Mountain project fails to add up
CABLE CAR
HAS anyone really done their sums on the impact of cable car mass tourism on kunanyi/Mt Wellington? (TasWeekend, Mercury, April 7). According to Mr Bold, “the design will have the capacity to handle 650 people per hour, per direction” and “normally we expect to run at 10 per cent capacity, so 65 people per hour, spread over nine trips”.
It does not take a mathematical genius to work out that the proposed cable car capacity could be upwards of 5500 visitors in one day, or at the “10 per cent capacity” upwards of 550 visitors per day. So once the visitors alight from the either of the two 60-seat sky seat trams, what next? In all probability there are already numerous tourists milling about, so do the latest tourists join the throng and quietly queue for a coffee and a bite to eat in the warm? Or do they simply freeze outside in the biting wind and snow? Or do they trample over the delicate flora and fauna as they hasten to view our beautiful city, that view now being blocked by low lying cloud? Or do they simply mill about and if not suitably clothed and by this time extremely cold, wait patiently in the queue to return to the city?
The realities of a cable car trucking literally hundreds and probably thousands of tourists and visitors into a sensitive alpine environment seem to have escaped the proponents of this scheme. summit. We can have a decent-size bus park, not the dinky little thing proposed for the bottom of the chair lift, cafes and restaurant’s galore, perhaps a theme park with laser-generated thylacines and emus that the kiddies can bash with inflatable clubs, what about a ferris wheel, better than a chairlift, next to the spike? Crosscountry skiing. And wouldn’t Ogilvie’s scar make a nice gentle ski run?
Untrustworthy
IN TasWeekend, reporter Sally Glaetzer’s “High tension” article ( Mercury, April 7) quotes Mount Wellington Cableway Company chairwoman Jude Franks saying, “We’re developing our strategy to work out how to deal with the cycle of untruths,” and quotes MWCC chief executive Adrian Bold referring to these “untruths” as “lies”. At the top of the MWCC website “Consultation” page there is a photo showing a community meeting that due to its prominent location at the top of a page labelled “Consultation” one would assume is an image of the company consulting with the community. However, the photo was taken at a meeting organised by one of the groups opposing the cable car, Respect The Mountain, at the Southern Tasmanian Badminton Centre in South Hobart on August 23, 2014. This meeting was not organised by MWCC and using this photo on the company’s “Consultation” page to imply consultation has taken place is a gross misrepresentation of reality as the company has never consulted with the South Hobart community.
People who appear in the image were not consulted if they were happy to be A new way to have your say themercury.com.au readers have a new way to have their say. It’s free to use, just register and have your say. For more details and to register, visit the website. identified on the company’s website. They feel that the company’s implication that they have been consulted when they haven’t is deceptive, that the company has misrepresented their views, and that MWCC cannot be trusted.
Interestingly, Jude Franks is also quoted in the TasWeekend article saying, “We’re just going to come out and give very straight facts”. Apparently the company plans to roll out what it calls “stories” aimed at “debunking myths”. This is encouraging because facts are exactly what the community has been demanding of the company for the past six years, however also confusing because “stories” are not “facts”.
Leave the kids alone
NOW the Mount Wellington Cableway Company is targeting our kids by offering free rides on their cable car. This tactic has been around for years. It is common knowledge criminals, gangsters and leaders like Hitler have taken and used kids to promote their ideals and developments. Getting into the minds of our kids for a free cable car ride might be the straw that brakes the camel’s back unless the parents get savvy.
No doubt a cable car will bring in millions for these mainland business sharks. We are making hundreds of mainlanders millionaires every year from money which is rightfully ours and should be used for the wellbeing of Tasmanians. We are letting interstate fat cats and big business entrepreneurs milk our island.
Laughable ambition
THE joke continues with Tasmania wanting its own AFL side but cannot even get the TFL right. Do you really think the powerbrokers would consider a business plan that includes Tasmania in the system.
All in a name
I SUGGEST the Nomenclature Board proceed quickly to rename our interconnector (oxymoron!) Basslimo.
Question remains
HOW did those horses die?
Turn on, tune in
I NEARLY collected a grey car in Thursday’s grey day and rain storms. I saw the car behind him (it was a him) who had his lights on, but not the grey one. And I’ve got good sight. Why wouldn’t you turn your lights on in such poor conditions? Seems common sense to me.
Trafficking stupidity
I WOULD rather more traffic on our mountain than a stupid cable car.