I walked by on Friday morning, as council workers tore plants out of their planters and pots, and tossed them into the back of their trucks.

They plant those flowers, take them out, plant them, erect new planters, take them away, without any real connection to what’s going on with the plants – they seem pretty healthy. Still, those planters have been strange from the moment they appeared.

I walked past later, at about midnight, and a fence had been erected around the Taylor Square public toilet. I peeked over the top, and this is what I saw.

I’m pretty sure it’s Dale Miles’s Underworld (the latest in the Taylor Square Plinth project – we blogged about Louisa Dawson’s work in October). He’s shown widely since graduating from the National Art School several years ago – see more here.

He says it’s a response:

to the mysteriousness of the shape of the space enclosed by the entrance fence and the two descending staircases. It is the mystery of the void inverted, the spider exiting its funnel.

The original idea is this. More pictures to come.

The cycleway, developed by GMW Urban, runs between Cowper Wharf Road and Corfu Street in Woolloomooloo.

Sydneymedia says 75 per cent of submissions received (631 of 842) supported the cycleway – 182 raised issues such as safety, parking loss and the potential impact of the cycleway on trees.

It’s easy to see where those 182 residents are coming from. Parking’s short at the best of times. But as the Nature Conservation Council of NSW said in their submission, “Zero emissions transport infrastructure, such as safe cycleways, must take priority over residents’ parking spaces.”

The next stage is from Woolloomooloo to Green Square. It’s the first step in a planned network of 200km of bike paths around the city. And it’s fantastic to see the council not just talking about lovely ideas for 2030, but actually taking steps to make them happen.

Running between Darlinghurst Road and Orwell Street, Llankelly Place doesn’t yell hip inner city life. More cheap commercial real estate. It’s the sort of place where someone’s peeled back the security grill on a window, then the metal below, and then punched through the window – and the proprietors have just left it that way.

Jo Holder’s Cross Arts has opened a new project space on the place. The franchise-ready hot-dog/sausage emporium on the corner of Llankelly Place and Darlinghurst Road is gone, replaced by gelato shop (Stella) that seems to already be up for lease (with all equipment for sale). Down the other end is the Doma beer cafe.

Halfway down the place is a huge new $60m Frank Stanisic designed development, the Village Centre. It opens late January, 2010, though it’s tucked behind security fences for the moment. With a Harris Farm market and 16 other retailers, including the one providore missing in the neighbourhood, a fishmonger, it’s a potential catalyst for the place.

It’s the highest density urban neighbourhood in the country, and it’s loaded with a mixed residential, entertainment and increasingly business focus, so balancing competing demands must be challenging. But does the council even have the resources to support this kind of growth?

Llankelly Place features a series of striking light installations, designed by Peter McGregor (below pic taken from MW Architects‘s website) – the light screens shift slowly from red on Darlinghurst Road to green at the Springfield Gardens. But since installation, the light bulbs have rarely been replaced.

I know it’s probably quite, ahem, noughties to talk about laneway culture – and in Australia, it suggests a bit of a defensive Melbourne-Sydney thing. But really, laneway culture is part of high density city life, and that fine resolution street life is really missing in Sydney.

It gets cleaned a couple of times a week, according to the council worker who flicked the switch.

“You wouldn’t believe what foreign material winds up in here,” he said. “Hungry Jack’s burgers, doner kebabs, you name it.”

He reached up and screwed up one of the fountain’s spokes and on went the water.

Braving the chlorinated breeze, it was a perfect time to capture the fountain without its characteristic splash.

In a neat inversion of the Situationist slogan (“Beneath the paving stones, the beach!”), hidden above the cars is a native rooftop garden.

Embarkation Park (or as Malcolm Turnbull’s dog apparently calls it, Bark Park) has been around for a few decades, and the garden extends from small shrubs to larger native trees. It’s an ‘intensive’ type green roof, built on a layered system, according to this report for the council. It’s an off-leash park and it’s open between sunrise and sunset.

According to this Navy newsletter, it’s a “known shooting gallery.” It’s also a hotspot for gay cruising. But with a spectacular view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the rest of the city skyline, it’s also one of the best vantage points for New Year’s Eve fireworks and other harbourside celebrations.

So honours for the first Woolloomooloo green rooftop may actually go to the top of this Navy car park.

It’s a garden, but quite a different one. This one, at 306 Palmer Street, has been owned by the council for years. It used to be called the Darlinghurst Children’s Garden.

Here’s a pic from the late ’70s from Sydney council’s archives, and another taken this week.

It’s hard to tell what the garden was like for the three children in that photo. Between the picket fence, the flares and the black and white picture, there’s not much green. But whatever the case, it’s not as friendly now.

The council’s been wondering what to do with the patch of land for years. Seven years ago, before South Sydney Council was amalgamated into the City of Sydney Council, they deliberated on the garden at Erskineville Town Hall.

Now it’s fenced in, but seemingly well maintained – couldn’t it be a garden in the meantime?

In late July, Housing NSW, which owns the site, gave Greening Woolloomooloo five days to clear out their gardens. The gardeners have had a slight reprieve though, housing minister David Borger said he’s talking to Sydney council to find another site for the garden.

Apparently a few of these metaphysical additions to the council’s street signage have appeared recently.

I went back today and spoke to one of the residents, who said his neighbour planted the garden 10 years ago, and continues to maintain it with TLC.

He has an “arrangement” with council, who turn a blind eye to its existence. Good on you, City of Sydney Council. And good on you, resident of Thomson Street. It’s just delightful.

Such a pleasant oasis by day, though typically, according to my source, another seedy back lane by night.

Scooters are obviously better for the gridlocked streets than cars, but were still (theoretically) subject to the same fines. And a problem, because there was no workable way to display tickets on bikes. I say theoretically because I don’t know anyone who got fined for parking without buying a ticket. Still, a real concern.

(Untimed parking spaces map for the city)

The council’s announced changes for scooters and bikes in the city (meaning Darlinghurst and Kings Cross, the CBD, Pyrmont, Redfern and Ultimo):

• no tickets in timed areas – still need to watch the time restrictions
• 100 more untimed parking spaces in CBD – total 700 spots
• anchor points and locking rails for motorcycles trial in untimed parking areas
• cheaper on-street parking permits for city residents

Great, but not a moment too soon.