Car park vandalism, public swimming pools, and wetlands protection: letters

Car with wheels removed observed in Toondah Harbour car park on 2 January 2024

Theft and vandalism at ferry terminal car parks, the inadequate state of public swimming facilities in Redlands, and Ramsar wetlands protection are discussed in letters to Redlands2030.

On the subject of wetlands, World Wetlands Day 2024 will be celebrated in the Redlands on Sunday 4 February from 8:00am to 11:00am at G.J. Walter Park in Cleveland.

Carpark vandalism and theft

Please find details of my Facebook Group, Redland Bay Marina Carpark which I created about 5 years ago, because of vandalism on my car and about 13 others.

I was on the front page of the Redland Bulletin and on Channel 9 news at the time.

As a result of that, I got the intended CCTV cameras put in the car park, which took years to do.

Now, even with the CCTV cameras, the situation is much worse, particularly on school holidays.  Vandalism and theft happen on a daily basis at the Redland Bay Marina and Moore’s Road carpark. Thieves wear hoodies etc to hide their faces.

I invite you to join the group and see what is going on with theft, vandalism, and construction of the new Weinman Creek Development by the Redland City Council’s Redland Investment Corporation (RIC).

Also, the inconvenience the construction is creating for commuters of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, the constant RCC traffic tickets and huge fines are a cash-cow without empathy, and with only about 700 car spaces to service a few thousand residents, which is expected to reach about 22,000 in population soon.

The 700 car parks available are expected to be halved because of the current construction works. 

A police station is situated within the Weinman Creek Redevelopment precinct, and yet they don’t do any patrolling of the car park.

There have been cars stolen, vandalized and stripped just outside the police station.

I am considering starting up a voluntary group to monitor and patrol the car park, as no one is taking responsibility or cares about the situation, not the police, the state government, or the council, the SMBI residents will have to take action ourselves.

Please contact our Facebook group for more information.

A. Linneth
SMBI

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Cleveland Aquatic Centre

I requested permission to speak about the Cleveland Aquatic centre to Redland City Councillors at the January general meeting, but was advised that I would not be allowed to speak. The reason being that the issue has already been raised in the past 12 months.

So here is what I would have said in public participation, if I had been allowed to speak.

Good morning Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillors, my name is Debra Swain of Wellington Point. I am here as a Redlands resident and Principal petitioner of the petition presented to Council on 11th October in which Petitioners were seeking assurance and a commitment that:
 
• Council has well-laid forward plans (and funding) to keep the Cleveland Aquatic Centre operating into the future; and,
 
• that all public pools in Redlands have plans devised and implemented urgently to improve the quality of all current public swimming facilities in Redlands City.
 
For those who are not frequent visitors to the Cleveland Aquatic Centre you may not be aware that some works started 19th October 2023 and were forecast to be completed by 23rd November2023. These works were for upgrades to the toilet and shower facilities along with the facilities entry.

Although the female and male facilities have been done to a high standard, as at 3rd January, neither the entry nor the facilities for disabled patrons have been renovated.
 
Of equal or greater concern are other major maintenance issues that have come to my attention since tabling the petition. A recent Right to Information request to Redland City Council for the condition assessments of the Cleveland Aquatic Centre revealed that the Cleveland Aquatic Centre’s ageing infrastructure has inadequate circulation of water and that this had been discussed in technical reports dating back to 2010.
 
What the Cleveland Aquatic Centre needs for best asset management has been articulated in reports from J.H. Cockerell in 2014 and 2021, and Aquatic One in 2022 and 2023.
 
But instead of following J.H. Cockerell’s expert advice from 2014, during 2015-2017 Council focused on plans to have Surf Life Saving Queensland develop a centre of excellence on the site. More recently Council turned to planning development of various water recreation facilities in its proposed Birkdale precinct.
 
During 2019-2020 Redland City Council took advantage of a State Government grant of $830,000 to spend about $1.3 million on various projects at the centre.  

Yet major issues like inadequate water circulation of these pools to be able to circulate water through water treatment equipment at the rate Queensland Health recommends in its guidelines for public aquatic facilities remains unaddressed, making the priorities and decisions of Redland City Council questionable.  

What opportunities have been squandered? And when will Council acknowledge that it is predominately its responsibility to provide and maintain an asset such as this on behalf of the ratepayers?
 
Councillors, even home-owners know the importance of maintaining assets to ensure safety and ongoing functioning.  
 
I, along with other petitioners and ratepayers, hope to be advised how Council will action the reports referred to in this address.

Debra Swain
Cleveland

Editors note: Redland City Council’s January general meeting is today (17 January 2024) starting at 9:30am.

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Keep Toondah wetlands

This morning I was at the very site of the proposed Walker Group development for 3,600 units in multi-storey buildings on the Ramsar protected wetlands feeding grounds for Arctic travelling and local  birds. As seen this morning and most other times there were multiple birds feeding and at least 3 breeds of birds feeding and resting.

 I take my dog to the nearby dog off leash area, which also houses and supports Koalas, and this will all disappear if Walkers development of 3,600 apartments goes ahead – so many losses to our community. 

All sorts of birds are here every morning and evening when the muddy feeding grounds are exposed. Nothing compares not even the $Billions that will be returned to an already very rich developer.

M.W.
Cleveland

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Journalists don’t understand wetlands

I suspect that journalists are letting the public down by not underlining the importance of wetlands in maintaining marine, and thus global ecologies.

Maybe because they don’t know.

I have seen sneering refutations of Tanya Plibersek’s rejection of development in the Victorian Ramsar site as the site for a wind farm support facility.

No doubt if it was a beach, the public would be up in arms, but because it is something often labelled as a swamp or mudflats and not an ecologically complex and rapidly disappearing ecosystem,  it is regarded as letting the side down. the question is whose side?

Journos not trained in environmental issues are, by not explaining the complexity of Ramsar Wetlands role in the future integrity of our planet, ensuring that a similar loss may happen in the future.

Rather than sneering, journalists should be standing on their chairs and cheering.

M.K.
Brisbane

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More Letters To Redlands2030

Toondah Traffic, Toondah Commission And Council’s Costly Newsletter

Luxury apartments and coastal development

Wildlife protection and the housing shortage in southeast Queensland

Redlands2030 – 17 January 2024