IT has been nearly a month since Stockton's erosion was considered a "crisis", yet little has happened beyond demolishing of the childcare centre. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing, to have images of the centre washing into the ocean?
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As our elected representative leader - and our employee - I believe the lord mayor is significantly overdue for an update to this community. What is happening? What steps are being taken to protect the beachfront in the face of the summer storm/swell season? Are you really aware of the dire consequences to the port if the narrow and low 200-metre section of Stockton is breached, which I consider a very real possibility?
I believe we have had nothing but silence and our representative committee is being ignored. When are you next holding a meeting, or releasing a statement to tell us that this issue is being addressed? Are you constantly putting pressure on the state government to get this process underway? The state government said they'd fast-track council's application, so when can we expect works to start?
You have a community that is fast passing beyond anger. We feel that all levels of government are ignoring us in the hope we will fade quietly into the night, but we will not. It's time for information.
Elizabeth Durbin, Stockton
POLLS SAY WE ARE HAPPY
UNLIKE John Beach (Letters, 12/10), I don't get the impression that ratepayers are unhappy with the council selling off assets and encumbering future councils with multiple millions of dollars' worth of commitment in the years going forward. The money always comes.
Recent polls have consistently shown that Novocastrians want a Labor council and a Labor lord mayor. Novocastrians are a pragmatic lot. They accept that to attract money for the city to grow, the council has to spend it where people go to be entertained and that's the old part of the city, the East End.
What I believe Mr Beach ought to remember is that the council sold off the Roundhouse for $16 million (Herald 16/3). He should also remember that it was only last year that the general manager Jeremy Bath ('Phone data counters Supercars crowd tally', Herald 16/11) said "... it was only because of the (Supercars) race that that more than $20 million was invested in improved local roads, half of that funded by Supercars itself".
Mr Bath might be obliged to say that the deal with Supercars was commercial-in-confidence, but if he says the money was received, then true to his word I bet that every bit of that money is squirrelled away in a bank account which he holds on our behalf. There are millions for starters which can be put towards the new offices. So there you have it. In my opinion, City of Newcastle has proven itself to be a good money manager.
Les Brennan, Newcastle East
CHANGES NO WALK TO PARK
SOME years ago, the Honeysuckle Hotel came into being and did not provide parking. There have been many other developments, and now we have the Roundhouse being transformed into an International Hotel. Is there any parking involved? Seemingly not.
Many residential units are being built in the Newcastle CBD with only one and sometimes no car space allocated. Most residences have two occupants, each with a vehicle, so where does the second vehicle park, and more importantly, where do their visitors to these residences park? There's also the Newcastle courthouse and university campus developments with minimal parking, yet each work day there would have to be more than 500 people attending these two premises.
In 2012 I was a partner in a small six shop commercial development in a small NSW country town, and we were required to provide 37 car spaces despite a large council-owned car park sitting opposite. My thoughts are that planning for the supposed revitalisation of Newcastle lacks attention to parking issues. I am interested to hear if other readers share my views.
Richard Devon, Fishing Point
TOO MUCH BUREAUCRACY
JOANNE McCarthy ('Looking for answers beyond the outrage', Opinion 8/10) commented upon the time and delay of the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) dealing with the application for expansion by the Rix's Creek coal mine. I was no more convinced by the end of her opinion piece that the IPC was blameless.
The IPC is an odd body. As far as I understand, no other state, territory or country has a comparable body overlooking approvals like this. In NSW, government departments already review each application for environmental, planning, safety or whatever requirements. Why has another layer of bureaucracy on top of the process?
A recent hurdle added for applicants is contribution to climate change. I believe climate change defies definition, is difficult to measure and cannot be properly quantified, and yet it is an issue many people see as being of primary importance. Adding it to the IPC process only increases the chance of rejection. I see that as pandering to populism and expediency.
That could result in terrible and unfair outcomes. Disbanding the IPC would save the state and industry much time and money.
