Newsletter November 2024
Welcome to our new executive!
Presidents Message
Thanks to Marc, our outgoing President for all your work promoting WalkSydney in the past 12 months! You are a powerhouse of ideas and expertise. You will make a great addition to the Hunters Hill Local Council.
Welcome also to new members of our Committee - Jamie van Geldermalsen who has agreed to take on the Vice President role. Thanks Jamie!
A bit about me, Tegan, the incoming President - I am an engineer, and I have a background in road investment and road engineering, working in strategy teams in local and state government organisations. I love ideas, I am always asking "why"?! I grew up in Canberra and walking and riding everywhere. I am passionate about climate change action and interested in decision making and behaviour change.
WalkSydney will keep advocating for:
30km speed limits, footpaths, more crossings and a better deal for people waiting to cross... waiting waiting waiting for that green man.
more investment in walking infrastructure
better governance of our streets, including giving Councils the power to reduce speeds on local streets.
WalkSydney also wants to hear from members and supporters what you think is important, and how we can help you to advocate for people walking. Contact us
We hope you enjoy this period’s newsletter!
Our new Board
President: Tegan Mitchell
Vice President: Jamie van Geldermalsen
Treasurer: David Haertsch
Secretary: Regina Haertsch
Technologist: Yvonne Poon
Committee: Marc Lane, David Martin, Lena Huda, Tim Cassidy
Note from Yvonne - We’ve consolidated our mailing lists, so please reach out if you’re having any issues.
Upcoming meeting dates
Our upcoming draft meeting dates are listed below - Everyone is welcome to attend all of our events:
2024
Monday 2 December - Social End of Year / Christmas lunch - Book here
2025
In-person social event: TBC March
Online board meetings (12pm Mondays): 10 February, 31 March, 12 May, 23 June,
Online AGM: 12pm Mon 11 August
Events will be posted to TryBooking and we’ll confirm to our members closer to the actual dates.
Join WalkSydney!
WalkSydney represent a large area and community, and we’d love to have you as a member!
Membership is only $20 a year and provides you with access to a network of professional and passionate walking advocates to connect to.
At the moment, out of the 470 people subscribed to our newsletter, over 390 of you have never been members! By joining our organisation you help amplify our voices when we are talking with Transport for NSW, local Councils and NSW Roads and Transport Ministers.
NSW Design of Roads and Streets published, regrettably it needs more work
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has released the latest version of its Design of Roads and Streets (DORAS) guide, following community and industry feedback. TfNSW describes DORAS as a practical ‘how-to’ manual explaining how roads and streets across NSW can be improved by better understanding their roles and context as local places.
Unfortunately, DORAS does not live up to its practical billing. TfNSW has overlooked the need to make solutions simple, effective and inexpensive. The majority of the street network in Sydney is managed by councils, which are generally operating with limited budgets and expertise. In particular, the requirement for streets to be completely redesigned for a speed to be lowered is unrealistic and acts as a barrier to real change. Slower, safer and more inclusive streets are achievable with smaller interventions.
WalkSydney and Better Streets provided feedback on DORAS to the Transport Secretary in July. Here is a summary of our feedback and what TfNSW included in DORAS:
Look out for our next newsletter’s writeup: Held hostage to unsafe speeds? 12 months of the new Speed Zoning guidelines.
You can help the 30km/h cause!
We encourage everyone to write to your local Council or state representative to push for 30km/h speed limits on local streets.
We will keep you posted about some tools being developed to help with conversations with councillors and council staff.
Other recent events
Streets for People: How the 30km/h movement advances climate action and healthy, cohesive communities
Lee Waters, Clover Moore and Rob Stokes met for a fireside chat to talk about politics, climate change and the 30km movement. More than 300 people attended this fantastic evening. if you missed the event, a full recording is on our website. A long listen but worthwhile to hear the Lord Mayor and Rob being very candid.
