And haven't Council been working hard to shove their version of reality down people's throats re the Rail Lands...(with the unwavering support of The Border Watch, ABC Mt Gambier, etc-Ed)...yeah yeah, all the usual suspects...just today, TBW is yet again full of stories about the Rail Lands, stories that glaze over the realities of Council's conduct re the multiple issues of gross mismanagement of the project, the chopping and changing about what's being done, eg, the magical 'Stage 4' that suddenly appeared in a Council meeting, and supposedly included the Sound Shell, access to Margaret St, and of course, work on the Old Rail Station, only to suddenly disappear again...and the flooding, and cost of remediation of that, etc, etc...it's a farcical disaster, and there's no denying it!...
And I'll say it as said to me, 'there ain't not nuthin' what's been done on that site that ain't directly a result of yous (me) and your (my) relentless floggin' of this issue/Council, etc, etc' (paraphrase)...and I partially agree, but to me it's clearly merely just yet another opportunity for a rankly corrupt Council to pour/rort Ratepayers' money straight into the personal pockets of Councillors', their families, and their mates!...(yeah, fair enough, but what if one drove the other? if the need to address the growing community criticism you stirred-up forced Council's hand, and then they've set-up the Pocketting Plan for themselves and their mates!-Ed)...possible I s'pose, but beyond all that it's fundamentally still about using Ratepayers' money to prepare that site for the huge expansion of the Lakes Plaza...(oh absolutely, and getting as much of that money into each others' pockets as humanly possible-Ed)...
Oh, and I don't apologise for not getting to a daily post yet, because I've had a ton of familial stuff to deal with, including multiple visitationings, and another 24-36hr Crash-N'-Burn Narcolepsy...(and Court of course, that's gotta' suck it outta' ya' a bit'?-Ed)...well indeed...(I mean, victoriously debating Constitutional Law against the Court itself and SAPol (police) Prosecutions, that's a fair effort, but one that comes at a fair cost-Ed)...yes, all-in-all a bunch of very strange days indeed and another week's gone, just like that...("strange"? you idiot...that "strange" is what normal people call 'happy'-Ed)...mmm, no, sorry, not with you...(orrr you're hilarious...and while we're on the subject, that other "strange" feeling? that's self-respect-Ed)...what? that weird momentary twinge I had Tuesday arvo just after Court...(yeah, that's the one-Ed)...I'll have to take your word for it...
Anyhoos, on WIN TV it was reported that MGCC is considering a 'Commercial' option/developer for the iconic Old Rail Station building...(that horribly run-down, Asbestos riddled mess of an iconic old building on the Rail Lands site?-Ed)...yep...(that broken hulk of a building that looms definitively over the farcical $5million Rail Lands 're-development'?-Ed)...yeah yeah, we all know what building we're talking about, but I'll call you on the hyperbole because it's my understanding that the building is structurally very sound, it's the deliberate lack of maintenance, etc, that deliberately make it look so bad, and the asbestos issues can/will be easily addressed when the building is appropriately renovated...(which is never, 'cos, and you said it yourself, it's right in the way of the massive expansion of the Lakes Plaza shopping centre planned by Council as per the RLRA-Ed)...alright clever clogs, yes, the RLRA means the Old Station's doomed...
I ain't the only person in this town who thinks that the Old Station has a very precarious possibly limited future and may well go the way of the old Roundhouse building just up the tracks aways, another iconic building, and one that unfortunately burnt down not that long ago...is this iconic Old Station building insured for 'Rebuild Cost', 'Replacement Cost', or just 'Cash To Council'?...(is it insured at all?-Ed)...indeed, I'd suggest insurance is a critical issue to be examined...is Council pushing to sell this cheaply to a mate using the faux-justification that there was no other interest? and why do Council continue to lie about their plan for Commercial/Retail development of the site?...a plan confirmed by this TBW article from March 2006...
