concluded last Friday.
The Wheel Park Feasibility Study was a dot point amongst a list of 15 and could’ve easily been missed if you hadn’t been searching for it.
The feedback findings are likely to be thrashed out at next month’s council meeting, which, from a public viewpoint, could be a 21st century version of “the storming of the Bastille” – well almost.
Opinion is bitterly divided, and there’s no shortage of public participation.
At stake is a small patch of existing reserve and carparking on the corner of Greenhill and Devereux Roads adjacent to cafes and shops.
Linden Avenue Reserve recently housed a skateboarding pump park, also known as a modular pre-cast composite structure, which has visited other public locations in Burnside but has moved on.
Any permanent fixture would have a larger footprint with greater challenges for all participants.
Council appears intent on spending another $40,000 on a feasibility study into the new recreational facility.
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Bear in mind, council’s debt is freewheeling towards $28.6 million which includes multiple legal costs for its petty internal squabbles as I outlined in a previous article.
Residents also don’t need reminding that they’re currently being hit with a 9.8 per cent rate hike this year followed by a proposed 6.95 per cent whack next financial year.
So, what are the arguments for and against a wheel park which has undoubted benefits for young and old alike who enjoy challenging their skills, risking the odd bone fracture and perhaps striving to become future Olympians?
Two passionate supporters of the concept are Richelle Martin and her teenage son, Max, from the Skate the East group.
Richelle’s been beating the drum for six years and hasn’t given up.
“I challenge you all, as councillors, to start the 2025 year with honesty,” she explained during a public submission.
“It’s on a main road, easy to find, easily promotable for people to use, has public transport access and is close to Burnside and Linden Park primary schools,” she said.
She also challenged full council to find a longer running community request on its books with this having just ticked past 20 long years.
Max then asked councillors to support the kids and build “the missing facility” within the community.
They were admirable and heartfelt pleas, but there’s just as much passion flowing in the opposite direction.
Some 833 residents, ratepayers and others have signed a petition objecting to the cost, location and also adding to a debt burden that even the most proficient skateboarder couldn’t jump over.
They also claim the signatories would have been even more plentiful if not for petition lists being stolen from a participating outlet.
As with the other proposed locations, they say Linden Avenue Reserve is totally unacceptable.
They say a simple Dial Before You Dig search indicated sewer, gas and telecommunications problems below ground would blow costs out of the water.
Stay informed, daily
On a more botanic note, they say nearby protected trees would create falling leaves and debris onto the track regularly.
The plan could also close part of nearby Linden Avenue.
In a council submission, a key objector noted the locally famous tree-lined avenue would need a U-turn area, rearrangement of powerlines and streetlights, stormwater redirection and be able to provide quick access for emergency vehicles.
Those opposing the park, including a handful of councillors, say the voices of those 833 have been virtually ignored by council.
At last month’s full meeting, about 60 people turned up to make sure their opinions counted but couldn’t squeeze into the already teeming public gallery.
According to some, at a subsequent public information night, few questions were answered with any clarity.
An elected member of council allegedly accused some attendees of bullying.
This latest bike park plan has the hallmarks of a council running out of options, considering all other locations have been knocked on the head with far fewer objections.
Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux told one objector via email last February that they’d been wrongly informed, and no decision had ever been made about the closure of any streets.
“This is also the first part of a journey that will probably take another 12 months,” she said.
Heaven forbid!
This “Days of Our Lives” saga, whichever way it goes, is likely to have more losers than winners.
Do skate parks roll in and out of favour?
Are they more seasonal in their popularity than other uses for the land?
Is year-round maintenance and security a factor?
Does it offer an open invitation for graffiti vandals?
And will the proposed $40k feasibility study even find such a park has a cost benefit to the entire Burnside community?
Many say expert analysis will result in the plan toppling over before its first skateboarding ‘kickflip’.
Given council’s past appetite for spending ratepayers’ money, largely without residents even knowing of the expense, it would need to be certain that this is a gold medal-winning project and not just a ‘Steven Bradbury’, falling over the line by default.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7 News.
