Dealing with some councils is so bloody draining

Here's a drain in Balmain back at the end of May. I've been going through here now for over 4 years, and every time we get a bit of rain, a big puddle forms here because the drain is blocked.

I finally did my block and contacted Leichhardt Council and asked them to clean it out. I don't know if the council does the cleaning, or whether the drain belongs to Sydney Water or whoever - if it's not their job, they should at least pass the message on, or tell me that it's not their problem.

It looks like they can't be bothered doing either - here is the same drain again tonight. Except that the puddle is slightly smaller than usual.

Is it really that difficult to lift the grate and clean out the muck underneath?

Cleaning up at UTS

As I walked past one of the UTS buildings in Chinatown a few weeks ago, I noticed a lot of graffiti on the wall facing the Entertainment Centre. It took me about 5 minutes of hunting through their website to find a contact for their building maintenance people, and I sent them an email as a bit of a stab in the dark. I was pretty doubtful anything was going to happen.

Going past again this morning, I spotted this bloke using chemicals and a high pressure hose to scrub the graffiti off. UTS never bothered to respond saying that they were going to clean it off - but this is as good a response as any.

If you ask someone to clean their property, generally they will.

Following up the following up

It's getting on three weeks since I first tried to tell Maritime NSW about a busted rubbish trap down our way. The longer they leave it broken, the more rubbish we'll see flowing into the harbour. Apparently today is World Environment Day, and Maritime NSW aren't doing much towards making the world a better place at the moment.

I might make another follow up phone call tomorrow. After that, it's time to start writing a proper letter to the CEO.

A rubbish example of follow up

Last Tuesday, I tried to contact NSW Maritime to let them know that one of their rubbish traps was busted and no longer collecting rubbish. As their call centre closes at 4.30pm, and there appears to be no option to leave a message, I tried using a form on their web site to lodge a report.

One week later, the trap is still broken. I had another look at the contact page at NSW Maritime to see who to call. It told me to call 131256 - but when I did so, the options that the computerised voice gave me didn't match what was listed on the website. I had no idea what option is select, so I just took a punt.

At least the bloke that I spoke to seemed to have some idea of what I was talking about. We'll see how long it takes them to hook the boom back up to the trap. I wonder what happened to my first attempt at contact? Have the gremlins been attacking the Maritime computer network as well?

Rubbish collection all adrift

Maritime NSW operates a number of rubbish collection traps where creeks flow into the harbour - there are two in our area. One of them has had a bad habit of late of coming adrift from one of its moorings - whether this is a result of wear and tear or foul play, I don't know.

Without the trap in place, great wads of rubbish will drift down the creek and into the harbour - not a nice thing to happen. The amount of rubbish that backs up at this point after heavy rain has to be seen to be believed. Without the traps, our harbour foreshores would be a real mess.

The Maritime call centre closes at 4.30pm, so I sent them an email this afternoon to let them know that this needs fixing.

It's a pain when the rain does not go down the drain

First, the good news - Canada Bay Council has removed all the graffiti from the playground at Livvi's Place.

This is the Downing Centre courthouse in the Sydney CBD - a very impressive and ornate building (it used to be a department store). The flags were at half mast recently following the death of Jeff Shaw. And what a tatty and battered pair of flags they were. I emailed the court administrators, and they've replied that the flags are going to be replaced. I doubt they are taken down much, as the seam on one of them has split away from the flag and wrapped around the pole, meaning that it can't fly freely. If the flags were being taken down each night, I'm sure whoever was tasked with that duty would have noticed the poor state of the flags.

The rain is coming down in torrents this week, and there are flash floods being reported in some areas of Sydney. It doesn't help if the drainage system isn't maintained when it isn't raining, resulting in the drains utterly failing to remove water when it does rain.

This drain in Leichhardt has been like this for at least 4 years - I finally got around to reporting it to Leichhardt Council this week. Yes, I have been bone idle, ignoring it and hoping it would go away.

It's probably choked with leaves and litter. I was told years ago that in Perth, the councils rent those big sucking machines, and spent autumn cleaning out the drains before the rains come. That sort of pro-active, common sense forward thinking maintenance doesn't seem to happen in Sydney. Given the mindset of most of the Leichhardt councillors, they are probably more worried this week about events off Gaza than problems in their own backyard.

Closer to home, we have a silly piece of Council infrastructure. I took this photo standing on the bike path of the Bay Run. It shows a bike ramp or pram ramp leading onto the road, then across to a cut out in the road dividing concrete island (for bikes to pass through) and then linking up with the bike path on the other side.

Unfortunately, the way Council (or its contractor) has painted the lines on the road implies that it is OK to park across this bike ramp - which is a silly thing to do. However, the owner of this car has done just that - and as they are advertising the car for sale, it has sat here now (blocking the ramp) for about two weeks.

I've emailed Council and asked them to repaint the lines to remove the impression that this is a parking zone. You know it makes sense.

Just wrong in the head

The Livvi's Place playground was hit again over the weekend. I've reported it to Council (as usual), and it will be cleaned up again...

Not even the trees are safe from the spray can.

There was an article in the SMH just after the first Graffiti Action Day. They managed to dredge up a couple of clowns who said:

He said the government should create more spaces for legal graffiti and give young people who tag - write basic names or signatures - the chance to develop their artistic skills.

"If you encourage more legal spaces it increases the quality of the work because kids can spend all day and improve their technique," he said. "[The government is] never going to make it go away so they should try to make it better".

