or another but wednesday's albert & logan news has
inspired me to write....i used to write letters to the editor
but don't like to see them edited...lol...so i love the blog!!
ok...what is it that has raised my hackles this time?..
propoganda....and bees wax...
front page story in large print...'coast yes, logan no'
businesses in beenleigh aparantly have 'overwhelmingly'
endorsed staying in gold coast city...then you read on
only to discover that they surveyed only 25 percent
of beenleigh yatala chamber of commerce members
and 70 per cent (of the 25%) want to keep the same
boundaries....
now come on....overwhelmingly?....hardly....i have
studied 'survey design' at university....and i have some
questions to ask....did all chamber members get
the opportunity to participate in the survey?...i have
been told that a few may have been overlooked...
so the survey falls down right there....if that is the case
it is more like a manipulated response than a survey...
just so you don't think i am jumping to conclusions...
turn your wednesday albert & logan to page 8
and read david phillips' letter to the editor...
david takes exception to the fact that our local
councillor apparently asked a 'couple' of people
in the chamber before changing the parking in
george street to 'nose in'...
my objection is....decisions are often made about
beenleigh that affect everyone here and we are
not adequately consulted and often not even
informed prior to the change occurring...
reminds me a little of joh's... 'don't you worry
about that now'....
for instance....has anyone been told about
the revitalise beenleigh project ??
found this info on gccc website...
Gold Coast City Council, through the Economic
Development and Major Projects Directorate,
coordinates a signature geographic industry
development program titled the 'Pacific
Innovation Corridor' project. A key centre
identified for economic enhancement within
this project is the Beenleigh Town Centre,
which is recognised as one of the oldest original
communities within the Gold Coast and
a centre experiencing rapid growth.
An important project that was identified
by Beenleigh Town Centre stakeholders
and the Council for this precinct is the
'Revitalise Beenleigh' project, which will
commence this month and will be managed
with consultants The Hornery Institute.
Revitalise Beenleigh contains four
components, which together will combine
to enhance and direct sustainable economic
growth within the Beenleigh Town Centre,
these include:
1. Beenleigh Town Centre Visioning -
which will develop in consultation with town
centre business stakeholders, a high level
vision and design for a future Beenleigh,
which will be incorporated into the Council’s
Local Growth Management Strategy
Centre property and business audit to identify
business gaps and available sites for future
development and the creation of an investment
attraction campaign to stimulate investment
and provide developers, investors and current
business operators with a future vision, data
and promotional material to embrace
and develop Beenleigh
3. Town Centre Business Development Program -
identifying, developing and delivering a tailored
business-training program
4. Engaging Beenleigh Youth - engaging youth
in these revitalisation components and developing
a project that will enable them to take ownership
over the developing Beenleigh Town Centre
The Revitalise Beenleigh project will be coordinated
and delivered over the next 12-months and there
will be opportunities for involvement by businesses
and the community.
Revitalise Beenleigh is supported by funding from
the Australian Government under its Regional
Partnerships programme, in conjunction with
Council, the State Government and Beenleigh
Yatala Chamber of Commerce.
opportunities for involvement by community...
if only the community would get involved...
come on beenleighites....change your lives...
get involved in the decision making process
that will affect the way you live....put up all
your good ideas that you bore the family
talking about...magic comes from action...
well back to my discussion (with myself)...lol..
(my children tell me they read every word
i write...yeh sure...)....are we better off
sticking to the old horse....gold coast?
before you start on about losing the prestige
of our address....get a grip....this is beenleigh...
it doesn't matter one iota that we are part
of gold coast because no-one else realises
this....be honest... don't your friends from
other places... (like my friends) say to
you...."are you sure you live in gold coast"...
and don't you answer (like i do)...."well that's
the council that i pay my rates to"....
it is total snobbery in my opinion to say that
logan is of a lower social standard than beenleigh...
maybe....a while back....before community
renewal spending had changed the physical
face of logan....and way before the current
logan city council (which incidentally takes
a responsibility for providing human service
infrastructure to assist people with a variety
of social problems)....
there are very few services in beenleigh
or surrounding districts....we have that decrepit
neighbourhood centre hidden up mansfield walk
....no parking for visitors....white ant ridden and
depressing....go over to logan and visit some of
the many community centres in their district...
see how many programs that are running to
help people with family relationship problems,
domestic violence, child abuse, depression and
other more serious mental health problems...
where do people in beenleigh go for this sort of help?
...to logan...we also go to logan hospital, logan tafe,
logan griffith...the trades and services we use
come from logan....not gold coast....
when the state government puts out it's budget
report telling us where the money is to be spent...
they always put the gold coast hospital, tafe,
university expenditure on the one they post to
us in beenleigh...i have informed them we should
be getting the logan one as we do not use the gold
coast institutions....they still persist in sending us
information about gold coast....
but perhaps the most important point for wanting
to merge with logan is money....sure our rates
are cheaper at the moment but the gold coast city
council got a lower assessment than logan in a national
fiscal assessment of councils...i will now paste this
information...or check it out yourself on
http://fiscalstar.com.au
note the bit where it says our rates are going up!!!
cheers for now....elle
The Council (gold coast) is assigned a one-star
financial sustainability rating on account
of its unsustainable operating deficit.
We estimate it has an underlying
operating deficit in excess of 30% of
revenue from rates & charges.
The deficit is being funded mainly by
borrowing, with the Council’s debt at 71%
of its annual operating revenues.
However, to date, any associated
deferral of asset renewal expenditure has
not been significant, with the average
remaining age of the Council’s assets still
almost 70%.
Despite its below-average
underlying growth in spending on
services, the Council has insufficient
capacity to address its financial
imbalances without also putting
substantial upward pressure on future
rates & charges.
Our assessment therefore is that the
Council’s existing financial policies are
not sustainable, with disruptive increases
in rates & charges and/or cutbacks in
services likely going forward as
imbalances evident in its financial
performance and position are tackled.
now what do you think???
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment