Our Place Penrith Winter 2020

Playspace upgrades

PENRITH RISING

Regional Gallery at 40

The resilience and strength of our community through lockdown

penrith.city/OurPlace

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL COMMUNITY NEWS ISSUE 2

WINTER 2020

INSTAGRAM WALL HOW WE KEPT OUR SPIRITS UP DURING LOCKDOWN #OURPLACEPENRITH

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This edition of Our Place Penrith was proudly produced by Penrith City Council in June 2020. We would love to hear your feedback. You can email us at ourplace@penrith.city Our Place Penrith is printed on 100% sustainable paper. After reading, please reuse it (see page 30 for ideas) or place it in your yellow-lidded recycling bin.

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 2

WORDS FROM OUR MAYOR 2020 has thrown enormous challenges our way – as we were still reeling from our horror summer of bushfires and floods, the global COVID-19 pandemic reached Penrith City.

Heartbreakingly, we have lost loved members of our community to the virus. And beyond the immediate and tragic loss of life, the impact on people’s livelihoods will be felt for many months and years to come.

Every step of the way, residents of Penrith City have worked hard to support each other.

Core services have heroically kept running, and to the healthcare professionals, emergency services, teachers, childcare staff, sanitation, waste removal teams and the many other

essential workers, we extend our deepest gratitude.

The neighbourhoods that make up Penrith City are resilient, because we are connected. I encourage residents to continue your involvement with Council’s Good Neighbour program, Bushcare and other opportunities to take the collective community spirit forward. Council has convened an Economic Recovery Taskforce and a Community Recovery Taskforce, to develop and guide local solutions. Recovery will move faster if we stick together, and extend help to others in our community wherever and whenever we are able to.

Cr Ross Fowler OAM •3•

PENRITH RISING

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MY.PENRITH.CITY

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PLAYSPACE UPGRADES

LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE OUR FUTURE

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CHILDREN’S SERVICES

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LEWERS GALLERY

OUR PLACE IN HISTORY

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OUR RESILIENCE AND STRENGTH

PENRITH RISING IN THE FACE OF COVID-19

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The streets of St Marys were empty during lockdown

THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT 2020 HAS TESTED US, AND PUSHED OUR COMMUNITY SO FAR OUT OF ITS COMFORT ZONE THAT NORMAL, EVERYDAY LIFE IS SOMETHING OF A DISTANT MEMORY.

We have lost lives, and we mourn for those in our community who have said a final goodbye to a loved one.

We have also lost livelihoods, with the economy coming to a grinding halt in many areas, and countless thousands of Penrith residents thrown into financial uncertainty.

The tragedy which unfolded at Newmarch House broke all of our hearts, and showed us the seriousness of this deadly virus.

For others in our community, even under these strange new circumstances, work has carried on – some while homeschooling •5•

children or wrangling pets. And of course, our heroic health and childcare professionals, teachers and school staff, public transport workers and many more have put themselves on the line to ensure essential services continued through the pandemic.

Like all levels of government, Council has worked hard to support residents in the wake of the devastating impacts of COVID-19. So too have community organisations, charities, families and individuals in Penrith City, pitching in together to look out for each other.

N E I G H B O U R LY I S O L AT I O N C A R D S A R E A WAY T O CONNECT WITH VULNERABLE MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY

Cr Ross Fowler OAM, Mayor of Penrith, delivers a neighbourly isolation card

Good Neighbour was launched back in 2018 to help build a stronger sense of community in Penrith City. All the initiatives run as part of this program aim to tackle loneliness, promote safe neighbourhoods and to connect people.

Since its launch, Good Neighbour has hosted free events and provided resources to enable neighbours to reach out to each other – a great example of this is contact cards. The idea of contact cards is for residents to fill out their details on a card and pop it into their neighbour’s letterbox, as a way to introduce themselves and offer a helping hand.

When the impacts of COVID-19 reached Penrith City, contact cards took on a new importance as a strategy for protecting the most vulnerable members of our community.

