Citizens rain on pope's harbour city parade

Jul 10, 2008, 16:43 GMT

Sydney - If only Pope Benedict had picked Melbourne rather than Sydney to host next week's World Youth Day celebrations.

Australia's southern capital sells itself as Event City and delights in being friendly and putting on a good show for visitors. The professional tennis circuit plays its opening tournament there, the F1 Grand Prix is there and the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground has hosted both an Olympics and a Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne is richer, will soon be bigger, and is where Australia became a nation in 1901.

'God gave them one of the great harbours in the world and gave us a lot of mud flats,' former Melbourne mayor Ron Walker said of Sydney. 'We had to really carve out a city.'

Sydney has been showing its worst side to the 125,000 foreign pilgrims expected for the July 15-20 World Youth Day events that culminate in Pope Benedict's open-air mass for up to 500,000.

Youth Day organizers and the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) had an ugly spat over terms for vacating Randwick racecourse for the closing mass. The AJC and its 700 horses will leave Randwick for 10 weeks.

The deal was a year in the making and didn't come until Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell left the negotiations to the New South Wales state government.

'I don't think the Catholic Church are used to having people disagree with them,' said AJC representative Anthony Cummings. 'They found a group of people as fervent about what they do as the church is.'

The next bit of nastiness came from Sydney hotel owners, who said the disruption of the six-day event had scared off business travelers and that the high-end pilgrims promised hadn't materialized. The Australian Hotels Association, which represents 50 hotels, said its members were facing 'potential disaster.'

Organizers, taken aback by the welter of complaints, have appealed to Sydney residents for a more welcoming attitude towards the pilgrims.

'There are going to be people here from 170 nations,' said spokesman Jim Hanna. 'I think we like the idea of putting on a show that the rest of the world is watching.'

Anyone listening to Sydney's radio stations would have to question whether residents like putting on a show at all.

'I'm against Sydney holding big events. It's too disruptive,' an office worker who identified himself as Matt told local radio. Ann told the same radio station that 'these big events should be paid totally - I don't care what it is or what it's for - by the people who promote it.'

New South Wales Deputy Premier John Watkins has also appealed for a bit more public spirit, saying 'most Sydneysiders realize that when you have a big event there will be some disruption.'

Youth Day is costing the taxpayer over 150 million Australian dollars (140 million US dollars).

Organizers hope that, like the Sydney Olympics, a welcome mat will roll out when the big day arrives. And there are those who are embarrassed by the attitude of their fellow citizens.

'I'm sick of all this whingeing and whining,' a woman called Margaret told a radio presenter. 'A few hundred thousand young smiling people is just what we need.'

Her views were echoed by Donna, who warned fellow residents that more big events would move from Sydney unless the city became more accommodating. 'We are competing for these events with overseas cities as well as cities like Melbourne and Brisbane, who get events that we don't get.'