Recognising A Request To Re-visit The Rail Lands Retail Agenda

Not least of all because it's what I promised in the last post, and apparently I do need to explain it all a l'íl bit better...in that context, I'd just like to quickly acknowledge availees whom have already waded through much of this RLRA stuff, whilst plowing through some 800 posts now, since this 'ere blog began in January 2013...been a bit slack lately, and I do tend to dwell/waffle/digress/forget/re-iterate repeatedly, etc, etc, but 800 posts in 3 years is not bad going and is still a pretty reasonable effort I reckon, all things considered, what with SAPol (police) raiding my home back in May 2014 leading to 20 charges/counts of 'talking about stuff', etc...have I shown you my burgeoning collection of defamation threats?...lots of threats but no actual action...apart from the aforementioned 20 charges of course...anyhoos...

Hello to the USofA, Ukraine, Portugal, Mexico, Nigeria, and Algeria, and to y'all else, cheers...and because I spent so much of the last post cracking-wise I'll just get cracking straight into a more factual stacking of the actual actionings of Mt Gambier City Council re the Rail Lands Retail Agenda...the RLRA, it's fairly complicated and is going to be several posts, but the realities are fundamentally obvious...

1)  the Rail Lands Retail Agenda is the catch-all name I have given to Mt Gambier City Council's ongoing plans for a massive Retail/Commercial expansion of the Lakes Plaza, and the deceits frequently visited on Ratepayers by Council as It/they continued, indeed continue, to pursue this agenda...I have not imagined this agenda, nor have I created it and/or conjured it and/or or manipulated some convenient truths whilst ignoring other facts, etc, etc, all I've done is point at it all, say 'what the shreck's goin' on there then? that looks a bit crook mate', and then just given it a specific name...the RLRA is fundamentally irrefutable as proven by a swathe of Council's own documents, and many of these have already been posted here-in this 'ere blog, some repeatedly...in this massively ironic context, Council's own documents irrefutably prove that their statements are deceits...out of chronological order but to irrefutably prove the RLRA, again, here is the design as presented by Council on February 29th 2006, being one of three almost identical large developments...

Not a great photocopy of a photocopy, but the original 30 page document from which this has come was presented by Council CEO Greg Muller at the public meeting on 27th February 2006...30 very costly pages of architecturally designed massive Retail/Commercial development, as presented by Council, as being Council's agenda for the site...when I put my hand-up and asked about a 'Parklands' design, Mr Muller just glared at me from the stage, full-on filthy glarey angry starey, it was hilarious, and when he recovered his composure, politely stated that there was no interest in such a plan...this drew a not-so polite chorus of disagreement from the small crowd who clearly very much were interested in that!...

This page clearly shows 1) the massive expansion planned for South of the current Plaza, and 2) the reasoning as presented, namely, dot-point (3);
      "Reduces risk of competing centres being developed at the city fringes."

At this juncture, having stated that the RLRA is irrefutable and not open to discussion, I must acknowledge the multiple discussions I've participated in/been subjected to re claims/allegations/theories that the fundamental motivation behind this shenanigans on the Rail Lands site, is to ultimately ensure that Rail Transport never returns to Mt Gambier, an agenda driven/controlled by those whom stand to profit from moving freight, etc, via other means, eg, trucks...I acknowledge this as both 1) a sound and logical premise and 2) a continual theme/claim as presented to me, but ultimately I, 3) simply wouldn't know, and 4) find it fundamentally irrelevant for the purposes of the RLRA debate...an equally strong argument can and has been made to me that vested interests re the Lakes Plaza have been driving the RLRA for their own personal gains...whatevs, the RLRA ain't nuthin' but a Thang, a very real Thang... 

Thusly proven, the RLRA immediately broadens into multiple discussions about how Council has corruptly pursued this agenda, eg, refusing to allow anything to be established on that site that might compromise this agenda, eg, refusing to put the Lady Nelson Bus Terminal there in the most obvious, most central location, in a renovated Old Rail Station, and so it's stuck out in the middle of bloody nowhere on Jubilee Hwy instead, etc, etc...the Old Station itself is clearly right in the way of the RLRA, and Council's deeply and wholly deceitful conduct re this building is in itself a whole post if not several, and segues directly into the discussion about 'Pop-ups Propaganda' as Council tries to mask their genuine motivations and those resultant deceits and machinations re this iconic old building...

But just to prove they're not complete idiots, Council had/have the nouse/smarts/whatevs to include the Old Rail Station as part of these February 2006 plans and in any other plans presented, eg, the November 2011 $10million Parklands Concept Plan launch, because Council knew/know that flagging the imminent demolition of the iconic, classic building would immediately generate unwanted and very negative attention as people rallied to save it...much simpler, safer, and less disruptive to just disingenuously include the doomed building in any drafts/plans and bulldoze it laters as required, preferrably late at night...think I'm joking?...

Alone, Council's own inactions and associated rank deceits re that building, should see the lot of them sacked and dragged before a public Inquiry...Mt Gambier City Council has spent over $5m on the Rail Lands site thus far, and what should have been the first project, renovating the Old Station, isn't even on the horizon...hilariously, works re 'renovating the Station' were moved by Council (in late 2014/early 2015) into the suddenly appearing 'Stage 4', a 'Stage' which hadn't previously existed until suddenly raised at a Council meeting, and which now appears to have disappeared with equal ferocity, that is without a whimper let alone a bang...dare I claim it, a disappearance/withdrawal directly linked to this 'ere blog and the thorough kickin' that 'Stage 4' received here-in...

