Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Other kids on the block

A little Eastern suburbs bird told me that this blog had been the topic of discussion at a dinner on the other side of George St on the weekend. I'm pleased, and hope I paint a good picture of my beloved suburb.

As real estate in Sydney becomes almost impossibly expensive* more and more people who would once never have dreamed of living somewhere like Marrickville are looking over this way.

Well, that's wonderful, but can you please come with eyes and hearts open to all of Marrickville's charm and beauty as it is, not with mindsets that want to transform it into somewhere with trendy coffee shops and rows of plane trees and fancy wine bars full of well dressed people? Because what you'll get here are bunnies. And pay phones.

*Want to own your own home? Simple! Just make sure you and your partner both earn more than the average wage, then save $200,000, then borrow $500,000 on a 35 year mortgage... there has to be a better way. We need real estate collectives, we need public housing for everyone, we need a communist government, we need oh god I need a panadol.

6 comments:

R.H. said...

Meredith, here's an excerpt from an article in this week's edition of my local suburban newspaper. It's a bit long, but it's worth it:

'High rents end an era.

Footscray's reign as a haven for newly arrived refugees could be over in five years, thanks to rocketing rental prices.

Refugee services based in the suburb are advising new arrivals to settle in Werribee or Brimbank because Footscray is getting too expensive.

And Maribyrnong mayor Michael Clark said migrant services should get ready to relocate with their clients in the next three years.

"There is an inevitability about this." he said.

"it has been a matter of time until Footscray was discovered and I've got to say our vision for Footscray is for cafes, restaurants and bistros - that is what you will see in five years."

The co-ordinator of the New Hope Foundation refugee resource centre, John Mirabile, said the move was splitting up refugee communities but there was no other way to find them a home.

He said the increase in apartment living in Footscray made it hard for large African families to find a big enough home, and gentrification put large homes out of their price range.

"If they do find something there are ten other applications in front of the real estate agent," he said. "And unfortunately our client group are having to compete with double income earners for the vacancies."'

-Star. Tuesday, 3 April, 2007.

Well I don't reckon that mayor will go far in politics. His candour is astonishing, totally stupid. Yes, he's told the truth, what an idiot.

The latte set do indeed "discover" then invade. At the same time yelling about refugees, aboriginals...THE DISPOSSESSED!

Liars. Hypocrites. I'm waiting for them to own up.

They never will.

R.H. said...

And golly, I'll tell you what, this is the most "on topic" I've ever been in MY ENTIRE CAREER as a blog reply person.

What a shock.

-Robert.
(Now I need to lie down)

jmb said...

Hi Meredith,
I came over from Ratty's site to find out who was talking to Ratty besides me although I'm speechless the last couple of posts.
I'm a transplanted Sydneyite, in Vancouver since 1961, and I worked for three years in a pharmacy in Redfern in the fifties,just nearby. Used to live at Oatley.

I also live in the most inflated real estate area in North America where little houses like this are now selling for a million plus.
My house which I bought 29 years ago for $140,000 is now assessed at $1.4 million.

It breaks my heart to read Brainhell's blog every day, as I have done for a long time. In better days we exchanged emails sometimes. Don't know if Ratty is his wife or I suspect maybe his sister.
I'll come back again to read some more.
Regards
jmb

Meredith Jones said...

RH - "cafes, restaurants and bistros" - how depressing. So we can all just focaccia and latte our way into extreme blandness. You're right about the Mayor - what a tool!

JMB - great to have you over, welcome to Marrickvillia. Where was the pharmacy? I'll drive past & tell you if it's still there. I had a quick look at your blog - looks great - & will return. Yes, ditto poor Ratty - we are all quite helpless.

jmb said...

Hi Meredith,
The pharmacy was called Lynch's Pharmacy although there hadn't been a Lynch there in many a year.
It was on Redfern Street on the west side of the road, right opposite another pharmacy on the east side. Can't remember their name. About two blocks south of the station. I think I remember a traffic light at the corner with a Bank of New South Wales on the corner just a couple of doors away from the pharmacy. I think, after all its 55 years ago.
Regards
jmb

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