When Lofty ambitions go wrong

The eagle eyes of “rydavo”, a contributor to the r/Adelaide subreddit (Farmers Union and Malls Balls go here), found that “Mt Lofty Summit decided to obstruct the view from most of the summit, to advertise a reality show called ‘The Summit’”.

The 42 comments were quick to point out that the National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia should have probably thought it through better no matter how much Channel 9 paid for the privilege.

“How’s the serenity?” The summit view has been obscured by “The Summit” advertising.

But “Cbrip31” started an entirely new debate.

“I love how half the people on this post are like “oh well if you stand on the other side of the ad you’d see the view”, are these people that out of touch or do they want to keep seeing advertisements in the most obscure places? They probably wouldn’t be bothered if our most critically acclaimed monument, the malls balls (sic), had a thick advertisement over it either.”

Ideas for this came thick and fast, including one from “HenryInRoom302” for Mars Inc “painting the Mall’s Balls brown and calling them “Mall-tesers”. Imagine the rates the Adelaide City Council could get for that!

Mixing messages

A week after the State Government rushed tougher anti-protest legislation through the Lower House after an abseiler stopped city traffic, the Economic Development Agency might have been courting trouble by assembling more than 450 of the city’s movers and shakers for an entire day to talk up the city rather than do their day jobs of keeping the city moving.

While the day was commendable for not being the usual SA love-fest – with hardly a speaker bemoaning why the rest of the world doesn’t know we exist – it was interesting that in a city-state that touts its connectivity as a competitive advantage that it’s still clear no one has decided on a single, united sales pitch.

The morning was kicked off with AEDA chair Nikki Govan launching the city’s newest prospectus, Invest Adelaide (which, we guess has nothing to do with the Department for Trade and Investments’ Invest SA). Inside the 24-page pitch are the usual stats about a 20-minute city that’s cheaper than Sydney and Melbourne, but on page 14 it’s déjà vu all over again with the latest tagline: Advantage Adelaide.

The InSider’s brain rolled back to an elaborate evening in 2008 when the same Nikki Govan announced that the latest iteration of SA Great would be forever known as Advantage SA… it was fairly quickly changed to Brand SA and then chopped and then brought back again. At least Advantage Adelaide is better alliteration.

Then, on the next line, the Invest Adelaide brochure declares the city’s competitive edge stems from “A Global State of Mind”, which pretty much echoes the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s elaborate “New State of Mind” campaign.

It would be great to imagine the city-state has finally coordinated its message, but it’s probably more a case of running out of slogans.

Population target set for Adelaide

More people are needed in Adelaide, but don’t park in front of the Lord Mayor’s house. Photo: Angela Skujins/CityMag

The AEDA conference did throw up all sorts of interesting ideas – and most speakers were fairly tough on the old lady Adelaide. One of the toughest was Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, who started off by acknowledging that there has been a lot of talk around issues “but at the end of the day, you actually have to do something” and it takes more than a strategic plan to accomplish this.

“No one went to the ramparts for a strategic plan,” she said, before launching into her vision.

The mayor wants 50,000 people living inside Adelaide by 2036 – the 200^th anniversary of the foundation of the city. That’s almost a doubling of today’s population and would solve the labour shortages, empty offices and get more consumers shopping in the CBD. If achieved, it would be the most people downtown since the population peaked at over 40,000 in the early 1900s.

But where will these new residents park?

The InSider suggests it won’t be near the house of the Lord Mayor, who is yearning for the “good old days” when more parking inspectors roamed the city’s streets.

“I’ve noticed in the past four or five years how easy it is to leave a car illegally parked,” Lomax-Smith told a council committee on Tuesday.

“Because you have almost zero chance of being caught – zero chance.

“In fact, someone came to my house on Sunday morning, parked outside my house and I said, ‘Don’t park there, it’s illegal’, and they laughed and went off for a three-hour shopping trip into town and came back again later, no parking ticket.”

Adelaide City Council’s draft budget, released for consultation (and criticism) today, includes an allocation to hire eight new parking inspectors.

Each inspector is expected to add $150k a year (net) to the council’s coffers, a total of $1.2m in additional revenue.