After a quick name change and some slight alterations to their design, the neighbourly isolation card was born.

The neighbourly isolation cards, which can be downloaded from Penrith Council’s website, proved popular during lockdown. As one resident told us, “I have 20 of these to letterbox-drop on my walk this afternoon. My partner and I usually keep to ourselves and have never met our neighbours, despite moving to South Penrith three years ago. But I’d really like to be able to help people locally who might be less fortunate or more vulnerable.”

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 6

Nepean PAC lifted community spirits by showing their goodwill during the crisis

MESSAGES OF ENCOURAGEMENT

It was important to feel as though we were all in it together, despite being separated in our individual homes. A simple way to promote that feeling was to create signs which community members, local businesses and essential services could print out from Council’s website, personalise and post on social media.

These messages of encouragement helped to lift our spirits and remind us that our neighbours, friends and fellow residents were facing similar challenges.

Download neighbourly isolation cards and messages of encouragement at penrith.city/GoodNeighbour

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ESSENTIAL CARE PACKAGES

Being a good neighbour is the bedrock of Australia’s response to a crisis such as COVID-19.

Mateship and fairness are values that we grow up with, values which spring into action during a catastrophe. As we take small steps towards resuming normal life, hopefully neighbours looking out for each other will be one of the aspects of lockdown life that we carry forward.

Studies have shown that connected communities are more resilient and rebuild faster after a crisis, so Good Neighbour will no doubt help Penrith bounce back.

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Nepean Food Services deliver care packages during lockdown

Council’s Good Neighbour program also provided funding for care packages of essential groceries and household supplies for residents in need, which were delivered by Nepean Food Services during lockdown. The recipients were grateful to know the community cares about them – and they also particularly appreciated the toilet paper, at a time when it was seriously hard to come by.

Karleigh Rose

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01 GOOD NEIGHBOUR Get involved at penrith.city/ GoodNeighbour 02 THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE Find out more at penrith.city/ Events

THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE LOCKDOWN SERIES

Since 2019, Council has been organising Thursday Night Live, a showcase of homegrown talent.

Singers, performers and bands take to the stage in Triangle and Coachmans Parks, and the community come out to support them and enjoy the free tunes. Local businesses also benefit from busier trading at night, which fulfils the objective of Council’s Night Time Economy Strategy.

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When the pandemic hit, Thursday Night Live adapted to suit the strange new conditions.

Instead of playing on stage, musicians went into a studio and played in a fully-equipped sound booth. A live feed captured the magic and streamed it out via Council’s Facebook page. At time of writing, the series has attracted over 45,000 views.

In this way, Council was able to continue supporting local creatives and helped keep Penrith’s music scene alive during lockdown.

Covered in Cliches

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THE LIBRARY CREATED OODLES OF ONLINE FUN Our Library team got creative to keep our community entertained, creating a virtual story time, historical jigsaw puzzles, reading tips videos and even a livestreamed author talk.

04 THE JOAN, Q THEATRE, PENRITH CONSERVATORIUM AND PENRITH REGIONAL GALLERY JOINED FORCES Keep Heart Penrith was a collaboration between our City’s performing and visual arts institutions.

Creative Care Packages were sent out by email to help residents stay culturally and artistically stimulated during lockdown.

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TA S K F O R C E S T O A C C E L E R AT E R E C O V E R Y Two new taskforces have been established to guide Penrith City on its road to recovery, in the wake of COVID-19.

connection and positioning community services to meet the changing needs of Penrith’s population.

Penrith Mayor Ross Fowler OAM will lead an Economic Recovery Taskforce, which will focus on jobs and ensuring businesses and employers in Penrith are supported and enabled to thrive.

The two taskforces will work separately and together to support Penrith’s social and economic recovery.

