Claire4mayor, safety and plastic roads in letters

Council elections, plastic roads in Cleveland, a Queensland bid for the 2032 Olympics and personal safety concerns in an increasingly urbanised Redlands feature in letters published by Redlands2030.

We are keen to publish letters on a wide range of topics. If you have something to say, send an email to: the editor@redlands2030.net

Claire Richardson – mayoral candidate

Mayoral candidate, Claire Richardson looks the part. Early days but she has an impressive CV. I am sure many people, like myself are hoping to catch up with her well before the election roles around.

We should all be grateful that the next Redland City Council mayoral election will be contested, that is of course if the incumbent is standing again.

In addition it is to be hoped that there are more than one nominee in each Division of the City.

I congratulate all those who are or will be putting themselves forward for election in March 2020.

DC
Redlands

Plastic roads – why Princess Street?

Its coming up to Christmas, lots of plastic toys are being wrapped ready for the big day. 

But the residents of Princess Street won’t have to wait to wait for their plastic gift from Council. It’s already mixed into asphalt, giving them and others a smooth ride down their road.

And who was jumping on the bandwagon to claim credits for this? None other than Mayor Karen Williams and Local Councillor Peter Mitchell.  

However, question marks remain as to why Princess Street was chosen.

Was Princess Street a priority for an overlay, especially given the condition of other Council controlled roads in the city at the time?

And, if it was intended to be a demonstration of the integrity and serviceability of the new plastic roads surfacing technology, why wasn’t a more appropriate location chosen?

Or, was it in reality a form of publicity stunt to try and provide credibility for a Mayor and Councillor who have little to show in terms of roads and transport improvements for their times in office? 

TM
Cleveland

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Fact checking claims about plastic roads

In October, we received a letter about resurfacing work on Princess Street to be conducted in October. The letter stated that “around 720 tonnes – equivalent to six months of kerbside recycling collections from Princess Street – will be recycled in the new road, saving more than 90,000 plastic bottles from landfill. What a good story! 

A similar story then appeared in the Summer 2019 edition of the Council’s magazine, Our Redland Coast. That story stated: “The resurfaced section of Princess Street is formed with asphalt that includes 720 tonnes of hard plastic, the equivalent of about 90,000 milk bottles or about six months of kerbside recycling collected from that street.”

As someone who has worked with numbers throughout my working life, I was curious about the claims that were made in both the letter and the magazine. So it was time to do some fact checking. 

I weighed an empty 2 litre plastic milk bottle. It weighed just 40 grams!

According to my calculations, it would take 18 million of those 2 litre milk bottles to get to the 720 tonnes!

Or the plastic bottles used in the road surfacing each weighed 8 kg. 

So what are the facts of the story about plastic roads?

Could Redlands2030, or anyone else, please clarify?

DJ
Cleveland

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Where has my safety gone?

I live in state housing in Redlands. I’ve lived here for 6 years. I’ve usually held down labouring and landscaping jobs, though I have a disability. 

In my time here, for the first few years I lived in relative peace. This all changed in recent years when state housing relaxed its vetting and many new tenants coming through had drug related issues and a history of mental health issues and abusing others. 

Not all new tenants and neighbours are bad in my area. Some are good decent people just trying to get by. But despite this people who shouldn’t be around others are slipping through the cracks. 

In the past 2 years I have been assaulted, robbed, and sexually harassed by several of these individuals and reported this all to housing which has landed on deaf ears. I also contacted Police on numerous occasions.  These individuals have also harassed by neighbours in and around the complex and also been seen doing the same to businesses nearby. 

Why is state housing, the Labor QLD Government, and Redland City Council not doing more with locals and police, and the wider community and businesses to resolve this security and health risk locally? Why doesn’t the area have CCTV or more police? 

I have seen needles near my home, random people of all ages going into the drug den next door. In some cases where 20 – 30 people there, some with weapons whilst selling drugs and substances. 

I have seen my other neighbours abused and witnessed that people are concerned for their safety. I have taken the action of installing better security systems and security cameras in my home and sleep with defence equipment because I am in fear 24/7. 

Why did Redlands become a dangerous place to live? Is this what we get more of, if more developments are built? 

I feel ignored and unsafe as do many people in my neighbourhood. We deserve better! 

Name withheld
Redlands

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Olympics bid a ‘slippery slope’

Looking forward to the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane….think about it again:

• Our State has almost $100 billion in debt, with the Government keen to see it slide further it appears
• History says its a slippery slope once you start the bid process with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
• SEQ’s natural environment is already under critical population pressure, more is definitely not wanted.
• The “cost neutral ” assurance of IOC and others must be a crock if as the Premier admits, she is yet to do her costings
• Biggest beneficiaries will be the IOC, local politicians and the big end of town
• Greece should become the permanent home for the Olympic Games ASAP

We’ve reached obvious tipping points in a  very fragile SEQ, where over-crowding is now patently obvious. We are rapidly cooking the goose that has laid the golden egg for our quality of life thus far,  the natural environment,  by introducing too many people.

The Olympic Games is designed to hype consumption of all types at any cost,  to the detriment of the natural environment and it’s existing residents.

RH
Brisbane

More letters published by Redlands2030

High rollers, splitters and Toondah in letters

Wildlife, the Cleveland train line and air quality

Koalas, Raby Bay, Toondah secrecy and SLAPP

Redlands2030 – 20 December 2019