SO NOW the Brisbane Street mall is unveiled.
Some pretty trees, animals that, if one is not paying attention, are very easy to fall over, and strange white and yellow seats.
In the middle, nothing except a large very bland space.
As a shop owner said to me last week regarding the Quadrant mall “it's like a morgue”. There is nothing to entice the population into the city centre with this refurbishment.
Perhaps if the sad little creatures in the Brisbane Street mall were put on a pedestal in the middle of the bland centre it would add some character, otherwise it's just another blah space created with great inconvenience to the shops and great expense to taxpayers.
Here’s a radical thought, maybe offer free or much cheaper parking in the central business district and people might come in.
Next time a public space is going for a revamp ask kindergarten children to submit a design. I'm sure they could do better.
Glennis Sleurink, Launceston.
LETTER TO THE MAYOR ANS ALDERMEN
To hear yesterday of the realisation of the inappropriate placement of the ‘thylacine sculptures’ in the Mall, and to see the documentation on FACEbook, and the ‘hoohaha’ on 7LA, it was distressing given that it all could have been avoided – and relatively easily. Indeed, it should have been avoided given that when the first schematic plan was ‘released’ last year I made the effort to point out the ‘specific public danger issue’ – that I believe was well and truly over a year or more ago.
Moreover, I’ve been in several conversations since then, each time the issue of the ‘thylacines tails issue’ was discussed and in particular the unacceptable public risk the sculptures presented in their projected format and placement came up one way or the other. Mostly, it was on nobody’s radar screen – someone else's problem! The clear message I was getting was that “my input” was unwelcome and “what the hell would I know anyway”. It was not for nothing that I was appointed to the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board – even if some time ago now – to among other things, administer its Arts for Public Buildings Program. In that role, this kind of issue was ‘stock standard.’ Thus, I can claim firsthand experience and some expertise.
So, as things turn out, and given that at that time, my qualifications and experience did not rate for the purposes of SECTION 65 of the Local Govt Act – expertise is something deemed by the General Manager and not to be challenged by the elected representatives.
This tells me quite a few things– and possibly Council now too. In concert with the apparently serial ‘stuff ups’ to do with civic works in the CBD and the ‘forensic audit’(?) that I understand is now going on relative to other issues along with this ‘glitch’, and the apparent extraordinary expense all together is a sad indictment of Council’s ‘modus operandi’.
Nonetheless, I suspect that it is all bound to be ‘conveniently smoothed over’ along with the ‘Tasmanian Tableau debacle’. The ‘oops, but nothing really to see here, fob off’ just doesn’t cut it I’m sorry to say.
Quite aside from the extraordinary circumstances relative to this set of civic projects that puts ratepayers $20Million in debt, the flaws in the processes and outcomes are going to compound that debt. That the debt’s expenditure in Civic Square and the Mall does not deliberately add a dollar to the city’s income is unfathomable.
To add insult to injury the audit itself suggests that the problems are significant but as likely as not ratepayers will be left to bear the cost – the audit and the mistakes’ costs albeit quantified – as collectively you 'governors' simply shrug your shoulders and just walk away from your accountability as elected representatives and notionally unchallenged.
No doubt you’ll be telling your constituents that there is no other way forward and that we’ll be witnessing yet again your disinclination to apologise for the ratepayers’ burgeoning burden whilst you all look away. It is clear that you are trying to pretend that the toxic culture at Town Hall is but a figment of the imagination of the cohort I converse with from time to time.
Possibly, the upcoming elections may temper your disinclination to be accountable. It’s with considerable interest that I look forward to your response given the current circumstances and we might even see some fess-ups. Hope springs eternal. Yet one feels there is much more to come!
Ray Norman
Researcher & Cultural Geographer
Launceston
EDITOR'S NOTE; Ratepayers need to be pressing their Aldermen for transparency in regard to what's being described as a "forensic audit" of the civic works in Civic Square and The Mall and possibly other sites.
It is being speculated that there may well be "significant budget overruns". If so. it is likely that this will impact upon the city's debt somewhat and consequently ratepayer's debt to be paid via major increases in rates.
At election time claiming convenient 'commercial in confidence' is totally inappropriate and if that call is made ratepayers may well take NO DISCLOSURE as an indicator of the seriousness of what's being covered up.
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