Letters to Redlands2030 raise questions about the Mayor’s crash, suggest making the Council’s ‘devotional segment’ more relevant and identify opportunities for mainstream media to provide more accurate coverage of the proposal to build 3,600 apartments on wetlands next to Toondah Harbour.
Questions about the Mayor’s crash
There’s a number of obvious matters that appear to have, so far, slipped through the cracks following the Mayor’s crash.
Why is it that Council and Councillors not the ratepayers get to decide where the public interest lies, and whether they will or won’t discuss it?
Why were there no extra charges reported such as dangerous driving and damage to public or private assets?
Why are there no dramatic photographs of the damaged vehicle in the news?
Where is this vehicle now anyway? What were the recovery costs?
What was the actual damage to the Council vehicle and who is obtaining quotes on the repair costs?
Is the type and model of the Mayor’s official vehicle selected subject to value for money test?
What is the total amount spent on the Mayor’s official vehicle each Financial Year in terms of write off value, fuel and maintenance, insurance etc.?
What specifically are the monetary amounts spent on alcohol by the Council each year?
Why is alcohol billed to ratepayers anyway?
Why were the Councillors and staff celebrating the increase in rates when we the ratepayers have reputedly the highest rates in SE Qld?
Who were the others staff and Councillors drinking with the Mayor?
How often are these drinking parties held?
Should the council chambers be made a dry area with no alcohol consumed?
Is the Mayor’s crash a matter of public interest? Yes it is, just go to any coffee shop or pub and listen, the topic is well and truly alive. A full and candid report, made public, seems a reasonable expectation of ratepayers.
But to date efforts of the administration seem more concerned with to blocking debate and even blocking “public interest” motions and petitions.
P.M.
Cleveland
Prayers at Council meetings
At the beginning of each monthly Council meeting, a religious minister (invariably Christian) gives a short sermon and a prayer. The session is a formal part of every Council Agenda and is played in the video of each meeting.
Invoking our Councillors to do good things?
In this day and age when the recent Census confirms that most of us are non-religious and the proportion of Australians calling themselves Christian is quickly diminishing why do we continue with this charade?
How about this suggestion from former Socceroo Craig Foster?
Start every Parliament and Council meeting with this oath:
We pledge to represent the people of this precious continent, birthplace of the oldest living culture with equality, honesty & integrity, to protect generations hence & fulfil our duty in service of humanity & the planet that sustains us.
Amen to that, I say.
P.H.
Cleveland
Bulletin Editor’s Toondah opinion piece
With permission of the author, we publish the following letter, sent to the Editor Redland City Bulletin in response to his Opinion piece of 15 June 2022 – “Are we OK with Toondah plans?”. We thought CARP’s response would be of interest to readers of Redlands2030 and likely to generate more community debate and discussion. The letter reads:
I respond to your Opinion piece ‘Are we OK with Toondah plans?’ (RCB 15.06.22 p19) in which you suggest the results of the recent Federal election indicate that ‘most residents are not against the Toondah development‘.
The truth of the matter is that most residents are either entirely unaware of what is happening at Toondah Harbour or have been led to believe what is planned is a beautiful swimming lagoon, near a low-key residential development, adjacent a revitalised port facility.
They do not know that the proposal is literally a new suburb-in-the-sea: 3600 apartments, housing some 10,000 people in say, 60* residential apartment towers, perched on land dredged from the seabed of Moreton Bay, in what is currently a precious area of Ramsar-listed wetlands intended to protect migratory sea birds.
They do not know that it is a 20-30 year mega-building project that will change the cherished Redlands identity and likely bring devastating long-term environmental, social and economic impacts, not the least of which is the destruction of the Toondah wetlands and disruption of the adjacent koala habitat.
Your newspaper, unhappily, has contributed to this, publishing the appealing imagery provided by the proponents (which of course carries the ominous disclaimer ‘artist’s impression only, subject to change’) while apparently failing to challenge the complete mismatch between the pictures and the projected number of residential units. Further, your newspaper has apparently failed to challenge unsubstantiated statements like “50,000 additional visitors to the Redlands Coast each year, injecting $17 million in new income for local businesses in Cleveland, North Stradbroke and the Bay islands” and “there will be an estimated 500 ongoing jobs in retail, commercial and tourism-related activities”.
It’s time for The Redland City Bulletin to use the power of the press and step into advocacy journalism on behalf of our community. Lead the charge in demanding accountability and honest information dissemination. Pressure Redland City Council to erect a large billboard on GJ Walter Park which truthfully tells the community what is proposed, in words, numbers and accurate artist’s impressions showing the wall of residential towers that will obliterate the current views across the Bay to Cassim Island and Straddie. Pressure the Council to build a scale model of the proposal, for all to view in Council’s Customer Service Centres, and to showcase that model through a comprehensive and widespread consultation process. And challenge all proponents to deliver the detail that supports the questionable claims being made about future benefits.
And when all that has been done, then ask the people of the Redlands what they think.
*PS For some the numbers too implausible to believe? Please do the maths:
There are 3600 units to be built. If in towers, each limited to 10 storeys, with say six units to a storey = 60 units in each tower; 3600 divided by 60 units = 60 towers.
If caps on height are lifted, 30 towers at a height of 20 storeys, or 15 towers at a height of 40 storeys. It’s an ugly story, no matter how you add it up!
Lavinia Wood
Spokesperson
Community Alliance for Responsible Planning (CARP) Redlands Inc
More letters to Redlands2030
Native Title, nature based tourism and the election for Bowman
Toondah Benefits The Few But Costs The Many
Pub Test Failure, Council Inefficiency And Nature Protection Laws In Letter
Redlands2030 – 4 August 2022
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