Conservative, old Adelaide

[wll6568]

Being in Adelaide for past 15 years...always wish the city could one day grow like Melbourne, where there are more jobs, people and opportunities. Everytime I wanted to leave, I decided to stay on and give it a hope it will make it. While all my frens left for overseas, Melbourne and Sydney, I cling to stay. But its really disappointing to read something like this:

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 7262025901

Sometimes I just think this state will never change. The people are simply just too conservative. It's a nanny state. Old people just don't want to change, they want to stay the same until they die. It's sad...

[Matt]

If the same questions were asked anywhere else, they'd get the same results.
Standard Advertiser fare. Says far more about them than Adelaide.

Not many people are going to respond positively to loaded questions about hospitals closures or nuclear waste dumps.

[rev]

Take it easy, it's just the Advertiser talking out of Ruperts old, frail ass as usual.

These things they are asking about, aren't going to transform our state and propel us into economic and population boom times. It's just typical media spin and bullshit, and as usual the people of South Australia fall for it hook line and sinker. Another thing you have to consider is that they target certain, specific people with these polls and surveys they do. Especially the one's that aren't public.
They do this to create a perception, and set an agenda.

Why? because these aren't real issues about transforming and fixing our state.
The real issues are ignored as usual.
Why?
Because News Corp is a Liberal party mouthpiece, and if they highlighted the real issues, then South Australians would see that the Liberal party in this state is an utter and complete joke and they'd collapse at the next election into irrelevance.
There's no other reason why the Liberal party is still relevant in this state, after over a decade of NOTHING, besides the fact that News Corp keep propping them up with bias, sensationalist reporting and setting of public agendas.

If I was Jay, I'd be doing something about the monopoly those bastards have in this state long before the next election.
Now that is something positive that will help transform this state. With competition for the News Corp cult, we'd start to see different views and opinions put out there and accessible daily by the populace, and perhaps over time we'd see a changing of peoples attitudes and the break down of the conservative mould that has our state in a stranglehold.
One of the reasons you need competition in the media in this state, is because if a government is to sell their plan and vision for the state and our city, then they need to have media that is going to be unbiased in their reporting of it. What we have now is the Advertiser, which will report on what the government announces, and then trash it later on.
News Corp is part of the problem in this state, they contribute to the overall conservative nature of this state that holds it back.

And if you really want to break down the conservative mould, then an injection of young, educated people is needed. Question is, do any of our political leaders(clearly, I'm not talking about the Liberal party), know how to attract such people.

[stumpjumper]

I agree with both of you, Matt and rev.

These 'bold, transforming moves' look a lot like a politically savvy premier giving his image a bit of a mid-term polish.

There's not much response from the public because there is no demand for the 'bold changes' to be made.

Most people are fairly happy with the time zones, we don't like losing our local schools or hospitals and no-one really gives a rat's about sustainable cars in the city. That last one sounds expensive anyway, and most people in Adelaide aren't that flush. Poorer communities tend to resist change, too, rightly or wrongly.

I have to agree that Melbourne is more inclined to have a go. Years ago, there was a sculpture called the 'yellow peril'. Up it won't, big fuss, so they took it down after a few years and stuck it under a bridge. In Adelaide, we'd still be debating whether to put it up.

As a community, we lack something.

[Will]

I agree with both of you, Matt and rev.

These 'bold, transforming moves' look a lot like a politically savvy premier giving his image a bit of a mid-term polish.

There's not much response from the public because there is no demand for the 'bold changes' to be made.

Most people are fairly happy with the time zones, we don't like losing our local schools or hospitals and no-one really gives a rat's about sustainable cars in the city. That last one sounds expensive anyway, and most people in Adelaide aren't that flush. Poorer communities tend to resist change, too, rightly or wrongly.

I have to agree that Melbourne is more inclined to have a go. Years ago, there was a sculpture called the 'yellow peril'. Up it won't, big fuss, so they took it down after a few years and stuck it under a bridge. In Adelaide, we'd still be debating whether to put it up.

As a community, we lack something.

I completely agree Stumpjumper, we as a community lack something.

However that something is not vision, but rather self belief and confidence.

Your post reeks of something I would have read as an opinion piece in 1996. To mention that yellow statue in Melbourne, really?

Why don't you mention the tram extension? why don't you mention the new Adelaide Oval? Why don't you mention the recent legislative changes in the city permitting public holiday trading, unlimited building heights and small bars? A few years ago, people doubted we could achieve such things. They said, we would never have these things, because we are some "conservative backwater". But, we achieved them nonetheless.

Why, don't you talk about these things?

Or, are you the typical Adelaide citizen. Someone who is more than happy to talk down your home town. Are you the person who proudly takes visitors to the old Lecornu site in O'Connell Street to boast how "backwards" our city is?

Yes, we lack something as a community. But what we lack is confidence and self-belief.

[stumpjumper]

Yep, Will, you're right about what we lack.

As to bringing up the Yellow Peril, I was lazily rewriting what I said in an essay about Adelaide's tentativeness. I wrote the essay - in 1994! So you are spot on there.

We do manage some good stuff from time to time. Like any organisation, we need leadership to achieve those things. Our present leadership is a bland, calculating but cautious lawyer surrounded by number crunchers and poll watchers. The alternative is a shrinking violet of a Liberal who is, as has become usual, the compromise candidate acceptable to both factions of the Libs idiotic 100 years factional war. He likes being nominal boss but doesn't want to rock the boat.

