SOME locals seem to be down on Liverpool, but is the area it really that bad? Do we really have that many problems and if we do what are the main ones? If you ask the average person on the street they'll tell you that the area is seen as a ghetto by people living in other parts of Sydney and that there are too many ``junkies'', not enough growth and everything looks run down. Other people will say that there aren't enough recreational activities for young people and that there is too much graffiti and rubbish dumping. Other people again, will say that there isn't enough parking in the CBD, the roads are too overloaded with traffic and not well-enough maintained or that there are not enough nice places to eat.
The problems that people see are often surprising. Recently I interviewed Denise Kessey, while conducting a street poll for the Champion and she said her son was worried about her being in Liverpool CBD after 4pm. Ms Kessey said: ``he just thinks it's too dangerous, so he always tells me to make sure I leave here in the early afternoon''. Now while that seems excessive, it does appear that some people have a very negative view of the area.
Not surprisingly, some councillors tend to share the view that the area has its share of problems. Liberal councillor Ned Mannoun, for example, suggested the idea of the CBD committee, which I addressed in an earlier blog, because as he said, there are so many problems in Liverpool CBD and they need to be tackled once and for all.
``I'm sick of people looking down on this area; We, as a new council, need to fix it once and for all,'' Cr Mannoun has said.
``With the Labor party in charge for so many years this area has been forgotten and treated like a rubbish dump, with no development or investment,'' he said.
The other Liberal councillors, Tony Hadchiti and Mazhar Hadid agree with Cr Mannoun wholeheartedly and so does Councillor Gary Lucas, who is well known for his stands against graffiti and rubbish dumping. Cr Lucas has urged council to get more outdoor staff to work on cleaning up the area for many years and has kept up his attitude since being voted onto council. Cr Lucas often sends this paper emails with photos of parks covered in broken bottles, graffiti-covered bus shelters and piles of dumped rubbish, imploring us to cover it and council to clean up the area. Apart from these images not being newsworthy because they occur so frequently, constantly publishing them in the paper would make for a very negative message. But his point is a valid one: Liverpool does need to be cleaned up.
But others councillors are much more positive. Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller, is a great example, she sees Liverpool as her home and doesn't like it being criticised. She admits that there are some problems but doesn't think it's that bad. During the election campaign she said her family has been living in the area for three generations and she was sick of people picking on her home.
``I've lived here all my life and it's a great place to live,'' she said.
``I'm sick of hearing that it's such a horrible place.
``There are some problems but there's nothing that can't be solved.''
At the recent Chamber of Commerce meeting, when asked why we have so many methadone clinics in Liverpool, she replied that it is because they are necessary and she doesn't think they are a problem.
``This may sound a bit controversial, but the methadone clinics are here because we need them,'' Ms Waller said.
``Members of our community, who are being rehabilitated from drug addictions, need those clinics, so they are very important. While people may dislike them, they're not going anywhere because they're helping people in this area.''
Ms Waller's point is very true and is supported by most Labor councillors. And I think a good dose of positivity could help the area significantly, because when people respect where they live they are much less likely to paint graffiti on the walls, or dump rubbish, or vandalise the area. But no matter how positive we are, ignoring it will not stop the drug dealing in the CBD or fix the parking issues or increase the number of recreational facilities for young people.
Simply being positive won't solve all of our problems. And what's worse, being too positive could lead us to overlook many significant issues. Locals, and especially, councillors should stop being negative about the area, because it only serves to create a more disheartened mood. Maybe we should all try to be more realistic instead.
We need to try to face up to the actual problems we do have. So what are they? It's quite a difficult question. I personally think that Liverpool is nothing like a ghetto but has problems that need to be tackled.
In my opinion, we have some serious problems, parking in the CBD being one of the most significant ones. But what is really holding Liverpool back is the negative viewpoint that people in other parts of Sydney have of the area. While we've had a lot of industrial growth and development lately, with many logistics companies setting up shop in our suburbs, we haven't had a lot of commercial businesses moving in. Apart from inside Westfield, we haven't had many new shops or restaurants opening in Liverpool and especially the CBD for years, which is quite disappointing. Also, government agencies seem to have moved out of the area and they are not returning.
If more people were aware of the area and its good points, we would have been sure to have more businesses springing up in the past few years, because after all, we're in a great location. We're in the centre of western Sydney, halfway between Parramatta and Campbelltown and we're now a regional centre and near the M7 and M5. And there are many other positives to the area; we have a large young workforce, due to our predominantly youthful population and we have natural assets like the Georges River and Chipping Norton Lakes. So someone needs to tell the outside world about Liverpool's potential. And to my mind, that someone is council. Liverpool Council should promote the area as much as they can. If we make people aware of the area there will be more investment in it, more businesses will move their offices here and more locals will have jobs closer to home. That will increase the funds circulating in our economy and then there would be more funds for council from rates. Obviously, the current economic climate might hinder this slightly, but the down times won't last forever. From there we could also see an increase in funding for recreation projects for children and young people. With more commercial development people will feel proud of their area, stay in Liverpool for entertainment and we won't have as much anti-social behaviour.
Many people compare Liverpool with Parramatta, saying that we should aim for the kind of development that that area has experienced. And while I think it is misguided to compare Liverpool to any other area, because it has its own unique lot of factors, I think that Parramatta is a good model.
Parramatta has managed to turn around a bad image and a high crime rate to become an area where people from all around western Sydney head to for shopping, for dinner out, for theatre and recreation.
Liverpool can be like that too. We can have a dining district and we already have a large shopping precinct, that could be increased and we have the Casula Powerhouse which could be very popular if it was promoted more.
So I think the answer could be a marketing campaign and while I know that these can be expensive sometimes, a smart marketing campaign doesn't need to be. This is where the councillors could use their positions very effectively to talk up the area as much as they can at functions and events they go to. And we should also have an advertising campaign for Liverpool, with posters and billboards in other areas, just to keep people aware of the benefits that the area has to offer. The area should also be marketed at business and corporate events to encourage investment.
So we do have problems, of course, but every area does. What we need to do is work towards a more holistic way of fixing them and start with how people view our area. Our new council needs to promote the new Liverpool and get rid of the idea that it is dirty, dangerous and drug-ridden once and for all. It is, in truth, much better than that.
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