Inner West Whispers – 287

Rozelle tunnels – Rhodes Gym – Charity bucket steal

• Residents in Rozelle have received letters this week making them aware of a new option in the WestConnex plans to include a 1km underground tunnel duplicating Victoria Road from the end of the Iron Cove Bridge to the Rozelle WestConnex interchange. Roads Minister Duncan Gay said a decision on including the option would be made as part of the Final Stage of WestConnex. The letters to residents alerted them to the need for further housing and business acquisitions in Rozelle if the tunnel is to be included in WestConnex plans. The State Government also has plans to build another tunnel connecting Rozelle to North Sydney, partly because WestConnex is expected to increase traffic travelling on the Anzac Bridge to the city.

• Rhodes residents are still experiencing some disruption as Pokemon Go players gather in local parks. Parents have taken to Canada Bay’s Facebook page to complain about groups of “crazy Pokemon lovers who have invaded my children’s playground”. Canada Bay Council has responded by putting on extra clean-up crews in the area. A group of volunteers comprised of members of Saem Teu Korean Church and some Pokemon Go players cleaned up local parks on the weekend. When Canada Bay Council’s acting mayor Helen McCaffrey picked up Tsirekas’ job, maybe she expected to deal with disgruntled Labor voters not a siege of Pokemon fans!

• A man has been caught on film stealing a charity donation bucket from Bar Italia on Norton Street. The money was intended for Save our Sons, a charity for children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The video shows a young man walking into the store then leaving holding a bulky jacket without buying anything. An act of heartlessness or desperation? Or one moustachioed man’s fight against the cafe’s no soy and decaf policy? There’s always one hipster who goes too far.