Memories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you open and leave you in pieces.
NSW urged to buy thousands of flood-prone homes in western Sydney
Face reality’: Don’t build in flood prone areas, resilience boss says
Soil erosion and overdevelopment of units and duplexes is causing chaos in ever part of Australia. Shifting a large population into a natural area has always and everywhere led to decline or disaster for nature.
Some sandy suburbs are longer recognisable such as Matraville not so long ago were sand dunes. To boot, only a decade ago Matraville boasted simple weatherboard and light single dwellings, however today there are now many units and McMansion duplexes and more and more homes and buildings are experiencing cracks due to Settling And SUBSIDENCE
In a healthy dune system several vegetation zones should succeed each other: a hind dune with tall trees like melaleucas should sit behind a foredune with medium-sized plants like banksias, which should sit behind a primary dune with low colonising species like spinifex.
As we cut trees and destroy vegetation the water table only 15 meters below the oversized buildings will soon cause many environmental issues.
At stake is the future of the Peninsula, where sandmining, industrial and residential activities have damaged much of the fragile environment of this most historic area, where Cook and Phillip first landed.
Overdevelopment" is too much development occurring in any location. Offending against the character of a locality, it is often condemned also as "inappropriate" and marked by congestion of buildings and traffic.
Most owners do not use their garages as cars do not fit or storage takes over the space. Narrow streets and Avenues are peppered with cars, caravans, trailers and boats…
The roads around the Pioneers and Heffron Parks are regularly busy and are often congested on sport game-days and summer weekends. Popular game-days, indeed, can bring traffic to chaos level in the Maroubra area. More oversized development will worsen the congestion.
Dan Russell stands glumly below a $7 million block of 18 units he owns on the Gold Coast, where soil falls through a retaining wall that has collapsed twice since July 2016 and been abandoned since late March.
Behind one unit the soil has eroded so far a young resident is now extremely worried about her son playing on the back patio.
With a 1,070 percent increase in ransomware attacks year-over-year between July 2020 and June 2021, staying on top of attack trends—
Microsoft Security Insider is a site for business leaders focused on cybersecurity to get the latest news, insights, threat intelligence, and perspectives on top-of-mind topics in cybersecurity
Residents out on the footpath after some 560 apartments were evacuated in Sydney? Wouldn’t we wonder “what would I do in this situation?”
Politicians, highly sensitive to expressions of community anxiety, are known to react quickly to defuse concerns. NSW Premier Berejiklian admitted recently:
“We allowed the [building] industry to self-regulate and it hasn’t worked. There are too many challenges, too many problems, and that’s why the government’s willing to legislate.”
Building failures and developer ecosystems: the tip of the iceberg
In 2020 the NSW Government has implemented legislative reforms to strengthen the regulation and performance of builders, certifiers and designers.
Private certification was introduced in NSW in 1998 and means a developer can pay a certifier of their choice to inspect construction work at critical stages and ensure it meets legal requirements.
Building certifiers leave a trail of chaos
A glitzy hotel in Sydney's inner west is at the centre of a fraud allegation within weeks of opening after a building certifier claimed someone forged his signature while he was suspended to allow guests into the luxury complex.
Building certifier for luxury Sydney hotel claims signature forged
Almost a dozen certifiers considered the “most risky” in NSW will be put under intense scrutiny by the state’s construction watchdog as it attempts to instil public confidence in apartment buildings following the Opal and Mascot towers sagas two years ago. Most risky’ certifiers of NSW apartment buildings in watchdog’s sights
The Building Professionals Board works to improve the quality of building construction and subdivision in NSW by regulating and educating building and subdivision
DESPITE repeated calls to every authority she could think of, Richmond pensioner Theresa McArthur’s pleas for help to stop her backyard flooding went unanswered
Theresa McArthur finally finds relief after weeks of unanswered calls
Fair Trading Private Certifiers and Builders - Youssef El-Masri
A woman sits in my armchair and speaks:
We have slain the many gods
they were unreal
the one god in whom we say we believe
is also unbelievable
Humanism keeps the dragon
as a kind of toy
no
as a mask
Alicia Ostriker’s most recent collection is The Volcano and After. She served as New York State Poet from 2018 to 2021.
kay, White Rabbit, what’s it all about?
“Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Alice is drowsing on the riverbank; you rush past, startling her. From your waistcoat, you pull out a pocket watch. You consult it feverishly. Then you disappear down a hole, and she—amazed—follows you into Wonderland