Supporting this, Jennifer Kent’s Linkedin post - 100 academics open letter to Government announced at the event makes a powerful case for more action to implement 30km/h and slow speeds on streets.
Wellbeing outcomes in NSW
Yvonne spoke on behalf of WalkSydney at the NSW Inquiry on A framework for performance reporting and driving wellbeing outcomes in NSW, supporting our submission alongside the concept that the WHO’s guidelines warn against focusing in traditional metrics like GDP growth, and instead on disparities of distribution / inequities.
The councillor experience
From the Hill: the good, the bad and the ugly - Marc Lane
So I took the plunge and ran for local council, stepping down as President of WalkSydney to try my hand at ‘doing’. What was wonderful was the number of like-minded people who came out of the woodwork to help - create websites and flyers, do letterbox drops, hand out flyers at prepoll and polling day. It takes a village - a core team of 3, half a dozen to walk every street and over a dozen to hand out flyers. You've heard about a ‘silent majority’ - I now subscribe instead to the ‘spiral of silence theory’ - it's the minority that is quiet for (the very real) fear of exclusion (see below). Given the chance to support someone with their views however they came out in droves.
I seriously underestimated the time I personally would need to spend campaigning - good ideas are not enough. Many people are not engaged or tribal. One-on-one is essential for a contest of ideas. Done again I'd take off 2-3 weeks to doorknock properly, as well as be there every day for prepoll. Then on top of lost wages was the $7000-odd we spent on printing, corflutes, t-shirts and newspaper ads. Given I ran in our smallest LGA, the barriers in a large area like Canterbury-Bankstown must be immense.
The campaign was also ugly - a juvenile debate club : politics is not governance, the goal here is winning, and the argument is just the means to an end. It got personal. It's an Overton window issue I think - the more other levels of politics in Australia resolve on bloodsports and personalities, the more emboldened people become to run local campaigns on that approach. Making the contest about what, not who, takes extra effort.
Nevertheless I was elected as an independent, though I sit in the minority. It deeply saddens me to see not only ‘losing’ candidates being ‘punished’ in our new party-dominated council (eg we represent ~42% of the electorate but get only 16% on committees, and none on the committees that count) but that community groups that spoke up have also been punitively removed from committees, at the expense of their obvious value (and contrary to the principles in the Local Government Act). We are not unique - I am learning the same thing happened elsewhere. The spiral of silence in action.
From a practical point of view I've learnt one thing to share with you so far - it is much easier to ask a question. For a councillor to say “Council must adopt 30kmh” can be challenging (everywhere? Can I get up the motion? Will I look like an idiot in the debate?). But as the qua-”board member” of an organisation, the councillor can quickly and easily ask whether council intends to support 30kmh, if so where, when, if not, why not… Questions at meetings and their responses are public records. Phrasing asks in this form, perhaps even with drafting, may help them help advocates get what they mutually desire.
If anyone wishes to chat (including fellow councillors caught in the spiral), please reach out to me!
E-micromobility
The NSW government is in the process of investigating use of e-scooters, e-bikes and related e-micromobility. Following the recent press around this, Lena spoke to the ABC on the new NSW initiative legalising e-scooter use in certain circumstances.
The accompanying coverage suggests that many in the community are concerned about the perceived safety risks that e-scooters and e-bikes pose. There has been considerable outcry at the thought of these devices on our streets, and repeated calls for helmets as a one-size-fits-all safety measure.
Meanwhile the staggering cost of road trauma caused by cars continues to be ignored and overlooked. The tragic death of a young boy in Melbourne this week after being hit by a car within school grounds is a reminder of the terrible cost of our road system and dependence on cars.
Our government needs to take leadership in this area and focus on the real risks.
Full writeup: Oversized Cars on the school run vs. E-Scooter Riders Without Helmets: Who’s the Bigger Road Safety Threat?
Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support for walking in Greater Sydney. We’ll either see you at our end of year event, or at one of our upcoming meetings!