Signs or no signs in parks?

An example of Redtail’s signs. Thanks to Redtail Interpretive Nature Signs for allowing me to use this image.  Click to enlarge.

Most people are ambivalent about signs, except those that direct you to where you want to go.  In our parks there are a few signs – some very good.  The new signs along the Cooks River that are a map of the parks along the river are excellent.

There are the park rules signs. It’s rare to find one that hasn’t been scrawled with the same graffiti tag.  Someone out there takes these signs personally.  There are the signs inside picnic kiosks saying what you cannot do.  These are routinely ignored, as the community knows they are never enforced.

There are the Cooks Eye signs, made by the Cooks River Valley Association & scattered all along the Cooks River. These ask for help in reporting pollution & give phone contact information.  People don’t mind these as they recognise the community effort.

People often talk to me about the litter in parks, especially the kind of litter that will harm wildlife like fishing line, string & balloons.  This invariably leads to the need for signs designed to stop inappropriate behaviour.  Almost always the dislike of signs is mentioned because they are mostly ugly, mostly authoritative & mostly say NO.  Much of the signage is seen as a blight on the landscape, rather than an addition.  Perhaps this is why most of the park rules signs have been spray-painted?

A while ago someone said to me, “Can’t you find signs that are good to look at & educational?”  At the time I thought it was a big ask, but as is often the way, the answer to this request came to my computer without even the need to search.

I came across ‘Redtail Interpretive Nature Signs’ & they have done work for a number of local Councils on precisely this issue.

What makes their signage different?  For a start the signs are very beautiful consisting mostly of hand-drawn illustrations of wildlife.  This overcomes any language differences, which is a major consideration in our municipality.

Apart from looking good, the signs are also educational, not authoritarian.  They would benefit every age group & be a boon for local schools, especially placed along the Cooks River.  Just yesterday I saw a group of around 40 high school students having an outdoor lesson at the Cooks River.  With these signs, the teachers would be thanking Marrickville Council.

From the website – “Well crafted, nicely illustrated and engagingly worded interpretive nature signs …… can turn an encounter in nature from a superficial stroll in a park into a learning experience with wonder at every step; an outdoors experience which has the capacity to greatly enrich lives.

Compliance and warning signs are another means for imparting the values of nature and our responsibilities for ensuring their preservation. Properly worded and illustrated, these signs can instill that sense of responsibility and a willingness to comply.”

My preference would be for no signs, but clearly this is not working. If people don’t know about the nature that surrounds them, they don’t see it & they don’t consider it.  A river is just water, not habitat for a range of wildlife.  A park is just a place for them to play, not the only home wildlife has.

A great example is the mud nests built by the Welcome Swallows in the underside of a roof of a kiosk.  Some people, when they look upwards, see the strange-looking structures & not knowing what they are become afraid so they throw stones to knock the structures down.  If they knew these were the nests of tiny little birds & maybe they have eggs or chicks in them, I’d bet they would not be destroyed.  We have to try at the very least to preserve habitat.

The same with fishing line – if there were photos of the damage done to bird’s feet, the casual discarding of fishing line would likely stop too.  Instead of the authoritarian signs in the picnic kiosks, educational signs could be placed there that explain why Council wants people to not do certain actions. If it is linked to the wildlife, maybe the people will see it in a different light.

Canterbury Council has a couple of very nice signs at Cup & Saucer Creek Wetlands.  One shows a photo of what the creek used to look like before it was concreted & I doubt there is a person alive who doesn’t gasp at the loss of what was an incredibly beautiful place when they look at the photo on this sign.  Another sign explains the function & purpose of the wetland.  The outcome is that there is no vandalism, at least none that I have seen.  Not even the signs have been tagged.  I think people generally respect what they understand & if they can see that it benefits them.

These type of signs would be also be helpful in the areas of the LGA where nature imposes itself & perhaps annoys people.  The signs that say something like, ‘Ibis are a Protected Species. Please notify us if you see a dead one’ doesn’t quite get people to understand the benefits these birds bring to the area, nor does it do anything to overcome the attitude that Ibis are feral rats that should be exterminated, said to me just this afternoon.

‘Redtail Interpretive Nature Signs’ is more than signs.  If you are interested in Australian native birds reading the website is like diving into a wonderful pond of information. That it is written in a personal manner with stories, rather than ‘rat-a-tat-tat – these are the facts’ makes for very engaging reading.  The illustrations of birds are enough to keep me enthralled.   Their signs are a different way of dealing with inappropriate behaviour by using beauty & education.  http://redtail.net.au/

Mud nests built by Welcome Swallows. This photo shows last year’s destroyed nests, plus new ones built over winter. The one on the far left looks family-sized to me.

Marrickville Metro expansion

This week I counted the following trees around the current Marrickville Metro & the block where they intend to expand.

67 Fig trees, 9 Brush Box trees, 3 Camphor laurel trees, 8 Eucalypts, 4 Palm trees, 1 Canary Island Palm, 2 Melaleuca trees, 8 Bottlebrush trees, 4 Peppercorn trees, 10 Wattle trees & 26 unidentified species of trees.

TOTAL POTENTIAL TREE LOSS = 142 trees

There are another 24 medium trees on site that may be included in the development bringing the potential total tree loss to 166 trees.

