Manly Wharf - Depriving the Public of Access?

There are attempts to grab some of the public pedestrian space by private enterprise on Manly Wharf.
The wharf is in the middle of Manly Cove, which is framed by green National parks with the odd whale or dolphins visiting Sydney Harbour. It is also the gateway for people arriving in Manly by public transport. Some 6 million commuters pass through this point for work of leisure. The options are to walk through the enclosed middle in the inside, which is crowded and full of cooking fumes. Alternative paths are walks to the right and left on the open air, along pubs and eateries on one side and a natural habitat on the other. The actual Cove and the infrastructure under the wharf are a dense biotope for local wildlife. Unique Manly Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) have their habitat in various locations. Walking along the wharf the lucky resident or visitor can catch a glimpse of what makes Manly unique.The plan to privatise some of the Wharf's walking paths on the West Esplanade side to monetize the "spectacular waterfront positions" for a few paying customers is myopic. Bursting suburbia is thirsty for public spaces, which are fast disappearing in Manly. Visitors come to be "seven miles from Sydney, and a thousand miles from care" and not to be 'in it' again. Encroaching with intensified commercial operations would not be beneficial for the wildlife.

The human footprint seeking constantly to enlarge in delicate environments, can trample an area. Already there are signs of visible pollution in the Cove water: dumped bikes, chucked shopping trolleys etc. With intensification the noise pollution would negatively impact on human and wildlife habitat.

Boat parking is proliferating and also a danger to swimmers and wildlife. Some just come to 'get tanked' in private racing boats, unload their dogs, have some alcohol, clutter up the cove and then race off again. A trend to be encouraged?Do not deprive the public of access to the Manly Wharf walkways
Do not accelerate rapid development and hence human disturbance to penguins and other wildlife.
Do not forget why people come here to live or visit

"Sprawling from land right out into the ocean as we clamber for more of its resources" Ocean Sprawl on Planet Green 0809

Update:
- Manly penguin wardens "will protest against what they say is the possible encroachment on penguin habitats by Hugo’s restaurant." Penguins already have lost habitat to the School of Artillery at North Head and "People living near the beach want to build pools on top of penguin nests". There will be a protest on September 13 via Manly Daily 180809

- Little Penguins, climate change, ongoing coastal development and habitat degradation. PDF

Image: 1 and 3 Google Maps

Manly Beach Drift "wood" - February

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

A lot of bluebottles. On the beach, many had small shiny fish entrapped in their tentacles. Some were in the water, leaving large streaks/marks on some people's skin. Thick kelp on the North Steyne end. Crested Terns diving, 2 Pelicans soaring above. A dead bird. Various dead fish.

Junkspace: Approx. 10 'dead' balloons with long gift wrapping strings, ready to entangle. Freed up into the environment by 'fun'- loving people. 250209

As most early mornings or late evenings, dog owners defy the law and encourge free range activities of their dogs on the beach. Today, one large hunting dog (many seagull feathers?) and a hand-bag sized rat-like thing called dog were on the beach.
Beer bottles, whole or as generously smashed glass were left on the sand. The number of smokers seems to have increased, butts and toxic fumes are hard to evade on this "smoke free beach". Car fumes and rancid cooking oils drifting right up to the 'surf'. Crested Terns are still there, so it is not yet getting cold. 270209 (Image "Dog harasses Little Penguin" by local children, expressing their desire for the existence of wildlife in their life-time, Manly Library exhibition)

Manly Beach Riot Day

Following a long celebration period, during which adults modelled marathon drinking in sub-urbia, Australia Day or Invasion Day should be the final bang of the same thing.

To flee sub-urban misery, the oversized cars where packed with plonk, meat, dogs and kids. THE public space in which it all has to take place is of course the beach in Australia. Walkers invest their life racing no less than three dogs in harness (on average) along the beach to empty them there. Schoolies had settled on their towels with endless containers of alcohol and smokes. National flags covered the Corso, most bodies and their skin.

From beach to town the ubiquitous primal sound of "woo hoo" could be heard. The utterance of 'winners' borrowed from another culture and sphere has long replaced the endemic home-grown articulations of "cooee".

Public intoxication, violence, rage and glassing are not foreign to Manly. "Violent attacks have risen on the northern beaches by almost 10 per cent in the past two years." Violence is often said to be 'alcohol-fuelled' amongst mostly young men. Even businesses on the Corso are 'feuding' and 'brawling' diplaying violent behaviour in public.

Later in the day a group of 80 young Australians arrived (by public transport?) also clad in the national flag and said to be sedated by alcohol. Their utterances are claimed to have consisted of: "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’’, "Aussie Pride", "f*** the pigs’’ "f--k off we're full", "we’re celebrating we are Australian, f*** the ethnics", "lets go f--k with these Lebs" and "tits out for the boys" .
Their deeds were violence against people and vandalism towards objects."They jumped on top of cars and smashed windows as they ran up and down Manly's Corso." "An 18-year-old Asian female in one of the cars was showered with shattered glass, giving her numerous cuts to her arms... A taxi driven by a Sikh Indian was also targeted". Manly Police and the riot squad attempted to restore civic order.

"Australia Day became a scene of brawls and vandalism across the state - with anger spreading from Shellharbour in the south to Port Macquarie in the north." "Ambulance crews were called to a fight at Sutherland train station with reports of a 10-person brawl, with a glassing and a female with a fractured finger." "Police say about 1,000 people were involved in the fight at Burleigh Heads". Head injuries at Batemans Bay. A "massive brawl"erupted on the Queensland's Gold Coast.

The 2005 Cronulla riots in NSW also come to mind. District battles for the golden 'public' sands away from unsustainable hot sub-urbia.

