Take a quick run past the Rail Lands and check out the deep, curved trench being engineered through the site...how fortunate for Council that all of the 'contaminated material' that according to Daryl Sexton only goes a metre deep, also happens to be located exactly where they want to shift the Rail Easement to make way for the Shopping Centre they still want to build on the site...(sarcasm?-Ed)...sarcasm...
(Let me guess, all of that major 'trench' earthworks that will be consuming the vast majority of the 'reclamation budget' Council has allocated, is actually the footing for the moved Easement-Ed)...precisely...(and that it is entirely unnecessary expenditure based on the whim/obsession of a few people who still want an expanded shopping centre there-Ed)...sad but true...(and like removing the rails, etc, is entirely about clearing the 'footing shadow' for this expansion-Ed)...absolutely.
Every lie that Council has trotted out...not once, not twice, but over and over and over again...the contamination, the Deed, the Easement, no funding, then back to oh woah the contamination...on and on and on as and when it has suited them...and then the farcical deceit of the November 2011 announcement of the $10million Parklands Concept Plan.
I put it directly to Council's 'Works Director' Daryl Sexton at one of the February 2006 Rail Land meetings that moving the Easement was technically unworkable and would also require specific approvals/legislation from government and/or Rail Authorities...he refuted the first point 'everything's fine' and, after repeated questioning, stated that 'yes' that 'proposed legislation' was 'in the pipeline'...when I pushed him further about what and where this legislation was and when it would be passed through parliament, etc, Council CEO Greg Muller intervened and changed the subject, 'he's answered that question'...bollocks...
After repeated questioning, Daryl Sexton's statements of fact re moving the Easement, associated legislation, etc, were proven to be opinion and prediction...it had been put to me specifically by a Rail Engineer, and as he discussed at the previous meeting (February 2006), that putting 2 big curves in the track was potentially highly dangerous requiring trains to 'crawl through the site' due to the risk of derailment, would cause extended 'wheel screech' the whole time a train went through there, and was by International standards, generally unacceptable and unworkable.
I re-iterate: since receiving the Old Rail Lands site in mid 2005, Mt Gambier City Council...(or rather the Vested Interests that run it-Ed)...precisely...have collectively been committed to the point of obsession with building a massive extension to the Lakes/Centro Plaza right across the site. In previous posts I have provided the multiple Architect prepared plans...(which in themselves are highly deceitful by excluding the extensive carparking that said expansion would require, instead identifying those spaces as 'parkland'-Ed)...quite.
In late 2008/early 2009 Council rezoned the site to 'City Centre'...(which under intense questioning at this years Budget meetings, Daryl Sexton finally 'fessed up to mean Commercial/Retail development-Ed)...exactly, and that that rezoning cannot happen without State government approval...(one assumes that Federal Rail Authorities have also provided relevant approvals-Ed)...gord knows...
The Rail Lands Retail Agenda (RLRA) is my description of the 'selfish to the point of insane' machinations that has dominated and directed Planning...(and he uses the term loosely, very loosely-Ed)...indeed...Planning and Development decisions made by City Council across Mt Gambier...from their deliberate failures designed to stop Bunnings going on Penola Rd where Woolworths/Masters is now located, to the location of the new Library, The Main Corner, the ludicrous placement of the Bus Shelter at the Lady Nelson site, etc, etc, on and on.
I have been through this ad infinitum in previous posts...it is not 'rumour-mongering' or 'innuendoing', it is what it is, a statement of the facts, eg, Council has done those Shopping Centre plans and they have re-zoned the site, etc...I remind readers that Council have also admitted/claimed that they will be responsible for replacing all of that removed infrastructure should rail return...but moving on...
Flagging Interest: Attached below is the letter from Mr Peter Clarke in The Border Watch Tuesday 3rd December 2013 because it raises some interesting points...(and allows/invites you to pontificate about something-Ed)...when did I need an invitation?....(fair enough-Ed)...and I was bangin' on about flags just the other day...I'll start with the 2 things I disagree with...(oh there's a surprise-Ed)...
I disagree that we should wait until the Aboriginal flag is incorporated officially into the Australian Flag, (does that flag include Torres Straight Islanders?-Ed)...I'm not sure, I think so, I'll check...anyway, I believe that flag should be flown now...(can't believe it isn't already-Ed)...many people feel the same way Ed...and I disagree with Mr Clark's proposed new flag purely on the issue of design...apart from that I fully concur...(you what?...you've finally snapped-Ed)...hilarious.
I concur that the Union Jack should immediately be removed from Council Chambers...(where there are effectively 3 Union Jacks on display...the UJ itself, again on the Australian flag, and then a third time on the South Australian flag-Ed)...precisely, but I believe it should then be replaced with the current Aboriginal flag until that flag is incorporated into the current Ossie flag...(oi, oi, oi-Ed)...classic...
See Who Salutes: my design which simply places the current Aboriginal flag where the Union Jack currently sits top left...first nation, first spot...then the Union Jack 'underlayed' where the 7 pointed star sits, effectively showing the centre spray of the ol' UJ with the red, white and blue 'through' the star...to me this would accurately indicate and acknowledge the history of colonisation that established our current social and legal structures...(I get it...perfect-Ed)...ta'...(may I?-Ed)...go for it...
(The 7 pointed star already represents the 6 states plus as one point together, the 2 territories, as established 'under Empire', as were our legal and political systems, etc, and with the UJ showing through the star it represents that history underpinning the creation of modern Australia-Ed)...sweetly summarised my friend...and then the Southern Cross should remain right where it is taking up half the flag...we are (I nearly said one nation) all just us and in the realm of the firmament we are all but nought, all but dust...(steady on Lord Byron-Ed).
Technically 3 disagreements...(I knew it-Ed)...in that I think it's important to maintain a small 'British connotation', not least of all because it was often for British causes that Australians 'shed blood', their own and that of others, eg, Gallipoli in World War One...and I believe this design acknowledges, 1) who was here already, 2) how we came to be what we are now, and 3) then includes whoever stands under the Southern Cross from here on in...and yet maintains all of the vital elements of the current flag for the reasons cited by Mr Clark...
In closing, I noted with interest a brief tirade from ABC's Peter Goers about the stained, chipped, ugly, Chinese made pavers being used to 're-vamp' Rundle Mall in Adelaide...(stained, chipped, ugly pavers...that sounds awfully familiar-Ed)...indeed, just wander down the Main Street and 'ave a butcher's at the shrekin' mess Council has made by replacing perfectly serviceable red pavers with stained, chipped, broken, grey pavers...what a farcical waste of money that actually makes things look worse not better...and everyone still wants to know 'who was payed for those pavers?'.
Tomorrow: Waterworks Stuff
De-sal, Drains, Fracking, the Murray, etc, etc...where are we without drinkable water?
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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