Getting back to Straddie, protection of green space in south east Queensland and better social distancing for school kids are discussed in letters to Redlands2030 which all touch upon COVID-19.
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Back to Straddie after the COVID-19 lockout
It was so nice to finally be on a water taxi this week on the way to Straddie, to check on our house after having to stay away due to COVID-19.
Having had time to sit at home, view the natural beauty as we headed to Straddie, I realise that there is more to life than money. Many of us have had to rethink our priorities.
I cannot imagine why the destructive proposal of 3,600 units at Toondah Harbour is even still on the drawing board. Why?
Can someone tell me what will happen to the migratory birds, don’t they matter at all? What about the mangroves?
And if you ignore the wildlife and natural beauty there is another issue, the roads… Are people in Cleveland going to be happy about another 30,000 cars on the road every day? I know I won’t be happy.
Why does RAMSAR seem to be dismissed? This whole Toondah plan stinks!
JF
Kenmore
Protect our green space
Congratulations are in order for the Mayor, returning Councillors and new Councillors on being elected to carry out the important role of decision-makers for all the Redlands, not just a specific division.
Hopefully, the new Council will take note of its Redlands 2030 Community Plan on which so much time, money and community involvement was spent some years ago.
There is no other evidenced-based measure of community values in the City so until there is another like exercise the Community Plan is the only baseline we have.
I am increasingly disturbed by the amount of ratepayers and taxpayers’ funds that Councils and Governments spend on reports about which little notice appears to be taken.
One such report that came to my attention is the Green Space Audit of South East Queensland published in June 2003 by The Brisbane Institute, which was sponsored by Queensland University, Brisbane City Council, Queensland State Government and Queensland Newspapers.
The Audit assumes that “much of Moreton Bay and the mangroves surrounding have been (and will be) preserved” and highlights “the gravity of the situation that confronts South East Queensland” through over development.
In our new COVID-19 aware world I believe population density is an even more serious issue for future developments. We need to learn from the experiences of Wuhan, London and New York and guard against creating viral epicentres.
This highlights the need to revisit urban planning strategies that provide for social distancing:
- having no more overcrowded living on small blocks
- limiting high rise developments both in number and height
- limited touchable surfaces such as elevator buttons and other public hygiene practices
Hopefully, the new Council will be mindful of the Audit Report, the current situation and the likelihood of future pandemics, especially if we do not look after our environment.
The Green Space Audit mentions that, while the State Government and many local councils in South East Queensland have a history of protecting green space, “… too often this has been too little, too late in a landscape where the development rights of private owners are seen as sacrosanct.”
The Audit goes on to state that “a society that continues to kowtow not just to the legal rights of private owners but to their aspirations for subdivision and unlimited capital gain cannot remain healthy for long.”
We are finding now that our society’s development has not been healthy.
JD
Cleveland
Schools and the COVID-19 pandemic
While it is good to see the schools return, and I am sure most students are happy, it amazes me how the number of cars dropping students at school, is clogging the roads so badly.
If the parents think they are protecting their children from COVID-19, by transporting them individually, that seems quite naive. With classrooms the size they are, one would have to wonder how each class can have 1.5 metres minimum distance in the classroom, for each student.
What happens in the playground? Seeing students in parks gathered together huddled around a table, sharing pictures on their phones, passing them around, without 1.5 meters distancing, tends to negate any benefit they may gain when Mum’s taxi arrives.
Time to rethink the transporting of secondary students to school and help reduce traffic congestion.
JK
Camp Hill
More Letters To Redlands2030
Cash, Unsustainable Development And Toondah
Straddie access, elections, and ANZAC Day
Letters react to the Council elections
Redlands2030 – 2 June 2020
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3 Comments
Priscilla Frampton states here the Williams Administration will be spending money on upgrading neighbourhood parks. Can we breathe a sigh of relief now as so many of us were shocked to learn prior to one local election, that over a dozen parks and reserves were to be sold. Luckily for us, there was a change of heart and more trees in parks plus tree lined streets instead of one in front of homes, would also help to cool down the streets under the blistering Q’ld sun. Recent upgrading of Bowen Street Park, Capalaba, needs shade over the slide so kids can use it any time of the day. Two parks in Capalaba are in Div 7 instead of 9…I feel are in ‘nomansland’ as all the money tens of thousands $$$s have gone into Alex Hills area parks….nothing to speak of in the two Capalaba parks as regards playground equipment that should provide exercise for people of all ages in my view.
There is no doubt that to develop Toondah Harbour would be environmentally, esthetically and biodiversitily bad. We need to put a brake on uncaring development and preserve our wild life, green spaces.
Short term greed by some has to go, bribery and corruption has to go! Let us have a well deserved period of care for where we live, the air we breathe and the community we live in. Can the council focus on planting trees, promoting green energy, sustainable living, waste reduction, electric car points and converting their car fleet to electric.
I believe Karen plans to spend many more thousands of dollars upgrading our parks. The parks in our area have all had major upgrades and for years we have been requesting the wall that was on the drawing board for Queens Esplanade Thorneside – before the high tide mark washes away the sandbags that we managed to get put there some years ago now, as an interim measure before land reclamation was addressed properly with the erection of the sea wall here. Many sandstone blocks have been placed in the parks that are seldom utilised. It would have been better to place them where they would keep back the tide in this area. I believe Paul Bishop brings this up at meetings all the time and there is never enough money to be allocated for this wall. How come there is even more money going to be allocated to parks