Adelaide to be a city "with a mojo"?

From Adelaide's Independent Weekly, online InDaily newspaper

Friday, November 12, 2010

Call to treat CBD as special zone

DES RYAN- Journalist : Nathan Paine Property Council SA

THE Property Council has called for the Adelaide CBD to be declared a Zone of State Significance to remove it from the “quagmire of parochial politics and stagnation”.

In a public policy paper outlining plans to make Adelaide a “Powerhouse CBD”, the SA Division today has called for sweeping reforms to the governance of the city to recognise its importance to the state’s economy.

SA executive director Nathan Paine said that with the close of council elections today, it was an ideal time to “lock in reforms” under a new Lord Mayor and council.

“This public policy paper seeks to crystalise the key issues that hold the City back from its potential and transform Adelaide from a sleepy town of the past into a Powerhouse City of the future,” he said.

“The State Government’s call for a team to coordinate and masterplan Adelaide’s Riverbank redevelopment is a great step in the right direction but we need this type of approach to the City as a whole.

“It must always be front of mind that Adelaide is the economic, social and cultural heart of this state – if the city doesn’t function, the state simply can’t thrive.

“As a Zone of State Significance the city could escape the quagmire of parochial politics and stagnation and finally achieve its potential.”

Mr Paine said Powerhouse CBD advances the work started in the SA Division’s

2009 blueprint, “Adelaide2036: Building on Light’s Vision”.

The new report recommends immediate actions to improve the “amenity and vibrancy” of the city, revitalising public spaces and the arterial connections between them.

In addition to providing State Significance status, the paper calls for

• the “activation” of the parklands;
• a “more imaginative and effective approach” towards heritage;
• the removal of barriers to multi-storey developments and the “activation” of laneways.

Mr Paine said some recommendations from Adelaide 2036 had been delivered and

others were in train, but the momentum for reform must be pushed along harder.

“Colonel William Light gave us an incredible canvas to build upon in Adelaide, but because of narrow parochial interests and a lack of political will we’ve always been scared away from pursuing its full potential.

“It’s time we swept away the old way of doing things, that we stopped bowing down to the opponents to progress.

“It’s time to roll up our sleeves and actually start doing all the things that the overwhelming majority of us want – a city with mojo, a bustling Riverbank precinct, active and beautiful parklands and, at last, a functional Victoria Square.

“We need reforms at the very top to do this, and the Powerhouse City paper provides the roadmap to achieve those reforms.”