Previous:
Sydney riots I, 05
Defending the turf II, 05
Sydney Riots, Beaches and Exclusionism, III, 05
Spooky for Australian Children, update: 040109 abc
Other:
Rebel Without a Cause
Riots With a Cause
Update:
Manly 'morons' rampage was racist: academic. SMH 270109, " racism dressed up as nationalism"

Alcohol and Manly Beach ?

On Designing Community Life in Manly Sustainably

Manly already has an extreme density of pubs and other venues to consume alcohol in. Now the small lanes will be developed to 'entice' us to drink there as well. At night they “will become a buzzing lane way bar.“ To complement "The pub culture in Sydney" another adult shop is thrown in.

Alcohol-related incidents are “ the state's biggest single crime factor”, costing $50 million a year and contributing to “ violence, malicious damage, public disorder and road fatalities” The cost of negative health effects and social disintegration is probably not reflected by that sum.

A laissez-faire approach to urban 'planning' allows corporate culture to usurp increasingly more public space and intensify their commercial activities. A space/time environment is constructed primarily for rapid profit generation, which the 'consumer' is allowed to immerse themselves in.

In an accelerated globalised world the dominant lifestyle for all is to be 'on the go', drive-through & grab something, getting things done, getting it over with and maybe getting there. In this mobilised and intensified culture the dominant lifestyle for all is to be mobile and flexible. The 'fast world' of fast food, fast drinks, fast travel, fast relationships etc are part of the speedy packages offered by Big Business.

Our social practices take place in a specific space and time, they are place making and also the construction of who we are:

"A city isn’t just a place to live, to shop, to go out and have kids play. It’s a place that implicates how one derives one’s ethics, how one develops a sense of justice, how one learns to talk with and learn from people who are unlike oneself, which is how a human being becomes human."

"The Civitas of Seeing"(1989), Richard Sennet

One approach to culture the human within us and amongst us is mindful and slow living. This movement has been adopted in various cities. A (re) discovery of place-(making) gives distinctiveness and identity to a location. The Slow Cities movement has the following aims:

• Preserving and maintaining the local natural and built environments;
• Developing infrastructure in harmony with the natural landscape and its use;
• Using technology to improve quality of life and the natural and urban environment;
• Encouraging the use and production of local foodstuffs using eco-sensitive methods;
• Supporting production based on cultural traditions in the local area;
• Promote quality of local hospitality. CommunityBuilders NSW

Other features are that

• The city centres are free of cars and have functional cycle paths and real pedestrian zones. Sustainable mobility, such as walking and biking is encouraged.
• The use of sustainable energy, consideration of the natural and social ecology are integrative.
• Air pollution, noise pollution and light pollution are kept in check.
• Public places are inviting and free of ads (solid state spam) and neon lights.
• New developments have to conform to an eco friendly architecture.

The designing of places in Europe that are rich and lasting, might not be appropriate for suburban conditions, favoured by Anglo-culture. Urbanity, diversity, difference, creativity and excitement are for 'the o.s. trip'. Back home the suburbanite wants the solid security of a mono-culture. A good place to bring up kids and dogs. Quickly do the lawn-mowing,hedge-clipping, tree poisoning, then flip the house and move on. Food comes from the mall or a fast-food outlet. Regional food? Most could not name one edible thing endemic to Australia. This “great Australian dream” slowly fades with the young who come to see the project as the “wasteland of the subs”. Liberating themselves from tradition, they seek refuge in Berlin etc from “soul-less” Sydney.

Environments open to a participatory and open difference allow creative people to escape the self-sameness of iconic bland-burbia. Attempts to transplant 'the good bits' from cities in to the mall & sprawl burbs could only be cosmetic. The 'untidy' nature of un-'developed', teeming urban places and its productivity would be a night-mare in tidy town.

When corporate gaols and the aims of individuals seem to match in that both seek rapid gain before any consideration of civil society, then sustainability is impossible. When the private mind-set does not need public spaces, but most 'life' takes place in one's own castle, the civic life beyond the BBQ or sport is a burden. The public space/arena and untidy/uncertain urban spaces not valorized are unthinkable in Australia. Berlin is open to differences, open to allow creative forces to find niche environments to flourish in. It encourages participatory co-construction of the urban interface by its residents. One can 'Get a Life' in the public ecology instead of in the private form only.
Links:
Monoculture or creative environments
LIQUID CITIES: BERLIN AND SYDNEY IN CONVERSATION
New Urbanism Charter
Creating Ordinary Places: Slow Cities in a Fast World,Paul L Knox, Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 10. No. 1, 1–11, February 2005
Jason Adams, Paul Virilio and the Phenomenology of the Political Body, 2003

Manly Food and Wine Festival

Another Food and Wine festival in Manly. Part of the beachfront is blocked off to stinking noisy cars. The bike racks are full. A feeling of the commons is about with ALL stakeholders being given more quality space and resources. The public regained tables and chairs to sit at the beach and in the Corso – all in non-commercial space and with a great diversity of music as well. Couldn't it be like that all the time?
Food was served on biodegradable plates an cutlery.Vegetarians that happen to be non-alcoholics were defenitely in the wrong place. No stall could be found selling non-alcoholic liquids. Meat was sizzling everywhere in dense blue plumes of smoke. Generators humming above the ocean surf.The Corso, still with wobbly broken pavers displayed the evaporating powers of an abundance of water in Sydney. 'Girth' by flags, just in case one forgot one's location. Kids were kept busy – for a buck - on the fresh turf transplants.
Tomorrow is the Manly Sustainability Fair at South Steyne, continuing the 'Taste of Manly'.