Not my story, not my plan, not my imagination...(I am-Ed)...shhh...as reported in 2006 re the 30 page proposal/plan, "...two plans proposing somewhere between 9000 and 12,000 square metres of commercial development..."...that right there's the Rail Lands Retail Agenda...
(Mate, there's a very small, very vague item in today's TBW re this alleged consideration/approach-Ed)...indeed, very vague and can't help wondering if this isn't yet another Psuedo-Tender Process as per the Old Gaol, the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter, the Main Corner 'leasing', the Old Hospital Demolition, the Rail Lands, etc, etc...(what about the SERDE building sale to Billy DeGaris?-Ed)...classic example Ed, cheers...just flap about pretending to do a genuine Tender Process, and then just give it to a mate, mate...(maaate...hang on, back it up a bit, I thought that Council had repeatedly stated that when they did 'extensive public consultation'/'expressions of interest'/'whatevs' re the Old Rail Station, that there'd been no interest from anyone?-Ed)...indeed they did Ed, and as put to me from/by multiple sources, that's an absolute lie because there have been multiple approaches/applications re utilising the classic Old Rail Station building...(so just yet another lie in a litany of gross deceits of the Mt Gambier community by Mount Gambier City Council as Council, their family members, and/or and their vested interest mates continue to pursue their decade-old and clearly disastrous RLRA?-Ed)...terrific statement question Ed, to which I respond, yes...
And then when outed on that lie, Council tried to change horses mid-stream saying that they were dumping the 'lease' idea, and instead going for this 'Pop-ups' shizzle to 'activate the site'...(oh gourd-Ed)...and now we're back to 'there's been an approach about commercial usage'...(dude, you're right, this looks exactly like the bloody Old Gaol Tender corruption all over again, and the Lady Nelson Bus Shelter location debasco and Tender corruption, 2 major 'corruptions' in one project, and the Old Hospital Demolition corruption, and the extraordinary corruption evident in the Main Corner and Rail Lands projects, in fact, the corruption evident in pretty much everything this rankly corrupt Council does-Ed)...what can I say Ed, when you're right you're right...
And if all that weren't bad enough, there's this karaoke thing at 'The Rail' tonight...(mate, I thought you weren't going to get stuck into anything like this because of the 'Greater Good' agenda stuff you've got goin' on, and this is after all a Leukemia Foundation fundraiser-Ed)...I know what it is Ed, I know exactly what it is, unfortunately I know exactly what's going on here, and it's deeply, deeply depressing when my anger and cynicism and personal loathing for the way that Mt Gambier City Council conducts itself, when all of that can't keep up with the reality of the cynical manipulations of this corrupt Council...you people are a bloody disgrace...(geez, I'd really like to disagree with that outrageous claim, but I've read ahead, and dude, now I'm as sad about this shizzle as you are...I mean, just how low can this Council go?-Ed)...well, at least as low as their collective complicity re the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...(fair enough-Ed)...
As a Cancer survivor (twice) I am absolutely rabid about how these deeply corrupted Council-founded machinations have insinuated themselves upon such a serious issue...to try and hijack Cancer fundraisers is truly sickening...no-one would be surprised to read me say that 'survivor guilt' has been a big part of my existence since 2004/05 when 8 months of Chemo and a month of Radiotherapy 'killed' a massive 16cm x 12cm Lymphoma tumour right in the centre of my chest, a huge tumour that I had no right to survive, and that this 'guilt'...(amongst other guilts, eg, that sense of having failed your own child and all kids at St Martins, etc-Ed)...indeed, one amongst layers of guilt that collectively has driven me to pursue where others will not, and with a commitment that others cannot or will not...(yeah yeah, I'm pickin' up on that-Ed)...and it's been unquestionably a big part of starting and continuing with this 'ere blog...
