THEATRE OF PAST DRAMA

PERHAPS Deputy Mayor Donna Gates can tell Gold Coasters just which older style buildings show off the city in its best light.

Yesterday, as a majority of councillors voted to place the Old Burleigh Theatre Arcade on the local heritage register, Cr Gates voted against and said her view was that renovations over time – since the old cinema and arcade were built back in the 1930s – had rendered the building “not of heritage value’’.

The problem, Cr Gates, is that little remains of the old Gold Coast. Developers have had a happy run for many decades, knocking down our city’s past to put up structures that in many instances have become boring blocks of concrete that add nothing to the aesthetics of our tourism capital.

This has been done with the approval of a string of councils that saw themselves as possessing great vision for the future, but revealed themselves as being incredibly shortsighted when it came to preserving the past.

Yesterday’s vote would suggest the building is saved, which will please many locals who are lamenting rapid changes they fear are altering the face and feel of their Burleigh village. Area councillor Pauline Young did not vote due to a personal interest. It has previously been reported her brother, Adam Young, was an agent involved in the sale of the property.

But there could be cause for locals to have some unease, since the city only moved for heritage listing after a Sydney company bought the property with the intention of redeveloping it. A determined owner, who paid $18.5 million for the property and wants to build a luxury apartment block, could well challenge the decision in the courts.

With an election in the wind, there is speculation and a degree of cynicism around town already about the vigour with which councillors have embraced community calls for changes to what is proposed in the new City Plan.

The arcade debate and decision yesterday could fall into that sort of category.

Councillors, mindful of the reaction when the old Miami Ice building was demolished, now want to be seen to be preserving our links with the past, but could fail if push comes to legal shove.

It is a dilemma that is much broader than the Burleigh arcade issue.

Much of the “old Gold Coast’’ is private property. How does a city preserve parts of that history and the old holiday feel of the flats and motels of the past, for example, when the buildings are not publicly owned?

OUR LOCAL HEROES

TWO Gold Coasters have demonstrated what it means to go above and beyond.

Today we are honoured to be able to congratulate Dr Jeff Hooper and Ms Nadine Biddle for the wonderful contributions that led to them being feted yesterday at the Pride of Australia awards for Queensland, held at News Corp’s Brisbane headquarters. Dr Hooper was in the right place at the right time, working to save the life of a runner who had a heart attack and collapsed in front of him. Ms Biddle is a special soul whose charity supports families at risk, and the sick and the elderly.