#27
Post
by stelaras » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:58 pm
I have been reading with great interest about what fellow Sen-Adel people think should happen with Victoria Square.
I say with interest, because there have been a great deal of exceptional ideas, which, if implemented would make great additions to our lovely city. The ability to star-gaze is a god given right to every human being and should never be stifled. Therefore, in this case and for this topic no one is ever incorrect and no-one is ever correct. However, this comes with a huge BUT. The "but" is that we all need to be realistic, so here are my views:
I agree with the majority of people that Vic Square should be blocked off to motor vehicles.
I agree that it should be transformed into a large colourful, green, vibrant entertainment precint that would emphasise the capital and draw people to it and hence the city (similar to what Fed Square does in Melb).
In terms of how much it would cost to do such a thing, well lets say it is very affordable to do so with the present population numbers.
However, my biggest issue with this topic is everyone's insistance of building huge extensive public transport routes to carry people across the square and to various suburban regions. As i said we must be realistic. Adelaide is only a small city with a population of approx. 1,138,000 (total population of approx. 1,515,000).
Large underground subways (metro's) will not be a viable option in Adelaide for quite some time. NO Government (labor, liberal or other) will build such a thing just because they want to forward plan 50-100 years when the population and patronage will be large enough to use it.
My limited understanding of city planning and development (whether it is private investor driven or government driven) is based on profit margins. At the end of the day they/we all want to make money. Currently, the Public transport patronage in Adelaide is 15.3 % which equates to approx. 170,000 people out of approx. 1.1 million using public transport on a regular basis.
Does anyone here actually think that 170,000 people can support such huge infrastructure??? i think not (unless u ramp up the prices so high, that it wouldn't make sense to use PT)
It is nice for us all to dream (im a dreamer too), but governments do not dream, they look at the figures and if the figures don't add up, then nothing will be done about it...
The best thing that can happen to Vic Square:
1. Close it off from all transport (except the tram)
2. Convert it to an entertainment/ meeting precint, give people a reason to go there (ie screens, music, festivals, cultural displays, perhaps some free to public art galleries, areas to showcase small films etc etc)
The best thing that can happen for car access:
1. Build an underpass so that cars/buses can travel east west.
These are affordable solutions that any state government can do (it could be given major project status, thus bypassing quasi-political ploying by ACC)
just my comments and thoughts