of Sydney". Former NSW premier Nick Greiner thought the road looked "like Beirut on a bad day". The Sydney Morning Herald writer Elizabeth Farrelly described it as "filthy, noisy, sclerotic and dull". On a lighter note, Tess De Quincey, an Australian performer/director said, "Every chapter of Sydney's history has been written on Parramatta Road." A Sydney Morning Herald editor said that whilst the road is "ugly in parts, drab in others, and generally unpleasant", it is still "fundamental to the economic and social viability of the greater city". Since the 1970s many buildings fronting Parramatta Road, especially those in the prime locations of the Inner West (from Newtown to Homebush), have become vacant and fallen into disrepair, with many vandalised. Previously these buildings were a major part of local life for the suburbs along Parramatta Road, providing employment, retailing and other services. The buildings with graffiti and broken windows provide a sight that is sought out by graffiti vandals and proficient urban photographers. Nicholas Munning, an owner of a music store in Annandale, described the road as, "A lost cause...You can see the hodgepodge of buildings - abandoned buildings, abandoned shops - [with people thinking] let’s just let this sit here for four years until we get council approval to knock it down and build apartments...They don’t care if it sits there vacant with broken windows and looks like shit, The problem is the whole road looks like that. So nobody is going to say, 'hey, this is a great area. I’m going to spend $x making a really classy looking shop or restaurant'.” Redevelopment plan The Government of New South Wales published the 'Parramatta Road Urban Transformation Strategy' in 2016, with a 30-year plan for redeveloping the area through planning and infrastructure investment. Among the strategy's goals are housing an additional 56,000 people in 27,000 new homes on the corridor (with minimum five percent affordable housing); 50,000 workers employed in the area; and 66 hectares of new open space is provided through linear parks and along watercourses or infrastructure. The proposed development rights are worth millions of dollars to developers but are also controversial due to the density of some of the proposals and the likely impact on an already over-congested road. As a result, many of the development proposals are controversial with local residents and are opposed by local councils. A number of the disputes between developers and