Short Post re Old Hospital and Rail Lands

Very short post today as all of this covered in previous posts, but the writing is on the wall...or in The Border Watch if you will...

I re-iterate; Council factions have been obsessed with the Rail Lands Retail Agenda (previous posts) and all development issues are subject to that Agenda...up to and including creating false obstacles and/or straight out lying to the public...oh, the contamination...oh, the Easement...oh, the Deed...oh, the humanity...

Council was gifted the Rail Lands in early 2005, did numerous 'consultations' but then ignored them, then did absolutely nothing until announcing a $10million Park Land Concept in November 2011, and recently received an apparently surprise $1million state government grant specifically for the Rail Lands, and Council has now done...I said and Council has now done.....(bring up sound of desert wind... annnnd cue tumbleweed...and now distant dingo mournfully howling......hilarious-Ed)

In TBW Friday May 10 2013, Graham Greenwood (article attached) cites a community pride in the "unique" Crater Lakes that City Council clearly doesn't share judging by the litter, hacked down trees, and derelict, run down old look-outs.

Graham would congratulate Council for purchasing the Old Hospital "...to their credit...", but then acknowledges that they did it with no idea of what to do then...Council has lumbered rate-payers with a building that it can only afford to pull down...and it can't afford that.

Graham nearly criticises Council for "...paying far too much..." over the Main Corner, but not quite, then tries to consign to history the corruption, nepotism and ongoing massive public expense of the quite deliberately disasterous Project.

Even if you don't include those cost aspects of using Council personnel for parts of the Main Corner Project, the final cost has already gone well past $10million headed for $15m (with interest, etc) and has massive ongoing costs for maintenance, staffing, etc.

What has happened to your repeated calls for an Inquiry into the Main Corner, Graham?

What about the $350,000 that CEO Greg Muller stole? And who the heck Audits Council and cannot see this theft? Isn't stealing a crime? Apparently not in Local Government.

I note that Graham has confused the chronology of events around Council's decisions to proceed with the Main Corner despite the many, many things that should have been done first, eg, a covered pool and renovated tennis courts, the Old Rail Lands, etc.

The whole Old Hospital situation is ripe for the rorting and the same old suspects are queuing up at the trough...until the Council malfeasance of the Main Corner is resolved, Council must not be allowed to proceed with anything...the Old Hospital is headed straight for the same pit of malfeasance and debt.

This article is a clumsy set up for a 'cafe' on the Old Hospital site, built and payed for with public money and it will get given to a Councillor's child, or Steve Perryman, who-ever...
           "...engineering manager Daryl Morgan suggested the way was being left open with the old
            hospital blueprint so it could be developed to a "higher level into the future"."

By all means improve current paths to ensure safe access for as many people as possible, but it is just not sustainable to suggest that a bare stretch of ground, linked somehow to a dried out swamp, is going to introduce a "wow factor" that will attract tourists.

For all my carping-on about the Old Hospital, the reality remains that Mt Gambier is far better off just having to look at it a while longer than letting Council hitch rate-payers to another wagon of debt.

Tomorrow: An Apple Cart Called Gravy Train     

I promise...I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog....