"governments 100 years ago needed, they didn't."

Obesity game plan short of a few fields - August 26, 2006 - Michael Duffy "The problems with sport are another example of how the State Government's policy of urban consolidation is diminishing the quality of life of many people in Sydney. The city is predicted to grow by 25 per cent in the next 25 years, and the Government plans to cram 70 per cent of these new residents into existing suburbs. The boosters of urban consolidation have long assured us this will work because existing suburbs have unused infrastructure capacity. This never made much sense: why would the cash-strapped state and local governments of 50 and 100 years ago, which never dreamed of the levels of density now being forced on Sydney, have built 20 per cent more roads and sewers and sports fields than needed? As we are now discovering, they didn't."