19 Aug 2024

Penny Pedersen, City of Ryde- East Ward

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What is your name, political party and electorate?

My Name is Councillor Penny Pedersen and I live in East Ryde.

Are you running for mayor and if so, why?

No I am not running for Mayor, although I would love to serve the community I didn’t throw my hat in the ring this time around and I am running for a third term as councillor in the East Ward, in the number one spot.

Tell us about your background both personally and professionally

I was born in Ermington (a few streets from Ryde) and started school at Rydalmere East primary school. Then my mum and I moved to many parts of Sydney, before I moved to Randwick after finishing school, to study at UNSW. I studied Theatre and went on to build a career in theatre, film and television as a performer, producer, writer and later in radio. I was a board director at the Griffin Theatre company and later at North Side Radio.

I moved to East Ryde 18 years ago with my husband and tiny babies which is where I took more interest in local government.

I was first elected to Council in 2017 and absolutely love working for my community. As well as working almost full-time helping our residents at council over the past 7years, I have represented Ryde as:

  • Vice president of the Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of councils (NSROC)
  • Vice-chair of the Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG) – who have worked toward helping deliver the soon-to-be-opened Putney Swim Site!
  • Board director at Local Government NSW – the peak advocacy body for NSW local government.
  • Ryde delegate to the NSW Public Library Association
  • President of the Australian Local Government Womens Association among other roles.

What are some things you love about your electorate?

I love Ryde. I love the cultural diversity (people, food and events), the urban bushland, the wildlife, the waterways, the amazing schools and sporting opportunities that the area provides. I love that our house is only one traffic light from the centre of the city and now with the fast metro we don’t even need to drive to reach the rest of Sydney! I love that Wallumattagal land sits between two great rivers and that we have the beautiful Lane Cove National Park as a refuge for urban wildlife (I volunteer as a wildlife rescuer)

What do you believe are the 3 main issues affecting your electorate and why?

  1. Housing Affordability – The biggest issue for Ryde at the moment is housing affordability. It doesn’t matter how many dwellings you provide in an area like ours if the properties are not affordable. Key workers like Nurses, Teachers, police, bus drivers, cleaners and others just can not afford to buy or rent here. There is not the diversity of affordable dwellings to allow the elderly to age in the community they helped build or to accommodate single parent families.
  2. Tree canopy loss – We have dwindling number of trees. Our urban canopy continues to decrease due to private development. It doesn’t matter how many street trees we plant, our canopy is suffering because trees are not retained on private land during development, are removed without decent replacements or they are removed illegally. Trees clean our air, they cool our suburbs and provide important wildlife corridors.
  3. Domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) – There has been an increase in the number of DFSV cases in the Ryde Area Police Command (PAC) over the last year or so. It is the number one call out for police from Ryde PAC. All tiers of government and community organisations need to work together on strategies for awareness, prevention and help for survivors.

What are the 3 key things you plan to achieve if elected?

  1. Planning: If elected I plan to advocate for affordable housing to be provided as part of any state significant incentives, in perpetuity. Council need to use any planning instruments, that are still available to us in local government, to increase housing affordability. We must create a much more ambitious affordable housing target and strategy to acquire more affordable housing dwellings for key workers.
  2. Decarbonising Ryde – If elected I plan to fight for changes to our Development control plans that will see all new buildings electrified. I will fight to see our Aquatic centre fully electric, not gas. There are federal grants designed specifically for councils to decarbonise large infrastructure like aquatic centres and vehicle fleets. Council needs to take advantage of those opportunities. There are opportunities to increase electric vehicle charging that have been ignored this term too. Ryde was offered grants to build curb side EV chargers, so that people living in high density will have the confidence to buy EV but they didn’t apply. There were 18 ev charging spots identified in the previous term for development and we delivered 3 … since 2021 not one has been built. Also want to see more active transport and less material and organics going to landfill. I want to continue my fight for a community recycling centre at Wicks Rd, Porters creek and of course we need FOGO.
  3. Dangerous Pittwater Road at Boronia park – I want to make crossing the road at Boronia park shops safer. I brought this to council last term and as a result, council undertook a safety audit, then a concept design but last year, the City of Ryde knocked back a state grant to fund works there (that was offered through the small commitments program). They knocked back the funding because Hunters Hill council could not partner on the works due to funding constraints. If elected I will work with the Labor team and reach out to Hunters hill councillors as I did last time, to find a solution to this problem. Hopefully before there is a fatality. (I would really like to see the ‘Gladesville Main Street committee’ reinstated, which was a forum for Ryde and Hunters Hill council to discuss issues and continuity for Gladesville, which is cut in half by Victoria Road and Pittwater road.)

What about your long term vision for the area?

My vision is to restore Ryde’s reputation as a leader in community services, ambitious climate targets and liveability. Ryde is in desperate need of community spaces. Our elderly and our teens battle isolation, our performing arts sector is constrained by lack of space to rehearse and perform. My long term vision is to see Ryde with a beautiful, iconic community and civic hub, with meeting rooms and a performance space large enough, that our local schools can hire it for graduations. A place where people meet, swap ideas, collaborate and take part in civic life. My vision includes a clean attractive shopping precinct at Coxs road shops with ample opportunities for outdoor dining and entertainment, Infact all our small business centres in my vision will be buzzing paces for people to engage and businesses to thrive.

Most importantly, my vision for our environment is zero emissions, a thick, cooling, tree canopy, mini forests any where we can fit them, water sensitive urban design and revegetation of riparian zones along our waterways. Natural filters. A clean and swimmable Parramatta and Lane Cove river, with more Marine life. 

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