Heritage Heroes
1. The Boyds from St Ives, NSW - owners of a 40 year old decaying Pettit and Sevitt project home. These elderly owners have been harassed for 17 years by local heritage fanatics, who repeatedly nominate their property for heritage listing, despite he fact that it is repeatedly as it fails to meet the legal criteria. The costs and stress associated with staving off these meritless heritage nominations is an example of the tactics one-eyed heritage fanatics will engage in when thwarted as well as their lack of interest in adhering to geunine heritage listing criteria immediately it cuts across what they want.
2. Councillor Gary Green and his family, 32-44 Church Street Camperdown, NSW - a heritage listing was made by Sydney City Council after the Greens paid marke price for these run down inner city terraces. They purchased for redevelopment to fund the parents retirement.
3. Mr and Mrs Mark Creasy, The Cliffe, Peppermint Grove, Perth, WA. See how an invalid heritage listing was ripping this family off for well over $20 million, the intransigence of the state listing body in refusing reasonable compromises from the owners and how in June 2008 both houses of the WA Parliament met and voted to de-heritage list it.
4. Mr Murray Green, Charcoal Tavern, Regent Street Wollongong, NSW. See how one section of a local Council were threatening to take legal action against the owner as the building was decrepit and dangerous and another section of the same Council was refusing his application to demolish because of its decrepitness and dangerousness. This is also a interesting case study of how a single heritage-mad Councillor is able to manipulate policies and procedures to delay and complicate the consideration of a DA, which have the effect of driving up costs for the owner. It is also an example of how the local media can be 'geed up' to report public attacks on the owner and sentimentalise items which no longer exhibit heritage features.
