Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis on the Esplanade carpark being turned into a green space

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Katie Woolf spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis on the Esplanade carpark being turned into a green space · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us on the line right now.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Two days in a row, the Lord Mayor of Darwen
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: convat Scarlet's good morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Conn good morning cake.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Con walkway is on the way. That's the headline in
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: the paper. Plans for an upgraded Esplanade footpath were approved
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: by the Darwin Council last night and well it's looking
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: as though the plans for the RSL are definitely well
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: done and dusted.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Well. As I told you yesterday, the advice from me
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: to the RSL was found a new site because you're
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: not going to go to the Esplanade yes yesterday council
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: voted to grin the car park area next to the Cenotaph.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: But we make provisions for the army to put their
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: artillery and all heavy equipment for the bombing of Darwin,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: and also for people disabilities when they come for the
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: celebration to be able to stay there, to come there
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: and disembark, so it's will be easier for them. But
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  Speaker 3: the reality is that place will be converted to a
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  Speaker 3: green space, a beautiful place that people and families can
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: use for recruit and look.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be lovely.
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  Speaker 2: It'll certainly look a lot nicer but kind of message
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  Speaker 2: that's come through on the text ligne already.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Hey Katie, can you ask the Lord mayor how are they.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Going to deal with the loss of revenue from the
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: car parks on the Esperanade? Also, where are those people
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: going to park now?
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  Speaker 3: Well, there's not going to be a lot of revenue
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  Speaker 3: because people actually the parking there. Now they'll be simply
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: parking to other car parks around the area, especially the
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: West Lane. The people we offer the opportunities and the
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: options to relocate to other car parks and they'll still
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: been paying in this new car parks, so there's not
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: going to be a loss of revenue.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: How many car parks are actually in that car park?
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  Speaker 3: They are about seventy car parks and at this stage
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  Speaker 3: we've got enormous capacity on our other car park facilities
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: for more than seventy. I think our car parks about
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: sixty to sixty five percent full and the rest is
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: still empty.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So but really the option for people is the
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  Speaker 2: Chinatown car Park is that right.
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  Speaker 3: Chinatown and West Lane, and if they want, they can
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: go to the Grand car Park next to the Parliament House.
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  Speaker 3: There's plenty of car pack in the area.
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  Speaker 1: Can everyone just park it there. What people say, can
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  Speaker 1: anyone party.
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  Speaker 3: At the ground car pack? Of course it is. It's
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: open to the public.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Oh there go.
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  Speaker 2: Actually for some reason thought that it was it was
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: just for staff at Parliament House.
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  Speaker 3: Oh no, no, no, there's actually about one hundred and
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: forty sids there for the public. And if there's no
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: any jury sitting, there's even more car pack facilities in
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the air Grand Car Park.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Now corn with the graining of this space, when's it
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  Speaker 2: going to get on the y Well, we have to go.
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  Speaker 3: Through of course, keep people notice that they have to
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: move out. We have to resone the area and we
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: have to actually make some plans what we want to
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: look like, and then it will come out. Look, it's
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: not going to happen tomorrow. It might take a few months,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: but it will definitely happen because this is the council's decision.
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  Speaker 2: Was this something I mean, was this just done to
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  Speaker 2: stop the RSL in their tracks?
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  Speaker 3: No, not at all, because we've just discussed with you
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: before we had information for the Ladak. Yeah, people, there
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: are some sorts of significance. That's another opportunity to protect
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: those sides and also to be able to provide through
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  Speaker 3: a podcast the information about the bombing of Darwin, the
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: significance of the size, and that can be done now
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  Speaker 3: with the technology we've got. So it's not just going
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: to be a car park. It's going to be a
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  Speaker 3: place where we're protecting significant sites. It's a place that
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  Speaker 3: will be connected with the cenotaph and the bombing of Darwin,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: a place we can go and sit down and have
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: a meal or a glass of wine, and at the
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  Speaker 3: same time, with the modern technology and your mobile phone,
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  Speaker 3: will be able to hear about the bombing of Darwin
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  Speaker 3: and other significant issues in this area.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Are you allowed to have a drink down there?
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  Speaker 3: Well, drinking if you are allowed to drink in certain areas,
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  Speaker 3: because this one is a car park, is not subject
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  Speaker 3: to the rules of the explanat. So this is something
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  Speaker 3: to be considered too.
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  Speaker 2: All right, So we might even be able to that
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  Speaker 2: area might actually be able to be one where we're
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: allowed to enjoy a drink.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Don't get your bottling glasses out yet, Kate till extually China.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, I'm not going to pull up in the
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  Speaker 2: car par I can have a drink, but once it's green,
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  Speaker 2: you know, once it's green. You never know con like,
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  Speaker 2: are we expecting this screening work to get underway in
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the next financial year or a couple of years down
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  Speaker 2: the track.
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  Speaker 1: How soon could it happen?
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  Speaker 3: It would be the next financial year because our budget
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  Speaker 3: for this year seventy million dollar capital works is fully allocated,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: so there's no way we can find this money in
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  Speaker 3: this financial year. And don't forget it's only about six
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: or seven months left from this financial year, but definitely
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: six months time is a good time to keep people
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  Speaker 3: notice so they can find opportunities to park somewhere else,
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  Speaker 3: and also for us to do the plants. What are
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  Speaker 3: we're going to do there and prepare for the transition.
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  Speaker 2: Now in terms of the RSL, obviously you've said you
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: do not want that. You know, you do not want
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  Speaker 2: the facility to get underway there, which is why it's
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: now being greened. What about down the other end of
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  Speaker 2: the esplanade or is the esplanade totally off limits now
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: for the RSL, the what.
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  Speaker 3: You call the astronaut I call the bisidential park because
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  Speaker 3: this is exactly what it is. The Barsidennial Park cannot
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  Speaker 3: be touched. We are not going to dig out any
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: of the grass area or the trees to put anything there.
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  Speaker 3: What we have there now is actually the playground. We've
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: got a toilet we put in after a lot of
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  Speaker 3: the mothers asked for it, and people are welcome to
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  Speaker 3: actually utilize all the car parking areas for pop up shops.
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  Speaker 3: We've got already somebody with a van that goes there
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  Speaker 3: regularly parks there and provides ice cream, called drinks and
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  Speaker 3: coffee to the people they go to the parks to
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  Speaker 3: the playground. But Kate, there are so many hotels on
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  Speaker 3: the other side of the road of the esplanat, and
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  Speaker 3: I call upon these people, and I was very pleased
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  Speaker 3: with one of these hotel managers yesterday told me that
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  Speaker 3: he's thinking actually doing something after he heard me on
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  Speaker 3: the radio asking for the hotels to come to the party.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm looking forward for the next few months to
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: see these hotels to actually do something. Put other cafes
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: restaurants opposite the estlant so we can enjoy beautiful meal
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: with a beautiful view.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I've got a message here from mel from on the
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: menu catering. She says, Hi, Katie and team with the
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: green space, why why not do an edible garden that
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: will help the homeless and the lower income earners.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: They're already gardens. Seeing the other places around Darwin, from
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: the water gardens to the lakeside drive that actually they
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  Speaker 3: operating now. The Astrolander is a place for everybody to
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: enjoy it. We want to live it the way it is.
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  Speaker 3: Beautiful trees, beautiful grass area for people to sit there
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  Speaker 3: and enjoy it.
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  Speaker 2: Combat scarlets, the Lord Mayor of darwhen we are going
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  Speaker 2: to have to leave it there. Good to catch up
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  Speaker 2: with you. Thank you for chatting with us again this morning.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: And you welcome Kate any time. But don't get your
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: bottles and glasses out yet.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Oh mate, you made it sound like I could go
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: and get my fish and chips and take a bottle of.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Wine down there.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: You can take your fish and chips.
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  Speaker 2: Not problems at all, all right, Well, we'll wait and
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: say whether that changes in the future.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: On vet scarlets. Good to speak with you. Thank you,