I am technically a Leukemia survivor in that Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma is a 'blood Cancer' and is included in the Cancers covered/dealt with by the Leukemia Foundation, and I/my family have regularly donated to the Leukemia Foundation...I was shocked to hear that the Leukemia Foundation had opened an office here in Mt Gambier...(particularly when everyone else is closing/leaving/left/whatevs, and the much bigger Cancer Council doesn't even have an office here-Ed)...well exactly...I was stunned but not surprised to learn that Sam Rothall was employed to run this office...(oh dear-Ed)...and was immediately thinking that this is just more jobs-for mates in the same vein as Biddie Tietz (Shearing) being appointed to the Regional Development Australia Tourism gig, and several similar local 'appointments'...but I was truly furious when I saw where this was all headed...
This karaoke event is a continuation of the 'Pop-ups Propaganda Agenda', namely, forcing events onto the Rail Lands site to try and justify it, and do so by sickeningly, cynically utilising the delicate and emotive issue of Cancer...it's a bloody disgrace...how much has this nasty stunt cost Ratepayers? and how much of what's raised goes toward the costs and wages re this office? and all in the name of trying to justify the embarrassing, corruption-riddled joke that is the Rail Lands...get down there and have a good hard look at exactly what $5million doesn't buy, eg, cover from the weather be it hot/cold/windy/wet/whatevs, more than 2 toilets, a Sound Shell, a renovated Station, etc...(safe, code-standard pool fencing for the $700,000 Death Pit of Stupidity, that 6ft deep 'drainage pond' thingy-Ed)...indeed...and now yet more Ratepayers' money is being burned as Council crassly forces events onto that site to try and justify the shonky works they have actually done...(palm trees? really?!-Ed)...I know, I know...
Can't tell you how sick I am of seeing the same names bob-up in almost everything Council-related, and one of those names is 'Rothall'...(I think you just did mate-Ed)...oh yeah, hmmm...anyhoos, almost everything and/or many of the other very odd Shenanigans that have been covered in this 'ere blog...(I believe you mate-Ed)...believe me, don't believe me, whatevs, I'm irrelevant to the debate because there is no debate because it's the undeniable reality that y'all can look-up for y'allselves. not least of all throughout this 'ere blog...but here's a quick guide...that bizarre debasco (a debacle tail-ending a fiasco, at velocity) with the housing (15 homes) in Harrald St that was meant to be Public Housing, or at least partly, but was reported in TBW as fact as being the 'un-official campus' for 45 students from the James Morrison Jazz Academy, etc, etc...(your joking, right?-Ed)...nope, SMB Civil were involved, that's a Rothall business...(strewth-Ed)...strewth indeed...and when that whole thing went ballistically pear-shaped, I get blamed for pointing at it just moments before it all falls over!...and even after I say that I don't know what the shreck's goin' on...all I did was point at it!...gourd knows...
And then there's the Main Corner contract...Councillor Des Muttons' son Lachlan (Sorrentos) was the original Leasee...(wow, there's some amazing corruption right there mate!-Ed)...what? amazing that Council would spend over $12million of Ratepayers money on the needless development of a Commercial Function Facility complete with $1m commercial kitchen, then accept the then Mayor, now Councillor Steve Perryman, and Councillor Des Mutton's son as the only 2 Tenders for running this Ratepayer-funded facility? how is that surprising from this corrupt body?...and then Council gave Mutton Jnr free rent if you don't mind, and eventually a 'peppercorn lease'...the basic reality is that Ratepayers fund that 'lease' because all of the running costs associated with the Main Corner 'Lease' are paid by Ratepayers, eg, utilities, with minimal return nowhere near the costs...that 'lease' was then transferred directly to Sam Rothall at a 'closed' Council meeting in November 2012...SMB Civil were apparently also involved with the Rail Lands...and now this...
I am rabid that the same small group of Councillors and their mates and the other vested interests continue to network each other into these positions/facilities/Tenders/whatevs...the same names over and over...and in this case, this sickly cynical manipulation of Cancer as a vehicle for this Council agenda of forcing 'events' onto the Rail Lands, it leaves me just apoplectically sad, just disappointed and depressed beyond anger...pare-back the layers of emotive manipulation and follow the dots my friends, follow them back to whence they came and see for yourselves the truth of what I'm saying re the fundamental motivations and related machinations re this karaoke thingy...