Penrith’s Deputy Mayor, Cr Karen McKeown OAM, will chair a Community Recovery Taskforce, with a focus on fostering

In addition to these measures, Penrith Council has also provided more than half a million dollars in immediate relief to local businesses over the past few months,

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waiving hire fees for sporting groups and fees and charges for outdoor and footpath dining permits across our CBD. Assistance has also been provided for property owners, both commercial and residential who are experiencing financial hardship across our City. Partnerships with other organisations and groups have meant we can deliver direct services and support to some of the City’s most vulnerable residents.

MY.PENRITH.CITY

COUNCIL ONLINE AN EXPLAINER

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 12

There’s a faster, more convenient way to request Council services.

MY.PENRITH.CITY enables you to quickly and conveniently book services, from anywhere, on PCs and mobile devices.

By creating an account, you can lodge requests relating to waste, roads and paths, graffiti removal and parks.

M Y. P E N R I T H . C I T Y TICKS ALL THE

To easily keep track of things, your account will log your request history and provide regular updates as each request progresses.

BOXES OF OUR CUSTOMER PROMISE

Be proactive Keep it simple Build respectful relationships Listen & respond

M Y. P E N R I T H . C I T Y

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Bin not fully emptied Service has been missed

Waste

Faulty roads and street signs Potholes or spills Bridge, road, footpath, kerb and gutter maintenance

Spillage General inquiry (including stolen or damaged bins)

Roads & Footpaths

Bulky waste collection

Street sweeping

Maintenance of buildings, car parks and fences (Council-owned) Maintenance of public furniture and litter removal on public land Maintenance of playground and fitness equipment

Fallen public tree or branch Mowing on public land (excludes nature strips) Public tree stump grinding Tree pruning, removal or planting on public land

Plumbing and drainage maintenance (on Council land)

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 14

Trees & Vegetation

Graffiti or syringes

Parks, Buildings & Venues

M Y. P E N R I T H . C I T Y

SPOTLIGHT ON T H E WA S T E S P O T CURRENTLY A WHOPPING 40% OF CALLS TO PENRITH COUNCIL’S CONTACT CENTRE ARE ABOUT WASTE. THAT’S WHY WE’VE DEVELOPED THE WASTE SPOT, A DEDICATED AREA WITHIN MY.PENRITH.CITY WHERE YOU CAN ACCESS SERVICES ON YOUR OWN SCHEDULE.

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PLAYSPACE

UPGRADES SHADE STRUCTURES IT MIGHT BE HARD TO IMAGINE NOW, AS WE TURN UP THE CENTRAL HEATING AND PUT ON OUR WARMEST JUMPER, BUT PRETTY SOON WE’LL ALL BE BAKING IN THE PENRITH SUMMER SUN.

Parents and carers of young children in particular would know the feeling of endlessly standing around near play equipment, squinting and worrying about the effects of sunburn on kids who’ll try every trick in the book to get out of wearing hats or sunscreen.

In 2019, Penrith City Council committed to increasing shade at 90 local playspaces, which will be done by installing shade structures and planting trees. Those works are beginning in June 2020, and will take place over the next three years.

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The project is part of Council’s Cooling the City Strategy, designed to help us beat the heat and improve our quality of life in Penrith City.

More shade will help people to take advantage of our outdoor playspaces, kids to be more active and families to enjoy being outside for longer. The shade materials meet

Australian Standards, provide specified UV block out ratings between 97-99%, minimise heat conduction and allow appropriate airflow.

And it’s not just humans who’ll benefit – the tree planting program will increase biodiversity and create habitat for native wildlife.

To find out which parks are being upgraded and when, visit penrith.city/playspace-upgrades

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A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH

FOOD AND WASTE WE’VE ALL DONE IT – GONE TO THE SUPERMARKET HUNGRY AND COME HOME WITH MORE FOOD THAN WE CAN POLISH OFF IN A WEEK. Often we have the best intentions and buy loads of fresh ingredients to make healthy dinners, but after a long day at work, the urge to order takeaway is just too strong. Either way, it’s easy to end up with a fridge full of wilted vegetables and dairy products past their use by date.

