Mercury (Hobart)

Time has come

- Stewart Edwards Mount Stuart Paul Smith Warrane

ABOUT a month ago I mentioned this election would be the dirtiest ever. I have not attacked any candidate nor will I, except to defend myself or family as I did earlier this year. So what’s upset my loyal Deputy about Dark Mofo comments and tickets to a council-sponsored event depicting the Last Supper? Council reviews funding for all sponsored events like AFL and now the time has come — $658,000 later — to review this one. Personally, I will not support this event with ratepayer funds, based on mounting community concern and the inappropri­ateness of council’s Winter Feast sponsorshi­p mocking religion. I have no ill feeling towards Mr Walsh nor question his interpreta­tion of art. Perhaps Dark Mofo is one of his perversiti­es he mentions to Richard Flanagan in his 2013 interview, the same year Dark Mofo commenced, in which Flanagan writes that Walsh frequently refers to a passage of Dostoevsky’s in The Gambler: “I wanted to astonish the spectators by taking senseless chances.” Good luck to him, although he never seems to need it.

Carparking needed

CHRIS Merridew, candidate for HCC alderman and deputy lord mayor, hit the nail on the head (Letters, October 8). How could any council approve a developmen­t applicatio­n for a building in Melville St to house 400 students without provision for at least 200 carparks? Our city is being choked due to poor road infrastruc­ture design. Spy parking meter devices are being installed at what cost and it smells very much like revenue raising and possible staff cuts because the informatio­n/parking officers will dwindle with the new devices.

Not as a party member

I WRITE about the introducti­on of political parties into council elections ( Mercury, October 10). I am state director for the Australian Conservati­ves, but it is not as a party member I am standing for alderman for the Hobart City Council. It is as a concerned individual. The games being played by Hobart City Council in effectivel­y opposing the cable car before viewing a final proposal displays an anti-developmen­t agenda that is untenable for a city that must grow economical­ly. Each proposal

Isn’t that the limit?

I READ in amazement Steve Klose’s piece on the cyclist “racing down Huon Rd at about 50km/h” (Letters, October 10). Isn’t the speed limit 50km/h or more on that road? Sounds like he wasn’t speeding at all. If the gentleman with the dog truly was carefully crossing the road wouldn’t he have looked to see the road was clear? It sounds like the cyclist did a great job to avoid an accident. Most importantl­y, though, no one was hurt and they kept on with what they both enjoy doing.

E-cigs worked for me

IN my kitchen I have an open packet with 27 cigarettes in it, and a lighter. They have been there, unused, since January 2017. Why? In January 2017 I was introduced to e-cigarettes. I had tried many times to quit by various methods, and all had failed. From the first day I used an e-cigarette I quit permanentl­y. Fortunatel­y the Tasmanian Government has not introduced the draconian laws that exist in some other states, and has taken a largely neutral, although unenlighte­ned approach. Not that it would matter, because I would prefer to break the law than give up e-cigarettes.

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