I unreservedly apologise to Ms Louise Adams that 1) I've even mentioned her at all on this 'ere apparently "notorious" blog, and 2) that she has been dragged into this nasty, twisted, corrupt manipulation of such an important and emotive issue as Cancer...(but that's why they've gone with the Cancer stuff, to punch people's emotive buttons-Ed)...absolutely Ed, and I'd vehemently argue that Ms Adams wouldn't have the faintest idea of the deeper realities, why would she? and that she has exactly the right intent and motivation, genuine motive and intent and generosity of spirit, and it's her celebrity and her genuosity that others seek to misappropriate for their own deeply cynical and twisted ends...(dude! bring the heavy vibes man, why don't you-Ed)...I know mate, I know...(but I do like "genuosity", which I'm assuming means 'genuine generosity of spirit'-Ed)...intuitively and correctly assumed Ed, well done...
Genuosity:...even an average musician's forgotten more about music than I'll ever know, and I didn't watch X Factor (further apologies to Ms Adams) so's I've not actually seen her perform other than ad-grabs re the show (sorry again Ms A), but I don't need to see nuthin' more than I have to say unequivocally that Ms Adams don't need no-ones' help to achieve what her own hard work has self-evidently provided, namely genuine talent, talent and a sense of a person with genuosity...and kudos too to her husband that he face-nuded to help raise funds the other night re a family with a very ill young child...again, this is genuosity...("face-nuded"?-Ed)...yeah, shaved his 'Ned Kellyish' beard off...(right, wow, that's a lotta' beard-Ed)...indeed...purely per chance, I was in that pub that night, having a familial pig-out, got the fundraiser raffle tickets to prove it, and I chose to not impose myself because of the very agenda identified above, 'Greater Good'...(well there's a time and a place, and that clearly ain't it-Ed)...exactly, and exactly why I won't be going anywhere near the karaoke thingy...(I should hope not-Ed)...
As a Lymphoma survivor whom had to shave-off a self-shedding head of 2ft long hair after mucho Chemo in August 2004, this whole hair-cutting/head-shaving/face-nuding gig leaves me feeling mildly depressed, ya' know? as one who had to go The Chop after CHOP (the treatment regime I had) in an empty attempt to pre-empt and circumvent The Drop, I do feel a bit like, 'why lose it if yous don't have to?'...beyond that, even if I find it mildly confronting, one always genuinely appreciates what others genuinely do try to help when/how/where they can...cheers y'all...it is this, the genuosity of The Most, that really gets me riled re the crassly corrupted agenda of The Few as at play here...it's a bloody disgrace...
In closing, the Greens Senator Scott Ludlum was just on the ABC/BBC World Service calling for a national Independent Commission Against Corruption...(what difference would it make?-Ed)...another excellent statement question Ed, geez you're gettin' good at this...(cheers-Ed)...
Tomorrow: More Rail Lands Propaganda Means More Rail Lands Posts
My Name Is Nick, Rhymes With...:...and federal Labor Opposition leader Bill Shorten's name is William Richard Shorten...(and hence Willy 'Won't 'E' 'Tricky' Dicky Shorten-Ed)...daheyyy!!! that's my joke!...(yes it is, said the confected literary device that I am-Ed)...ok ok, we're not getting into that again...(I believe you already have-Ed)...no, this is just a dreadful lead-in to an apology 'cos I apparently got it wrong when referencing 'the Dead Joke Zone', which is supposed to be a homage of/to The Young Ones (BBC TV) where-in it actually says 'the young man Rick runs off the joke into the Dead Laugh Area'...but no apologies for 'Ed' who is just me trying to write in an engaging and self-questioning way without just listing-off pros and cons, etc...
My name is Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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