Not in my schoolyard

Noses are well and truly out of joint in the beachside suburb of Glenelg after locals learned of plans to open a “therapeutic residential site” for those recovering from alcohol and drug addictions – on a site in walking distance to one of the state’s poshest schools.

The St Peters Woodlands primary school is reportedly handing out explanatory fliers to parents and attending heated meetings with other locals as they demand a “please explain” from Uniting Communities chiefs.

One homeowner described the plan to have up to 12 people in the program as “madness” because those living in the house – with staff on site 24 hours a day – will be living near children and a school.

Uniting Communities chief executive Simon Schrapel told InSider the organisation is meeting and communicating with local residents and “representatives of a local school” about the plan for a building the organisation has owned for some time.

The organisation also reportedly held an information session.

“We believe many of these concerns relate to misinformation or misconceptions of the program that will be housed there,” he assured.

“As an organisation that values fairness and inclusion, we run a series of programs for South Australians who want to work toward a healthier future.

“We have a long history of delivering this voluntary, therapeutic program, which is currently delivered at sites across metropolitan Adelaide with no negative community impact.”

Cold comfort amid interest rate hikes

A seemingly good news media release arrived this morning from the State Treasurer under the bold title “South Australia’s economic performance among the best in the nation”.

Turns out the cleverly named “ANZ Stateometer” report for the last financial quarter is showing SA is “holding up” as the national economy slows.

The “holding up” figures Treasurer Stephen Mullighan points to show that while the nation’s economy is slowing down, SA is slowing down less than most other states.

Banking giant ANZ’s data shows SA’s employment, goods exports and retail spending is stronger than the national average.

In more good news for South Australians saving for a home loan deposit, ANZ cited the strength of our housing market as a factor in “our relative economic strength”.

It seems house prices in Adelaide are apparently also “holding up” better than the rest of the nation.

An interesting takeaway for those struggling to pay rapidly rising housing loan interest rates – to banks like ANZ who described the “ongoing housing adjustment” as effectively slowing down economic activity along the east coast.

All can take cold comfort as they prepare for this week’s news that they will soon be paying winter electricity bills rising between 22 and 29 per cent for households and small businesses from July 1.

The Pub Test

They’re considered either an important step toward sustainable transport or a dangerous inner-city blight. But after Mayor Lomax-Smith declared she was “vehemently opposed” to e-scooters being used on city footpaths, the two-wheelers will be banned from the CBD by next May unless the State Government steps in to regulate their use.

While the InSider often sees what we will diplomatically call “a mature demographic” scooting around town, we hit the UniBar for some younger opinions (mainly because the pouring rain made it impossible to find scooter riders out in the wild).

Nellie, 20, was blunt in her assessment of the mayor’s ultimatum.

“I think a ban would be quite stupid”, the criminology student said while enjoying an after-class IPA.

She couldn’t see a good reason for a ban and said people her age would be the ones most likely to be affected if they were no longer able to be used.

“It would take away one of the main forms of transport, especially for younger people who use them quite a bit more than older people, I think. I can’t even think of a reason why they would want to scrap them or take them away,” Nellie said.

Nellie’s friend Jo, a 20-year-old Journalism student, agreed and said she uses them quite a lot to get around town and would miss them if they were gone.

“It can get a bit expensive, but it definitely saves a lot of time getting around in the city,” she said.

Like most of the people the InSider asked, Jo wasn’t aware the scooters were only a trial.

“I just assumed they would be here forever or until people got sick of them,” she said.

However, Charlee, another 20-year-old who was just finishing up her day with a coffee, finds the feeling of being passed by scooter users quite annoying.

“Whenever you’re like crossing the street, people that are on them, they just past you and sh#!,” she said, adding that they seem quite expensive, not only for individuals using them but for the council to keep around on the streets.

“They just seem a bit expensive, every time I try and use one it just seems a bit too complicated.”

Things you should know…

It’s not too late to head to the community event in Tarntanyangga/Victoria Square for National Sorry Day. On until 2:30 today, there is a BBQ and plenty of music and other entertainment on offer and, of course, important messages from an impressive lineup of guest speakers.