Infrastructure Maintenance
North Sydney Council spends more than $19 million a year on infrastructure maintenance. The big ticket items include roads $3.5m, street cleaning $1.8m, footpaths $1.6m, community facilities $1.4m, trees $1.2m, gardens $1.1m and sports grounds $1m. What is Council doing well in maintenance, how do we compare with other areas you visit and what do you think needs more attention?
Tunks Park!
There is a clear distinction between the amount of money spent on the turf wicket and the other fields in the park. The turf wicket is used by a minority of residents in the area for the summer months only.
The rest of the park is used by a number of other sporting clubs particulary touch football, and those fields get far more use. However, the amount of care given to fields 2,3,4 & 5 is far below that of the turf wicket. I dont think this is fair.
The council should direct its funds to what benefits the most amount of residents. Im not saying remove the turf wicket - but at least give the other fields a resonable level of treatment!
patMarch 14th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Seating along Mount Street, east of William Street would help the elderly as they make their way up from public transport to visit the Mary MacKillop Chapel and Museum.
BrigetteMarch 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I’d like to provide some information on the sandstone paving in the CBD.
Sandstone was chosen by Council because it IS different from the slate grey pavers found in other commercial areas, such as the Sydney CBD. North Sydney has always had a more relaxed feel than other CBDs and we wanted the CBD to maintain the warmer and more mellow feel.
Many people have commented that they like the sandstone, but obviously not everybody does. We’ve also had positive comments from women who wear high heels who find it easier to walk on the smoother surface.
All paving in high traffic areas gets dirty, whether it’s grey or sandstone paving, and needs cleaning from time to time. The good thing is that the sandstone paving actually cleans very well.
I agree that the bitumen patches are disappointing, particularly when they appear just days after new paving has been laid. Unfortunately Council has no control over the utility companies digging up the pavement whenever they like. The only consolation is that they pay for the reinstatement of the pavement, not us.
It’s unfortunate that the Council’s budget did not allow us to redo all the CBD pavement in one go. However, we’re continuing to repave sections of the CBD as funding allows and I’m sure there will be a more harmonious look throughout the whole CBD when all the old pavers have been replaced.
Penny Holloway - General ManagerFebruary 27th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Coral, I couldn’t agree more about the sandstone paving. I watched from my office window (and suffered the inconvenience and noise) while Berry St was resurfaced, only to find that in less than a week an area was dug up to access the many underground facilities. For the next few weeks, there was an ugly patch of black bitumen filling in the hole. Eventually the area was resurfaced in sandstone, but how much is this costing? Surely there is a better, cheaper, more sustainable alternative?
MichelleThere’s also the issue of having at least four different surfaces is one small stretch of footpath - there’s the sandstone, the paved driveways, the areas outside offices and the rubberised bit outside the Rag and Famish for the kegs to drop onto. It just looks like a dog’s breakfast.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Last year, North Sydney Council had the footpaths re-done in the central part of the CBD in sandstone. The surface, when new, is highly attractive but I knew from the start that using sandstone in a high level traffic area was a bad move. In just a few months the surface is stained and it now looks ugly. What motivated this poor choice of surface? Surely from experience a more hardy, practical surface such as a slate grey would have been the better choice and in the long run a cost saving because no doubt sooner rather than later the footpaths will need to be done again. More thought needed here.
CoralFebruary 10th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
The Newlands Lane way some months ago had some resurfacing completed, I am assuming due to the additioinal parking required in the area. When asked the crew said that they would complete the paving the following weekend. This was never done. I live on the lane way and the area fronting 14C and 14B has not been resurfaced. This area gets overgrown with weeds and garbage acumulates. As a result only 1/2 of the lane can be used for cars to get past. I have cleaned up the weeds and garbage on numberous occasions. Can the council see that the paving is completed so the whole area is useable and safe for passing cars.
JanThanks for your comment which we’ve also put through as an action request.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
The north sydney area is one of my favorite places
im so glad to be living here after exploring the world for myself, stop and look around sometimes and just enjoy what you have been blessed with
olivia.
