ESTABLISHMENT OF A PARKING TASKFORCE
Labor Councillor Geoff Stevenson moved last night at Randwick Council to create a Parking Taskforce to specifically look at the issues arising from the additional 14000 vehicles now competing for parking in Randwick City since the 2002 census. Councillor Stevenson said “ the recent Economic and Demographic profile review released this week by Council has highlighted the bad news that 14000 new vehicles have been added to the streets of Randwick City over the last decade, which most residents are acutely aware of, so it’s now time for Council target this problem and look for solutions”.
Councillor Stevenson believes the taskforce should be headed by the Mayor and include resident, community, business, and government representatives as well as the police and traffic experts who should collectively look at why there has been an additional car for each 10 residents over the last decade added to the streets.
In many parts of the city particularly Coogee, Randwick, Clovelly, Kensington and Kingsford, residents come home at night to find they can’t park anywhere near their home and it’s not getting any easier. Car ownership, a first world problem, is the curse of inner city residents all over Sydney but for Randwick City it is a relatively new problem. Light rail, cycleways, car share schemes and public transport are possible solutions but the attraction of a personal motor vehicle that can be left on the street until you need to use it is a luxury that many residents enjoy to the frustration of others trying to find a park.
Geoff Stevenson said “it’s time we look at how many cars we have and find ways to reduce the absolute numbers. We all love our cars but we can’t all expect to have one if urban consolidation is to continue in the Eastern suburbs at the rates currently proposed by the State Government ”.
