Adelaide - City of Talk?

[ricecrackers]

Totally agree with what Crawf wrote. To quote what one person from Melbourne wrote on a local newspaper's website when the Riverside precinct was announced...

... Finally, the penny has dropped for Adelaide.

To me that summed it up succinctly. We're reaching the tipping point to becoming a modernized city, we just need more progressive people to take us forward.

the penny will drop when something like that actually becomes a reality.... until then, its business as usual for lil 'ol

[Will]

Totally agree with what Crawf wrote. To quote what one person from Melbourne wrote on a local newspaper's website when the Riverside precinct was announced...

... Finally, the penny has dropped for Adelaide.

To me that summed it up succinctly. We're reaching the tipping point to becoming a modernized city, we just need more progressive people to take us forward.

the penny will drop when something like that actually becomes a reality.... until then, its business as usual for lil 'ol

Things don't change overnight.

[ricecrackers]

Things don't change overnight.

oh but they do
they either change overnight, or they dont change at all

[Wayno]

is there a way to filter negative "chip on the shoulder" sarcastic comments from the S-A forum? such a waste of time reading them...

[ricecrackers]

is there a way to filter negative "chip on the shoulder" sarcastic comments from the S-A forum? such a waste of time reading them...

look at the title of the thread

if you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen ....as they say

[Wayno]

is there a way to filter negative "chip on the shoulder" sarcastic comments from the S-A forum? such a waste of time reading them...

look at the title of the thread

if you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen ....as they say

Keep honking...I'm reloading

[ynotsfables]

Ricecrackers you dampen peoples enthusiasm, passion and interest in wanting to watch this city grow.
What are your intentions on this website ?

[ricecrackers]

Ricecrackers you dampen peoples enthusiasm, passion and interest in wanting to watch this city grow.
What are your intentions on this website ?

to give people a dose of reality, those that need it anyway.........more than anything thats what many of the folk of this state need

unreal expectations combined with fishbowl thinking are whats holding back the state most of all.

the isolation of the place causes a lot of folk to have a pissant view on things, they spend too much time dreaming of the unachievable whilst making zero progress on what truly is achievable.

by that i mean we should be looking at similar types of places to our town, ones that are getting things right more than we do..........not comparing to such places as Amsterdam etc..........thats pissant thinking at its worst

[Wayno]

ricecrackers, I agree with your comment about spending too much time dreaming vs making little progress on what's truly achievable. Thanks for taking this thread in a valuable direction. I just wish you had made your thoughts clearer a few posts ago

Back to the topic at hand...

I actually believe we are well past being a city of talk. There's much more action than talk out there - it's just the majority of the SA population does not appreciate this fact. But is this really surprising when most rely on The Advertiser and TT for an education?!? hmmm, let me think about this for a nano-second Sure, the state election will bring out a special class of "minority group whinger" which will drive us F'in stir crazy for the next 11months - but that's life in a democracy...

As a reminder to all, this thread simply started because some "Senior Architect Dude" said we're still a city of talk, and guess what - The Advertiser published the article. Here we go again...

Well i believe this Architect has alterior motives - he wants to generate more opportunity for his crayon yielding mates - simple as that. Sure, i'll be happy if he achieves this goal - but not at the expense of generating more negativity in the general SA public...

[monotonehell]

It is interesting that in order for any one with letters to get a bit of publicity in Adelaide, all they have to do is make a press release full of non-constructive criticism, and the 'tiser will publish it. But to be fair they do publish constructive criticism as well. They just need to be able to recognise the difference and stick a filter on it.
What's missing in any democracy these days is open and informed debate. We all here are constantly operating from various levels of ignorance. That's partly the fault of the powers that be, who don't release information, partly to do with TT and the 'toser (edit: that was a typo but I think I'll let it stand) and partly to do with the population in general who don't have the ability to know how to tell the difference between fact, spin and fiction.
We could all do with some objective critique training.

[adam73837]

Decades ago, when WA and Queensland were rural backwaters and Melbourne was a joke, Australia's 3rd largest city 'Adelaide' was seen as a progressive and creative city. Even for many years South Australia outperformed the rest of Australia in economic and population growth.

What? When was this? (I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just amazed at how much times have chaged )

However the next two decades will be the rebirth of South Australia. In the 2010s we will see a major expansion in mineral deposits (incl Olympic Dam), on-going construction of the $35bn+ defence projects (incl the $25bn submarine contract), major road projects (incl South Rd & Northern Connector), major government projects including the RAH, new prisons and the desalination plant...

