Wow...howdy again dear availees...it's now Wednesday 20th December 2023, but it was roughly 1130hrs Tuesday 12th when I last had a go at this post, and a coupla' weeks since I actually started it, etc etc...and it's more than 3 months since the last TMGI post...by way of explanation but sans apology, I went to do that specific post, the one explaining some of the details in the 4 previous TMGI posts about my ICAC Inquiry Testimony, yeah?...and it was like running into a wall...didn't get 2 paragraphs into it and was thinking 'what can I do/say/write that will further explain and/or ultimately resolve that which is already so clearly obvious?'...and soon followed by the cascading realities as they apply to various other specific issues...and that, physically and mentally, it's quite actually like going over the falls...six months I 'took off' away from this 'ere blog, come back for a coupla' posts, and in a matter of moments it's all gone to heck-in-a-handbasket...and 3 months later, here we are...again...
So I've done what I can to make this post at least vaguely coherent, and should any new availee who isn't immediately understanding what exactly are The Issues I refer to, please indulge me with your time by going back and reading any 6-8 random TMGI posts...beyond that, I literally don't know what to say, still don't know what to say about the 20 years of harsh realities presented across a decade of TMGI...unresolved realities...realities that everyone knows...what exactly am I supposed to do with 20 years of unresolved realities that virtually everyone knows but are too corrupt/selfish/weak to even engage with let-alone act to resolve?...and so, apparently, I do this...
Howdy dear availees and welcome to TMGI...2023 has been a big year for the Hastings Cunningham Reserve Dog Parks...(Woof Woof Woof-An Actual Dog)...I concur sir, there's a good boy...there's a big dog park area and an adjacent small dog area, and back in February there was great concern amongst both parks' users 'cos Mt Gambier City Council had scheduled a 'Closed to Public' meeting titled Update Hastings Cunningham Reserve Area and Public Housing...not gunna' re-hash all a' that, there's plenty about it already on this 'ere blog...(and 5-6 more posts stuck in Drafts-Ed)...where they're likely to remain at this rate...it is not unreasonable, unrealistic or irresponsible to suggest that MGCC's very poor conduct re this 'HCR/Dog Park/Secret Meeting' stuff is one of several main issues that has precipitated the re-formation of the Mt Gambier Residents and Ratepayers Association...(and a good thing too, hurrah!-Ed)...as y'all are aware, I had a bittuva' go at the HCR/Public Housing thing on Facebook and this 'ere blog, and was roundly abused for my efforts, not least-of-all in/by The Border Watch...cheers for that...
So, despite allll of that, here we are again...again...I'm just gunna' churn-out a coupla' posts about this HCR/Dog Park/Wulanda stuff...(what the shreck's Wulanda got to do with it?-Ed)...a Council desperately trying to finance the massive overspend and accrued massive debt? debt far beyond Council's ability to adequately finance let-alone actually repay?...(fair enough, but I don't understand how they're still operating if they're allegedly so far in debt-Ed)...no-one does, no-one understands...(so the same as the secretive bizarre management/lease for Wulanda?-Ed)...exactly, because it seems like the answer to this and so many other bewildering actions and subsequent baffling questions, is simply that it's because they're a Council...
As I understand it, in it's most basic form, it is essentially because they're a Council and not a business...and not least-of-all, 1) this gifts Councils extra means of borrowing, eg, the relevant State/Local Government borrowing authority, and 2) Councils are allowed massively unrealistic debt ceilings...(ceilings so high they're more like clear blue sky?-Ed)...go on, say it...(like the ceiling over Mt Gambier's 50m pool?-Ed)...and if you dare do a joke about...(I call it Blue Sky Thinking-Ed)...ooo...(yeah, Blue Sky Thinking - The Ceiling Ain't The Limit-Ed)...oh boy...(no no, Blue Sky Thinking - What's Debt Got To Do With It?-Ed)...good gourd, this could take a while..(no, wait, Blue Sky Thinking For A Rainy Day-Ed)...Blue Sky Thinking For Dummies?...(that's the spirit-Ed)...Blue Sky 'WTF Were They' Thinking...(ding ding ding, ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner-Ed)...okay okay, enough buffoonery, just get on with it...(after you sir-Ed)...this is gunna' take a coupla' posts, so's firstly here's a quick synopsis of a li'l story we like to call, 'The Sagger of Dog Park'...(ummm, don't you mean 'Saga'?-Ed)...sorry what?...(the 'Saga', don't you mean 'The Saga'?-Ed)...oh right, yes, of course, silly me, 'The Saga of The Sagger Of Dog Park'...(no no, I meant the 'Sagger' bit should...it's 'Saga' not...never mind-Ed)...