Peter Devey, Merewether
WE HAVE HAD OUR CHANCE
CARL Stevenson (Letters, 12/10) wants to dismiss the young for embracing the technological age that they are going to have to live in, and to ignore the physical evidence and advice given by professional experts on climate change despite the fact that the older wiser people he claims should be listened to, have had 20 or 30 years to deliberate this problem and still can't come to a decision.
I wonder if Mr Stevenson dismisses the technical advancements that have been made in the medical fields and seeks an old mate's advice on whether he should have brain surgery over the specialist's advice. Did he argue against the scientific advice we acted on to reverse the hole being created in the ozone layer by CFCs?
Allan Earl, Beresfield
SPEED UP THE DATA CYCLE
YOU beat me to it, Stan Keifer (Letters, 7/10); I've been stewing over recycling for ages. There seems to be so much conflict of opinion as to what can and can't be recycled and how items should be presented for recycling. I believe that most people are more than willing to "do the right thing", but the uncertainty makes it harder than it need be.
Would it be possible for media, in all its forms, to publish regularly, the dos and don'ts of recycling? I don't mean once a year with the rates notice or the occasional letterbox drop; I mean repetition, regularly brainwashing us, if you like, so we all know how to do things properly.
Ruth McFayden, Merewether
SHARE YOUR OPINION
Email letters@newcastleherald.com.au or send a text message to 0427 154 176 (include name and suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words. Short Takes should be fewer than 50 words. Correspondence may be edited and reproduced in any form.
TO the young tradie who wolf whistled at my 76-year-old wife as she was on her morning walk along the Warners Bay Esplanade earlier today, thank you. Whilst some sections of the community might scream "political incorrectness", my wife beamed although was slightly embarrassed. I might try it myself. I hope the teeth don't fall out.
Graham Jones, Warners Bay
INSTEAD of banning cyclists on Scott Street ('Banned', Newcastle Herald 16/10), I believe all the Centre for Road Safety had to do was erect signage in the appropriate areas that read "cyclists must dismount" accompanied with a bicycle in a circle with a line drawn through it. There are four of these signs at each entry and exit to the Adamstown gates where pedestrians cross. Alas, it is rare to see a rider dismount ever. Even when there are people crossing through.
Bryn Roberts, New Lambton
NO government body will ever be able to legislate against stupidity. I believe that if those who choose to navigate their bicycles along tram tracks ('Ban fails first test', Herald 17/10) have not risk assessed the practise, then they should not be complaining. Buy wider tyres for your bicycle or try a different route where the risk is diminished. Non-cyclists are, I believe, to be in the majority and not particularly caring of your plight. Choose carefully your options.
John Bradford, Beresfield
BRETT and Lisa Sengstock, I really am sorry about the position you are in ('Survivor slams PM', Newcastle Herald 15/10). Power and wealth and protecting their empires at the expense of ordinary people is what I believe most churches are about. The excuse for accumulating wealth is so they can help lots of people, but in my opinion they don't. Jesus was not about money and power, but love and truth.
Julie Robinson, Cardiff
WITH the approval of the municipal building in Market Street to be converted into residential apartments is it time we can all agree that the CBD is now a residential precinct and we ought to stop trying to rejuvenate or revitalise it accordingly?
Scott Cooper-Johnston, Newcastle
I NOTE Paul Harragon has been doing ads for The Good Feet Store. How long since he retired? I estimate it's 20 years at least. How long does he need to make up his mind to get his knees operated on?
Shirley Hughes, Warners Bay
JOHN Bradford (Short Takes, 14/10), allow me to assure you that dredging the Swansea channel, even to a depth of 100 metres, will not lower the water level by even a single millimetre.
Ian Roach, New Lambton
AH, Michael Hinchey (Letters, 16/10). You are presuming a lot about me without having ever met me. By the tone of your ill informed response one can only surmise that you are living off the grid and aren't enjoying the many benefits of that terrible thing called electricity otherwise I could only come to the conclusion that you yourself are a hypocrite, kind sir.