Adz Carter ("CBD's precinct status clear", Letters, 25/9), I think your interpretation of 'entertainment' may be different to others.
My issue is that one person's 'entertainment' became a licence to vandalise the city's history.
As a Newcastle seafarer, I know all too well the differing opinions and potential of a lived history in the streets of any port city.
The City of Newcastle (CN) has failed the potential of Australia's oldest export port.
It is not as if I do not go out and have the occasional beer, at the Customs House restaurant, for example; I also know another history of the venue. I went there almost four decades ago to join the maritime industry.
There is a history; seafarers signed their Articles of Agreement before sailing out the heads during WWII, and some never came home and are still waiting in their watery graves.
Your view is that the Supercars event is over. I disagree, and there is a culture to deal with. The Bicentennial gift to the City of Newcastle, the Foreshore Park, has been trashed.
An agreement was made with HeritageNSW that the track through Camp Shortland has yet to be removed, and the park is to be restored. Supercars came in 2017, and our Maritime Museum went in 2018.
'Entertainment' can mean different things to different people.
I recommend reappraising what has happened in Newcastle East by going down to Newcastle Foreshore and looking at the Newcastle Memorial to Seafarers Who Served in War.
CN has cut down the flagpole, and the Merchant Mariners Memorial has been vandalised.
Considered live music venues and a valued maritime history are not mutually exclusive. I saw it working quite well in the port city of Fremantle during work-related COVID isolations.
While entertaining to some, skid marks on the forecourt of the former Customs House offer precious little regard for the lived history of our city.
The precinct status and the LGA politics were correctly clarified during our recent local government elections.
Philip Kelly, Newcastle East
Nuclear has Labor on back foot
For the Minister of Energy to say that nuclear energy will be more expensive than renewable energy is a rather bold statement, especially when no one knows what will be built or how much it will cost.
However, I will give him the benefit of doubt.
So I ask, does this cost cover the time a nuclear energy power station is productive against the time that solar and wind energy is productive, plus a MW to MW comparison?
In real terms, to compare hour to hour, solar and wind will work for up to eight hours a day for 20 years against nuclear energy that will work for 24 hours a day for 80 years. I believe these numbers must speak for themselves. But, if I am wrong, and yes nuclear energy will cost an extra $665 a year "as stated", I will be happy to pay an extra $2 a day to not have to worry about having no power.
My electric train will be on time, my toilet will flush, my shopping centre will open, the airport is still operating, thus everything will be up to speed and working as it should, making everyone happy.
How can any one even attempt to put a price on nuclear energy without calculating all the details mentioned above?
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
Charm of the 50s
I'm so sorry that Sarah Taylor found the Australia of the 1950s so bland and boring, including the food ("We would all be adrift without migration", Letters, 25/9).
My memory of that time was of delicious food prepared with love by the mums in my neighbourhood.
These women really knew how to cook, and did not need to drown the food with lots of herbs and spices and garlic to make it palatable. My mum's sponge cakes with lashings of delicious thick buttercream were heavenly, along with other fabulous desserts.
There was no need to lock doors back then, as we all cared for and respected each other.
Thank you for the wonderful memories of the 1950s.
Sandra Iceton, New Lambton Heights
SHORT TAKES
Stop it before cathedral 'fixed up'
I am shocked, Ray Dinneen, that you would suggest that the iconic Newcastle post office be bulldozed ("Bulldozer might be best for the old post office", Letters, 28/9). What next? A cement render and renovation of the Newcastle Cathedral?
Neil Meyers, Warners Bay
Over-promising, not delivering
While Greg Hunt ("Inflation rate and fake discounts", Letters, 28/9) felt like laughing at the PM's hypocrisy as he quite rightly attacked Coles and Woolies for "misleading behaviour" and "taking us for fools", I felt like saying "isn't that exactly what you were doing when during pre-election you promised over and over to reduce our energy prices by $275?". Time for a senate enquiry into how this government got it so wrong.
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
Ill wind blows for Trump
Is Hurricane Helene in Florida an assassination attempt on Donald Trump by Mother Nature?
Paul Day, Soldiers Point
We can't travel back in time
Without alternatives, freedom is meaningless. Yet Bradley Perrett seems determined to return Newcastle to the tyranny of the car ("Driving home residents' priority", Herald 27/9). Yes, the city is hobbled by narrow streets and dismal public transport, but one of these can be remedied. Also, the 30kmh speed limit makes it so much easier to look for parking that isn't there. Good luck to the intrepid cyclists who must negotiate the traffic in order to reach the bike paths.
Peter Ronne, Woodberry
Price is not right
Jenna Price ("Labor doomed without left touch", Opinion, 28/9) claims "the electorate is moving to the left". Sorry Jenna, Australian voters are, in general, extremely conservative. 2/3 voted against a Voice to Parliament. 3/5 already voted to the right of the Labor party. The Greens achieve one outcome - scaring the bejesus out of people and encouraging them to vote for the LNP.
Mac Maguire, Charlestown
Wrong pricing strategy
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has launched litigation against Coles and Woolworths for inflating grocery prices. Perhaps Coles and Woolies may be better off following retailers such as Bunnings, which offer a price strategy of "we will beat it by 10 per cent". It would be better for their business than inflicting their "Go woke, go broke" virtue signalling on us.
John Cooper, Charlestown
Queens Wharf debacle
I wouldn't trust Newcastle council to run a chook raffle, let alone investigate how to fix a vacant building after all the massive cost blowouts on previous projects ("Empty wharf building targeted by vandals", Herald, 28/9). The statements of hundreds of thousands of dollars are pie in the sky, the building ran quite well until shutting, the same as the current hotel site, which is structurally sound with the exception of some maintenance requirements as stated by the licensee recently. Only an independent private investigation would suffice.