[wll6568]

Look at this: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-26/a ... rs/6574858

I remember the year when I came to Adelaide, 1999, Perth was roughly on par with Adelaide with 1.7 million population. Just after 12, 13 years.... Perth's become 2.5million population, and ADL?.... 1.6m....

[Norman]

Those are state figures, not city figures. and I doubt WA's population growth will remain the same as now given the end of the mining boom happened several months ago.

[BradJC]

In Dec-1999, SA had a population of 1,495,218
In Dec-2014, SA had a population of 1,691,503

An increase of ~200,000

6 months on, we've likely reached very close to 1.7million in SA - a bit of a milestone for those who like to think more on the positive side.

At present, the population growth is about 0.9%.

Source: ABS

[rev]

In Dec-1999, SA had a population of 1,495,218
In Dec-2014, SA had a population of 1,691,503

An increase of ~200,000

6 months on, we've likely reached very close to 1.7million in SA - a bit of a milestone for those who like to think more on the positive side.

At present, the population growth is about 0.9%.

Source: ABS

There was an article this week in our favorite local paper saying how growth of 14,000 people annually is more then enough for SA.
We are growing, not too fast, not fast at all, but just enough to not wobble the boat. This is the mentality of this state by and lange, and part of the problem with the place.
Yeh the advertiser exagerate and sensationalise the truth, but that's the sort of mentality that they give a microphone to because that's the only sort of people who bother to speak up. Just look at the disaster that is the Adelaide City Council since the last council election.

[claybro]

Those are state figures, not city figures. and I doubt WA's population growth will remain the same as now given the end of the mining boom happened several months ago.

The population growth of WA will not keep its current rate as a whole, but Perth itself the growth will continue unabated. The reasons for this are partly location. It is isolated, so unlike Adelaide, it is not tempting for residents to pack up the car and move "just up the road" to Melbourne. White South Africans move here in droves, as it is closer to Africa and more similar in climate than the rest of Australia. There is a large expact UK population that now call Perth home, who are permanent residents and in jobs that are not part of the minining industry. It is this population growth alone that accounts for much of the economic momentum as tens of thousands of new homes, appartments, roads and transport links are built. What attracts them here? There is a can do attitude , where people are actually encouraged to bend the rules to get a result. Your company wants a 60 storey tower...well just build it already. Theres a train line in the way....just put it underground. The freeway is too busy?..just add an extra lane, and make it longer while you are at it, because there is already another new 5000 homes at the other end. Perth has nothing in its climate or environment that is any better than SA, it is the feeling of propserity and growth that in turn attracts people to Perth. Ok it is slightly warmer in PErth winter, but summers are nutoriously windy rendering the beach a no go most afternoons, unlike those beutiful calm balmy afternoons in Adelaide. So what Adelaide needs is to find a way to attract immigrants in large numbers to get a fresh influx of ideas, economic activity and cold hard cash into the economy. Its about the intangibles like the FEELING that anything is possible, and encouraged.(dont expect that any time soon from th ACC) The problem is getting the mix right. We have enough international students and economic refugees in Adelaide. We need to find a way to attract more go getters with financial backing to smash the nay sayer attitude.

[Goodsy]

We have enough international students and economic refugees in Adelaide. We need to find a way to attract more go getters with financial backing to smash the nay sayer attitude.

all we need is a Premier that's no afraid to stand up to controversy and has even a tiny bit of charisma.

Jay isn't a bad Premier, but he's dull and boring.

[Llessur2002]

Positive article - albeit from 'Ruperts old, frail ass' - today:

Adelaide’s dull to daring transformation earns global praise



ADELAIDE’S transformation from dull to daring in recent years has been touted as one of the best by an international expert.

New York-based placemaking expert Ethan Kent, who has worked in 750 cities across 55 countries, said Adelaide was the most common example used for others to aspire to.

“Adelaide city is the city I most frequently mention in presentations and trainings around the world,” he said.

It comes after several major city projects have been completed in recent years, such as the redevelopments of Adelaide Oval, Victoria Square and Rundle Mall.

Mr Kent praised the first stage of the Square’s redevelopment and stressed the opportunity to continue the city’s transformation with the Riverbank Precinct and Royal Adelaide Hospital site when it becomes vacant.

Despite the high praise, Mr Kent said there was still work to do on the city’s major thoroughfares.

“They feel more like highways rather than boulevards and there isn’t the dwell time on them,” he said.

“The change in (the way people interact) on the smaller streets has been amazing and they are really places where people want to go.

“But you don’t get that feeling on those big thoroughfares just yet.”

Mr Kent said it was important that public spaces in the city became destinations where people wanted to go and not just walk through.

He also said it was important to “embrace chaos” through events and informal retail experiences such as pop up markets.

Placemaking is the discipline of making public spaces attractive to people to visit and easy to use.

Mr Kent said the concept of placemaking was broader than simply designing beautiful public spaces.

“If you lead with design (for public spaces) you limit the outcomes and the functionality,” he said.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese said remaining focused on placemaking and making the city a more fun and exciting place to live and work would bring create economic benefits.

“If there are more things happening of a creative nature throughout 12 months of the year then more people are going to want to live in the city,” he said.

“That means more construction, more jobs and more revenue.”

Mr Kent and Mr Haese spoke at a Property Council breakfast last week.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger ... 7547861521