Cameron McAuliffe, a fellow at the centre for cultural research at the University of Western Sydney, said he helped organise ''Keep Australia Colourful'' because he was concerned the state government's campaigns against graffiti were criminalising people who did legitimate work.

Well, here is a proper bit of art in the playground, and some "numskull" has applied a tag next to it. How this is supposed to have improved their "artistic skills" is beyond me. Maybe Dr McAuliffe can explain this to us.

The canteen and toilet block were hit as well. I can't make out the big tag properly, but it starts with "big bad". Yeah, right. Probably a puny little weed with zits and an ego problem.

Charles Purcell wrote a column on graffiti for the SMH recently and copped a lot of flak in the comments. I agree with everything he said. Here is one comment:

One of his great quotes is "Any advertisement in a pubic space that gives you no choice whether you see it is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head" (Wall and Piece)

Why is it ok for oil companies to put out unsolicited greenwashing campaigns or junk food companies to promote obesity in public space, while somebody who wants to improve society through discussion is not acceptable? I guess brick walls are much prettier than thoughtful attempts at social discourse and humour...

The only "advertising" at Livvi's Place are a number of small plaques that name the companies that helped pay for this playground. There are no billboards or hoardings anywhere near the place. So what justifies someone tagging this wall?

I know it's very non-PC to say this; but anyone who tags a playground for the physically disabled must be mentally disabled. You can't be right in the head and think that this is a good idea. It's plain retarded. I just had to say that - I don't know how else to put it.

Abandon cars, all ye who enter here

I did a ride with Baybug (the Canada Bay Bicycle User Group) on the weekend and couldn't help myself when I spotted two abandoned cars in Guildford (Holroyd Council). This one was being used to store a dozen or so wheels.


Neither car was showing rego plates, and we were moving too quickly for me to stop and check for rego stickers.

I emailed Holroyd Council this morning and have already had a response saying they will look into it.

"The RTA estimates there are around 65,000 unregistered and uninsured vehicles on NSW roads".

These two don't look like they have been driven for a while - they are just eyesores on public property.

Some might call it art

Once in a blue moon, I spot a bit of graffiti that is quite out of the ordinary.


99.99% of it is just mindless tagging - like this.

But very occasionally - and I mean very - something different comes along. It's quite mad. Not my thing, but quite arresting nonetheless.

Whoever did this even has a proper signature.

Graffiti can be art - but most of it isn't. To describe most graffiti as "art" is an insult to artists. Most of it is immature talentless worthless crap.

We build it, they break it

If you've ever done a lap of the Bay Run, you would have passed these cabinets. They're owned by Jemena, and I reported them this week for a cleanup. Jemena don't have a web page where you can report graffiti - I just happen to have the phone number of the manager responsible for them.


I got an email recently from PushOn stating that the Parramatta Valley Cycleway was finally open. I went out and had a look, and found that all the recently installed lights had been smashed, and every light pole vandalised.

I imagine that the cycleway must have been liberally coated with glass when all those lights were smashed. The glass has been removed, but none of the lights have been fixed. I've reported it to Parramatta Council.

The poles are nice looking "heritage" style poles too - graffiti doesn't make them look any better.

Further out along the cycleway is a bridge that has been named after Bill Brewer. The sign is a nice tribute to the man, and some knuckledraggers have defaced it.

Every bridge along the Parramatta River has graffiti on the supports. As these are all road bridges, I am assuming that the RTA is responsible for them - they've all been reported. Most look like they have not been cleaned up for some time.

I also found two sets of bike lockers that have been heavily vandalised. This set, outside a ferry wharf, were also unusable due to bags of rubbish that had been dumped in front of the locker doors. I reported these to the Ministry of Transport, and they passed the messages on to Sydney Ferries and RailCorp.

Another vandalised bridge support along the Parramatta River. I'll go back in a few weeks time and see if they have been cleaned up.

Nice playground - shame about the litter and graffiti

I took one of the kids to Livvi's Place in Timbrell Park this morning (you'll have to Google it as my browser is not letting me insert links today). It's a great playground, completely refurbished in November last year. It's also popular.

Unfortunately, some of those that visit the playground don't care about other visitors. There was a Jim Beam can and beer bottle at the entrance when we walked in, and as I found out soon after, a smashed bottle in the BBQ area - a girl of 2 or 3 sliced her foot open on some glass when we were playing in the sand pit. That was just the tip of the iceberg - the entire area around the playground was covered with rubbish.

A Council worker showed up just after we arrived and spent about an hour walking around picking up rubbish and putting things back where they should be. I hate to think what it costs the ratepayers to supply a worker and a vehicle on a Saturday to visit our local parks to clean up after lazy people who can't be bothered carrying their rubbish to the nearby bins. I'm glad the Council is doing it, but I wish they didn't have to. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to do the area outside the playground - that would have kept a crew busy for the rest of the day.

And then there are those that leave their mark all over the playground equipment and BBQ facilities. There are plenty of partly visible tags on the playground equipment, showing where older tags have been not quite cleaned off, so I take it that the place has been vandalised a number of times since the re-opening in November.

Cool murals

More RTA traffic light cabinet murals around Balmain/Lilyfield. I like this one the best so far.

Not my thing, but better than being smothered in tags.

A school theme.

Quirky!

Imaginative.

Can't wait until our council gets a similar program up and running!

Quick work

Monday - a public toilet in Ashfield. (There was no graffiti here on Friday).

Tuesday - gone. Not the greatest of cleanup jobs, but quick work nonetheless.

Someone is on the ball. Nothing to do with me.