Legacy and Leadership. Why Can’t Adelaide Say No to This Erection?

(L) Col Wm Light (1786-1839) planner of Adelaide.  (R) Construction, 2017

by Mary Maxwell, current candidate for US Senate

The most famous statue in Adelaide, South Australia is that of Colonel William Light, a British army officer who was surveyor-general of the colony of South Australia. The statue of Light looking out over the city is called “Col Light’s vision” as he was a man of great vision. Indeed, every person who subsequently lived in that fair city has reaped the benefit of his vision. He surrounded the square-mile city with extensive parklands. Thank you, Colonel Light.

About a month before my May 11^th departure from Adelaide, I was watching ground being broken on the south side of North Terrace, from my perch in the bus shelter at the Art Gallery. The person next to me in the bus shelter said “That’s going to be twice as high as the building next to it.” I asked “How did the City Council ever approve of such a monstrosity?” Said she: “It is no longer under council; the state controls development.”

I have had a guilty conscience since then. Granted a monstrosity of concrete is not on a par with some of the evils we are always ranting about at GumshoeNews, but I was quite taken by two problemo’s:

1. People seem completely powerless; they accept whatever the new trend is. They never dig their heels in and say “I value beauty in the city; I do not agree to losing it all.”
2. The communication among residents of Adelaide has fallen from a significant amount to almost nothing. So even if hearts were beating with anger or apprehension about the new skyline, how would one know who one’s allies are?

I myself felt too dazed to do anything, although now (in the rather inconvenient location of Alabama!) I can at least identify the issue better.  I have checked the law and found that a Development Assessment Commission, a DAC, under the Development Act 1993. I gather from relevant websites:

An Environmental Impact Statement is required for the most complex proposals, where there is a wide range of issues to be investigated in depth. The project proponent must release it for public comment for at least six weeks, and hold a public meeting in an area close to the site of the proposed development.

A Public Environmental Report can be used where the issues require investigation in depth but are narrower in scope and relatively well known. This report must also be released for public comment ….

A Development Report.  For this level of assessment, a meeting is not a statutory requirement. It needs to be released only for three weeks for public comment.

I am guessing that there was no such publication of what was about to happen.  Each time I told someone about the planned high-rise it was “news to them.” Offhand I can see three bad issues.

• The Thing looks altogether wrong against “culture row” – it’s disproportional.
• There is no parking whatsoever so it will burden all other arrangements that folks now use for downtown parking.
• It will attract international students, thus hurting owners of rental units throughout the area – and the student himself will only ever see school/home/school/home, never getting the feel of suburbia.

But that is not my main beef. I am thinking of a future decision to remove the thing, for whatever reason.  As far as I can tell, it is unremovable! Even with an immaculate controlled demolition, it is too tightly packed in to its neighbors left and right. Ain’t nevah gonna come down. Imagine it. A disaster forever.

Again, aesthetic matters are not the greatest pressure in our lives today, but the beauty of Adelaide has exceptional value.

North Terrace is Adelaide’s “culture row.” It has gracious colonial buildings such as the Governor’s mansion, and includes the entrance to the Botanic Gardens, the Elder Conservatory, and the Natural History Museum.

The prize is the Mitchell Building of the University of Adelaide, in front of which is a magnificent tree, a Morton Bay fig.  Should the new high rise ever topple over, it would strike, in one blow, the Conservatory, the Mitchell Building, and God’s gift to botany, the Morton Bay.

When one value (the loveliness of this city) is in conflict with another we should have brains enough not to give in automatically to the new trend, as if there is nothing further to say. “Money must win out.”

What Would Col. Light Say? 

In Colonel Light’s day, he had free rein. The state was underpopulated, the car hadn’t been invented yet, the government was in far-off London.

Think about this. He was a man who could use his brain, and his heart, to plan for generations yet unborn. He did not have to cater to interest groups or political games, or even be limited by what was already there. There was almost nothing there. Lucky him.

Today, what is the story? Why did the state allow the giant erection? Was it trying to pour money into the coffers of the university itself?  Was it intimidated by the developers? Did the state do a deal with the Chinese government?

Is there a mafia involvement? (The new storeys of the thing are going up as pre-fab concrete slabs. I have been told that anything concrete is mafia city.)

Who Can Help, Officially?

It seems the state of South Australia has a way of declaring something a Major Development Proposal.  The one to decide this is the Minister for Planning. Oh dear. And was I ever surprised to consult the list if SA’s Cabinet members and find that the Minister for Planning is none other than the Attorney General, John Rau.

Wait. He’s also the Deputy Prime Minister and holds numerous additional portfolios. John Rau is:

Minister for Justice Reform

Minister for Industrial Relations

Minister for Child Protection Reform

Minister for the Public Sector

Minister for Consumer and Business Services

Minister for the City of Adelaide.

Makes ya wunda. How could any one person take so much responsibility? Is there a shortage of MPs in South Australia?

The Site

When attending a symposium at Adelaide Law School I got a further chance to inspect the site of the monstrosity. I say no footings were laid.  I realize that is crazy and I hope I am wrong. The construction site was not boarded off from public view. I had seen them clear the ground, as shown in the above photo.

I had already seen them remove the previous building (which I think was Elizabeth House, owned by the Uni). The demolition derby did a fantastic job scraping the inside of two party walls. But soon up went the new first floor. The builder’s sign says “Built Environs.”

Singapore and RMIT

Googling initially did not yield any information about the North Terrace site, but now I see an article that mentions “Rundle St.” Not sure if it refers to the monstrosity or to another one near the medical School, but at least it enlightens me as to the foreign involvement. This quote is not from Australian media but from The Straits Times of Singapore.

“Centurion [of Singapore] has now picked up a site off Rundle Street, near the University of Adelaide, for $3.5m. The transaction was brokered by Savills director of student accommodation Conal Newland.

“It is planning a 280-bed student accommodation facility, to be called dwell Adelaide, and it is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2018.

“The student accommodation will be part of a mixed-use­development, Frome Central, including a hotel, serviced apartments and a car park, being undertaken by South Australian developer Kyren Group.

“Centurion also owns RMIT Village in Melbourne, which it bought in 2014, and expects the new project to lift the number of its student accommodation beds in Australia to 736.”

You Will Please Be a Leader

Folks, it looks to me that leadership has fallen into desuetude. The problems I am discussing in my US Senate campaign here each day are more “awesome” than one architectural mistake in the city of my last 37 years. But is it not all the same thing?

Here at GumshoeNews.com we venture into issues of war, of health, of manipulation by the media.  But the editor and the assistant editor (that’s moi) always sense the enormity of trying to kick up some interest in matters where there should be leaders. There should be Col Light’s.

Are you young? My recommendation is that you make a list of what you can do, what power base you have (even if it’s only your Mum), and whom you might approach.

You could go to your MP and offer volunteer service. Heck, go to John Rau. How in the world can he handle such diverse portfolios as Child Protection, Industrial Relations, and the Attorney-Generalship?

See if you can get a foot in the door. If you can’t, set up a Ministry in Exile for one of his portfolios, such as Planning. Ask Dad if you can locate it in the shed. Just do the job for 3 months and report on your “progress.”

Sure it will all be sissy stuff. You won’t need to worry about getting your legs broken. Oh, wait a moment. Maybe you will. Who knows?

But someday instead of speaking only of Col Light’s vision, they’ll be speaking of your vision.

–Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB, is dead sure we don’t have to put up with the way things are now. Please see her all-singing all-dancing website: www.MaxwellForSenate.com