My rant!

[Zondrae]

G'day all,
I am not a poitical animal. BUT..
Our local endorsed Liberal candidate is phoning round the electorate to introduce himself.
He made the mistake of asking me if there was anything local that was troubling me.
I am disturbed about the local council stealing public green spaces! First they remove old style play equipment (swings, seesaws, round-abouts etc) because they are dangerous and then haven't the funds to replace them with modern 'safe' gear. Then the 'park' becomes under used, or not used at all. The next step is to declare the 'park' redundent and sell it off to developers. I would not have a problem with this happening once ... IF the funds raised were put to re-furbishing other 'parks'. but no, it goes into consolidated revenue and probably towards an overseas trip for some councellor to investigate the latest developement in safe playground equipment. To his credit, he did raise this point at the next meeting. (I don't know who with though, we don't have a council at the moment!) The usual answer is no funding. I then asked him to raise the request to have a sign put on the park at the end of my street. (He'll get back to me shortly.)
I'm sure only about 5% of the neighbourhood know it is a gazetted park. I will admit, the council keep the grass mowed at least. Am I the only person who remembers when there was a picnic table and seats, two swings, two seesaws and one of those twirl around things in this park? I just may do some flyers and a letterbox drop before the election. Oh I forgot this is a state election.. We in Wollongong are not worthy of a local council election. Too many crooks, bribes, sex scandles, developers etc.
That is my rant for the day.

[Heather]

Does that feel better Zondrae?

[Bob Pacey]

Zondrae not only happening there. The local council started closeing parks here and one lot of kids sat there ever day until they changed their mind. Than they start to worry about the crime rate because kids have nothing to do. I will admit a lot of the kids would not know how to make their own fun as we did ( like blowing up frogs with crackers ). But thats a sign of the times. I'm with you so don't let them get away with it.

Bad things happen when good people do nothing !!

Yep makes me feel better Heather

Bob

[Vic Jefferies]

Good On You Zondrae! There is currently a plan to build a seven story building on the beach at Ettalong, a tiny little seaside village on the Central Coast of NSW near where we have a house.
I wrote the following and had it published in the local paper. For those who don't know Terrigal was a similar small holiday village that is now completely ruined and grossly overdeveloped. The Matthew I mention is the president of the local chamber of commerce and he is of course very much pro development.

SO LONG ETTALONG

Pretty little Ettalong
with your sea and sparkling sands,
How sad to see you fall
into the developers hands:
No more the little village
that we all used to know;
You are firmly in their sites
so now you’ll grow and grow.

Seven storeys sounds just right,
it is really not too high;
Why up there on the Gold Coast
they build them to the sky!
“Coolangatta of the South,”
“New Terrigal” in the making,
Just another plum for picking,
a prize for the taking!

It aint no use protesting
because now it is too late,
The Government wont listen
and Matthew says it’s great!
Though the thing I’d like to know,
and I suspect it puzzles you:
Where do old developers go;
where do they retire to?

Vic Jefferies ©

[Maureen K Clifford]

Zondrae you have the words and the passion to write about this. God gave you a voice - use it. Put together a poem written from the heart, with just a smidge of humour in it so that it doesn't come across as too dogmatic and then take that to your local paper and see if they will give it space. Ditto your local radio station and any papers and radio stations in neighbouring towns. Send copies to all the local pollies regardless of what breed they are and if you felt strongly enough about it see if your church and the local P and C committees will distribute it through school newsletters etc and maybe even take up a petition to save your park.

Knowledge is power - the more people that are aware the better the chance of stopping it. If as you say the people don't know - and that is a fair bet, then nothing will get done. People I have found are always willing to help - they just need somebody to point them in the right direction.

You have the power to do that. Go for it.

Cheers

Maureen

[Bob Pacey]

Well said Maureen. They stick a little notice in the paper and a sign on a post and then wonder why no one objects. Simply because as they don't know. Went to work yesterday and another estate is going up on the beach front where a couple of years back a developer cleared land without permission and got fined for it. They seem to think just clear it and wear the fine and we will win in the long run and unfortunatly this seems to be the case.

Bob

[Zondrae]

Thank you to for all the replies,

This is not the first time I have tried to save this little park. We have lived in this area, on (mostly on) and off for over 40 years, it has come uder attack before. I used to take my children, when they were small, to play there. At the first round, the council stated the number of famlies with young children was falling and the park not needed. Now I have two daughters with little ones who WOULD use the park but there are no facilities. They have to drive about 7 kilometres to our closest park.

The latest thing is... the play equipment at THAT park has been pulled out! it was only about 8 years old. I will give them this, they are working on the new equipment without delay. This play area is also part of a general rejuvination at that site. It is adjacent to a large sporting oval and sea water swimming pool. This whole area is very over used and in Summer you can't even get into the car park let alone have a turn on the swings or the slide etc.

Thanks Maureen.. I might just write it in verse and send it into the paper. They have published my letters, on the matter of stealing green spaces, in the past. There used to be a little park in the centre of the CBD of Wollongong. When I was a teen, and working in the city, I would bring my lunch and sit on a park bench or stretch out on the lawn at lunchtime. I wrote one letter in a 'once upon a time' style. There is a large green space not far from where that park used to be but I notice there have been little nibbles at the edges of it over the years. It is about to have a 'face lift' as well. I wonder how much will be trimmed off.

And Heather,,, no I don't feel better. Not yet anyway. I feel like a candle in the wind.. and the wind is getting stronger. Most people rush about and don't even notice these losses. Then one day they look around and see only concrete and wonder why there is so much graffiti. Kids need space to run, yell, have fun and get a touch of (and contact with) the planet.

[manfredvijars]

the council stated the number of famlies with young children was falling and the park not needed.

I guess the world is coming to an end the week after next and there will be no more families with children ... that argument could be used to stop the developers grab, population has peaked and will be decreasing ...
Public space should be exactly that "public space". Even if 'the public' choose to drive past and not use those facilities, at the very least there is a break between those ugly lumps of turd the councils give their mates permission to build. ...

[Bob Pacey]

Little Boxes On The Hillside
Little Boxes Made Of Ticky Tacky


I agree Manfred

Humans come to an area because of it's natural beauty and then procede to change it.

They quickly forget the reason they went there in the first place.


??????? Bob

[Heather]

Zondrea I do know how you feel. We have a heritage hotel in Kilmore and the owners applied to cut a hole in the side of the pre 1856 building for a door so the smokers could go outside and didn't have to walk about 20 steps to the nearest door.

The heritage advisor reluctantly agreed to let them have a single door. Next thing a huge hole was cut out of the building (lucky the whole wall didn't collapse) and they installed an art deco glass double door without permit. Our historical society objected to the council and we wrote a lengthy submission to VCAT and I did a lot of research for the history of the building and the submission. The case went to VCAT where the owners were told to remove the door and install a single door in keeping with the building. After about 12mths the door was made single but it now a single art deco door. We keep writing to the shire to remind them that they must make the owners comply with the VCAT hearing.

The little people can win but you need lots of support and need to make a fuss and sometimes a bit of noise.

You just keep plugging away Zondrae.

Heather