Zipline, Birkdale land, CBD parking in letters

Letters this week discuss the Birkdale Commonwealth lands, parking in the Cleveland CBD and aborted plans for the Mt Coot-tha zipline project.

If you have something to say, email theeditor@redlands2030.net

Commonwealth lands in Birkdale

There has been much hype about Alma Park Zoo coming to the Redlands, to the Birkdale Commonwealth land. Do these people who are pushing for this to happen realise that a zoo is where animals are enclosed?

The world is moving away from the spectacle of caged animals.  Animals deserve better than being locked up, and many people recognise this.

The Birkdale Commonwealth land has “fantastic koala habitat” according to Koala Action Group (KAG) who has been allowed to inspect it. Wallabies, glider possums, lizards, insects share the habitat with koalas.

In Queensland koalas are suffering. Their habitat is being cleared at an alarming and most shameful rate. It is the worst in Australia. Koalas are facing extinction in SE Queensland.  And what happens to koalas also happens to other wildlife.

At the Birkdale Commonwealth land we have an opportunity to offer tourists, whether local, Australian or international, snapshots of our unique wildlife, living in the wild. The restored Willard homestead and a radio museum on the site would attract tourists and bring jobs and money to the city.

A koala wildlife hospital/care facility, certainly in need, could be the only building required. The rest of the land needs to be left as natural bushland.

Don’t we care enough about the future of our unique animals? Here we have a location that can be left for them so they can have a safe, protected home. We don’t need to cover it with more built environment. After all, our unique wildlife needs somewhere to live as well.

Pam Spence
President – Birkdale Progress Association

Cleveland CBD car parking

I have a question as I am concerned about facilities for our increasingly important demographic of Senior Citizens, some with mobility issues.

It’s already difficult to find parking close enough to the Cleveland CBD. Oftentimes we have to drive several times around and around to find a suitable legal parking spot.

Redland City Council, your plan to do away with some current public car parks for private development will only make the problems worse and force locals to shop and carry out their business elsewhere.

A bit of forward planning to actually support and encourage people to easily access the Cleveland CBD would help the community and assist local businesses to flourish. Win, win all around.

MW
Cleveland 

Zipline dissatisfaction an election factor

Had Graham Quirk not been shown the door, he and his office were on a disaster trajectory for the LNP, with respect to their chances at next years local government election (not to mention their chances in the 2019 Federal Elections) over the Mt Coot-tha Zipline.

Dissatisfaction with the Zipline cut right across the city and all age groups, and for most of us, when you break it down, the mountain is simply about preserving the quiet natural beauty on offer so close to the city centre.

The contemptuous excuses for so called “consultation”, infuriated the wrong people. One in eight voters in upcoming elections are first time, many with a rational environmental bent.

The considered, concerted action of residents who have a long term vision for their City and its existing environment, have held their elected representatives to account, with a significant campaign.

RH
Sunnybank

Redlands2030 – 15 April 2019