Letters
Looking for that light at the end of the tunnel Q I continue to be surprised at people who are against the rail trail for various reasons. I am a railway fan but have to accept the realism that the days of rail transport are now very limited. You need either a large population or massive bulk commodities to run successfully. The north coast of NSW has and is unlikely to have either. In the unlikely event the rail were to be reintroduced it wouldn’t be built on the existing formation with its many tight curves built over 120 years ago. Light rail? Good idea if you have the fortune to rebuild the existing track and 50-odd bridges in various states of repair, and the population to support it. Turning this track into a
Belongil soap opera Here we go again. Yet another episode of the soap opera that is Belongil Beach. Let’s all take up our familiar positions and argue about the fate of ‘rich landowner’ beachfront property. Nice green, ecologically sensitive folk to the left and nasty, rapacious capitalist bastards to the right. My observation is that the ‘class warfare card’ is almost always the first one played, not least in The Echo. In the middle of this ideological warfare are hundreds and hundreds of normal ratepayers who live in normal houses
rail trail will bring all the benefits that other examples have done in Australia and NZ (and other countries) which so many people and councils support nowadays. Ian Stocks Ballina
Their rail trail policy is the one thing I do agree with. The election was fought on many issues, so please do not put your own interpretation on the results. Ruth Dare Bangalow
Q Jens Krause concludes that, because the Nationals candidate only received 27 per cent of the votes in Bangalow, most people do not want the rail trail! (Letters, April 8) I hate to burst your bubble, Jens, but I am an avid supporter of the rail trail, but did not vote for the Nationals as I did not want privatisation of the electricity network, and I also do not agree with their social, wages and education policies, to name just a few.
Q The Nationals deserved to lose the seat of Ballina owing to their track record and neglect of residents’ concerns in favour of commercial vested interests: favouring CSG as well as West Byron, the rail trail and the town bypass. Funding for the latter suddenly materialised in an attempt to neutralise resident opposition to West Byron. We all agree that the town traffic problem ought to be tackled. It now afflicts the
somewhere near one of our glorious beaches. People who have often lived here for generations and watched sand and dunes go and return and are completely bewildered by the total fixation on a few houses at Belongil. Could all the participants please keep in mind that these ordinary folk will be financially and emotionally devastated if some arbitrary council policy designed to teach Belongil a lesson also unfairly costs them their house at some future point. Belongil and the housing there is simply not representative of the bulk of our
beachside development. Is there anyone out there (who actually owns a house) who would not want reasonable opportunity to defend it, in the face of natural disaster? Ian Gow (near the beach and not rich) New Brighton
Old age arriving I’m interested to know if there was an exact moment the many Echo readers/retirees realised that old age was arriving. For me it was the day twenty years ago (when I was 63) that I hurried down to a farmers market to meet
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south side as well as the west. But the controversy and misinformation continues and two expensive ticket items – the bypass and the rail trail – are each obstacles to a real solution. Anyone who thinks that the preferred bypass route will make any discernible reduction in congestion and improvement in traffic flow hasn’t done their homework. The evidence around similar measures elsewhere tells us that the new road as proposed would be congested in a matter of weeks or months. With only 17 per cent of traffic heading for a destination other than the town centre, the road will just function as a second entrance. But even that doesn’t mean
the traffic jams would be halved. Any capacity would quickly be consumed by existing and induced demand. Furthermore, It would eliminate the value of the Butler Street/market site pedestrian precinct which is one of the stated aims of the town master plan. Having lost the active backing of any local National Party member, it is clear that the rail trail is not a facility wanted by the majority of residents. It’s yet another tourist attraction for a select brigade of visitors with a concomitant negative impact on our amenity. Then there’s that curious hole in the targeted funding which omits infrastructure and ongoing costs. The light
at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, is the light rail from Sunrise Beach. Eventually servicing Mullum and Bangalow (no, it’s not pie in the sky), it would be a real facility for families, teens, locals of all ages and visitors (with or without bicycles). Unlike the rail trail, an extension of this model would really invigorate the smaller villages along the route. It would be great to find a solution that encourages commuting by bicycle without buggering up the rail solution. It is incredibly shortsited to destroy a potential public transport service that could make a genuine contribution to reducing gridlock. Bill Mackay Byron Bay
friends and suddenly noticed that I wore a slipper on one foot and a shoe on the other. Nobody commented, sneered, looked perplexed, asked a question or even blinked. But I was surprised. Is old age often recognised in a moment or does it always just creep up on us? Cecily Dynes Federal
liefs and races together in a common cause. I’ll be going again this year to the Peace Park at Lismore, corner of Ballina and Molesworth Streets, at 11am on April 25 – from home this time, Bentley a victory for now, peace as intangible as ever. Jill Keogh Federal
trying to take our dollars. If they can’t play without amplification, then they’re not good enough musicians to be taking it to the streets. We go from the sublime – the five-piece band outside IGA every Saturday morning – to the atrocious. Today there was a small child outside Vinnies, hat out ready for coins, blowing into a recorder. He hadn’t even learnt how to play a single song. It was obnoxious noise. I felt like saying I’d pay him to stop, but felt that would be unkind. What was his mother thinking? I’d prefer begging. Obviously the concept of a busker’s licence, brought in to protect this violation of the peace, didn’t enter the mother’s mind. continued on next page
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Now don’t get me wrong, I love music. Hell, I’m a music teacher, but I have to agree with Backlash last week about loud amplified buskers in Mullumbimby. The groovy musical accompaniment to our shopping is great. However, I do object to our peaceful country vibe being drowned out by pushy, pretentious people
This time last year I was living in my tent at the Bentley Blockade and headed for Lismore on Anzac Day to the Peace Park. The Remembering and Healing peace group were holding their annual after-the-official-march event. Like Bentley, it was a heartening experience, bringing people of all stripes, be-
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Bad busking
Remembering peace
THE
RAILS
THE RAILWAY FRIENDLY BAR, BYRON BAY 6685 7662 • therailsbyronbay.com
AND THE FAMOUS
RAILS kitchen
Thursday 23 April
THE ELLIOTS Friday 24 April
THE CAMELTONES Saturday 25 April
JIMI BEAVIS Sunday 26 April
LIAM GALE & THE PONYTAILS Monday 27 April
LEIGH JAMES Tuesday 28 April
FERGO Wednesday 29 April Registration from 7am
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
CASS & AL The Byron Shire Echo April 22, 2015 9