Closed School Site consultation
The Governments agenda for the use of the closed school sites in the ACT was clearly transparent at the Tuggeranong meeting this week. While we sat feeling empowered by whiteboard markers and the chance to have a public voice, government cogs have already turned on the Mt Neighbour Primary and Macarthur Preschool sites with ‘preferred options’ of aged care and childcare being issued in the first five minutes of the presentation. While the government views this as a chance to raise revenue by selling parcels of land and renting buildings to businesses which supply community services who can afford the rent it seems unlikely we will see the sites retained for ground level community use. This will add more pain to the tragedy of the whole school closure process.
It became clear through Monday’s meeting that there is a huge shortfall of affordable space in Tuggeranong for non-profit community groups to house their volunteer administration and workshop space. The list is set to get even longer with groups like the Tuggeranong Band, who currently rehearse with their 50 member group in the Village Creek Primary Hall, preparing for a future with no home base.
If we want to live for a sustainable future, the catchphrase “Live Globally, Act Locally” should be heard across Canberra. Yet the ACT government is on the verge of failing to provide its citizens with the space for local action and community education to be held. We, the public, know it is worth valuing, worth subsidizing and worth fighting for as we face government decisions which will chop the hearts out of our suburbs and fail to provide much needed community housing in suburbs that need it.
For decades, local governments across the globe have used tax revenue to provide funding and buildings for community groups to facilitate programs and house the swarms of warm hearted volunteers who work in their communities, providing education and care from within the community, for the community. And it works, I have felt it as one of 350 volunteers in a community school in Vancouver.
So join us as we demand from this process, our “Option” for the future use of the closed school sites in the ACT. That we be provided with subsidized community space in each of the closed school sites, to fulfill the role of a society in the 21st century which grows community not weeds it away.
Jane Irving