Letter of the Week
Have strong opinions, write in an engaging way? You could win our Letter of the Week, and with it a book from our friends and sponsors, the publishers HarperCollins. This month’s book prize is Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter. Mother, hero, liar, killer? The new blockbuster thriller from international bestselling author of The Good Daughter.
THE City of Gold Coast is calling for community feedback on the city’s arts and culture scene. Although it’s a millennial habit to scroll past this survey on social media, can we just pause for a moment to discuss why we shouldn’t?
Consultations are incredibly important. They give entire communities a voice and promote active participation in society. They allow the opportunity for new ideas to change the course of our creative future and are vital catalysts to start conversations like these. They enhance democratic processes and ensure good local decision-making.
What’s more, the cultural capital of a city is proven to be a key factor in its economic growth and urban development. Digital and new media, performing arts, design and architecture, food, fashion, film – are these things important to you? They should be.
And you should feel like your ideas are heard. Because if you’re reading this and you’re a millennial, guess what kid, you’re it. You’re the future. Active participation, community engagement, spreading your ideas a little further than you normally would – we’re going to have to start doing a whole lot more of it.
I read this paper every day – where are the Gen Y change makers, the innovators, the localists? I want to read your ideas here, in this paper, on your social media, and I want to support them.
So please take the time to start sharing your views, they are valued more than you think and together we’re strengthening community participation and the overall character of the city we live in. If we can attract and promote millennial engagement, we’ll have a stronger sense of community than we’ve ever had before.
Young local residents, interest groups, business owners, non-government organisations – is having a creative and sustainable city important to you? Then stop scrolling and start surveying – it’s our responsibility to have our say on arts and culture on the Coast, so we can help shape the direction of it.
ARIANA MARGETTS, SOUTHPORT PLACE COLLECTIVE GECKO Campaign Co-ordinator Lois Levy claims all Gecko can see is the development industry having a dummy spit because the master planning process is not going their way, (GCB 15/8/18).
She goes on to say that all involved in The Spit Master Plan public consultation process (SMPPCP) are all Gold Coast locals and that the whingers are a small group wanting high-rise on The Spit and a cruise ship terminal.
Adding insult to injury Ms Levy writes; If these whingers are dissatisfied, they should have applied to be part of the process.
I’m not sure where Ms Levy has been for the past couple of months or whether her reading is selective but the vast majority of those “whinging” as she puts it are not involved in the development industry.
On another note, the Breakwater Group did submit for the SMPPCP and was rejected outright. The members of the group are all locals, it’s not only a homegrown proposal but there is not a high-rise in sight.
Ms Levy is entitled to her opinion but so are those who disagree with her. She claims those currently involved in the SMPPCP process will come up with a proposal that will rival Southbank in appeal. The whingers say they can do much better than that but as it stands we may never know.
The irony of this issue is that the Breakwater Group listened to the community objections raised over previous CST proposals, objections Ms Levy herself raised. The Breakwater Group addressed them, incorporating significant social, traffic and recreational infrastructure. If Ms Levy is truly interested in an outcome the whole of city supports, she should not fear the input of those who disagree with her opinion.
The best results always come from open and objective debate where all concepts/ideas are tested for their worth and not by a process where opposition is shut down.
BOB JANSSEN, BREAKWATER GROUP SPOKESMAN WHO could not agree with the brilliance of Andrew Bolt’s article in GCB recently when he criticised the Prime Minister (with justification) for making the most rediculous statement when speaking to our drought-affected farmers saying: “This drought is just the start of the global warming hell to come.”
How could the Prime Minister make such stupid statements, like we hear so often from the Greenies, whose weird predictions are mostly proved to be false.
We could expect that type of rubbish from former American Vice President Al Gore, king of the fake environmentalists, who crazily predicted global warming would melt the Arctic glaciers by 2010, oceans would rise to an alarming height and cause many countries to become unlivable. Wow what a wild imagination.
Have you ever heard of anything so insane in all your life? No wonder this clown remains mute and in hiding these days, totally humiliated, scorned and laughed at by the world’s real intelligent.
KEN WADE, TWEED HEADS