When residents initially heard of the Abercrombie Street Project, they were excited that the long awaited upgrade would address the issues of pedestrian traffic and improve the overall appearance of the street and area.
It took 20 years to build the pyramids and 17 years to build the Opera House. Epic efforts but, given the scope and quality of both projects, they were arguably well worth the wait.
Residents of Darlington have watched a smaller scale local epic unravel for the past 14 months. The initial excitement has been replaced by anger and frustration as they have witnessed the street being dug up, re-laid and then dug up all over again as a series of baffling blunders, delays, stoppages and backflips have delayed the project’s completion.
This has had a serious impact on the businesses in the street whose income is so closely geared to passing customers. The digging up of the street and pavements has meant that many of the cafes and shops have been blocked from access and, as a result, have lost an enormous amount of trade. Andrew, manager of the Scoop Store, which has operated for many years in Abercrombie Street, says the work has had a devastating effect on his family business. “They told me when they started that they were going to fix things so that we wouldn’t lose any business. In the end they blocked the entrance to my store for many days which meant I lost all of my business. There have been no apologies, no discounts on council rates despite what they’ve done to us all.”
Bobby, of Bobby’s Café, estimates that he has lost over 40 per cent of business because of the long drawn-out project. Bobby’s Café has also had customer access blocked for extended periods, and Bobby witnessed long pauses and what appeared to be major errors in the execution of the project. “First they dug up the whole street and then put down the new street and then they changed their mind and dug it up again. What is going on?”
Another heavily affected business has been the espresso bar, Sweetie. The owner, George, has been similarly frustrated by apparently poor project management. “The communication has been poor from the Council and there have been so many mistakes. They have dug up the pavement outside my café three times to plant a new tree and then have changed their minds about where to put it and dug up another place and then another place.”
Residents in the area have also been heavily impacted. The project has included considerable night work, including use of loud machinery such as jackhammers and concrete cutters right through to 3am. The normal early Saturday morning quiet has been replaced by a parade of noisy trucks and jackhammers with project work starting at 7.30am.
The Council and its contractors’ right to operate machinery in these hours is another point of contention. Jason, a resident of the Foundry, a building heavily affected by the work, has had considerable experience in similar industrial projects. “Permits like these can only be given after everyone affected has been notified and given right to respond,” said Jason. “You would think, given where we lived, we would be the first to be notified. I went down to speak to the project supervisor at 11pm one night when the work was quite loud and asked to look at the permit. On the permit it said that machinery was only allowed until 10pm. So what they are doing is illegal. I called the police a couple of times to stop it.”
And if the racket of machines was not enough, residents have also been kept awake or awoken by the loud laughter and banter of the workers in the early morning. Many residents have been amazed that the workers were not able to show more thoughtfulness to people living in the many nearby apartments. “They don’t seem to care that people have already been kept up by all the work and some of them are super aggressive if you ask them any questions,” observed Jason.
Sadly the “piece de resistance” came after the April storms as Darlington witnessed the death of two trees on the corner of Lawson and Abercrombie streets. One tree, a distinctive large maple, had been a unique feature of the streetscape for many years. Although Council workers were quick to suggest that the tree had been destabilised after a truck collided with it recently, Harry from Georges Café, who witnessed the truck collision, had serious doubts about this explanation. “It was not a big accident and I don’t think it would have caused that much damage to the tree. They probably damaged the roots with all the digging in the street.” This view was shared by many others in the area who found it hard believe that there was not a connection between the deep digging in the street and the destabilisation of street trees’ roots. Andrew from Scoop Store was more direct: “The tree fell over because they cut the roots, nothing else.”
Long-time resident, Susan Thomas, was saddened that such a significant part of the local environment had to be destroyed and removed so quickly. “I’ve been living here for nearly 30 years and that was such a distinctive and lovely tree. It’s hard to get excited about the new paving when such an important and beautiful part of the street has been taken away as a result.” Another long-time resident, Richard Crampin, believes that the Council should be compelled to replace the tree with another large tree, regardless of the expense. “They did something very similar at Sydney University when an old tree was destroyed. I think it’s the least they can do given what we’ve had to put up with.”
So now, 14 months after the Abercrombie Street Project began, there are more questions than answers. Why has it taken so long? Why so little communication from the Council? Why so few apologies to businesses and to residents? Where is the accountability for the many delays and mistakes? Where is the accountability for the loss of trees and what do they intend to do to rectify it? Is there an end in sight to the Nightmare on Abercrombie Street?
