Tuesday 19 May 2015

Sydney Sorry You're Sold. The true cost of overdevelopment.

I'm disappointed with Sydney, I was born here almost 50 years ago. I don't like where this 
City is heading. Every where cranes are digging up big holes then plonking massive apartment 
blocks, with no infrastructure to back them up. The traffic is getting worse, everyone wants to 
live here, hundreds of thousands new immigrants appearing mainly from Asia for a better life, 
to the detriment of us already here. 
This city like London has become a place for foreigners to park their money safely by 
buying real estate. Here we are comprising our environment for all these people who most 
of the time may not even be here. Prices are driven so high locals can never afford to buy or rent. 
People looking for affordability move out of the city, inconvenienced by distance, 
time spent commuting, car tolls, petrol etc. 
Sydney's existing inhabitants are suffering from short termism and bad planning. We the public 
have no say in what goes on now. The gates have been opened to overdevelopment, 
spurred by banks for profit, the government for growth. 
Growth used to be about about creating industry, now it's for the global movement of money. 
I live in Sydney's south eastern suburbs, 20 years ago a modest house sold for 200k, 
now they are 2 million ! No locals can afford these prices. 
Foreign investors have created this unrealistic, unsustainable market while 
the current government biased towards big business does nothing. 
I beleive we are in the process of creating a massive  Caucasian and European underclass in this 
country. Once everything is sold off, we won't be able to buy it back, unless there's a crash. If there
is a a down turn it may be one experienced by locals only, not by the foreign buyers who tend 
pay full purchase amount upfront. 
New rules need to be created. A 10% entrance and exit fees or capital gains tax to anyone buying property who has not a citizen or permanent resident.  This money would go into infrastructure, and fund affordable housing for those that can't get into the market. 
We have to ask our selves as a community if all this pollution, traffic, density, anxiety really is growth? 
Maybe for businesses, developers, banks, government, but it's not personal or community growth. 

2 comments:

  1. 1) Every yr. the Fed. gov't admits 450,000 ppl
    2) 90% of them go -> SYD, MELB
    3) Then, the states are terrified of borrowing $ to build the new infrastructure required to cope with these tsunamis of immigrants annually! Its [infrastructure build] got to be done by 'private companies'-who then set tolls so high the demand craters!
    4) So why build it in the 1st place?

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  2. LON: a cautionary tale: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/28/london-the-city-that-ate-itself-rowan-moore

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