What would you have?

This blog is ultimately a forum of written spaces to encourage thoughts and judgements about the precinct called Kings Cross.

Hopefully there has been enough critical appraisal, personal statements and theoretical issues to wade through and contribute the forming of your personal opinion on the potential for change in Kings Cross.

The first result for the Google Image Search of Kings Cross. NB: The paddy wagon, the strip, the McDonalds. Institutional versus Cultural change.

Like all ‘problem’ or issue bedded areas across the globe that have a somewhat infamous tag, nickname or stigma, the Cross, for Sydney will no doubt carry its share of the burden and yet for that, we respect it. We respect its publicity, its opening hours, its strip. We are bombarded by the folklore around its criminality, its serious hotbed for violence, the alcohol fueled violence and drug use it incites, the state governments posterboy for political action, and interests groups from all social spectrums lobbying for something. I would really like to say ‘change’ however I use it in a very specific mode – calling for change and the potential of cultural and social shifts in planning and attitudes towards Kings Cross. Unfortunately, ‘change’ is usurped by the large interests groups of owners, clubs and other fiscal stakeholders, where ‘change’ presents a larger slice of the late night dollar and encroachments on what constitutes a ‘night out’.

I can’t argue with the place, but I can argue for the place, for the potential it possess and the iconography it so propagates.

Just because we respect it, doesn’t mean we have to like it.

 

Let’s Eat (part one)

Firstly- well done Clover! This is very exciting news for us here at Bringing Potential To Kings Cross! It’s great to think that we have another 3 or so years with Clover in the top job fighting to make Kings Cross and Sydney as a whole a better place (especially at night time).

One of Clover’s better ideas was the introduction of food trucks to the streets of Sydney to align this city with other vibrant cities of the world like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Paris. Sydney siders can finally enjoy gourmet food on the streets right up to around 1am most nights of the week.

In January this year Clover announced that 10 food trucks would be taking to the streets. These include:

• Eat Art Truck
• Cantina Mobil
• Al Carbón
• Bite Sized Delights
• Agapé
• Let’s Do Yum Cha
• Urban Pasta
• Veggie Patch Van
• Tsuru
• Taco Truck

It’s a shame that it’s already mid September and only 3 of these trucks are on the streets, theses being the well established Eat Art Truck, Cantina Mobil and very recently, Agapé. The massive hype about these food trucks at the start of the year and the current lack of these trucks has unfortunately given a slightly tarnished feeling to the trucks that are already on the streets and doing a wonderful job. Think of how great it could have been if all the trucks arrived on the streets at once and took Sydney by storm. They would have been unstoppable! It’s also a shame to all the food trucks that missed out on receiving permission to trade (the council has only allowed for 10 trucks to trade initially) to see the wasted opportunities from the trucks that aren’t on the road yet. Let’s hope when they turn up their food packs a hell of a lot of punch to make up for their absence!

I have been lucky enough to work in and to spend a lot of time around one of the current food trucks. It’s been great to see all the positive reactions from customers and passers by. One of the most common compliments we get is how great it is to find good food on the streets between knock off time and dinner. People finish work, are starving and may not being having dinner for another 2 hours or so and the food trucks are a great way to fill up in this lull period when nothing but Maccas is open. Food trucks are also a really great way to get gourmet food at affordable prices later in the evening when fast food is really your only option. And by gourmet I mean the head chefs of one of the trucks are ex Tetsuya’s and ex Quay! Street food really doesn’t get any better!

How does this relate to the issues we are concerned with here at Bringing Potential To Kings Cross? Stay tuned for part two coming in a few days of the story of Sydney food trucks and how they are step in the right direction in helping to better Sydney’s nightlife.

Vote For Clover! The Fight For Small Bars

Sydney siders should be all well aware of the upcoming council elections happening tomorrow Saturday 8^th of September. Will Sydney decide to keep Clover Moore as Lord Mayor or will Angela Vithoulkas from the Living Sydney party win the race?

I may be a little biased and only really keep an eye on Clover’s policies but she seems to be doing a pretty good job on the whole, with a few minor exceptions.

As always, we here at Bringing Potential to Kings Cross focus (obviously) on issues that directly affect Kings Cross and the surrounding regions and thus shine a light on what can be done to improve Sydney’s late night economy. And who was it that sparked an interest in bettering Sydney’s late night economy? It was none other than Clover herself.  One of the better ideas she has had was to put pressure on the State Government to ease alcohol licensing laws and to support the opening of small bars in Sydney.

Here’s what Clover did back in 2008;

The State Government agreed to new laws to enable small bars, responding to the ‘raise the bar’ community campaign and Clover’s Liquor Amendment (Small Bars and Restaurants) Bill. There are now over 35 small bars in the CBD area with more opening almost daily it seems.

To some, it might seem contradictory to ease licensing restrictions to enable the opening of more liquor venues when we already have an increasing alcohol violence issue. Close them all down, I hear you say! But they’re not all bad, in fact small bars may just be the change Kings Cross is looking for.  It’s unfortunate they get a bad rep by the likes of the Hospitality Minister, George Souris. Souris said small bars had ”a lower level of surveillance, a lower level of supervision, a lower level of compliance” and that larger venues ”are better policed, better supervised than those smaller venues”. Does Souris really know what he’s talking about? Has he ever stepped inside one of Sydney’s fantastic small bars? My guess is no. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/small-bars-hit-back-at-rebuke-by-minister-20120717-228jv.html

Let’s run through some of the reasons why small bars are a great inclusion to the late night economy and why we should encourage more to be opened in the Cross.

As Clover has said herself, smalls bar may just incite change. Small bars encourage a wider group of people to the city, not just people who come to incite violence and drink heavily. http://www.clovermoore.com.au/working-for-sydney/hot-topics/city-after-hours-a-good-night-for-all/

Small bars, said Martin O’Sullivan, president of the NSW Small Bars Association, create a more chilled out environment where people come to listen to a down tempo DJ. Being smaller, they obviously don’t attract the sheer numbers that large scale venues do, allowing these small venues to be more diverse in their offerings. For example in one night, punters could go from sipping high-class whiskey at The Baxter Inn to slamming Tequila and Mezcal at Tio’s or indulging in some knitting at Grandma’s. What else could you want on a Friday night?

O’Sullivan also rejected Souris’ claims that small bars have a lack of security and surveillance. A small bar can fit roughly 80-100 patrons at a time; that’s compared to the hundreds that large-scale venues can fit. A manager at a small bar can much more easily keep an eye on all patrons within the bar, and action can be taken immediately if need be. Security wouldn’t need to wade through the crowds of people to drag out someone people who are seen to be doing the wrong thing.

Trent Zimmerman, the deputy chief executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum said that these small bars are now catering for a diverse group of people whose needs were currently not met and are important in maintaining Sydney’s reputation as a global city. I couldn’t agree more. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/small-bars-hit-back-at-rebuke-by-minister-20120717-228jv.html

One thing that could be done to aid in a solution for Kings Cross is to not close these small bars so damn early! Most small bars close between 12-1am. Who wants to go home at midnight on a Friday? Especially if you’ve had a few beers! By closing these bars in the CBD and surrounding areas means it practically forces people to head to the Cross, as it is one of the only areas where bars are open later than midnight.

Keep the small bars open later, open more small bars in a wide range of suburbs and give small bars the respect they deserve and mark my words, we will see a change. If you treat people like idiots and only give them large-scale clubs and sports bars for entertainment then they will act like idiots. But if you show Sydney siders the little bit of sophistication this city deserves then a sophisticated public is what you get in return.

I think I know who I’ll be voting for tomorrow….

Here’s the cute promo video that inspired this post