City of Newcastle has completed a $2.4 million upgrade of Joslin Street, Kotara with a safe and welcoming new public space created at the heart of the renewal.
\nThe upgrade saw the replacement of drainage infrastructure, footpaths and road surfaces, installation of new street furniture and street planting, alongside pedestrian safety improvements including a pedestrian refuge to enable a safer crossing between Rae Crescent and the busy local shopping area.
\nThe public open space at the corner of Joslin Street and Rae Crescent features a playful sandstone stack, stepping logs for children to explore and relax, seating areas, a drinking fountain and a dog drinking bowl.
\nThe space was unveiled by Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, who encouraged the local community to visit the space and the nearby local businesses.
\n\u201cWhen we spoke to the community about upgrading this busy local centre we heard of the desire for a safer, more vibrant space to gather and shop,\u201d the Lord Mayor said.
\n\u201cWith $2.4 million invested to completely overhaul the entire local centre, we\u2019ve delivered a more modern and safe public space for local residents and visitors to Kotara.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re particularly proud of the new, innovative open space which is a great place to catch up with friends over a coffee or bite to eat from the fantastic local businesses.\u201d
\nThe Lord Mayor said that the local community had significantly shaped the new public spaces by providing the City with invaluable feedback through detailed community consultation.
\n\u201cInput from the community and local business-owners has been critical in making these improvements to the area, which we hope will benefit the Kotara community both now and into the future.\u201d
\nSami Mamalis, owner of Joslin Street\u2019s Schnitty City said the project has improved safety in the area, and that locals are enjoying the new space.
\n\u201cThis is great for Joslin Street, it\u2019s good to see people using the space and it gives our customers and visitors somewhere to sit and enjoy the area.\u201d
\nFuture plans for the space include a collaboration with nearby Kotara South Public School to gather themes and ideas for the decoration of an interactive artwork to be installed in the public open space \u2013 bringing a climbable caterpillar sculpture to life with colour and character created by local school children.
\n\u201cWe want the community to interact with the new space and key to this is ensuring that local children from Kotara South Public School will get to see their ideas and designs for the new interactive public art come to life,\u201d the Lord Mayor said.
\nThe Joslin Street upgrade was delivered under the City\u2019s Local Centres program, which is delivering upgrades to suburban centres across the local government area including the recently commenced upgrade of Mitchell Street, Stockton, and upgrades due for delivery later this year at Shortland and at James Street Plaza, Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
City of Newcastle has completed a $2.4 million upgrade of Joslin Street, Kotara with a safe and welcoming new public space created at the heart of the renewal. The upgrade saw the replacement of drainage infrastructure, footpaths and road surfaces, installation of new street furniture and street planting, alongside pedestrian safety improvements including a pedestrian … Continue reading “$2.4 million makeover for Kotara unveiled”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}