DEC belongs to our community
THE Tournament of the Minds International Finals award ceremony will be held at the Derwent Entertainment Centre (DEC) next week. This is an incredible venue to showcase a remarkable international event for hundreds of school-age children and their families.
The DEC was our gift in 1988 for community-based events such as this.
What will happen when our community venue is sold? There is no other safe, non-gambling, alcohol-free environment like the DEC with the 1000 car spaces to make it easy for families to attend.
Almost 120,000 people attended 44 major ticketed events at the DEC last financial year. Thousands more attended 65 unticketed events, including expos, conferences, training programs, meetings, award and citizenship ceremonies, graduations, formals, dinners, fun runs, rehearsals and Australia Day ceremonies.
It hosted amazing children’s events including the Wiggles, Santa Land, the Toy Run, the Combined Primary Schools Band concert, the Southern Tasmanian Dance Eisteddfod, and the Meningococcal vaccination clinics for children.
What has happened to the 99-year Crown land lease setting it aside for the public? It was given to Glenorchy to have and to hold for the community and future generations. The Glenorchy City Council signed a binding agreement in 1997 to retain the centre for entertainment and community purposes. Why is the council not honouring this agreement?
It should not be turned into a “sports stadium, gymnasium and offices” ( Mercury, September 16) with profit-making developers having the potential to exploit our young people with the promotion of sports betting. Why can’t we care for our young people and use the Government’s $20 million to build a community-owned basketball stadium?
To develop a sense of community, notfor-profit organisations have always been encouraged with discount hire charges. Building community capacity is important in fostering good mental health. It is unbelievable that the Government and the council are disadvantaging the community by giving away our gift without more careful consideration of the consequences.
Cable cars hard to pick
IN reply to the letter by Julia Greenhill (“Not floating, dominating”, October 17), I would like to point out that it is virtually impossible to see cables and pylons from any distance. I have seen cable cars in Cape Town, Daintree, Barcelona and Dubrovnik. In all cases you need to be within a few hundred metres for them to be noticeable. I was in Dubrovnik for several days before I was aware they had a cable car. I would suggest that Julia is greatly overstating the potential visual impact.
Morning dog patrol
WHILE I don’t have an issue with the use of drug-detector dogs at places like music festivals, pubs and clubs, it is a little over the top when two police officers and their canine are tasked with keeping us all safe in the Channel Court Shopping Centre Mall on a Thursday morning, clearly out looking to catch the odd cannabis smoker who has just crawled out of bed in need of sustenance. I will admit there were a lot of pensioners with their trolleys of groceries who looked decidedly nervous as the dog approached. Clearly some boomers still think they are living in the ’60s.
Enforce footpath ban
HAVING been nearly knocked over by two recalcitrant youths in Liverpool St yesterday, one on a cycle and one on a skateboard, I demand that the Hobart City Council empower its parking officers to issue fines to those who blatantly disobey the signs banning the use of those things on our footpaths.
If an officer can be appointed to enforce no-smoking signs, surely it can appoint already employed officers to enforce the ban on the use of cycles and skateboards on our footpaths. The ratepayers paid for the signs and we get no benefit from them.
If Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds isn’t up to the task, engage me with the person who is.
Clarification
JOHN Livermore’s Talking Point article “Traffic consultant reports come and go as little progress is made” ( Mercury, October 17) contained a misleading statistic due to a transcription error. It should have read: “Tasrail decided in 2014 to cut the rail freight operation from Hobart port to Bridgewater. Tasrail at the time estimated that as result of that closure 600,000 tonnes of freight per year would go on the Brooker Highway to Brighton.”