New would-be Sydney Lord Mayor wants to Manhattanise the City

[MILIUX]

At last, a Lord Mayor candidate with voice of visions and sensibilities!

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/its-up-to-...421-1xdq1.html

FRANK MONTE glances down at Sydney from his 31st floor CBD office suite.
''It's lost its soul,'' he says, adding: ''It's time for change.''
Monte reckons the present regime at Town Hall is so ultra-urban it could start tearing down high-rise office blocks to build ''mini-villages that grow and sell turnips'
His solution? A change of thinking, a shift in vision and a bold return to the ''heyday of the '70s''. If that doesn't mean disco balls and flares, it does mean this:

''We need to 'Manhattanise' this city,'' says Monte. ''Sydney has become a daytime place. There's no longer anything to do at night, unless you're hanging around one of three or four nightspots getting drunk.''

On his resume´, Monte lists former NSW police officer, political campaigner and current ''world famous'' private investigator. But as of Friday, everything is on hold as he launches a bid to take on the current lord mayor, Clover Moore, at the Sydney Council elections in September.
''I don't think they're doing much of a job and I'd like to give it a go,'' the 66-year-old Monte says. ''I'm old enough. I've been through enough. At one stage or another I've either worked, investigated or been involved in every single type of business you can imagine.''
Does he think people will take him seriously?
''This isn't a joke. I've lived four or five lives already. I'm the perfect candidate.''
Monte's manifesto features a series of key pledges that include 24-hour trading for all pubs and restaurants that want it, an end to ''draconian'' parking restrictions, a review of the state's planning laws to make the CBD ''a more comfortable place to live and work'' and a ''long-awaited'' viable and efficient public transport system.
However, it is Monte's radical plan for tackling crime and antisocial behaviour that is sure to raise eyebrows. It features rangers ''armed with batons'' and a 9pm-3am ''curfew'', which may be difficult to enforce amid 24-hour trading.
''I think we all agree we've had enough of the undesirables that loiter with intent late at night. If they've got less than $10 in their pockets, if they're drunk and don't have a reasonable excuse for being there, then we'll create a system that extracts them from the city, so others feel safer coming in.'' Monte's city rangers would round up offenders and deliver them on ''caged'' buses to either Hornsby, Blacktown or Liverpool railways stations.
What if they live in the eastern suburbs or Chatswood? ''They can get their parents to pick them up, or they can they walk back,'' Monte says, adding: ''This ain't no taxi service. Yes, it's draconian, yes it would take a lot to get approved, but I tell you what, the warning would be out there.''
If the people of Sydney are ready for Monte, they will presumably also welcome the would-be ''lady mayoress'', Sharon Sargeant, Monte's partner and the owner of the Sydney-based Red Velvet Models & Escort Service. Asked how she might deal with life at Town Hall, she paused before saying: ''I haven't really thought about it.''
Monte chimed in: ''It's my thing, it's not her thing. This is about Frank Monte wanting to clean up the place and revitalise it.''
Sydney, it's over to you.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/its-up-to-...#ixzz1sof6AJoB


He gets bonus marks for having an office in Aurora Place.

[SydneyCity]

Too bad he's a sleazy whackjob.

[ChrisJudd83]

Will have to rid the city of the 235 metre height limit if he"s really serious about "manhattanizing" Sydney unless of course he is just referring to the term on a street level scale

[skytea]

''I think we all agree we've had enough of the undesirables that loiter with intent late at night. If they've got less than $10 in their pockets, if they're drunk and don't have a reasonable excuse for being there, then we'll create a system that extracts them from the city, so others feel safer coming in.'' Monte's city rangers would round up offenders and deliver them on ''caged'' buses to either Hornsby, Blacktown or Liverpool railways stations.

What an idiot.

[Dimethyltryptamine]

wish they'd do that here...

[Grollo]

Pity he is a nutter.

[Dilaz89]

anyone but Clover.

[Arreis]

I think there's already enough trouble at Hornsby, Blacktown and Liverpool stations.
Maybe he could stage his own "Hunger Games" with them instead. Late night entertainment anyone?

[shabangabang]

Hope he steps aside and lets Paul Keating become Lord Mayor. He is a visionary with Sydney as a city in his interests.

[NoshowwithoutPunch]

Originally Posted by Arreis

I think there's already enough trouble at Hornsby, Blacktown and Liverpool stations.
Maybe he could stage his own "Hunger Games" with them instead. Late night entertainment anyone?

NowTHAT sounds good!

[NoshowwithoutPunch]

Originally Posted by shabangabang

Hope he steps aside and lets Paul Keating become Lord Mayor. He is a visionary with Sydney as a city in his interests.

Except i want pjk back as pm. Has australa in his interests.

[Sky_Is_The_Limit]

No way in hell this guy should be Lord Mayor.

[Mornnb]

Yep, he's a bit daft but at least he has some idea of what the city should become. If only we could combine him with Clover Moore some how....

[MelbourneOnTheRise]

Originally Posted by NoshowwithoutPunch

Except i want pjk back as pm. Has australa in his interests.

Unfortunately when asked at a talk about his book After Words last year if he would return, he said he was past his peak and too old for it now. Indeed, his loss in 96 marked the departure of those who thought our security was in Asia, to those who thought we should find our security from Asia. The biggest mistake the Australian electorate ever made, imo.

Just think, in that last term, he'd have pushed through the republic and completed his economic reform agenda. He would have departed in 99 or 2000 with Australia's economy and place in the world transformed.

Instead we went with "Honest John", who lived at home with his mum until he was 32, and accomplished sweet F.A. apart from race baiting and nostalgia in 11 wasted years in office. White trash of Asia indeed.

[Locke]

Caged maglev buses ftw! Pick up the undesirables and deposit them in Melbourne then back for the next lot.

[JamesinOz1]

Originally Posted by MelbourneOnTheRise

Unfortunately when asked at a talk about his book After Words last year if he would return, he said he was past his peak and too old for it now. Indeed, his loss in 96 marked the departure of those who thought our security was in Asia, to those who thought we should find our security from Asia. The biggest mistake the Australian electorate ever made, imo.

Just think, in that last term, he'd have pushed through the republic and completed his economic reform agenda. He would have departed in 99 or 2000 with Australia's economy and place in the world transformed.

Instead we went with "Honest John", who lived at home with his mum until he was 32, and accomplished sweet F.A. apart from race baiting and nostalgia in 11 wasted years in office. White trash of Asia indeed.

well said.

[JamesinOz1]

He basically wants drunken Westies out of the city. That would be a vote catcher in the inner city.

[Cariad]

Judging by the candidates, looks like Clover is getting my vote

[PerthCity]

Originally Posted by MelbourneOnTheRise

The biggest mistake the Australian electorate ever made, imo.

Full of laughs this place.

I think most Australians would regard the fact he even won that single election as a big mistake.

[NoshowwithoutPunch]

Originally Posted by PerthCity

Full of laughs this place.

I think most Australians would regard the fact he even won that single election as a big mistake.

Keating is the closest thing to sainthood you will see in your lifetime. You should kiss the ground he walked on.