Inner west whispers – 282

Parramatta Rd, an artwork – Wrapped in plastic – New op-shop

Leichhardt Council has been publicising a call-out for creatives to beautify the Leichhardt-Annandale-Camperdown section of Parramatta Road. It offers a commission of $10,000 and the job listing states the Council is seeking public artworks that re-imagine the history and futures of the Inner West’s busy corridor. The artworks will likely be some of the first manifestations of Mayor Byrne’s long-term project to reinstate Parramatta Road as a live music and entertainment district, which the job listing names ‘The Transit Zone’. We are looking forward to any transition, aesthetic or otherwise, that will enliven our underrated Parra Road.

• We at Ciao are only human… and therefore can only delight when our rival community mag, the Inner West Courier, becomes the subject of a petition. Some environmentally minded locals have sussed out that wrapping 80,000 copies of the News Limited rag in plastic every week might not be so great for the environment. They have calculated that the local franchise of the Murdoch empire contributes four million unnecessary pieces of plastic in landfill every year. (We enviro-friendly independent publishing types would never dare defy the gods of rain, hail and shine by introducing a plastic sheath to our fortnightly pamphlets.) Even worse, locals have deduced that wrapping the Courier in plastic does not even keep the newspaper dry when it does rain. That makes it very suitable for school papier-mâché projects. And for the (not at all spiteful) nickname, The Inner Wets Courier.

• Five Dock residents can look forward to having their very own charity op-shop, which will be arriving on Great North Rd in the near future. Coles is also expected to arrive at the shopping strip in July after a month of renovations at the site during June. Thrifty locals are predicting closing down sales at Supabarn during May. We bags the ice cream.