Jetsetting council reconnaissance
Nice to know that our lives will soon be enriched by the wisdom that Lord Mayor Schrinner will bring home with him when he and 10 of his fellow mayors return from a 10 day fact finding mission to England, France and Singapore this month.
“Learning how other cities are delivering long-term advantages for their residents is an important step to ensuring South East Queensland continues to be one of the best places in the world to live. We’re keen to learn world-leading practices so we can help deliver them here at home” Mr Schrinner said.
Apparently word of the wonders of video conferencing is yet to reach City Hall. Much better to fly half way around the world in business class for a chat. We can only hope that while in Paris, Singapore and Manchester the Lord Mayor might inquire as to how these cities deal with potholes, the repair of which having become a lost art in our “world class” River City.
Water on the brain
You would have to wonder why the council continues to accept development applications for buildings to be constructed on land which has flooded repeatedly in the past and is certain to do so in the future.
The proposal to build three towers of up to 28 storeys housing 752 apartments on the site adjoining Bunnings on Breakfast Creek Road is a prime example as is another proposal to build two towers alongside the Breakfast Creek Hotel on the other side of the flood prone creek.
Build and be damned, rake in the fees from the developers and when the inevitable happens, blaming it on a “rain bomb”, climate change and the war in the Ukraine appears to be the policy.
Not breaking bread but turfing it
A reader reports she saw staff at Woolworths at Gasworks dumping a large quantity of bread into the rubbish skips at the rear of the building recently.
You would reckon that there would be any number of charities that would have been only too happy to take the bread but then that would have required some effort and forethought on the part of the supermarket giant. Much easier to just throw it in the bin.
Bank-breaking brekky
Cost of living update – eggs have now become a luxury item with the Standard Market now charging $12.99 for a dozen. The price of a cup of coffee meanwhile marches steadily northwards, passing through the $6.00 barrier and heading towards $7.00. At what point do the punters rebel?
Had the need to get some dry cleaning done lately? Be prepared to take out a second mortgage when the time comes to pay and collect.
GBT to stay
My boundless joy at discovering that the Great Big Tent adjacent to the Powerhouse and known more prosaically as the Pleasuredome had been taken down was alas, short-lived.
It seems it is underdoing cleaning and maintenance and will return later this month to once more blight the New Farm landscape. Residents should feel free to join me in my daily prayers that a sudden tempest will one day deposit it in the river.
Ferries purring along
Congratulations to the council for putting a KittyCat ferry on the Teneriffe-Bulimba cross-river service replacing the full size CityCat that had been operating the route. The smaller vessel offers greater frequency and is more suited to the service while the normal CityCat stops remain unchanged.
Also from this month CityHopper services will operate between Riverside and Holman Street, Sydney Street and Dockside and QUT Gardens and the Maritime Museum.
