Rail Lands Debasco - Whatta' Disgrace

Hello Romania, Portugal, Spain, and Germany and welcome to TMGI...in many previous posts I've irrefutably proven the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, so let's cut to the chase...given 1) the abuse and denigration hurled at me by the wholly corrupt Mt Gambier City Council, not least of all because 2) I've irrefutably exposed the genuine plan for that site, the RLRA, and the rank of associated rank Council corruptions, well, given all that, when it comes to the current and disastrous state of the Rail Lands site, some people might consider that a huge smile and/or gutteral laugh would be an appropriate response from me...

(What's Funny About This?-Ed):...you tell me Ed, 'cos I ain't seein' anything here that's the least bit funny...yeah I'm seein' the usual nepotism and corruption from Mt Gambier City Council with it's perpetually corrupted voting processes, endless contracts for mates and/or family members, then complete incompetence producing vastly over-priced pieces of crap...(I thought this post was about the Rail Lands, not the Main Corner or the Library-Ed)...excellent attempt at humorous sarcasm Ed, I appreciate it, really I do, but there's nothing funny about this situation, it's a corrupt debasco (debacle/fiasco) that has cost Ratepayers $2.3million in borrowed money (from the 2013/14 Budget corruption) plus the bizarre 2 x $1m State government grants that just dropped out of thin air...

(Two things?-Ed)...sure, fire away...(well firstly, I think a lot of that 'incompetence' is quite deliberate because it pours money into Councillor's pockets or their mate's/family's/whatev's pockets-Ed)...yeah, good point...(and secondly, yet again Council is acting corruptly by using Council workers and equipment to do work, costs that Council then hides in other Internal Council Budgets, eg, in the 'Gardening and Parks' area, or perhaps the Drainage Maintenance, etc-Ed)...both excellent points Ed, but with the Rail Lands debasco it's all of everything furiously colliding in a perfect storm of Council corruption and incompetence...(oo oo, and a third point-Ed)...go on then...(Council has routinely, regularly lied through it's teeth about the Rail Lands site, usually via a pathetically complicit The Border Watch-Ed)...and a most excellent third Ed...

Attached again is the page from Council's 2004/05 Year Book, a page that very specifically explains all the things that Council has repeatedly lied about since then as they attempted to stall any development other than their planned Retail Expansion of the Lakes Plaza (Centro)...please note that "Settlement of the transfer took place on 29th June 2005."...Council has repeatedly been on the front page of TBW whingin' and bitchin' about how they (Council) couldn't do anything with the site because they weren't sure about the Deed and didn't know what to do about the Rail Easement, etc, etc...lie after lie, year after year, over and over, again and again and again...

 Showing where the site has been re-zoned for Commercial/Retail...

13,000 Words Not Spoken:...but really only about 120 words once you delete all the expletives, etc...(waaah?-Ed)...13 pictures, 1,000 words per picture...(oh ok, I get it-Ed)...flooding from June 2014...nice green lawn...(for $200,000 it'd wanna' be-Ed)...well indeed...and one from the platform...

From New Years Eve 2014...note lovely green grass surrounded by water, soon to be pool surrounded by paving, as below...and 2) the Everglades...

From January 13th 2015 showing water sheeting onto Railway Tce through the ridiculous gap Council cut through the Old Platform...and 2) the Everglades...

From January 29th 2015, showing where Council put in drainage pipes out to Bay Rd where I'm standing, same spot as first photo...(actually I took that one-Ed)...whatevs...and of course the $650,000+ Death Pit of Stupidity at the Wehl St Sth (Western) end (March 2015)...with the single strand wire fence...built right next to an alleged playground...(wow-Ed)...

 And April 7th 2015...

And some more flooding as recently as July 26th 2015...note the now dead grass...(or has it been partially  removed?-Ed)...whatevs, it's now a muddy pond enclosed by dodgy Chinese pavers...no photo, but the Everglades along Railway Tce/Bay Rd is still sodden under foot...

And this below, this is what Council did last week...a legion of Council workers with trucks, tractors, backhoes, etc, spent 3-4 days digging metre deep trenches right through the $200k lawn, back-filled it with 100-120mm poly-pipe, and then sand/soil/whatevs, all, it appears, to create drainage voids under the still-flooding lawn area...please note I've deliberately gone there to take these at times so as to not have actual Council workers put up on this 'ere blog, 'cos 1) they're just doin' what they were sent to do, and 2) I wouldn't appreciate it if it were done to me...I believe that the extent of the trenching works indicates the effort involved...

I'll let these pictures do the talkin' for now...apart from saying this is what you get from the arrogantly corrupt Mt Gambier City Council, a Council unable and/or unwilling to do even the most basic planning/preparation/whatevs, leading, on this occasion, to chronic flooding problems that have required multiple massively expensive remediation projects, works that will be hidden in other Council 'Budget areas' to deceive Ratepayers about the genuine cost...(a genuine cynic would observe that undefined projects allow the relentless rorting of repeated extensions, eg, the ludicrous $2million+ that Council spent on lights and the Volcano movie, etc, then adding on a $1m commercial kitchen, etc, all at the Main Corner, a project that started under $5m and then hit $10m, and gourd knows what the genuine cost is-Ed)...indeed, a cynic might say exactly that...

And then possibly conclude with something, like, say...'the $10m+ Main Corner Commercial Function Facility that was then given free of charge to Councillor Des Mutton's son, chosen over the only other Tender that Council considered, that of (then) Mayor Steve Perryman...and then handed to a third party, also closely associated with Council, via a super-dodgy Council 'Special Meeting', a meeting held and contract granted, etc, without any Public Tender...no Public Tender for a Ratepayer funded/owned, Ratepayer subsidised Public Facility...that cost at least twice what it was allegedly supposed to...(and what about that $340,000+ that (then) Council CEO Greg Muller took from that project? still unaccounted for?-Ed)...ah yes, $340,000 just gone...(I'm amazed that the Auditors didn't pick that up when they did their yearly audit thingy-Ed)...I'm not...(particularly given that it was raised in Council by a Councillor and hosed-down on the front page of The Border Watch-Ed)...your point?...(just sayin', it all seems a bit strange-Ed)...

Tomorrow: The Thousand Words

Filling in the gaps that the pictures create to explain the gross incompetence mired in corruption that is the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, including the latest nonsense from Council...and then my Court stuff next day, and then some other stuff the day after, etc, etc...ramping-up towards doing daily posts again...(tally bally ho!-Ed)...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...