Mosman is a Sydney suburb that attracts many of the rich and famous. Homes there bring a premium price and residents have been fighting tooth and nail to stop a Woolworths supermarket being built on their stretch of Military road.
Back in 2015 the supermarket chain bought several shops in this fashionable precinct and lodged a demolition order with Mosman Council. Their plans to build a modern supermarket on the site brought an angry rejection from some local residents, which led to street demonstrations and pressure on the council to reject the plan.
While many of Sydney's new outer suburbs are desperate for either Woolworths or rival Coles to establish a supermarket to lower grocery prices, Mosman residents claim that it will ruin the " village atmosphere " of their suburb. Some sneer that their suburb will become a duplicate of nearby Double Bay which is now filled with real estate agents, hair salons and banks. There are the usual wails about traffic congestion and parking difficulties and the council ran for cover and insisted on an evaluation by an independent audit firm.
That is now complete and has been handed to council, and it dismisses concerns about potential contamination and finds in favour of Woolworths. The pressure returns to the elected councillors to face the wrath of residents when they must make a final decision on an issue that they can not legally refuse. The Woolworths proposal ticks all the legal boxes and yet councillors fear retribution at the ballot box at the next election.
They will probably find that this noisy opposition is in fact remarkably shallow and will quickly dissipate when the building is completed. It is usually led by a small group of dissenters who by nature of their leadership powers drag in others who would feel socially isolated if they refused. They put their names to petitions against which they do not have strong feelings.
This often manifests itself against a new McDonald's or Hungry Jack's store being established in a new area. The objection rails against " fast foods " and its health damage, but given a few short months after the opening the very people objecting have become enthusiastic users of the service provided. Only the hard core of protesters remain aloof on principle.
When we reject " change " we usher in stagnation. The Coles and Woolworths duopoly drove thousands of little corner stores out of business and brought cheap groceries to the masses. They are under constant pressure from competitors seeking to emulate their success and should a shopping centre succeed in keeping them out its residents usually quickly establish buying patterns elsewhere.
Social media innovations such as Facebook have opened a new avenue of discourse to stoke discontent for those with social aspirations. The aim of this is to gain " followers " and hence someone with what seems a valid argument against a proposal can use the theme for advantage.
Unfortunately, it is the vigor of these hate campaigns that usually stops many fair minded people putting their hand up and running for office at council elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment