CORRECTION PLEASE
I was very surprised, after the success of our ‘Curating Ku-ring-gai’ community forum in August, to find myself targeted by the Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment, FOKE.
“Architect Dr Elizabeth Farrelly admits she doesn’t know,” declared FOKE’s headline.
“When FOKE asked Dr Farrelly how she would reconcile TODs destroying Ku-ring-gai’s heritage she admitted “I don’t know”.
“One wonders why her Better Cities Initiatives is recommending a randomly selected panel to discuss and determine ways forward for the planning of TODs in Ku-ring-gai where she herself has no idea how it should be planned?” (FOKE newsletter 20 10 24)
The truth is this. I had specially truncated a family holiday in NZ to tour the LGA with FOKE’s representatives and hear their point of view. My purpose, as they knew, was not to opine but to listen. Indeed, given that both the forum and the Citizens’ Assembly that we advocate are purpose-designed to elicit deep popular wisdom, it would have been both unintelligent and hypocritical of me to offer any off-the-cuff view.
As to random selection, that, too, is a deliberate key to fairness, ensuring proper demographic representation rather than the usual skew towards loudmouths, bullies and squeaky wheels.
From the FOKE newsletter 20th October 2024
FOKE’s purpose is to protect environmental and heritage values. I have a lifelong record of supporting both. Indeed, both I (a former National Trust NSW Board member) and The Better Cities Initiative (a full member of the Nature Conservation Council, whose annual conference I will address in a couple of weeks), are fully on board with these values – which is why we invited FOKE to speak at the forum and support the Citizens’ Assembly.
We also believe that between the 45-storey towers currently proposed for Gordon and the single-family home, there is a middle way that can heal the community, rather than divide it, and that this is best discovered via deliberate democracy.
That’s why CITIZEN-LED DESIGN is our vision and our motto. A better future is possible and it’s time we were all involved in making it happen.