Botany Road – Will it ever be open?

Over the last couple of months we have covered the saga of
the heritage-listed Yiu Ming Temple
in Alexandria,
which seems to have been affected by the massive development next door. About
4.20am on Thursday March 6, a major water main ruptured beneath Botany Road, Alexandria,
approximately 20 metres south of McEvoy
Street and adjacent to a construction site.

Then a Recovery Committee, chaired by the NSW Police Force,
with Sydney Water and the RTA was set up. The committee is advising members of
the public about ongoing road closures affecting Botany Road, Alexandria.
Police media reports: “Following advice from engineers, who undertook an
examination of the structural integrity of a retaining wall, an area of Botany Road was
sealed off. This was due to public safety issues relating to the retaining wall
on the Eastern side of the excavated construction site.”

Ongoing traffic diversions around the affected section of Botany Road,
between McEvoy Street
and Bourke Road,
have remained in place with special event clearways and other traffic
management initiatives implemented to assist with the flow of traffic around
the site. The water that flowed into the excavated pit of the construction site
has now been pumped out and an operation is underway to transfer existing soil
from the site to a position alongside the retaining wall to assist in
stabilising it. The next phase of the recovery and repair operation involves
further stabilisation of the affected retaining wall with large amounts of
sand.

Sydney Water says that it is investigating the cause of the
burst main. On its website it is claimed that “the ground around the temple has
problems of subsidence. The water main appears to have been sound and its
fracture may have been related to subsidence in the soil. There is a major
construction site nearby”.

We asked Sydney Water what it thought was the cause of the
burst water main. The response was: “You wouldn’t have to be a genius to work
that out.” We contacted the developers to ask what they say has caused the
burst water main as well as the subsidence around the area of the temple and
there was no response. They are not commenting.

As we go to print, Botany
Road is still closed at Alexandria. Who will pay for the damage has
yet to be decided. When will things be back to normal? We will keep you
informed.

Wisdom from the Cross

Rev. Graham Long from Wayside was on the ABC TV news as well
as ABC radio.

Rev. Long explained in his weekly email to Wayside
supporters: “I was trying to point out that our policy of prohibition of heroin
was simply not working. In spite of all the money we spend on prohibition,
there is plenty of heroin around. It is my view that the government could take
control of this market and starve a criminal class to death in one fell swoop.
If the government decided to treat all addicts as people with a medical
problem, whether heroin or alcohol or whatever, we would be taking a step
toward not only a more humane policy but one that would be more effective and
considerably cheaper to run.” He then went on to ask the million-dollar
question: “Why it is so hard to get a rational discussion going on this issue
is a mystery to me. Why does a truly great Australian hero like Dr Alex Wodak
have his voice of reason, compassion and wisdom rendered to a voice in the
wilderness?”

I hope, as does Rev. Long, that “Maybe one day public
discussion on this matter will be more influenced by Dr Wodak who played a
pivotal role in saving this country from an AIDS epidemic than by our plethora
of shock jocks who are more interested in ratings than in any concept of the
truth or the common good.”

The Herald isn’t on your door step before you go to work

Peter Beattie, when he was Premier, made apology an art form
and it always seemed to work. After all, he never lost an election. His motto
seemed to be: “If you stuff up, call a press conference, smile and offer apologies.”

 

John Fairfax,
publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Fin Review seems to be doing a
Peter Beattie. Last month the publisher apologised to a senior journalist,
Gerard Noonan, after accusing him of leaking photos of a decorating error to
News Limited. Then last month it wrote to every newsagent across the state
apologising for the continual lateness of its papers.

The lateness has been causing real problems for newsagents.
Many customers seemed to blame the poor old newsagents who copped a flogging
from their irate customers every time the paper wasn’t on their door step
before they went to work. So, next time your Herald is not on your doorstep
before you go to work, spare a thought for the overworked newsagent.

Finally coming down – the incinerator at Waterloo

Standing at a bus stop on Botany Road a few weeks ago I was pleased
to see that work on demolition of the Waterloo
incinerator has started. I, for one, am pleased. I was working as a street
sweeper in the Redfern Waterloo area in the early 90s and my health was
affected – my asthma became a problem. I always thought what cheek two Eastern
Suburbs Councils – Woolhara and Waverly Council – had in burning their rubbish
in Redfern Waterloo and not in their own back yards. I mean, why not take it to
the North Shore, maybe somewhere like Lindfield,
and build an incinerator? No, they chose South Sydney.
I’m sure I speak for many people when I say that it should have been torn down
years ago.

Source:
South Sydney Herald April 2008 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au