Just on the 'major road projects' topic, I understand that this most likely belongs in the The Great Roads Debate forum, but I'd thought I'd mention it here (after all, I am what I am as you all know ). Is South Road really the correct answer. If the next two decades are going to be the 'rebirth' as the population gets to 2million, we must ask ourselves, "Is building under/ overpasses at intersections of a suburban road that has slowly crept to stretch from North to South really the right solution for a principle North-South Axis of a city that has a Geographical Significance amongst the other Australian Cities?" -Sorry, you all know I couldn't resist, particularly after just having returned from Accident Avenue (Victor Harbor Road). Such an of a road, don;t you all agree? Although I guess the overtaking lanes will slowly begin to make a difference.

But really Adelaide is already changing, from building a important public transport link that has opened up the southern CBD too the growing number of people living, working and visiting the city. Also I'm sure 3-5 years ago we would of laughed at the current serious discussion of building a premier riverbank precinct (including a stadium) or spending $100m on our train network, let alone $2bn. Remember the days of debating of having a toilet in Victoria Square!

<LAUGHS> Yes! I believe that at that time, Sydney was finalising their Olympic Games preparations, Melbourne was in the thick of building Docklands and Southbank and Brisbane... well... what was going on in Brisbane? (Not intended to be an implication that nothing was happening, because that was certainly not the case.)

Though there is still alot of work that needs to be done, the State Government should get some ideas from Melbourne and Brisbane.

I completely agree with you. Perhaps they should look at these sorts of things:
http://qld.engineersaustralia.org.au/je ... PPfull.pdf
There was also a plan released by the former British Airways Chief for Melbourne, I seemed to have forgotten where it is on the net and what it was called Shame on me.

[peachy]

Ricecrackers you dampen peoples enthusiasm, passion and interest in wanting to watch this city grow.
What are your intentions on this website ?

to give people a dose of reality, those that need it anyway.........more than anything thats what many of the folk of this state need

unreal expectations combined with fishbowl thinking are whats holding back the state most of all.

Is what you speak the reality though? It may be the reality to the defeatists of the state who spruik the like of

perhaps Adelaide has already truly realized its potential.

but what more than anything many of the folk of this state really need is less people who nay say ideas without offering alternative new ones of their own, thats whats holding back the state most of all.
You do have a valid point about unreal expectations, as a positive unrealistic expectation will leave the people in an even greater sense of inability when it fails. But how about when you knock a debate point that you deem unrealistic, you replace it with what you think is achievable. Then you're having a debate not just talking to a brick wall of no.

the isolation of the place causes a lot of folk to have a pissant view on things, they spend too much time dreaming of the unachievable whilst making zero progress on what truly is achievable.

by that i mean we should be looking at similar types of places to our town, ones that are getting things right more than we do..........not comparing to such places as Amsterdam etc..........thats pissant thinking at its worst

We are isolated but many Adelaideans were born either overseas or are only 1-3 generations removed. That combined with the large number of South Aussies who have travelled abroad means I would say we are fairly cluey about what is going on in the rest of the world and how it works. You say we "spend too much time dreaming of the unachievable whilst making zero progress on what truly is achievable" yet you are also guilty of making no progress as you spend too much time shooting ideas down instead of enlightening us of what you believe is "truly achievable"...........this is pissant thinking at its worst.

Finally i can see your point about comparing Adelaide to the Dam and the like, sure we're not the same, but i hope you realize no one is saying Adelaide should be a carbon copy of these cities, they are saying that aspects of these cities can be applied to ours. We can learn from other cities mistakes and triumphs then scale and adapt that philosophy to our needs, whether it be transport, water etc. People choose famous cities to compare to as its more likely that others reading the post will be able to understand the ideas being proposed as its likely more people have heard or been to these touristy places. Are there any cities you have been to or heard about that you think Adelaide could learn from? Please, please contribute, that is what all the frustration other posters are having with you. The nameless towns that you talk about that are similar types of places to our town but are getting things right are the cities that have progressed way past Adelaide because of the fact that they did get it right. So we need to look at bigger/better cities to see how they got there.

and just to get back to the main purpose of this thread... we the people, who can't actually build our visions for city, need to aim and demand the stars so our pollies will deliver the clouds. Aim for nothing and the gov will be happy to serve it up to you, aim high and they will deliver the achievable medium.

