Parking fine but driving bumpier
The Brisbane City Council’s Cr Sarah Hutton has been boasting recently of the number of parking fines handed out in areas like Fortitude Valley following the recent roll out of high-tech cameras with almost 5000 drivers pinged.
Anyone photographed stopping on a yellow line, in a bus zone or in a signed no stopping zone is fined $333 while stopping in a clearway attracts a $500 ticket.
“We started off with the trial, and we have expanded it now to 41 locations. The focus is really around keeping our city moving,” Cr Hutton said.
Here’s a thought. How about spending the money being raked in from parking fines on repairing our roads.
According to Lord Mayor Schrinner’s latest financial statement an extra 2600 potholes were repaired in the September quarter.
Should the lord mayor care to take a drive around Newstead, Teneriffe and New Farm – crash, bang, thunk! – he would quickly appreciate that his busy little team of road repairers appear to have missed a few.
Flight noise campaign catches a tailwind
Residents will be taking more than passing interest in a trial being conducted by Brisbane Airport and Airservices which will see aircraft directed over the water when the tailwind is 10 knots or less instead of the 5-knot rule currently in place.
The trial will run for six months from 10pm to 6am and will apply only to departures, but may be expanded to include arrivals.
The catch is that individual pilots have to agree and may elect to refuse an overwater departure with Australian and International Pilots Association safety and technical director Steve Cornell questioning how many pilots would consent to the new limit.
Interestingly enough, aircraft operated at Brisbane airport with a 10-knot tailwind allowance up until 2016.
New stores for Newstead
It’s not often that your columnist finds himself applauding more development in the neighbourhood but the sooner Kevin Seymour’s proposal to include Coles and Harris Farm supermarkets at his Breakfast Creek Road site comes to fruition the better.
I’m not endorsing the move to increase the apartment towers from 15 to 33 storeys but the district desperately needs a new supermarket as the thousands of shoppers who regularly encounter empty shelves at the Woolworths Gasworks outlet can attest.
Community support for Men’s Shed
Heartfelt thanks to all those who answered the call for any unwanted power or hand tools made in this column last month on behalf of the newly formed New Farm and District Men’s Shed Inc now meeting in the old Ferryman’s Shed at 29 Macquarie Street, Teneriffe.
The response was overwhelming and a fine example of our neighbourhood’s community spirit. If you would like to contact the group, Paul is your man. Tel: 3358 2481.
“Legacy” done to death
As the year draws to a close, I can announce that the winner of the Most Overused And Abused Word for 2025 is “legacy”.
No politician or Very Important Person can mention the 2032 Olympics without invoking the wondrous legacy that will be delivered to us courtesy of this sportsfest. Given the current rate of progress the only legacy is likely to be a large hole in the ground and an impressive pile of media releases with a trimmed down Olympics limited to a foot race from the Story Bridge Hotel to the Breakfast Creek Hotel with the winner getting a stubby of XXXX Gold and a free steak and salad.