But when you add up all the waste in NSW, it turns out that $10 billion worth of food is thrown in the bin every year. This averages out to $3,800 in the bin of every household of NSW annually.

Shocking, isn’t it?

Besides our bank balance, there are other compelling reasons to avoid throwing food in your red-lidded bin.

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What we put in our red-lidded bin goes to landfill, which is not a safe environment for food waste to decompose. In landfill, food waste releases harmful gases when it breaks down, including the greenhouse gas methane. In the interests of our climate and public health, it’s best to avoid putting food waste in redlidded bins.

Here in Penrith City, we are fortunate to have a waste system which is the envy of other Council areas – FOGO,

which stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics.

Residents of Penrith can put organic waste, including food scraps, bones, fruit and vegetables, into our greenlidded bins. This

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material is then taken to dedicated composting facilities where it’s broken down safely, avoiding the release of harmful greenhouse gases and often coming back to be used as fertiliser in our City’s parks.

So other than putting food scraps in our green-lidded bin, are there any more life hacks to help us Love Food Hate Waste?

Penrith Council’s Facebook page is a treasure trove of tips and tricks. You can watch short videos about storage hacks, livening up lunch

boxes with leftovers, and learn how to freeze almost any kind of food to lengthen its lifespan. Changing our behaviour can be a slow process, but with benefits to our bank balance as well as the planet, fighting food waste is definitely worth doing.

Penrith City Council PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 20

POSITIVE HABITS FOR FIGHTING FOOD WASTE:

Check the fridge before you go grocery shopping Incorporate last week’s veggies into this week’s dinners Get some great reusable containers and take leftovers for lunches Regularly clean out your crisper and chop up vegetables for snacks

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ENVISIONING

OUR FUTURE CITY OF PARKS

REGATTA PARK DESIGNS ENDORSED The $24 million upgrade of the new Regatta Park reached another milestone when detailed designs were endorsed

by Council in May. 1,650 community contributions helped to shape the design, which will create a world-class waterfront

recreational park for Penrith City. This will give a further boost to this well-loved river precinct, which is already enhanced by the Yandhai Nepean Crossing, the expanding East Bank dining precinct and the redevelopment

of Emu Hall into a restaurant and bar.

Regatta Park is jointly funded with $15 million from the Government as part of the Western Sydney City Deal and $9 million from Council. penrith.city/RegattaPark

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 22

COMMUNITY COMMENTS ON GIPPS STREET MASTERPLAN Brand new recreational precincts don’t come along often. The Gipps Street site in Claremont Meadows is being developed into a parkland with various features and facilities; Council asked residents to give their thoughts on walking and cycling tracks, sports fields, skate and pump tracks,

CITY PARK Our City will soon have a green heart, as a 7,000sqm pocket of land on the corner of Henry and Station Streets is set to be transformed. It will be a vibrant space that will enhance and unlock a broad City Centre precinct. penrith.city/citypark

NEPEAN BUSINESS PARK GETS UNDERWAY The Great River Walk will be extended, as part of the plans surrounding the new Nepean Business Park. The proposed extension will mean the walk will link the Sydney International Rowing Centre and the Penrith Lakes Parklands through to the popular Weir Reserve, Regatta Park, Yandhai Bridge and Tench Reserve. nepeanbusinesspark.com.au • 23 •

boardwalks, BBQs, dog off leash areas and much more. Residents gave valuable feedback via yoursaypenrith. com.au and Council will continue to provide updates on Gipps Street as it progresses. yoursaypenrith.com.au/ GippsStRecreation Precinct

CHILDREN’S SERVICES

OUR KIDS’ CARE

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL CHILDREN’S SERVICES HAVE REMAINED OPEN THROUGHOUT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Our centres have continued providing care options for frontline and essential workers, as well as other families who have needed childcare through the crisis.

