‘NOT PROUD OF THAT’
INCUMBENT councillors Cameron Caldwell and Kristyn Boulton – competing for new Division 4 – had to defend the $2 million dud Yatala lights in their first face off at a Bulletin forum last night.
In response to a resident question on whether the money for the sign could have been better spent, Cr Caldwell said: “At least when you are coming south you know when you are home.”
Cr Boulton: “Not proud of myself for that.”
RESIDENTS have grilled councillors Cameron Caldwell and Kristyn Boulton about council wasting millions of dollars on the Yatala lights.
The northern entry statement, which cost more than $2 million, caused an uproar when the art installation revealed the Gold Coast letters were facing east-west and could not be read by motorists.
At a Bulletin election forum last night, Paradise Point resident and schoolteacher Brendan Boyle asked both councillors if funds on the controversial Yatala entry lights could have been better spent to fix damaged roads in the division.
“We have talked about the cruise ship terminal and many other things. But there is a sign up on the highway at Logan which I don’t believe has resulted in an increase of visitors to the Gold Coast and economic growth. Could this money have been better spent on fixing the (recent) flooding of the roads in Hollywell,” he said.
Cr Caldwell said the lights had been a vexed issue and some residents loved the sign while others hated it.
“The sign is in the Gold Coast, that’s a start. At least when you are coming south on the highway you know when you are home. It’s a marker when you arrive,” Cr Caldwell said.
Some residents attempted to interrupt the councillor when he explained that most of the money for the lights was from the State as part of the Commonwealth Games.
“The decision was made, and you know we have to all live with it,” Cr Caldwell said.
Cr Boulton told the meeting: “I’m not proud of myself for that decision. I think I made the wrong decision, looking back. I’m not an artist. I obviously didn’t know the angles would be wrong. I totally own that. It’s not one of my finest decisions.”
Cr Caldwell earlier revealed he and Cr Boulton never discussed running against each other in the new Division 4. “No, we didn’t talk about it. I’m not sure that we have to,” Cr Caldwell said.
The Division 3 councillor and city planning chair described Division 4, under the recent boundary changes, as a “natural fit for me” given he lived at Hollywell and it included at its heart Paradise Point where he had his council office.
“I’m interested in why the other candidate did jump from the Labrador area,” he said.
Cr Boulton said she wanted to continue to represent Division 4 and had raised her family for more than a decade at Hollywell.
“To me it was a natural fit. I want to finish strongly. I want to stand on my record,” she said.
Division 5 councillor Peter Young, who is unopposed, paused and appeared emotional when asked about his stressful last term in council.
He revealed that he and his wife had prayed for Mayor Tom Tate when he had a serious illness.
But he later said he was supporting Cr Tate’s rival Mona Hecke, and had found the mayor had not supported important community projects in his division like Country Paradise Parklands.
“I think he’s very interested in representing the top end of town. I’m very interested in ordinary mums and dads and their perspective on life,” he said.
The event was the second of the You Decide election forums for Divisions 4, 5 and 7, which started at 6pm at the Nerang RSL.
In Division 7, five candidates, including Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden, Andre Saint-Four, Tony Melia, Wendy Coe and Amin Javanmar, are hopeful of winning and becoming one of four new councillors elected after the March 28 poll.
Key issues discussed in their division included the political affiliations of the candidates, their campaign spending and strengths of their teams, and how they would ensure high-rise buildings would not creep into suburbs like Labrador due to population growth.