Cairns doing it better

I REFER to a couple of published letters in the Townsville Bulletin just prior to Christmas whereby a lady reader made an observation as to the vibrancy ( or lack of) in the city, and a reply from Deputy Mayor Councillor Walker who somewhat took a different view.

Councillor Walker, take off your rose- coloured glasses and have a look at the real world ( Townsville). Last Saturday I drove along Flinders St and could have let both barrels of a 12 gauge go and not hit anybody, the city was dead. The Strand wasn’t much better with ample parking spaces for all and sundry. When you talk about the vibrancy of a city, the only vibrant things in Townsville are the buildings in the city centre which vibrate when the military aircraft fly overhead.

Last week I had to go to Cairns on business and made an observation on the vibrancy of Cairns and Townsville – I have to say Townsville is not on the same page, not even on the same planet, as Cairns. The city centre was busy with people as was the Esplanade. Walking along the Esplanade at about four o’clock, the bars, restaurants, cafes were doing a reasonable trade in view of the number of places offering such services. The lagoon and surrounds was well patronised with people of all ages.

At about 7pm, the lagoon was still in full swing with some form of water aerobics and people generally of all ages enjoying themselves. The restaurants, cafes and bars by now were filling up with patrons. One of the downsides of my visit was the number of building projects taking place on the Esplanade, which temporarily had altered the appeal of the Esplanade.

From my hotel room I could see several red lights on the skyline – these were on the top of tower cranes, not red traffic lights as in Townsville which you see when you fly in. Talking of traffic lights, I did notice that the green turn arrow does not automatically come on at intersections. A vehicle has to actually trigger the light to come on by being in the turn lane. Traffic seemed to move more freely – just an observation?

Perhaps the councillor can take his rose- coloured glasses off and visit to make an observation. DAVID THOUMINE,

Cranbrook.