Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne continues to act as the vanguard for Sydney’s live music scene, and is currently embarking on a development plan to create a new musical and cultural hub.
Since earning the title of Leichhardt Mayor five months ago, Byrne has made salvaging Sydney’s music culture and “[overturning] the Council’s prosecution of live music venues,” his primary objective, and has so far lived up to his promises, including aiming to preserve the Annandale Hotel as a live music institution after it entered receivership in early February.
Now, as reported by ABC News, Mayor Byrne is proving his sustained commitment to saving Sydney’s cultural vibrance by setting his sights on the entire inner-west with a plan to transform Parramatta Road, where the Annandale Hotel is located, into a cultural hub.
“I have a vision for Parramatta Road which will see it become for Sydney what Broadway and Tin Pan Alley have been to New York,” he said in a statement. “With Sydney’s live music industry under threat I want to build a new homeland for performers and music lovers in the inner-west and Parramatta Road is the place to do it. By allowing late trading hours, increased noise and eliminating red tape for new venues we can transform this roadway into rock’n’roll central.”
In explaining his reason in picking the “urban wasteland” of Parramatta Road, a busy stretch of highway, Byrne says that its “proximity to the CBD and status as a public transport artery with limited existing residential frontages make [it] the ideal location.”
“We’re talking about taking a place that is an urban wasteland and putting it at the very heart of Sydney’s cultural life,” he said. “Making Parramatta Road the first live music precinct in Sydney’s history can do so much more than assist one venue.”
“I have a vision for Parramatta Road which will see it become for Sydney what Broadway and Tin Pan Alley have been to New York” – Leichhardt Mayor, Darcy Byrne.The Mayor’s plan to revamp the inner-west comes after he helped rescue the iconic Annandale Hotel from an ill-fated collapse by creating a “Good Neighbour Policy” for live music venues that would essentially protect them any unnecessary prosecution and strict noise restrictions, which was unanimously passed by local council last week.
Mayor Byrne’s successful implementation of the policy will provide venues a newfound freedom to operate with a longer 3am license, and importantly, without the Council’s stifling litigations, which had previously caused the Annandale to sink into receivership with a debt of over $250,000.
Following the Annadale’s nasty eight year long legal battle with Leichhardt Municipal Council, previous owners Dan and Matt Rule have furiously condemned the Council’s sudden U-turn in support of live music, as it came only after they were forced to hand their keys over to new owners.
“[The Council] put us through unimaginable amounts of stress as we scratched every day to figure out how to pay the bills to keep the doors open,” they said. “[Their] actions ultimately contributed to us losing a business we struggled to for 13 years to keep alive, our family losing money and my brother and I stone motherless broke…”
Mayor Byrne responded to their criticism, saying that “the Rule brothers and music fans are right to be furious with the previous Council,” but juxtaposed the Council’s actions in the past with his own current efforts, saying that he will remain “committed as ever to seeing the hotel continue as an iconic live music venue which is why I have invited the receivers to apply for extended trading hours.”
Currently engaging in discussions with neighbouring councils, the City of Sydney and Marrickville, as well as the Minister for Planning Brad Hazard, Mayor Byrne will take his plan to revitalise the Parramatta precinct to Council next month.
According to Byrne, “there’s a growing consensus across local government and in the community that we’ve got to do something to revive live music,” which signals that Sydney music fans have a right to be as optimistic as ever.
