Tue, 22. November 2016
What Do You Like About Campbelltown?
Q1. What do you really like about Campbelltown? What keeps you here and what brings people here?
I like it's location on the outskirts of Greater Sydney and it's proximity to the Australian Botanic Garden, Dharawal National Park, Water Catchment areas, the Upper Nepean River, Wollondilly, Camden, the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra region.
I like the views towards the Blue Mountains and I like the Scenic Hills just as they are, thank you.
I like the thriving University, I like Park Central and I like Mawson Park.
I like the fact that no aircraft fly over us between 11pm and 6 am. (It's called a curfew and that's what we want for Badgery Airport, thank you)!
I like the CBD traffic being kept to a minimum, with passing traffic being directed around it (Moore-Oxley Street, Narellan Road, Blaxland Road).
I like the fact that the proposed Badgally Road - Broughton Street bridge has not yet been constructed, because it would bring unwanted passing traffic directly through the CBD.
Keep all passing traffic out of the CBD and ease local congestion by making it easy for local traffic to quickly evacuate onto the M31.
Construct south facing ramps at Leumeah junction; and create another access junction south of Campbelltown.
Provide more CCTV security coverage around the CBD and other suburban shopping precincts.
Cambelltown CBD and suburban centres are in need of a clean up and physical facelifts - and while we are about it, stop tobacco smoke pollution in these areas!
Q3. What is important about Campbelltown that is worth keeping in the future? Why is this important to you?
The Scenic Hills are the closest this City has to an icon at the moment.
Keep it out of the hands of developers of any kind!
Consider turning it into a conservation area or merging it into the Australian Botanic Garden but don't ever hand it over to become a cemetery.
It is essential to defend our Council from forced amalgamation with other councils. We need to keep the "local" in local government.
Because of the ridiculous number of candidates in our local elections, it is time to introduce wards, where local residents have an easier task of selecting their Councilors. Five wards, each with three councilors sounds about right.
Q4. What kind of city do you want to grow in? (Consider what you and your family will need in the next 10 years)
I want a city that has a heart and soul, not a crowded sub-metropolis with no green space.
I would also like us to construct something here which is truly iconic and visible for miles. Something which sets Campbelltown apart from other LGAs, which attracts tourists and which everyone in NSW will associate us with. A focal point.
I know I am dreaming and we can't build a Harbour Bridge here but perhaps one day we could attract a developer to build a Centrepoint Tower or perhaps a new Council Administration Building which looks more like Burj Al Arab instead of a square glass box!
Q5. What can we do as a community and as a Council to create the best possible future for Campbelltown?
We must be united against discrimination, welcome all people, no matter where they come from, what their sexual orientation is, their skin colour, language or their beliefs.
We must work hard at encouraging all members of society to integrate into our community and encouraging all of us to be tolerant and accepting of differences.
Q6. What main elements would drive the biggest improvement to the quality of life you and others will enjoy in the future?
An acceptance in the broad community that when scientific evidence points to the need for human activity to change, then we have a duty to act on their advice, in the full knowledge that implementing such change will not come free of cost.
To achieve this will require leadership skills at all levels of government and across the political spectrum.If we cannot accept that, the quality of life will decline for our children and their children.
Q7. If you could change anything to do with Campbelltown, what would it be?
I would build a minimum four lane bridge over the outrageous causeway at Cambridge Avenue, Glenfield.
I would build South facing ramps at the M31 junction at Leumeah.
I would improve road transportation from Campbelltown to the coast and add a railway link to Wollongong.
I would replace all of the city's inefficient public lighting with efficient fixtures which direct light down, where it is needed - and not up, where it is wasted.
I would build a science centre to inspire our young and not so young with the wonder of science and discovery.
I would adopt Camden Library's visionary programme of providing astronomic telescopes for loan, to inspire residents to understand the Universe they live in.
Q8. When you have visited other towns or cities, have you ever looked at aspects of that place and wished Campbelltown had the same thing?
Yes. When visiting England in 2009 for my Mother's funeral and to attend to her estate, I had reason to to dispose of a lot of her effects. I found a highly efficient local council drive-in recycling facility, close to the town centre. It was open to residents all day and every day and it contained multiple large building skips, each one designated for a specific type of household item. For example: computers & TVs; furniture items; carpets; cardboard & paper; garden refuse; plastic goods; timber; metal objects; and others. Each skip had steps up to a platform where you could drop the items into the correct skip. There was also an area set aside for paints, oils, batteries, fluorescent tubes and other hazardous goods.
Our recycling methods dating from the 1980s need to be reviewed and improved.