THERE are several things that Planning Minister John Day fails to tell us about the monstrosity of a waterfront development due to start in a few weeks on the Perth foreshore.
He fails to admit that when Riverside Drive is cut off, all of that traffic will now only have two ways to go – through the Northbridge tunnel or via South Perth.
They’re not going to widen the tunnel, just getting out a paintbrush and making it three lanes instead of one.
Just imagine the consequences of an accident or fire; and upgrading the access (neither planned for nor costed) could extend back to Herdsman Lake.
South Perth residents will no doubt be overjoyed at Mill Point and Labouchere roads becoming the main thoroughfares to and from the airport. Unless, that is, the traffic will divert through Mt Lawley.
The other thing John Day is saying is that they will only cut through Riverside Drive after the election. Then he reassures us that we’ll be able to get back on to the Perth waterfront site in two or three years’ time.
What he fails to say is that instead of the lawns and mature trees, there will then be a 2.8 hectare inlet, fringed by open spaces surrounded on three sides by a dusty, noisy building site that will be with us for 10-20 years.
What he also fails to admit to is that when all this is finished, the much-vaunted cafes and bars will be in the wind tunnel and shadows caused by nine office and apartment blocks as tall as the new BHP building.
Goodbye to the river; goodbye to the Esplanade Reserve, whose buildings and gardens are listed on the State Register of Heritage Places.
Goodbye to the site of the Proclamation of Self Government in 1890; goodbye to the location of Anzac Day marches since 1916 and the Talbot Hobbs Statue, the point of salute for the Anzac parade since 1940.
Goodbye to the venue for social and cultural events, rallies, sporting events and concerts. Goodbye to the Florence Hummerston Kiosk (Grand Palace Restaurant) and Moreton Bay Figs.
Goodbye for ever to Perth as we know it.