Source : Perth Now news
Residents packed a Sydney council chambers on Tuesday night to vocally oppose a proposal to introduce paid parking for visitors at some of the city’s most popular beaches.
Randwick City Council convened on Tuesday night to engage in a final debate and take in commentary from local interest groups about a controversial plan to introduce parking meters and widespread paid parking at seven beaches within the LGA.
More than 1000 parking spots at Clovelly, Coogee, Maroubra, Malabar, Little Bay, La Perouse and Yarra Bay would have become paid for anybody who didn’t live within the local government area.
According to council documents, surveys of more than 11,498 local residents showed 55 per cent of locals were in favour of the proposal, with the percentage of support increasing after a survey of several hundred individuals visiting from other LGAs.
Despite this, voluntary submissions to council were overwhelmingly negative, with 82 per cent of people opposing the plan.
Local resident of more than 30 years Annie Haque said the parking meters already installed at Coogee Beach were like “a scar on your body” and “a reminder of what people don’t want” while speaking at the council meeting.
“Twenty-one years ago the community successfully campaigned against a huge plan to install meters and here we are again. We didn’t want them then, and we don’t want them now,” she said.
“We want to keep Randwick free in every sense of the word. Free for us, our friends, our family, our carers, our tradies, and all from near and far.”
Ms Haque said the exercise, which council had suggested would raise millions in extra revenue for local projects, was unnecessary due to council already being “fiscally strong”.
Liberal councillor Daniel Rosenfeld used the debate as a chance to take potshots at Randwick’s Labor councillors, including Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker, calling the proposal a “great big new tax”.
“At a time when cost-of-living pressures are so high, mainly due to Labor policies at the other levels of government, they now want to oppose another tax. This tax will make people pay to visit our beaches,” he said.
“Cafes, bars and restaurants in Maroubra beach have customers from nearby suburbs like Pagewood, Daceyville, Eastlakes, Roseberry and Mascot, and these people will not return in the same numbers once parking meters are in.
“Instead of helping businesses in our area, we are potentially harming them.”
Labor councillor Aaron Magner defended the proposal, calling it an “equitable” choice that would bring Randwick largely into step with other coastal Sydney councils by using money from visitors to shift the burden of public projects away from ratepayers.
“Our current parking system asks that Randwick ratepayers subsidise drivers from outside the local government area … we are one of the only councils in Sydney that doesn’t ask visitors to make a contribution,” he said.
“That’s not really about fairness, that’s not really sustainable and it’s not really good policy.”
Throughout the proceedings, members of the crowd cheered in favour of those speaking against the proposal and offered remarks, jeering and even laughing at those who spoke in favour of it.
When Mr Magner described visitors only paying “the price of a cup of coffee” the gallery groaned.
Ultimately, a proposal to throw out the parking meter policy was passed with 10 votes in favour and five against.
