I HAVE recently returned from a trip to parts of Europe. As expected, I saw much of interest.
The cities I saw where active transport, in particular cycling, seem to dominate were Zurich and Amsterdam. What seemed to make active transport so successful was good public transport. Both cities have suburban rail networks and tramway networks that work very well, especially in Zurich.
I seem to remember about 11 years ago, when the Newcastle Urban Renewal Strategy was released, it was said the plan was to encourage active transport; walking and cycling. I don't think this has been successful.
From what I saw in Europe, I can't help but think that getting people out of their cars would have been more successful had the railway into the city been retained and the buses had not been privatised. Before this occurred, Newcastle's public transport was much better than what we have now. If the powers that be really want people to get out of their cars, it might be a good idea to have a look at what cities elsewhere have done, particularly Zurich and Amsterdam. They might learn something.
Peter Sansom, Kahibah
Population problems not so simple
DARRYL Stevenson ("Migration no scapegoat for all our woes", Letters, 6/6) has claimed that immigration is necessary to combat declining birth rates and blames the housing crisis on neglect. It's a common theme put forward by those who favour perpetual growth, but now both major parties have at last admitted that immigration is too high, as have the Reserve Bank governor and droves of economists.
In reality it is the housing shortage, along with the high cost of living, environmental fears and declining services in education and health, that has created an environment where parenting is being delayed or abandoned. Fortunately it has been pointed out that while population growth creates numerous problems, a decline can be beneficial as seen in Japan, where Tokyo at one time had the most expensive property in the world but now has more apartments than people to fill them. It's great for renters but, not surprisingly, has estate agents alarmed.
Don Owers, Dudley
Council made the Supercars call
DEPUTY lord mayor Declan Clausen's statement "When we agreed to host Supercars ... there was a series of costs that ratepayers agreed to pay" (sic) is beyond belief ("Supercars restoration, foreshore works to run parallel", Newcastle Herald 5/6).
The council made a captain's call when it decided to allow Supercars to take over the city. No ratepayer was asked.
The deal was made in secret and the race was foisted upon an unwilling community of residents and businesses.
For some inexplicable reason, it seems the council chose to pick up all post-race restoration costs in a subsequent agreement, even though Supercars was obliged to return the race precinct to its pre-race condition. Again, ratepayers were not asked and did not agree to this cost.
Karen Read, Newcastle East
The magic of budget mathematics
WHAT a great example of the magic of major events mathematics given to ratepayers by Cr Clausen in explaining away the costs associated with the rehabilitation of the Supercars circuit.
As the promoter, Supercars is required by the Motor Sports Bill to "reinstate the land as far as is practicable to the condition it was in before the activities" unless "otherwise authorised" by the relevant NSW government agency. Magic act number one was performed by Supercars, passing on these costs to council in the secretly-signed Services Deed. Cr Clausen has now deployed magic act number two in reassuring the public these extensive civil works won't cost them anything since the work "has already been budgeted for" in council's estimation of the costs for future V8 events, which he says are not going to happen.
Christine Everingham, Newcastle East
Single storey homes aren't future
CORRIDORS of undeveloped and rehabilitated land have long been recognised as essential to retaining connectivity between various ecosystems. From the great advocacy of many including the Newcastle Flora and Fauna Protection Society, the Northern Parks and Playgrounds Movement and in more recent years the Green Corridor Coalition we now have a significant green corridor connecting the beach and fore-dune ecosystems to the dry ridge forest, and rainforest ecosystems. But for animals to move there must be connectivity between habitats; as soon as habitats become islands connectivity is lost.
I strongly support the arguments made by Brian Purdue, and urge planners to protect these important corridors to allow the regional park to fully function. We do not need to promote the land-consuming plan for single-storey/McMansions.
We need planning to promote high rises around our train stations so that the enormous cost of public transport corridors is utilised wisely. We should require our decision-makers to have the foresight to ensure the green corridor can survive long into the future.
Tim Roberts, Newcastle
Walsh high shot was hard to miss
PERHAPS if Reece Walsh did not have such a big head, the tackle would have been just a bump.
Greg Lowe, New Lambton
Where's national pride in defence
AUSTRALIA will allow New Zealanders, and later Americans, British and Canadians to serve in our defence forces. Is it any wonder we cannot get Australians to join the ADF when some of our political parties and institutions indoctrinate our youth to have no regard for our country and are unwilling to defend it. How shameful is it that we must turn to foreigners in order to protect our country. Perhaps it might not be a bad idea to bring back national service.
John Cooper, Charlestown
Tax is the answer on inequity
IT is not the cost of living hitting people differently, it is taxation policy. This is not specific to the Gold Coast ("Where cost of living seems to hit differently", Letters, 5/6). Wait until the GST is raised to 15 per cent. Ian King's observation of Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Audi and monster four-wheel drives will become Ferrari, Bugatti, Bentley and Rolls Royce. All right for some.
Marvyn Smith, Heddon Greta
Easy to hit bottom from the top
I SEE the head of the small business council criticising the 3.5 per cent pay rise. Could he tell us how much his last pay rise was?
John Bonnyman, Fern Bay
Shed the syllables - it's our way
ANDREW Whitbread-Brown ("Nicknames deserve official status", Letters, 4/6) promoted using abbreviated names such as "Newy". I can't argue against that. Perhaps such syllable-shortened baby names should be applied to every name. I live in the 'burb of Merry in Newy. Watching Albo on telly being quizzed by journos, I thought we're lucky to be in Oz, the land of one-syllable nicknames. I'm sure Andy would agree.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Will suburb name transition too
DARRYL Stevenson's response ("Sharks are no reason to blow off wind farms", Letters, 4/6) to Jamie Culver ("Encounter buoys wind farm fears", Herald, 1/6) regarding windmills in the ocean affecting sharks, I hope they don't start putting windmills in Lake Macquarie. Maybe change our suburb's name from Coal Point to Green Point so we become renewables aligned.
