Back in Cairns after my mum's funeral - the community gave her a great send-off - I was pleased to see that the Cairns Sun did a front page on Cairns City Council's decision to trial the closure of 4 popular parks from 10.00pm to 5.00am daily: Centenary Lakes, Apex Park, Lily Creek reserve and Fuller Park in Edmonton.
I believe this decision is wrong. We need to be encouraging people to use parks and it would be preferable if the Council looked at at alternative solutions such as better lighting to protect ordinary residents who use the parks every day.
Lighting is a proven deterrent to crime as are cameras such as those in use in the CBD. Who is going to enforce these closures? We know Queensland Police have huge demands on their time and it’s unfair to expect them to enforce this ban as well.
Cr Fran Lindsay needs to be congratulated for speaking up for legitimate users. She was one of the minority to vote against the park closures and has been working constructively with local groups to deal with groups of young people and vandalism in Fuller Park, Edmonton.
It's clear that the Council has not properly thought through how to create public awareness of the closures and the costs involved. How many signs are going to be needed to cover all entrances to Centenary Lakes, where are these signs going to be placed and what are they going to cost? People won’t even know about the new law.
Cairns 1st is investigating options to reduce crime through strategies successfully implemented in other cities.
Saturday 24 November 2007
Saturday 17 November 2007
Jean Schier 1926 - 2007
I got to Tasmania earlier this week in time to see my mother before she died in the home she'd lived in for 61 years of her life.
It's a time of crying and laughing as we gather to recount stories of Jean. As her doctor said, she was a remarkable woman and an inspiration.
She raised six kids while being the Falmouth Post Mistress, growing flowers and vegetables and still finding time for involvement in numerous organisations that provided services and support.
It is from her that I got my determination, resilience, my love of the environment and my belief that strong communities are only created by the work that individuals put into them.
She hasn't lived to see it, but she told an old friend recently that I would be the next Mayor of Cairns. Her spirit lives within me and I will do all I can to fulfil her wish, to honour her life and live mine according to the values that she so strongly instilled in all of us.
It's a time of crying and laughing as we gather to recount stories of Jean. As her doctor said, she was a remarkable woman and an inspiration.
She raised six kids while being the Falmouth Post Mistress, growing flowers and vegetables and still finding time for involvement in numerous organisations that provided services and support.
It is from her that I got my determination, resilience, my love of the environment and my belief that strong communities are only created by the work that individuals put into them.
She hasn't lived to see it, but she told an old friend recently that I would be the next Mayor of Cairns. Her spirit lives within me and I will do all I can to fulfil her wish, to honour her life and live mine according to the values that she so strongly instilled in all of us.
Saturday 10 November 2007
Restoring the environment
A good turn out this morning on Redden Island, Machans Beach, for the planting of 80 bush tucker trees. These trees were selected with the advice of aboriginal elder, George Skeene.
The Cairns Port Authority is working with Volunteers Australia and the local community to revegetate the island at the mouth of the Barron River.
Cairns1st recognises the importance of preserving and restoring our natural environment. Redden Is was abused for years as an illegal dumping place and has been cleaned up over the last decade.
There will be more plantings on 30 November and 1 December and everyone is welcome to assist.
Monday 5 November 2007
Congratulations Renae Kunda
Here I am at the Cairns Business Women's Club (CBWC) Awards night congratulating Renae Kunda on winning the Small-Business Woman of the Year award.
Renae is a Director of Cape York Motorcycle Adventures and I have been a business mentor to her over the past 6 months while we have both participated in the CBWC business development program.
Renae is talented, enthusiastic and creative and is currently developing a great business proposal for a Motoworld facility on a cane farm north of the Holloways Beach roundabout. It's just the sort of business that we need to be encouraging in Cairns: environmentally sound, meeting a market need and innovative. Well done Renae.
Who's behind the latest Cairns polling??
The latest poll being conducted about the council election is an interesting one. It not only asks what do you know about Val Schier and what do you know about Kevin Byrne but also, "Would you be more likely to vote for a Mayor who is part of a team or for an independent mayoral candidate?"
This sounds like some research by the people who are very disenchanted with the current Mayor and his chances of being re-elected, and want to stop the mayoralty bid from being a two-horse race.
The telephone poll also specifically asks whether people know of councillors Margaret Cochrane, Alan Blake, Paul Freebody and Terry James and then asks what are their strong points.
Are Alan Blake and Margaret Cochrane behind this? Or the Liberal Party members who have been openly critical of their colleague, Kevin Byrne? Or is it a way of capturing the anti-Kevin votes which may come my way if there is no other strong contender?
It's good for democracy if we have a broader pool of applicants. My informant, who is a stalwart supporter, said she found it difficult to find strong points in any of them!
This sounds like some research by the people who are very disenchanted with the current Mayor and his chances of being re-elected, and want to stop the mayoralty bid from being a two-horse race.
The telephone poll also specifically asks whether people know of councillors Margaret Cochrane, Alan Blake, Paul Freebody and Terry James and then asks what are their strong points.
Are Alan Blake and Margaret Cochrane behind this? Or the Liberal Party members who have been openly critical of their colleague, Kevin Byrne? Or is it a way of capturing the anti-Kevin votes which may come my way if there is no other strong contender?
It's good for democracy if we have a broader pool of applicants. My informant, who is a stalwart supporter, said she found it difficult to find strong points in any of them!
Sunday 4 November 2007
Candidates finalised
Interviews have concluded and we have finalised candidates for divisions 9 (Kewarra Beach, Trinity Beach, Trinity Park, Smithfield, Caravonica and Lake Placid) and 10 (all of Douglas Shire plus Palm Cove and Clifton Beach).
We will be announcing the team shortly and currently propose to run candidates in 7 of the 10 divisions in the new Cairns Regional Council. We won't be running anyone against Rob Pyne in division 3 despite our disappointment at the intemperate and mischievous comments he made when he chose to do it on his own. Best wishes to you, Rob.
We suspect that we are doing a better job of attracting good quality candidates than the Mayor is; rumour has it that he's struggling to get a team together with a couple more of this current (dis)Unity team planning to walk before the election is formally declared in 3 months' time!
We will be announcing the team shortly and currently propose to run candidates in 7 of the 10 divisions in the new Cairns Regional Council. We won't be running anyone against Rob Pyne in division 3 despite our disappointment at the intemperate and mischievous comments he made when he chose to do it on his own. Best wishes to you, Rob.
We suspect that we are doing a better job of attracting good quality candidates than the Mayor is; rumour has it that he's struggling to get a team together with a couple more of this current (dis)Unity team planning to walk before the election is formally declared in 3 months' time!
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