Celebrate parks

I HOPE that readers enthusiastically celebrated the open space and parks of our city during council’s sponsored “parks week”.

Long standing residents will remember how the old city council promoted the city because such a high proportion of its area was parkland and open space.

Times have changed; our population has grown.

A lot of that open space has been developed.

An increasing proportion of our people live in flats, houses on small blocks and in cramped retirement villages.

We need more parks, not little patches set aside reluctantly by developers but larger parks with proper facilities for all ages and in inspiring surroundings.

This year we have an outstanding once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop an amazing new park along Martini St on Mt Lofty. People will be able to come, bring their out-of-town visitors and enjoy the breathtakingly beautiful views to the east over the Lockyer Valley.

By parks week next year, it could be well on its way to rivalling Picnic Point as a major tourist attraction for the whole region.

Its financing and development will need the whole-hearted co-operation of the regional council, state and federal governments and local people.

Imagine the grand opening day with the usual speeches and the brass band playing in a new rotunda. Ordinary citizens could have the opportunity to donate and plant a tree or shrub positioned in accordance with a master plan developed by the council’s planners and gardeners.

Community groups could run multi-cultural food stalls. A local catering firm could serve a more genteel afternoon tea on a new terrace built onto the east side of the existing brick clubhouse.

Children could enjoy new innovative play equipment under the shade of the huge Morton Bay fig near the end of Henry St.

A new military memorial could be erected on the site of the soon to be relocated wooden clubhouse to celebrate the brave soldiers who trained there on the former firing range for their war service. There are many other possibilities.

The development of this park could be a perfect embodiment of the council’s motto, “Rich traditions. Bold traditions”.

I encourage readers to use the contact details on the council flyer about “parks week” to let them know you support this proposal. — S. JONES, Toowoomba