OliviaJanuary 7th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
The Streets surrounding the local Neutral Bay Shopping Area and Skate Park ie: Park Avenue is on the Street Cleaning Schedule for Weekly Cleans. It is not cleaned once a month, Ernest Street is once a day for the Street, but the footpaths and weeds are not maintained. A lot of rubbish is generated by the kids that visit the Skate Park and they leave their food wrappers Coke bottles, beer bottles etc on the footpaths, I collected 6 of them this morning on the corner of Ernest Street and Park Avenue. It is important that Streets are kept clean around these areas.
StellaNovember 17th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
It’s been more than a month since the guttering outside my unit has been cleaned. I tried to do it myself the other day but I just don’t have the strength, the silt was 15cm thick and hard as a rock. I see the council cleaning truck go down Crows Nest Road every Saturday and that road is quite clean. Morton St just gets missed. If you say that there are cars parked there but on a Saturday morning its not the case. Everybody is out shopping etc and it would be an ideal time for the Council Cleaners to come around. I will gladly move my car if its in the way if I knew they were coming. Myverge is one of those where the grass wont grow.
SarahAugust 25th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
As many residents (and ratepayers) know, big ticket items are one thing, little ticket items are another. If Council directs so much of its limited finances to big ticket items, then the small ticket items get little if no attention. Things like maintenance of public seating, the ordinance fences, the lovely Ted Mack bus shelters. Payment for infrastructure work in Crows Nest and now Neutral Bay is subsidised by commerical property owners, and Crows Nest certainly shows how valuable that has been, but there is no subsidy from commercial property owners for the huge amount spent in glamourising the CBD. Daily cleaning of the CBD, monthly cleaning of the residential areas - c’mon, Councillors, where do you think the votes come from?
ShirleyShirley
August 19th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I walk from Morton St, Waverton to St Leonards and the state of the verges are pretty shoddy. Where grass won’t grow, when it rains it just washes away the soil and the area becomes eroded. The guttering gets full of silt and therefore clogging up the gutters and drains. If grass won’t grow in these areas then an alternative could be placed. Surely the maintenance is high in these areas where water cannot penetrate and therefore making the cleaning-up process more expensive not to mention dangerous with the tree roots protruding from the ground.
SarahAugust 11th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
The street cleaning budget was increased after resident and business survey results showed lower levels of satisfaction with the cleanliness of streets and commercial areas than with other council services. Some commercial areas are now cleaned twice each day and residential streets near commercial areas are cleaned fortnightly, rather than monthly. The additional bins installed across the area also require regular emptying. Street cleaning is a manual task and labour is a significant cost. Satisfaction with the cleanliness of streets and commercial areas has improved. The result is a clean North Sydney - but at a cost. Does North Sydney need to be this clean? What do others think?
ModeratorAugust 8th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Street cleaning.
GeraldIt must be questioned why street cleaning costs $1,800,000, ($4930 per day, 365 days per year)? What is the money actually spent on - streets are not observably dirty - is that only because so much is spent on keeping them clean? Could the expenditure not be reduced without disadvantage? Street cleaning may well be necessary, but could some of the money spent on it be freed up to be applied to other needs, so avoiding the need to increase rates, charges and fines?
August 7th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
The park under the Harbour Bridge is full of mud. It is regularly used by the community to walk to the ferry and the Olympic pool. Can Council please put a path through the mud so we don’t get our shoes dirty?
JohnJuly 15th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Council has asked the contractor to paint in the pedestrian crossing. Unfortunately, line markers are in high demand at this time of year as the RTA and other organisations complete projects for the end of the financial year. Our job is in the queue.
ModeratorThe delays have been made longer by the wet weather throughout June -the road cannot be painted until it is completely dry and even dry days may not be line marking days if it has rained overnight.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
In mid- June, a section of Morton Street was re-surfaced. We appreciate the work very much - but as a result, the pedestrian crossing is gone and has not yet been re-instated. The corner of Rocklands Road and Morton Street is a major crossing point and there have been a number of near misses and some abuse from drivers to pedestrians (and vice versa) because the signage is still there, so pedestrians still cross, but the drivers no longer see a crossing and they are confused as to where and when they should stop.
I rang council and spoke to an engineer last friday July 4 and was told the crossing would be replaced - but another wekk has passed and it has still not been re-instated.
JanetJuly 12th, 2008 at 5:12 pm