Are we sitting comfortably?...right, MGCC installed perma-pine post/canvas shade-sails in both dog parks (big/small), apparently some time after the original parks were opened ie initially there were no shelters at all...the small park sail was small enough and taut enough to shed water, but the big park sail was not installed correctly and would fill with rain and slump-down...this made everybody very sad...someone, not me, definitely not me, but someone had already cut a drain hole in the centre of the canvas when I started using dog park 4 years ago...(it's been patched with tape several times but nothing's stuck and/or someone's peeled it back and/or cut a second hole to release the gathering water-Ed)...indeed, and open to the South, this meagre sail provided no shelter if there was any wind at all...and this also made everybody very sad...in mid-April 2023 Council removed the big park sail, patched it 'professionally', then replaced it in late May...can anybody have a wild guess what happened?...(OOO OOO Me Me-Ed)...yes, well, you already know, so, that's not a guess is it?...(Orghhhhh-Ed)...look, tell ya' what, how's about you be wild about what it is that you already know, and the others can have a guess, yeah?...(oh, I s'pose so-Ed)...good fella'...(we guess that it immediately rained, the 'repaired' sail filled with water, and that the weight of water tore the sail loose or ripped it apart-Others)...oh you've done this before...(a coupla' times, yeah-Others)...super and anyhoos, please to be enjoyin' the mythical panoramic majesty that is:
The Hanging Lake of Dog Park...(knew it!-Others)
Followed by a collaboration between anonymous guerilla artist The Bleedin' Obvious and DJ Inevitable Outcomes, an installation piece titled:
'Shelter Reclining, Orange Bunting'
(Ah, so close, we got the 'fills with rain' bit, but we didn't pick 'post snaps'-Others)...no no, you've done very well, please accept these chocolates...(cheers-Others)...for scale...(ooo, Cherry Liqueur, very nice-Others)...I said, for scale, in the first photo that sail would normally be at least a foot over my head, but filled with several hundred litres of rainwater that's sagged to just below shoulder height...note the post to the right already leaning in, it was previously vertical, and that one at the left rear, hard to see, but that's actually bowed-in 3-4 inches and has a vertical split developing...I know just enough about physics to know there's equations that calculate just exactly how much 'potential energy' is stored in that structure...it'll be something about the volume of water equates to kilos/mass; then it's about the tension/strength of various stress points, eg, stitches/metal couplings; the strength of all the materials; the directions the strain/weight/force is being applied, eg, through into the poles, etc etc...
Bottomline, there's literally a metric shreck-tonne of energy stored in that, and it's gunna' give somewhere...I took one look at it and knew that it was gunna' blow apart in some way, but hoped the sail would just rip...I was most concerned that a post would snap, potentially spraying timber shards/splinters through the park/s...turns out it would be enough weight/force/energy to snap that pole clean-off at the ground...that was a perfectly fine 8-10inch diameter post, not rotted or anything, a solid post snapped clean-off...(and isn't bunting a wonderful word-Ed)...apropos of what exactly?...(I just think it's a great word and we should use it more often in conversation-Ed)...how for example?...(well, for example, someone asks, "What's Council done to fix that hazard/fault?", and you could reply, "I dunno', some bunting thing"-Ed).........mmm, you been working on that one for a while have you?...(no, not particularly-Ed)...but we digress...Yes,
shazzam, 'twer I what done call Council on Sunday 28th May 2023 about this (top
photo) and they sent round a contractor to whack-up some star-droppers
and lovely orange bunting...as stated, MGCC removed that sail in
April, re-placed it 'repaired' on Thursday 25th or Friday 26th May,
it rained a bit that Saturday, and kalamazoo, what had always
happened and was always gunna' happen again, happened...again...(ahhh
indeed young Master Nick, for 'tis truly the wonder of our times that
so many, many wise heads looked at that shambolic clusterfuck and said, yes,
let's do that-Ed)...oo you are naughty, but I don't think it's fair
to have a crack at the tradies though, they're generally just doin' what
they're told...(fair call, but when 'they', being specifically Mt
Gambier City Council staff and/or contractors trash the joint and leave
it looking like an abandoned building site, then they should quite
rightly be castigated for it-Ed)...indeed, their latest effort is appalling, both parks have been left an atrocious and potentially dangerous mess...but we're getting ahead of ourselves...