Just some of the trees at risk of removal if the Marrickville Metro expansion goes ahead. The trees create a lovely ambience around the Metro, collect air pollution from vehicles, bring significant beauty to the area, sequester large amounts of CO2, help to lessen the Heat Island Effect & provide homes & food for urban wildlife. Their loss will be devastating.

AMP Capital say the Fig trees only have an average 5-15 years left to live. In ideal conditions, Figs live 150-200 years.  Although these trees are not in ideal conditions they are very healthy. To replace the trees they plan to plant 28 Eucalyptus paniculata (Grey Ironbark) along Murray Street & low level accent, grass & groundcovers “to ensure that general safety, sightlines & CPTED principals are maintained.” – meaning all signs & the building will be very visible as if the height of the new buildings is not enough.

More of the trees at risk of removal.

I think losing these trees will be a huge loss for the community, for air quality, for beauty of the area & for urban wildlife.  Currently most of Marrickville Metro is hidden behind large beautiful, healthy trees. I cannot imagine the area without them. Most of these trees are mature & took decades to grow.

Still more trees at risk of removal

The Metro expansion will also result in a 65-68% increase in traffic from an estimated extra 4 million customers a year. It will destroy our local shopping strips & remove much of the individual kind of shop that make the Inner West unique.

I asked a taxi driver standing outside Metro what he thought, thinking he would be for the expansion as it would bring him more business. He replied, “It will kill the local shops in Marrickville, Enmore & Newtown. I don’t think it will be good for us.”

Marrickville Metro want to buy Smidmore Street. Every bit of green is at risk of removal

AMP Capital also want to purchase Smidmore Street from Marrickville Council.  I think there is a big chance that Council will sell Smidmore Street to help with their financial situation.  In last Wednesday’s Sydney Morning Herald –

Council sources said a figure of $8 million has been discussed for the purchase of Smidmore Street, along the shopping centre’s southern boundary, but that no formal offer has yet been made. Several councillors told the Herald the council is united in refusing to sell Smidmore Street ”on principle”, but would not comment on whether that position would change if the project gained approval. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/mall-goes-a-street-too-far-opponents-say-20100811-11zqg.html

In return for traffic gridlocked streets, parking problems, much more noise, air pollution, visual pollution & the potential loss of at least 142 beautiful trees, AMP Capital will give us many more shops like we can get at close-by Roselands, Eastgardens or Broadway shopping malls. They are also offering a small library & a community education board.

We already have a number of fabulous & free-to-use libraries courtesy of Marrickville Council & a public education board is nothing to get excited about.

The car park of Marrickville Metro is surrounded by the canopy of the Figs & other trees providing a buffer to surrounding properties & creating an ambience unknown anywhere else in Sydney. They also prevent particulate matter (known to cause lung & heart disease) from the vehicles from dropping onto the street & surrounding properties.

The expansion to double the size of the current Metro makes me wonder where the customers are going to come from. Around 2-3 years ago, all the shops in Metro were required to do a specific renovation as part of sprucing up Metro & their rents were raised.   A number of shops were struggling to meet this cost & some moved out to set up shop elsewhere.  Since then, there have always been vacant shops in Marrickville Metro.

I am of the belief that AMP Capital would not be investing millions to do the expansion if they weren’t absolutely sure they will make bucket-loads of money.

All these trees are at risk of removal as well

Right now the area is classified as a village, but if the expansion goes ahead, the Department of Planning may be within their rights to reclassify the area as a ‘Town Centre’ simply because of the size of Marrickville Metro.  This will mean that development in the league of Bondi Junction & Hurstville will be allowed.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see the industrial-zoned areas around Metro being rezoned residential.  Once that is done, a ‘unit city’ can be built very close to Metro.  Then, to cope with the massive increase in traffic, the M6, an arterial road that is planned for Edgeware Road may one day be built. Edgeware Road is already often bumper-to-bumper.  The Marrickville Transport Action Group say – Cardigan St, Edgeware Rd, Liberty St & Kingston Rd are key to the F6 plan.

http://www.marrickvilletag.org/html/transport_johnsonscreek_history.html

Who knows if my theories have any weight, but it does make more sense as to why such a huge shopping mall is being planned when there are not enough current customers & it constantly has a number of empty shops.

The proposed Metro expansion is going to have a massive impact on Marrickville & surrounding suburbs in terms of traffic & pollution.  To my mind, it is not just an issue for residents who live nearby & shop owners, although it is an appalling prospect for them.  The expansion is an issue that will affect many of us because:

• it will choke many of the roads that are at capacity now
• it will likely weaken our shopping strips reducing choice & this often negatively affects variety of products & price
• it will reduce competition
• it will bring more 19-metre long semi-trailers to our narrow suburban streets  &
• it will take away the community feeling that shopping strips help create, because these are public spaces where we retain all our rights as citizens, whereas shopping malls are private spaces under the control of developers/corporations.

Unless the community come out in great numbers & say they do not want the Metro expansion, it will happen.

If you are against any aspect of the planned expansion, please send in a submission to the Department of Planning by Friday 27th August 2010.  Their e-mail is – Plan_comment@planning.nsw.gov.au

It is called Major Project – MP_0191 – 34 Victoria Road Marrickville. If you would like a draft submission please send me an e-mail.