Eyes are closed on site development
I SEE the CEO of the Macquarie Point Development Corporation, Mary Massina, has decided to resign this July after five years in the position, so that “a fresh set of eyes” can oversee this lumbering project.
I would have thought that given the lack of inertia to date, it would appear that the members of this corporation have had their eyes closed most of the time anyway, if they think a lot has changed on this site.
Perhaps they should have gone to Specsavers!
John Holley West Moonah
OPPORTUNITY BECKONS
IF it takes the “resignation” of the CEO of Macquarie Point to get this development back on track, then so be it (“Breaking point,” Mercury, June 21).
What is done is done and hopefully we can look forward to Macquarie Point finally coming to fruition.
“Fresh eyes”, fresh ideas, energy and commitment, community involvement in the project, government transparency, a new beginning. Finally we can make this work.
Let us develop Mac Point into a vibrant community venue where Tasmanians and visitors alike have it on their visit “bucket list” and can support and enjoy this unique site, an inclusive, challenging development that is different to anywhere else in Australia or indeed the world.
Now is our opportunity for Tasmania to do this.
Chris Needham
Kingston
PROGRESS PESSIMISM
MARY Massina, did she jump or was she pushed?
One thing I believe is that the new incoming replacement should be paid on a results basis, results based on criambulance
teria set outside of the corporation. The public deserves at least that. No more “commercial in confidence” statements about the future, they are pure bull and a smokescreen for inefficiency.
If a project cannot be touted on its merits then it’s not a good project, end of story.
I doubt that at the current rate of progress we will see any form of real development for the next 10 years or more. By then all my grandchildren will have left school and I will most likely be too old to enjoy the site.
Mark Pearce
Howrah
MONEY FOR NOTHING
IN reference to Peter Hills’ “Hat not needed” note (Mercury, June 23), I would imagine that Mary Massina wearing the hard hat was a necessity against any type of projectile.
It’s a not good enough that so much money is spent for little result.
Even the Prime Minister can see the Macquarie Point development is nonexistent.
Les Young Austins Ferry
DOSE OF PERSPECTIVE
FOR a decade the CEO of the Macquarie Point Development Corporation has traipsed around in her leather riding boots being paid a handsome income and there is very little improvement to the site adjacent to the Hobart sewerage works.
Maybe that in itself tells part of the story.
Now we hear that $1.5 million is allocated by our state government to do a feasibility study for the erection of a $750 million covered stadium at Macquarie Point to enable AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan to grant a 19th AFL licence for Tasmania.
I suggest our premier takes a few moonlight walks among the homeless, spends a day in the back of a ramped at Hobart hospital and spends a day in a taxi to experience the traffic chaos in our city and then decides to get his (the state government’s) priorities into some order.
Stewart Edwards
Mount Stuart
TIME TO GO GREEN
THE statement from Rebecca Ellston from the Property Council of Tasmania in the Mercury (June 22) claiming “It’s time to think big” regarding Macquarie Point really sums up where our heads are concerning the state’s future.
Ms Ellston may think that “more supporters and tourists” would be gloriously wonderful, but there are many of us who think otherwise.
Her statement that “it is a massive opportunity to revitalise city living, promote Tasmania to the world and fuel economic growth” is like listening to a cracked record.
All of us need to be involved in determining Hobart’s future, not just property developers, and there are many people who think that Hobart is half ruined already.
More and more tourists and football stadiums won’t make Hobart more liveable. It will be precisely the opposite.
I have a better idea for Macquarie Point. Make it an adjunct to an expanded Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens so Hobart can have more green space, which will beautify our city, rather than vulgarise it.
The outcome would be in everyone’s interest, not just in the interests of overly lauded economic development or some tribal ball game.
To even contemplate spending a billion dollars on a football stadium is irresponsible in the extreme.
We need a football stadium like we need a hole in the head.
Chris Bell Fern Tree