Centennial Park sell-out

Jules Andrews

Sydney's glorious Centennial Park may soon be managed by a 
private corporation and operated on a user-pays basis if a scheme 
being considered by the NSW Government goes ahead.

Spread across 385 hectares of inner-Sydney, Centennial Park is 
enjoyed by 14,000 walkers, joggers, cyclists and horse-riders a 
day, and is home to an astounding array or native flora and fauna 
including four remaining pockets of original native bushland.

The Park is currently majority government-funded, managed by 
eight government-appointed trustees, and the 65 staff are NSW 
public servants. The park — like other government institutions 
such as museums, galleries and libraries — accepts financing 
from both public and private sponsors, and some areas of the park 
are available for temporary lease for private events and 
functions.

Under the new management scheme being considered a not-for-profit 
corporation will set up to manage the finances and upkeep of 
Centennial Park. Local residents will be forced to "buy in" to 
the scheme with a compulsory levy, that will qualify them to 
elect a board of directors and vote on major decisions. Local 
businesses and other private corporations will be encouraged to 
play a much greater role in park sponsorship and management.

The proposal is based on the management model of New York's 
Central Park, and is the brainchild of Professor Ed Blakely who 
is Chair of an "Expert Reference Panel" convened to advise Bob 
Carr on Sydney Metropolitan Development.

Who is this Professor Blakely? He is an American and when 
appointed to the position was lauded as being "involved in the 
reconstruction of New York after 9/11".

Buy what you already own

With an astounding display of doublespeak, Professor Blakely 
excitedly explained the scheme: "The community can play a role in 
all of this, the community can actually help pay for its own 
assets. For example, the community can lease back a park".

Professor Blakely compared the idea to the strata levies paid by 
owners in apartment blocks. (Strata levies cover the upkeep and 
ongoing expenses of common areas such as stair wells, driveways 
and gardens).

The distinction Prof Blakely did not make is that apartment 
owners also have common ownership and exclusive use of those 
areas.

If residents in the suburbs surrounding Centennial Park are 
forced to pay an upkeep levy they would no doubt have the 
expectation of special privileges regarding park usage.

Even a "not-for-profit" corporation will see it as only fair that 
an entry fee be then charged to all park users to help the 
corporation maintain the park (excluding the local residents of 
course, as they now "own" the park).

If the scheme goes ahead it would not be surprising if other 
suburbs then claimed the "right" to manage their own parks — 
particularly in the exclusive Eastern and Northern harbourside 
suburbs, where residents have the cash and would, no doubt, like 
to deter the hordes of outsiders who flood in on weekends and 
holidays.

Stop the rot!

The Australian people have said time and time again they object 
to the privatisation of public assets, yet it remains an 
ideological pillar of both Liberal and Labor party policy.

And so they tout Public/Private Partnerships — the private, and 
usually for-profit, management of publicly owned assets — as a 
preferable option to full privatisation. (When what they really 
mean is that it is their preferred option over fully publicly 
owned).

Residents of Sydney must send a strong message to Professor 
Blakely and the Carr Government: We already own Centennial Park. 
We already pay for its upkeep through local and state taxes. And 
if we already own it, then by definition we don't need to "lease 
it back".

If you object the idea of user-pays parks send a message to Bob 
Carr and Ed Blakely using the form at http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au
and clicking on "Your City, Your Say".