Fresh hope
Another year dawns and with it comes fresh hope. Will this be the year in which our elected leaders listen to our entreaties to consider the interests of all parties when deliberating those issues that impact on our quality of life? We will see.
In the spirit of the New Year and not wishing to begin it with a harangue, I will refrain from criticising the Brisbane City Council for its continued policy of allowing developers to close off footpaths in some cases for years as in construction of Mirvac’s gaol-like structure in Skyring Terrace, known colloquially as Pentridge Towers, nor utter a word in anger at the practice of allowing them to take over dozens of parking spaces 24 hours a day seven days a week for however long they like in a neighbourhood where street parking is at an absolute premium.
I will refrain from doing so but it won’t be easy.
Brisbane top 10!
Brisbane has done it again with the River City being ranked in among the top 10 cities in the world.
Unfortunately this ranking is for traffic congestion in which we now rate as the 10th most congested city in the world, coming in just behind Los Angeles. For the record, the most congested city is Istanbul. Makes you proud to be a Brisbanite, does it not?
Clogged city budget
You have to admire the optimism, sadly misplaced as it was, that caused a reader to contact the council and ask if it could organise to have the mountain of leaves blocking the gutters and stormwater drains where she lived removed.
She was told that alas there was “no budget” for any such service thus guaranteeing local flooding in the event of heavy rainfall which of course never happens in our city during the summer months.
Goodbye to the TPA
Residents should bemoan the passing of the Teneriffe Progress Association which has fought the good fight for years and scored some notable wins by bringing the pressure of public opinion and common sense to bear.
Those behind the TPA have done their bit and then some and in the absence of anyone else with the time, energy and passion to take up the cudgels have decided to close it down.
It has been effective in bringing heat to bear on the powers that be and there will be those who will not mourn its passing.
Gardens of myth and legend
If you find yourself in need of light relief look no further than the lyrical prose to be found in the submissions which now accompany development applications.
These are the ones that sing the praises of “community spaces” which will allow residents to “flow seamlessly” from one area to another as if borne on a stream of boundless architectural generosity, the better to marvel at the “green spaces” which on closer examination include rooftop “gardens” comprising several palm trees and limpid tendrils trailing from window boxes.
How fortunate we are to live in a city which thanks to the selfless public spirit of developers is destined to become a mix between the Garden of Eden and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Thanks for the fan mail
A special hello to the reader who in the letters section of the last edition said she most enjoyed reading Village Voice when I was on holidays.
I’ve lost count of the number of people who have stopped me in the street to point out her letter just in case I’d missed it.
I will be going on holidays again, dear lady, but not until July if you could manage to hang in there until then.
Happy New Year
Here’s to 2025. May it be happy and healthy for us all.
