Sydney Today

 

So almost 30 months since the Covid pandemic began, downtown Sydney shows the intensity of lacking meaningful infrastructure, as it always has been.

The attention seeking Crown Casino skyscraper at Barangaroo can be admired from road, ferry, train, yacht and more.  Its building height  can highlight the excesses of a city I once fell in love with and was proud of.  A city's pulse and reputation is not in having a questionable gambling centre, or new highways usable only by dishing out expensive tolls, but by the joy and purpose in the hearts and minds if its denizens.

Sydney now is not a practical or user friendly place.  Its over commercial emphasis has superseded most other priorities.  It is not the quality of friendships, sense of security and ease of commute that defines Sydney, but the density of dwellings, making enough money to sustain livelihoods and self preoccupation that overwhelm a Sydneysider.

Greater Sydney residents can be as totally varied and so different, depending on where they reside and work.  There is no stereotyped Sydneysider, just like yum cha at Yummys in the heart of Cabramatta can be not just the same as in corporatised Rocks area of the city ( the former option is more tasty).  It is a hassle for a Westie to try to get to the beach, while the northern beachers can find it confronting to visit the suburbs condensed with specific migrant backgrounds.

It is impossible to find a space in a downtown public car park at certain hours on certain days.   One has to prebook car spaces as if they are dinner tables.  After hours parking can be as high as Aud 30 per vehicle entry.

The number of vehicles and dwellings have exploded, yet the related supporting infrastructure has not changed much.  Trams offered around the city centre are replacements for discontinued bus services.   Thank goodness the ferries still run around the Harbour and nearby coastal suburbs.  The variety of culinary choice is still generally there post Covid lockdowns but Sydney in my opinion still is behind Melbourne in that respect.

Office workers have mostly not got out from WFH arrangements.   Small businesses in outer suburbs have prospered better than downtown Sydney as Covid infections continue.  The tourism sector and handful of universities around Central station have been impacted by international politics and border interruptions.

Sydney downtown lacks the extent of  hotel accommodation befitting of an international city.   The annual events for a city of this size remain muted in number - is it due to a stagnating number of venues and facilities?  Its potential growth as a world class financial centre can be stunted by the duopoly of the banking sector, telecommunications choices and unrigourous taxation inflexibility compared to its traditional rival cities.

Sydney's continuing lack lustre can be underlined by its lack of village communities.   A great city does not just depend on gatherings around its barista cafe hubs.  It is what local councils do more with the hipster and night gathering spots that diffeterentiate large from great cities.  If authorities do not work on a more embracing sense of belonging to the daily routine, individuals are less likely to mix and get to know each other.

Maybe the history of Sydney has left too much to a free market evolution, rather than through an enlightened guidance.  Even the roads of its city centre just developed in a rather rough fashion, compared to the grid planning in Adelaide and Melbourne.

Parts of greater Sydney can be favourites in treatment by ruling politicians.  The contemporary Metro trains and their accompanying huge sized car parks plus deep underground stations in the North-west contrast with  outdated outlets of the same Sydney Rail elsewhere with non-ergonomic stair cases.  Most outer suburb residents have to put up with long distance driving, compared to the walk around truly urban lifestyles of inner city 20 somethings.

Attending a concert or sports event involves a logistical exercise that has not changed in as many years.  Sydney truly is a federation of several towns, so many different migrant cultures and yet no truly shared embrace of collective sociality.

#yongkevthoughts