LetteroftheWeek

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 Love and

Other Battles by Tess Woods. Spanning the trauma of the Vietnam War to the tragedy of incurable illness, Love and Other Battles is the story of three generations of women who learn true love is not always where you seek it.

I COMPLETELY understand and share the concerns of residents south of Broadbeach about the proposed next stages of the light rail. I also accept that the urban transformation experiment, to shift the form of our coastal strip towards public transport-oriented development, is well under way and unstoppable.

From Broadbeach, I regularly travel north on the light rail to go to Surfers, Southport or Brisbane. Except for tram window advertising that obscures views, it’s an easy and enjoyable journey. It’s usually busy and the frequency is good. It’s evident that light rail stages 1 and 2 have been valuable drivers of a change towards greater public transport in the future.

On our roads, traffic congestion seems to get worse every week. Had we done nothing before now, we would surely be on a path to future gridlock. I can see that that continuation of seamless public transport from Broadbeach south to Coolangatta, and even perhaps to Pottsville in the future, is important. The main issue is around how this should be achieved.

I’m not happy about the stark, soulless streetscapes that the lightrail corridor has created through Southport and Surfers. While there’s a pause in federal funding availability to proceed with stage 3a, I’d like the council and TMR to at least investigate alternatives like trackless trams that cost much less, take a fraction of the time to install, and don’t need such a wide dedicated strip of the road reserve. With the same infrastructure budget, perhaps they could also achieve east-west links to Nerang and Robina.

If trackless trams are not feasible, could they look at designs for a single track that splits into two at stations, allowing trams travelling in opposite direction to pass?

I have been thinking about the possibility of creating a tree-lined boulevard all the way from Coolangatta to Helensvale. This might seem pie in the sky. Indeed, it’s a 50-year vision, but from my recent visit to Shanghai, where there are many electric vehicles and road noise has become almost eerily quiet, it seems certain that this will occur along the Gold Coast Hwy too. I’ve dreamed about how this hostile speedway that exists today, may actually become wonderful.

Transport planners will argue that the trees will be hazardous to motorists, too expensive and impossible to plant. But any landscape architect can show that it is achievable with good planning, design and preparedness to spend money.

We also need to ensure that new building designs won’t overwhelm the public realm. They should provide decent separation between towers, interesting facades and awnings over footpaths. And with good streetscape design and goodwill, we could even re-generate pleasant pedestrian environments through Southport and Surfers.

I hope that one day we can rename the highway, to Gold Coast Blvd. A place along which we can take a safe and pleasant walk, ride, scoot or public transport at any time of day or night. That would be the spine of a truly great city. MONA HECKE, BROADBEACH

SACKING Titans coach Garth Brennan won’t make the Titans a competitive football club or profitable business.

Long-suffering fans, sponsors, the Gold Coast community and the NRL will be hoping Mal Meninga’s mid-year report will clearly define the challenges facing the NRL on the Gold Coast and not just the Titans. Winning is only one issue however not the critical one.

Titans owners Darryl Kelly and Rebecca Frizelle are fabulous people, loyal, dedicated, generous and they both deserve better than the performance the Titans have delivered across every area of the business since the third rescue attempt of the Titans. The tens of millions blown on this club is loyalty beyond belief.

All the experts will have their solutions, however one fact remains, the Gold Coast has been the burial place for multiple sporting teams across many sports. The real question is, why?

How or if the Titans recover from the current situation will impact the NRL for decades and the 12-year trial of a Gold Coast-based NRL team has been a massive and expensive failure, just ask Messrs Searle, Kelly and Frizelle and the Gold Coast community.

A few kilometers up the road we have another football experiment looking like a huge financial and sporting failure with the Sun covered by dark and stormy clouds. RICHARD HOLLIDAY, GOLD COAST

IT is just one bloomin’ miracle after another with Morrison at present. Mission accomplished on the USS Ronald Reagan, and then off to visit the Pres.

Word is the subs on order will be obsolete come the day of delivery. Oh well, another miracle should fix that up. DAVID HALL, COOMBABAH

I WOULD like to see a positive alternative afterlife scenario presented by one of your God-bashing letter contributors.

Must be accompanied by evidence. PHIL CONNOLLY GOLD COAST

HEY Ken Wade, why don’t you run for parliament or get a job in the police force and stop the protesters yourself or go get a job in the Adani mine you’re so concerned about so we all just read the letters section in peace.

And I’m no greenie just a normal citizen. WAYNE SOFTLEY, GOLD COAST