Basketball Australia's Keneally slams Sydney Lord Mayor

Using language reminiscent of the contemporaty political arena, Basketball Australia Chief Executive Kristina Keneally has accussed Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the City of Sydney Council of having broken a promise to build a new sports stadium for Perry Park, Alexandria.

Keneally said today (11th June) that the Lord Mayor Moore's arrogance in promising a new stadium with great fanfare in 2011, and then quietly abandoning it this month, was staggering.

Keneally stated "Clover Moore hopes no one will notice that she has ditched an iron-clad, written commitment given in 2011 to build a new recreational facility, with 6 indoor multi-purpose courts and an outdoor multi-purpose synthetic field.

"Let me assure the Lord Mayor that the 2000 members of the City of Sydney Comets Basketball Association notice, that Basketball New South Wales notices, and that Basketball Australia notices – and we are going to make sure as many people as possible are aware of this broken promise."

In a media release, Basketball Australia (BA) highlight that in March 2010, Lord Mayor Moore announced to a packed Alexandria Town Hall that the City of Sydney Council would build a multi-million dollar brand new indoor and outdoor facility at Perry Park, Alexandria.

She detailed and affirmed this announcement in a City of Sydney Council media release on 26th August 2011, stating "... there is a huge demand for sporting facilities with more than 200,000 people a year expected to use the courts after they open in 2014.

"... at the moment demand exceeds availability and existing community groups compete for limited facilities in local school halls or are forced to travel outside the area."

BA also state that The Lord Mayor also "boasted" that the new sports stadium would service the Green Square area: "the Green Square development is forecast to have 50,000 more residents by 2031, which will further increase demand ... the location, 500 metres from Green Square station and next to the Bourke Street cycleway, positions the park perfectly to cater for future community needs."

BA suggest that Lord Mayor Moore was so confident of the project that she outlined the crèche, kiosk, exercise room, change rooms, public toilets, canteen, paths, lighting, playground and plants.

She even confidently told a packed Alexandria Town Hall that construction would start in 2013, and repeated the promise in her media release.

Keneally said that Lord Mayor Moore yanked the rug out from under the project in May, leaving Council officials to meet with the City of Sydney Comets officials to quietly tell them that the Council was deferring the project indefinitely.

Keneally states "the Comets were told that the new stadium, which the Lord Mayor promised would begin construction this year, will now be pushed off beyond the Council's 10-year infrastructure plan.

"Frankly, I am surprised and disappointed by the Lord Mayor and the City of Sydney. Grandstanding promises followed by clandestine retreat is (the) kind of cynical political behaviour Clover claims to have always opposed in her elected career."

Keneally said that the City of Sydney lagged behind other major cities and behind other suburbs of Sydney when it came to indoor stadium space, and that the whole community was missing out.

She added "everyone plays the sports – including basketball – that this stadium would support. The City of Sydney Comets Basketball Association boasts kids and young adults, indigenous teams, inner city public housing residents, and gay and lesbian teams.

"You add to that the tens of thousands of new residents coming into Alexandria via the Green Square development, and you can see that the City of Sydney is woefully under-serviced: Perry Park's existing two courts are all the City has in its entire area."

Keneally praised the City of Sydney Comets for standing up for the community, concluding

"Comets President Andrew Lazaris and his team have already started a Facebook page and a petition, and they will make sure every one of their 2000 members know about the Lord Mayor's backflip.

"They are also fronting up to the City of Sydney Council Finance Committee on 17 June, and lobbying individual councillors to get this project back on track."

Keneally said local residents could show their support by signing a petition at chn.ge/1b2lQ8I