Property managers for an eco-housing development owned by Adelaide City Council are threatening to remove all bicycles parked in the Whitmore Square building without offering any alternatives.
Adelaide City Council opened the eco-apartments more than four years ago, touted as affordable eco-housing in the city, but without installing any bike racks.
Residents have been forced to park their bicycles in common areas as rental agreements state that no bicycles are to be stored in apartments.
Strata managers Whittles have notified all residents that bicycles will be forcibly removed if they are found parked in common areas. This even includes the residents’ car parking spaces.
“On Friday I heard angle grinders and went down to the basement to find two workmen about to break the lock and remove my bicycle from my parking space,” said Charles Klein, one of the first residents to move into the eco-apartments.
“It was only when I threatened to call the police that they stopped trying to confiscate my bike.”
Mr Klein said that the letter from Whittles threatening to remove all bicycles claimed that Council was ‘investigating options to install bike racks on site’.
“Why should Whittles be allowed to remove all bicycles while Council is still looking at bicycle parking, something they’ve been promising for years?”
He said that his lease agreement insists that bicycles are not even allowed to be stored inside apartments.
“This means there is nowhere a resident can store a bicycle in a development the Adelaide City Council promotes as eco-housing.”
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For more details contact Charles Klein 0413 533 361 or Jeff Cressman, also a resident of the Whitmore Square eco-apartments, on 0434 970 680.