[ricecrackers]

well enough with the personal attacks...i make plenty of constructive suggestions...but i'm nobody in the scheme of things.

in the 1980's Adelaide formed a 'sister city' relationship with Austin Texas. I believe that only exists now in name, but i stand to be corrected. back then Austin was comparable with Adelaide. whats happened since is that place has become one of the boom towns of the USA. perhaps Texas oil had something to do with it...but oil has always been in Texas....perhaps it was peak oil...perhaps its the fact Texas has as many people in state as the whole of Australia....it always was a uni town, perhaps it was Dell...i dont know

maybe this is what Rann has in mind for Adelaide...as many labor governments have with an education preoccupation agenda....so far however we've slipped in the national scheme as an education centre.

point is, we need to look at smaller places that have got it right...places with similar histories, similar cultures and similar resources.

i take issue with some on this forum however that have an obsession with building height restrictions. at the end of the day skyscrapers are just a symbol of one's inferiority complex (look at all the places that are building the really big ones now....historical inferiority complexes are rife). we have plenty of space in our CBD, buildings over 20 levels really arent needed.

what i'd like to see from the govt of this city/state is to spell out a plan in dot points as to what is needed to rebuild the place and take it forward into the 21st century and beyond and what they are going to do to achieve it. the main priorities need to be spelled out....


eg

1. we need to secure a reliable water supply
2. we need to secure a reliable energy supply
3. we need to ensure our data communication is world class
4. transport infrastructure needs to be the best in Australia

...

and so on...until it leads to the end game.....and the people need to know what it is

as currently it all appears adhoc and compromised.....rather than a clear vision and a plan to get there

the people will get on board if they can see a plan and see an end game of the kind of place they'd like to live in

some of this has already been done, but it changes every 6 months....old fashioned policy on the run.........no case of a simple plan and sticking to it.

Rann & Co seem to want to release info to the public by drip feeding us...which means they simply are making it up as they go along.

we have all this political piss-farting around with no clear agenda or plan that inspires anyone...
we have a combination of spin doctors and panic merchants in our ministry that are working against each other with their own pissant agendas.

the Thinkers in Residence program would have to be the joke of the century....basically an admission by the govt, they have no idea. its like a distraction for the people to talk about them while they're here thus taking focus off the govt themselves.

as for the Advertiser, i think they've published a front page story of the Adelaide Oval debate every day this week and the public have lapped it right up. pathetic pissant mentality of Michelangelo Rucci in particular...its time for this outdated publication to cease its existence and new media to take over

[adam73837]

There was also a plan released by the former British Airways Chief for Melbourne, I seemed to have forgotten where it is on the net and what it was called Shame on me.

I may not have yet found his plan, but I did find the Victorian Transport Plan.
http://www4.transport.vic.gov.au/vtp/index.html
We all should look through it carefully and realise just how behind we are. I am well aware that it cost money, , but seriously, compare their transport plan to ours: http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/index.asp
Oh wait! That's right, we don't actually have a vision as yet, we have the good ol' one project here, one project there approach don't we?
Essentially all of the people on Sensational-Adelaide have huge (and realistic) plans for Adelaide, however none of them are brought to the attention of the ones in power! Hence, people like Jim Daly continue to have a huge influence over decisions.
Think about it, the intentions and will of the people of Sensational-Adelaide could flatten the likes of the APPA and act as an influence upon the city. Such a thing could help bring us into the 21st Century (with the other Australian Cities). Enough of these conservative, old, vocal minorities having huge influences on this city, we're going to be the ones to witness the effects of today's decisions; we should be the ones in that position, not them!

[ricecrackers]

There was also a plan released by the former British Airways Chief for Melbourne, I seemed to have forgotten where it is on the net and what it was called Shame on me.

I may not have yet found his plan, but I did find the Victorian Transport Plan.
http://www4.transport.vic.gov.au/vtp/index.html
We all should look through it carefully and realise just how behind we are. I am well aware that it cost money, , but seriously, compare their transport plan to ours: http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/index.asp
Oh wait! That's right, we don't actually have a vision as yet, we have the good ol' one project here, one project there approach don't we?
Essentially all of the people on Sensational-Adelaide have huge (and realistic) plans for Adelaide, however none of them are brought to the attention of the ones in power! Hence, people like Jim Daly continue to have a huge influence over decisions.
Think about it, the intentions and will of the people of Sensational-Adelaide could flatten the likes of the APPA and act as an influence upon the city. Such a thing could help bring us into the 21st Century (with the other Australian Cities). Enough of these conservative, old, vocal minorities having huge influences on this city, we're going to be the ones to witness the effects of today's decisions; we should be the ones in that position, not them!

even Scarface had a plan

money => power => woman