Comments by "Andy Dee" (@AndyViant) on "The Slow Death of Sydney" video.

It's hard even at local level. We've got an heavily entrenched Brisbane City Coiuncil that is by far the biggest council in Australia. All Liberal, all corruptly pro development. Planning regulations, height limits, suburban amenity all go straight out the window the moment a major developer attempts to build something. Suddenly, the Council makes a bold stand about how the developer ONLY got 12 stories higher than they asked for rather than 15, and had to supply a single car park for every 3 bedroom apartment and 20 push bike spaces. Meanwhile there's 900 cars parked in surrounding streets that weren't there previously, no new bus routes, and no new train stations. No exceptions for planning regulation should ever be allowed without a plebiscite, and those should only happen for special things like the Opera House, with value capture to pay for infrastructure.
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Those highly flammable panels that work out to be so safe for the Grenfells of this world? You would think in the era of the global pandemic that we would look at a planning principle of not locking several thousand people in a single entry and exit building, with no backyard, who rely on actually going out and exercising and letting their dog poo on crowded streets filled with thousands of people from similar structures? Instead embarking on a decentralization campaign that would mean 90% of your state economic productivity isn't put at risk of lockdown because it's all within 50km of ground zero? Bwahahaaha
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@46pippi Just because the developers are raking in the cash doesn't mean they will spend an extra $20k on designing each apartment or letting the ground settle another 3 months so the concrete doesn't crack. In the end the architect has to build it based on stress levels. The developer asks for minimal concrete use for maximum profit. A developer will pay an extra $20k per apartment, but ONLY if they can sell them for $200k more.
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@greebj Not much, but when you have to work in the same regulatory world there's going to be identical creations. look at the car industry.
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@joyusachoobarb Grenfell saw those dropping off the radar very quickly because actually fireproof ones are about 10 times as expensive.
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@nmciw Despite the construction costs of $4000, you're attacking the unions over construction costs but ignore the tripling the dollars on sales? Pretty clear the developers are the problem for costs to consumers, pure and simple. Loan sharks make less markup than that. Hell, drug dealers probably do too.
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