REDWatch had another year of strong action,
capacity building and advocacy.
Some the issues REDWatch has been active on
since 1 July 2021 include:
- The Elizabeth Street /
PCYC site moving from Build to Rent to Build to Sell - The Council Rezoning of
the Botany Road Corridor - Waterloo South gateway,
exhibition and determination - Waterloo South People and Place
framework and tender input - Redfern North Eveleigh Paint Shop
Planning Proposal Exhibition - Redfern North Eveleigh Clothing Store
Consultations and move to EOI - The Large Erecting Shop
Rezoning and proposal to incorporate the LES as part of South Eveleigh - Affordable housing and Social housing redevelopment issues including
South Eveleigh public housing and the need for more affordable housing
including support for Aboriginal Affordable Housing. - Improving Human Service Delivery for
public housing tenants through regular meeting with DCJ and SLHD and
Participation in the Waterloo Human Services Collaborative and Coordination
Groups.
As a group, we continually look at how to
engage with people from across the communities and who work in government.
We
achieve this by remaining political party neutral and creating opportunities
for voices that are not normally heard, to have centre stage.
List of REDWatch meetings
2021-2022 year:
REDWatch usually meets at 6 pm on the first
Thursday of the month at the Factory and in the period of this report also
online. These monthly meetings focus on a key challenge or issue facing the
local community. REDWatch meetings are open to everyone, as is membership of
the incorporated association that organises its activities.
REDWatch has a strong history of providing a
place for people from across the community to come together to discuss the
issues, receive information and creating space for collective actions. As a part of this REDWatch requests Council
and Government bodies dealing with the local community to present to the
community and answer questions in a community controlled space.
- July 2021- Presentation on
Waterloo South Gateway determination - August 2021 – City of
Sydney presented Botany Road Planning Proposal - September 2021 – Tenants
Union and tenants on Community Housing Providers (CHPs) - October 2021 – AGM and
Blak Douglas on artist Roy Kennedy - November 2021 – City of Sydney Candidates Forum with ARAG and FOE
(Wednesday) - December 2021 – No meeting
- February 2022 –
Waterloo South: What makes high-density work for the community? Laura
Crommelin, Philip Thalis and Tim Williams - March 2022 – Department of
Planning and Environment (DPE) briefing on the Waterloo South Exhibition Proposal - April 2022 – Waterloo
South: The mood, thoughts, issues and possible responses to the Waterloo South
Planning Proposal - May 2022 – Federal
Candidates Forum with ARAG and FOE (Wednesday) - June 2022 – The Housing
Market – Ben Spies Butcher and Prof Nicole Gurran. - July 2022- REDWatch members
meeting - August 2022 – Redfern
North Eveleigh Paint Shop Precinct Exhibition Briefing – TfNSW - August 2022 – Waterloo
South – LAHC moving to Delivery - August 2022 –
Redfern North Eveleigh Paint Shop Precinct Saturday Public Meeting - September 2022 – No meeting
- October 2022 – Waterloo South LAHC
introduces their community engagement for people and place. - November 2022 – What does LAHC need to
do to deliver positive outcomes for public housing tenants from its Waterloo
plan?
REDWatch worked with Counterpoint and
Groundswell in capacity building for public housing tenants in Waterloo. This
included involvement on a working group and the preparation of presentations
on:
- Waterloo
Redevelopment – How did we get here? - Waterloo South
Redevelopment: Unpacking the Planning Proposal
REDWatch also worked with other organisations
to help them understand what was happening in Waterloo and provided speakers on
the public housing redevelopment and Eveleigh at events organised by other
organisations.
REDWatch coordination group also meet monthly
to resource and coordinate our activities. Our office bearers meet other
community groups, local decision-makers, elected officials and make written
submissions and media statements on a diverse range of issues.
REDWatch is a member of the following ongoing
groups:
- Better Planning Network
- Groundswell Redfern Waterloo
- The Waterloo NAB’s Waterloo Redevelopment
Group (WRG) - The Waterloo Human Services
Collaborative - The Waterloo Human Services
Co-ordination Groups - Mirvac South Eveleigh’s Community
Liaison Group - Mirvac South Eveleigh’s Advisory Panel
REDWatch also wants to acknowledge the support
offered by Counterpoint Community Services who allow us to use the Factory
Community Centre for our monthly meetings and who cover our insurances.
Counterpoint also assist REDWatch with some of their staff time and we work
collaboratively with them on public housing issues through Groundswell, the WRG
and on Human Services Issues.
One of the major challenges facing REDWatch at
the moment is to keep our website working. It is old and keeps breaking down. We
want to retain all the important information on it but also have a website that
will service our communities into the future. That involves either so pro bono
work or the need for a major fundraising campaign to pay someone to build a new
site and transfer the existing material.
REDWatch has had another very busy year. The
developments that are reshaping our area are ongoing and require ongoing
monitoring by REDWatch. To do that REDWatch needs members to support the
organisation and the Coordination Group to keep the organisation going and
fulfilling its important community role.
We will continue to build on the work that has
gone before and we thank everyone for their continued support and for giving
the community a voice in the decisions made about our area.
Alice Anderson &
Geoff Turnbull (Co-spokespersons) December 2022