In the early stages of the pandemic, Council’s Children’s

Services team voluntarily placed all fees on hold for those families who did not require care. As the situation evolved and changed, families were able to return their children into childcare when it best suited them.

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The Children’s Services staff were nothing short of heroic in their commitment to community safety. Sound hygiene practices, including frequent handwashing, sanitising and temperature checks were implemented.

Staff also supported families who chose to keep their kids at home by providing a weekly preschool program which carers could run remotely.

The popular Mobile Play Van will resume operations in the coming months, in line with government advice, offering regular free supported play sessions for children under six years old, together with their parents and carers.

Call the Penrith City Council Children’s Service team to discuss your needs on 4732 7844

Under a funding package provided by the NSW Government, preschool-aged children can attend terms 2 and 3 this year free of charge.

HAVE YOUR SAY Your Say Penrith is an online space for residents to give direct input into the decisions Council makes. Currently there are thousands of locals who use this platform, but Council is always grateful to hear from more.

If you are looking for a quality preschool program for a child aged three to six years old, now is the perfect time to enrol.

Registering is easy and takes two minutes. In the coming months – July, August and September 2020 – you’ll have the opportunity to take part in highlevel discussions.

PENRITH.CITY/ CHILDCARE

Open space, community sports and recreation areas The impacts of growth in Penrith City

yoursaypenrith.com.au

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Expectations of customer service from Council Overall feelings of wellbeing in our community

REGIONAL

GALLERY AT 40

IN THE 1950S AND 60S, GERALD AND MARGO LEWERS WERE WELL KNOWN FOR THE WILD WEEKEND GATHERINGS THEY WOULD HOST AT THEIR RIVERFRONT PROPERTY AT EMU PLAINS.

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Gerald was a sculptor, and Margo a painter and mosaic artist, while many of their close friends were notable writers, artists and creatives.

Friends would make the journey from the city to Emu Plains, which was then a rural outpost. Ideas would be debated, art would be created and of course, wine would flow freely.

The rambling property featured two houses and was brimming with paintings, mosaics, textiles and pottery.

Margo designed the gardens to be a living work of art, dotted with Gerald’s renowned stone sculptures.

A rural outpost it may have been, but Gerald and Margo’s home was still a hotbed of artistic innovation, particularly in modernism.

THE HOME OF PENRITH’S BOHEMIAN ARTISTS Sadly, Gerald died following an injury sustained while horse riding in 1962.

After continuing to make celebrated art for another decade and a half, Margo died from cancer in 1978 at home; but not before she had resolved to entrust her family’s home into public ownership for future generations of creatives to enjoy. The couple’s daughters, Darani and Tanya, pushed forward with their mother’s vision, and in 1981 the Penrith Regional Gallery, home of the Lewers Bequest, opened its doors.

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After their magical childhood in this riverfront home and garden, festooned with fairy lights and overflowing with art, one could imagine that the Lewers children would want to keep this property for themselves. We are so fortunate for their incredible act of generosity to endow it to the local community.

penrithregionalgallery.com.au

THEN AND NOW

OUR PLACE IN HISTORY

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 28

For many years, if you wanted to get across the Nepean River and fairly dry, you had two options: Emu Ford (a crossing shallow enough to walk or wade across) or the punt (a boat which would take you across for a small fee).

Around the location of Emu Ford, a township sprang up to accommodate the needs of travellers waiting to cross, which was the origin of Emu Plains. The punt also survives in name, as it was located at what is now Punt Road.

However, these two methods of crossing the river were plagued with problems; as we all know, the Nepean River is prone to dramatic flooding events. Both the ford and the punt were repeatedly wiped out by flood waters, often rendering the river impassable.

And so it was decided that a bridge should be built, for trains and horse-drawn carriages.

Gold had been discovered in the West beyond the mountains, and suddenly, getting across the Nepean River was even more urgent.

The first attempts at constructing bridges did not go well. The first one, completed in 1856, was destroyed by floods the following year; the second bridge was washed downstream completely intact, deposited downriver by a legendary flood in 1860.