And since The Big Recline in May, up until last Monday 4th/Tuesday 5th December, it's looked like this:
Yes folks, this is how much shelter big park users had for the Winter of '23...(isn't that The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down? no? sorry, I was wondering why yous lot were always huddled under a tree or something instead of using the shelter, huh, there wasn't one-Ed)...so knowing full-well that park users were standing there in the pissing rain, Council has taken over 6 months to replace this, and then have eventually actually replaced both shelters...and that has been handled with Councils' usual grace and efficiency, eg, trashing dog park, as we will cover in the next coupla' posts...(do I want to know what Council has replaced it with-Ed)...the exact
same shade sail...(the exact same sail that filled with water and
snapped the post off?-Ed)...yep, actually the same piece of canvas,
including the original holes/patches...(so let me see if if I've got this right, Council has supposedly done it's 'Public Consultation', and has been told very specifically of the history, and very specifically asked to not repeat that error, and by various people, upto and including you-Ed)...upto and including by me, yes...(and including all the stuff that MGCC has been notified of in writing, and again, by various peeps upto and including you-Ed)...and again, correct...(and then Council has taken all of that and done exactly what it was asked not to do, albeit with metal poles this time?-Ed)...and trashed the joint in the process...
And right there, just within that one specific 'shelter issue', within the broader dog park issue, within the even broader Dog and Cat Management fiasco currently playing-out...it's literally a storm-in-a-teacup, but even then it is fundamentally definitive of how Mt Gambier City Council function...(dysfunction more like it, aha aha-Ed)...just for context, see this photo below, that's a section of path that many park users never knew existed 'cos the sandpit to the right had moved slowly down-slope to cover this whole section, and far across to the left there...I figured this out simply having walked the path around the park and noted the obstacles in the centre of said path, and similar obstacles/seating sticking outta' the sand, etc...and I looked at it and thought 'we need sand along the fence and there's all this sand covering the paths'...so aways back in March another gentleman and I brought our wheelbarrows and shovels, and he started aways up by that vaulting horse thingy and worked this-a-way, and I started just past where that plank was disappearing into the sand, and worked around to just out of shot on the right...I did the LargeAngryHippys' share but between us both it took maybe 90mins and we cleared the entire section...(and put the sand along the fence line to cover the dangerous hard gravel/limestone composite Council placed along there 3 years ago-Ed)...as I mentioned, and on which dogs were hurting their feet, yes...(which Council also knew about-Ed)...yes they did..(and not least of all 'cos you wrote to them back in January-Ed)...yes, yes I did...
Note: Some photos have been supplied to the Mt Gambier Residents and Ratepayers Association along with my permission to
reproduce/publish should they wish to do so...and now, in closing, some random words I've made-up...
Discgusstion: A discussion about a topic of and/or that invokes disgust and/or is of itself disgusting.
Discgusstation: A media outlet that deals solely in 'discgusstion' for ratings (usually very Right Wing).
Well coo-shreckin'-eee, that's more than enough for one post, so's, until...(can we do my Wall joke now?-Ed)...your what?...(my Wall joke that you wouldn't let me do when you were havin' a sook there at the start-Ed)...ah cheers, way to be supportive...(ah come on, you know what I mean, pleeeeease-Ed) ...urgh okay, if we must...(......-Ed)......(you have to start, remember?-Ed)...right, ummm Language Warning, ummm boo hoo, it's like running into a fucking wall...(you mean one with lotsa' glory holes?-Ed).........are we done now?...(well I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm, but sure, that's the joke-Ed)...great, End Language Warning, now let's get this puppy to bed, so's papa can have his supper...
Tomorrow: More Dog Park Minutiae
Yes dear availees, we're gunna' gorge ourselves stupid on the litany of deceits, failures and outright lies that define MGCCs' appalling handling of issues with the HCR Dog Parks...and we're gunna' do that for the obvious reasons, ie, as mentioned before, whilst dog park stuff is relatively minor and mundane in the pantheon of Council responsibilities, it's the way that literally every issue has been so grossly mis-handled and ballooned into problems and then into conflicts, and the levels of deception/deceit/dishonesty that MGCC is prepared, nay seemingly compelled to commit when conducting their business...('Our' business sir-Ed)...I stand corrected, thankyou Ed, 'Our' business...
And I Say Ours:...for whilst this 'ere blog and it's contents are solely my opinion/domain/responsibility...(slash ravings of a three-lipped nit-Ed)...when we discuss MGCC and what it does and/or does not do, the diddly-dollaroos they're dollin'-out, that's Ours...(and that building there, that's Ours-Ed)...indeed it is...(and that there, that was Ours, until Council sold it-Ed)...yeah okay, thankyou, fair enough, the point being is that, whatevs the configuration of elected and/or employed peeps, they work for us, they are in 'Our' employ...(and that there sir, that bizarre monstrosity, that's ours-Ed)...ooo is it though? I'd reckon that a range of debtors own that right now...(and for decades to come?-Ed)...well, given there is no apparent business model being applied...unless of course you count the bizarre 'agreement' which has somehow/allegedly been applied, but that has been locked-away behind various 'Commercial Confidentiality' clauses so no-one's got no shreckin' idea what the shreck that even is!...(please, allow me to help you with that-Ed)...why thankyou...(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!-Ed)...ah good, I feel so much better...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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