Late last year Georges River Council embarked on a plan to sell off car parks within the Local Government area in order to "...generate funds to reinvest in future income-generating assets for the benefit of the community".
It's unclear what these future community assets will be and how much ratepayers will benefit, but we do know the impact selling off these prized pieces of land will have on the community and businesses today.
The Council sell off included car parks in Peakhurst, South Hurstville, Riverwood, Kogarah and Hurstville. One local small business owner, Terry Dowd, told The Leader the decision to sell these properties would "cripple us". He went on to say "We as residents and business owners were not notified at all".
As the local Member for Kogarah I've been inundated with people opposed to the Council's sale plans a proposal to sell the car park located (ironically) in Carss Park.
When you consider how difficult the economic circumstances have been for small business in Australia since the pandemic hit, and how difficult it may be in the coming months when Job Keeper ends on March 28, the last thing that we should do is make it harder to do business in our suburban high streets.
I'm consistently amazed at the resilience of small businesses in our suburbs, particularly those that are not located on rail lines or busy public transport interchanges. These businesses rely on great products and services and word of mouth. They also need a car park so that the local dollar doesn't drive off after trying and failing to get a parking space near their business.
If we want to encourage local business people and the jobs and economic opportunity that comes with them, then all levels of Government need to understood their decisions can have real world impacts. Selling off local car parks will cripple small business for a quick hit of money.
In the long run, it's not worth it.