But learning the lessons from previous failures, engineers designed the bridge we all know and love today; it was completed in 1867 and has survived every flood event since.

Victoria Bridge has served as a lightning rod for progress in Penrith and Emu Plains, sparking new communities alongside the river and enabling travel to the gold fields beyond the Great Dividing Range. We are fortunate to still use this incredible piece of history in our everyday lives.

« Victoria Bridge, Penrith circa 1948 by Max Dupain. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW and courtesy of Jill White • 29 •

HOW CAN I UPCYCLE THIS?

Or place in the recycling bin COUNCIL CAN HELP WITH

» Abandoned vehicles » Air pollution monitoring » Approvals » Asbestos » Building applications or inspections

» Bus shelters » Bushfire control » Children’s Services » Citizenship Ceremonies » Clean-up bookings » Compost bins » Council car parks » Council meetings » Disability services » Environmental health » Environmental planning » Food handling » Footpaths » Garbage & waste » Graffiti control

» Hall bookings » Library services » Local elections » Local history » Neighbourhood centres » Noise complaints » Park bookings » Parking control » Planning approvals » Public buildings » Rates » Recycling » Report illegal dumping » Senior Citizen centres » Swimming pool fences » Tourism » Tree planting or removal » Youth services

ONLINE SERVICES Manage bins, report potholes and book bulky waste collections online at MY.PENRITH.CITY

AND MUCH MORE

L O C A L G O V E R N M E N T E L E C T I O N S I N N S W H AV E B E E N P O S T P O N E D FOR 12 MONTHS, AND WILL NOW BE HELD ON 4 SEPTEMBER 2021.

PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2020 • 30

SOUTH WARD

NORTH WARD OUR MAYOR

OUR DEPUTY MAYOR

COUNCILLOR ROSS FOWLER OAM

COUNCILLOR KAREN MCKEOWN OAM

E ross@rossfowler.com.au P 0419 738 484

E karen.mckeown@penrith.city P 0401 995 945

COUNCILLOR MARCUS CORNISH

COUNCILLOR BRIAN CARTWRIGHT

E marcus.cornish@penrith.city P 0481 033 419

E brian.cartwright@penrith.city P 0448 084 568

COUNCILLOR KEVIN CRAMERI OAM

COUNCILLOR MARK DAVIES

E kevin.crameri@penrith.city P 0401 995 825

E mark.davies@penrith.city P 0416 085 597

COUNCILLOR JOHN THAIN

COUNCILLOR JIM AITKEN OAM

E john.thain@penrith.city P 0411 427 812

E jim@jimaitken.com.au P 0418 288 488

COUNCILLOR AARON DUKE

COUNCILLOR KATH PRESDEE

E aaron.duke@penrith.city P 0404 085 981

E kath.presdee@penrith.city P 0417 396 841

COUNCILLOR AND IMPORTANT COUNCIL CONTACTS

EAST WARD COUNCILLOR GREG DAVIES E greg.davies@penrith.city P 0419 177 259

PENRITH CIVIC CENTRE

COUNCILLOR ROBIN COOK

601 High Street, Penrith Opening hours at penrith.city

E robin.cook@penrith.city P 0428 056 619

ST MARYS CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE

COUNCILLOR TRICIA HITCHEN

207-209 Queen Street, St Marys Opening hours at penrith.city

E tricia.hitchen@penrith.city P 0417 365 313

4732 7777 council@penrith.city

COUNCILLOR TODD CARNEY

penrith.city

E todd.carney@penrith.city P 0417 762 219

penrith.city.council penrithcouncil penrith-city-council

COUNCILLOR BERNARD BRATUSA

Interpreting assistance is available at Council or by phone.

E bernard.bratusa@penrith.city P 0420 581 225 • 31 •

EVEN WHEN WE W E R E A PA R T, O U R COMMUNITY STUCK TOGETHER