Plan B Forum

It started out as a casual trip into the city for a quick catch up with old friends.



But after New York-based Josh Gaudry had faced a labyrinth of road tolls and was left bamboozled by a combination of nonsensical parking signage and nanny state laws, he decided "Sydney has lost the plot".
After a two year absence, Mr Gaudry and his wife Anoushka Szlagowska returned to Australia at Christmas to introduce their baby, Freddy, to family and friends. But in one night out on December 23, he racked up seven tolls, a parking metre fee and, following a brush with one of "Sydney's most confusing parking signs," a $248 fine.




The sign, which consists of four separate regular signs, is in Pyrmont. While the NSW Government Office of State Revenue has since refused Mr Gaudry's appeal against the fine, he did receive some sympathy from the City of Sydney who "agrees there is a better way to inform drivers about the parking restrictions on Sydney's streets"




"The City has long been lobbying the state government to introduce kerbside line markings - as used in many cities around the world – to reduce the confusion that multiple signs create," said a spokeswoman, who added that 2000 signs had been removed since 2004 to "reduce clutter and make signs clearer".

Mr Gaudry has since returned to the US - but not before firing a parting salvo at the city he once called home.

"They say in life it is better to give than to receive. On just one night while on holiday in Sydney over Christmas, I scattered almost $285 of goodwill across four different road toll booths, City of Sydney parking, the Office of State Revenue and a local pub. In return for that 'investment', I received one solitary $10 pint of mid-strength beer.

"Staying at my parents' place in the west of Sydney, I ventured into Pyrmont two days before Christmas eager to get out of the house and catch up with old friends whom I hadn't seen for two years. Driving was the only option and road tolls were a necessary evil I couldn't dodge. The 40-minute drive from Kellyville racked up four tolls; M7, M2, Lane Cove Tunnel and Harbour Bridge. Each 'bleep' on the roam tag was like a tiny kidney punch to my wallet. Upon arriving in Pyrmont, I aimlessly circled the streets for 30 minutes trying to find a parking space. It felt like I was in a Hunger Games race for car space sanctuary. Eventually I found a spot. Or was it? Rubbing my eyes to ensure it wasn't a mirage, I was confronted by four ambiguous, conflicting parking signs all piled on top of each other to create one monstrous 'super sign'.

"I checked it again and again. Not having the mathematical problem-solving capability of Alan Turing, I deduced it was OK to park there. My confidence was validated when I purchased a ticket and displayed it on the dashboard.

"While sipping on my overpriced pint, old friendships were resumed with some deep debate about the order in which one should watch the Star Wars movies if you hadn't seen any before. I left the conversation to go and pay for more parking. I found an infringement ticket flapping under the windscreen wiper like a fish taking its final breaths. $248 for "disobeying a no stopping sign". $248!! My first response was one of indignation. Does the punishment fit the crime? Further to my irritation, the charge of "disobeying" surely infers a level of intent to commit that crime. Surely paying and displaying the one hour $2.70 ticket was evidence I was not willingly committing any crime at all.

"I kinda lost my Ho, Ho, Ho at that point. Further insult followed with a "free" toll back over the bridge The Grinch in me saw it as a slap on the arse as I was sent back to the wild west... "and don't come back". Humbug.

"Yet the final crushing blow came with a definitive "computer says no" response to my formal appeal to the Office of State Revenue. I based my case for leniency on the grounds of a) confusing, ambiguous signage b) the punishment not fitting the crime and c) it's Christmas for F's sake! However, my carefully crafted case for consideration fell on the ears and eyes of the bureaucratic numbness of a government department that doesn't appear trained to exercise 'judgment'.

"So, screw you Sydney and your overbearing nanny state. I would rather be back in the most heavily policed city in the world of New York. No meat-head bouncers telling me I can't get in because they don't like my shoes, no lock out zones at midnight, no food venue shutdowns because of some daft law to avoid loitering, no aimless circling for a carpark oasis that doesn't exist, no excessive tolls to drive under a bloody tunnel. And certainly no mid-strength beer for $10."


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-has-lo ... z3ylnZ71KM

Scooter wrote:What a whiner. There are not "four ambiguous, conflicting parking signs". To the one side of that sign, there is no stopping, ever. To the other side, there is no stopping, at the very least between 3pm and 2am, which is when he was there. Ergo, no stopping for him, period. Pay the fine and STFU.

Here's a clue, bud - if in a busy neighbourhood you spot a lengthy stretch of curb that has no cars parked beside it, chances are it is not because you were lucky enough to find parking that no one else was observant enough to have noticed.

In 1999, Sydney was at its peak- the Olympic games were imminent and there was unbridled optimism that Sydney was about to emerge as an international city as the millennium approached. Internationally, Sydney was renowned as an incredibly fun place to live; the entertainment was world class, with great restaurants and venues to visit at any time of night.

Something pernicious has happened in the fifteen years since, and Sydney has not just regressed into a ghost town, but there is an undercurrent of something much more sinister in the way the city is being run.

As I write this in 2016, not a day goes by without the press reporting of yet another bar, club, hotel, restaurant or venue closing.

Walk up Bayswater Road, Oxford Street or the Golden Mile and club after club is closed; not just after 1.30am, but permanently.

A few months ago the perennial Flinders bar in Darlinghurst closed. Then the century-old Exchange Hotel shut down, which held six venues including the Phoenix, live music hall Spectrum, and the upstairs pool hall Q-Bar. Following that, the evergreen Goldfish bar in Kings Cross. Then Soho.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/would-la ... att-barrie

As I write this in 2016, not a day goes by without the press reporting of yet another bar, club, hotel, restaurant or venue closing.

A Sydney restaurant has been questioned by NSW Police over its "unsavoury" and "antisocial" wine list.



The restaurant, 10 William Street in Paddington, was advertising "wine by the glass" on its blackboard when NSW Police entered the small Italian-style bar on Saturday night.

Police told the venue's manager that they were concerned the blackboard was too close to the front of the terrace-turned-candlelit bar and could encourage heavy drinking.

Police also raised concerns about a sign on the front of the restaurant advertising wine without additives as "free wine" said the restaurant's owner, Giovanni Paradiso.

"So according to the NSW POLICE FORCE our blackboard with what we are pouring by the glass is promoting unsavoury antisocial behaviour," Mr Paradiso wrote on photo-sharing site Instagram on Saturday night.

"SYDNEY WHAT THE F--- IS HAPPENING".


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-police-qu ... z3zWY3xWlP