Now the cat is out of the bag it’s clear that the whole debacle of the Giralang shops has been a win for business owners at the expense of Giralang residents.
Metchash (owners of IGA Evatt) and the previous owners of Supabarn Kaleen (current owners of Supabarn Crace) have benefited from 12 years of no nearby supermarket competition. Even better for them, this situation will continue indefinitely and at least for another year as there are still no shops in place.
Whilst the shops are the most obvious example, the neglect of the Giralang suburb extends to many other areas. Maintaining the suburb has been ignored to the point where in the whole suburb there is now not one single bench and table to picnic at, the public phone has been removed, sports seating has been removed and there have been no new trees planted in the last year. Removal of dangerous trees has now been reduced to lopping all limbs off and leaving the trunks in place. There’s more but I have probably got the point across. ACT government data exists and confirms these points.
The ACT Government’s way of doing things has been reprehensible leaving the whole suburb in a continued state of neglect for the last 12 years. The average time for responses to emails, calls and letters is THREE MONTHS. Many points of contact have not got any response. Reply letters have included contrary statements and Andrew Barr has gone from publicly stating that he supports the outcome from the courts i.e. the current DA, to supporting a compromise outcome.
The compromise outcome which is yet to be revealed to Giralang residents was the result of private meetings that Mick Gentlemen set up between the developers and opposing businesses. They’re all happy now but Giralang residents are still in the dark.
After being left to rot there’s not much hope that change will come soon. Considering the years of rates increases for degrading services, local anger at the ACT Government and Labor is now RED HOT!
It’s no wonder that in the whole of Giralang all Labor candidate signs have gone missing.
This situation would not have been tolerated in any affluent suburb but once again the battlers just get a kick in the guts.
The upside is that soon Giralang residents will be able deliver their verdict. Labor has been giving us the cold shoulder for a looooooooong time. I hope they are paying attention and won’t miss the message from Giralang’s residents, rate payers and tax payers.
Pictured from top, the Giralang shops; former bench seat site: “We used to have bench seats here. You can see them on Google maps images,” Andrew Zed says; an unrepaired cover: “This dangerous cover is unrepaired after 5 months.”; graffiti in Giralang: “This graffiti has not been removed and it’s now 8 years old. There plenty more around the suburb too.”; a bus shelter at Giralang: “When other suburbs had all their turret-style bus shelters replaced we go this. It was missing panels and has remained filthy since installation. TAMS acknowledge this and have left it unrepaired for 5 years.”; and below, “non-removal” of dangerous trees. “TAMS data shows no new tree planting have occurred in the last year and only 50 trees have been planted in the last 6 years. No data exists for plantings before 6 years back but there is no evidence of plantings in the prior 6 years.”
Andrew Zed is a Giralang resident/rates payer/taxpayer.
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