Council continues to steadfastly refuse/block any development in/re the Old Station, flat-out lying about their plans/actions for the building, and now trying to hide this critical part of the broader RLRA agenda and these associated deceits, hide it all behind these farcical 'Pop-ups'...more on this tomorrow...getting way ahead of myself, so let's back it up a l'íl bit...    

2)  back in late 2004/early 2005 the Labor state government 'gifted' the large, central Rail Lands site to the MGCC, as covered by this full-page statement from Council's 2004/2005 Year Book thingy...it very clearly defines the issues of 'the Deed', and 'the Easement', and Council's therefore Ratepayers responsibilities re replacement costs for any 'removed infrastructure', etc...this one document, from Council's own publication, proves irrefutably the raft of rank lies that Council have repeatedly rammed-down the throats of those very Ratepayers whom have unavoidably been lumbered with multiple financial burdens because of Council's deeply corrupted and deceitful behaviour re this project/site, eg, 1) the costs of 'infrastructure replacement', 2) repayment of the $2million borrowed as part of the ludicrous 2013/14 Budget, 3) costs hidden in other parts/departments of the Council Budget, eg, the multiple drainage re-workings of the Bay Rd/Eastern end, re-workings delicately hacked through $200,000 of rolled turf, and work done not by the contractors who originally plowed-up/rooted-up the site, but by Council teams of tractors, trucks, truckie-trailers, and costing mucho mucho deniro no doubt...

It is an irrefutable reality that Council has, over many years, repeatedly stated that delays in any works on the site were due to confusion about and/or unresolved issues with 'the Deed', and/or 'the Easement', and/or replacement of infrastructure 'Contamination', etc, constantly rotating from one issue, through the others, back to the first, etc, etc, over and over, round and round, literally dozens of times across nearly a decade, and not infrequently on the front page of The Border Watch, and every single time it was a lie...and every single time Council knew it was being deceitful...please also note the time-frame of 'public consultation' starting in July 2005...having proved these two fundamental realities re the Rail Lands Retail Agenda, and just to break it up a bit, keep it fresh, keep it happenin', I'm just going to randomly jump to... 

In recent years I've tried to follow and learn a bit about American politics, but it's still a bit of a dog's breakfast to me, and even the 'experts' tend to contradict each other and/or say that it's largely unintelligible to them as well...but I do know one thing, I know a bully when I see one, and right now on my líl telly I'm lookin' at a vain, arrogant, flat-wicket bully, trying with some success to dress-up his privileged arrogance as some sort of qualification for preferred governance...and you know who I'm talkin' about...elsewhere, just last night I was trying to follow some stuff about the Iowa Caucuses, being explained in a relatively basic way, and whilst I reckon I got the jist of it, don't expect some witty essay about it anywhere near this 'ere blog...(I never do-Ed)...oh, you're back...(I never left-Ed)...just you've been very quiet, thought you might still be sulking after the last post and all that stuff about you being not a real person but actually a "confected literary device"...(I know exactly what I am, it's not me that you need to explain yourself to-Ed)...fair enough, and because I have been asked about this too, again...

There's No Ed In There:...'cos I swear, there is no such person as 'Ed'...(ya' cut me deep, Nick, ya' cut me deep-Ed)...indeed, I also write all of your stuff, deliver your lines, and clean-up behind you, because you my friend, don't exist...(in reality-Ed)...in reality...whilst I do often adapt stuff from conversations with others, and/or address others opinions/views/allegations/whatevs, when it comes to churning-out this 'ere blog, it's just l'íl ol' me, just me...the term 'confected literary device' is a self-mocking description of what's happening with the use of 'Ed', because 'he' is a frothy delight of no genuine substance...(a bit like that fairy-floss stuff, only I rot your mind, not your teeth-Ed)...exactly...I stumbled into using 'Ed' in some early posts...(I feel so used-Ed)...and 'he' has proven very effective in the roles assigned 'him', intelligently tabling contrasting opinions, being accountably questioning, wittily setting-up jokes, etc...(well that's more like it-Ed)...

I genuinely appreciate the genuine praise I've received for 'Ed'...several people have asked 'who is?', have been shocked that it's just me, and have commented on the 'cleverness' and the execution of the idea and the writing, etc...cheers, but honestly, 'Ed' originally happened by accident...I also truly embrace how difficult it is to write this 'ere blog just at the moment, because, as bizarre as it sounds, I've just had the best year since the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up first erupted in June 2002, but for every high there will be a low, and some days all it's done is really highlight for me how bad I've been for so many years...and those right there are some very long days indeed...cheers too for the other support for my efforts re the blog in general...

Tomorrow: Why The Adelaide Oval Is Such A Sick Joke

And of course I re-refer to the use of 'Pop-up Propaganda' at both the Rail Lands and the Adelaide Oval, 'PuP' being the costly shenanigans organised and run at these 'venues' in vain attempts to justify their 're-development' ...upon reflection, I'm going to set-up 'side blogs' committed to single issues, and a perfect case study is the RLRA and it's many manifestations...gunna' have to get some help with that, but it will help reduce the need for this constant re-explanation across many posts...and having said that, I may have to do both because the RLRA and it's devastating impact continue to play-out...so we may not get to the Oval tomorrow after all...sorry...

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