By Cagerattler
A few weeks ago I was talking to a person who was for a time quite heavily involved in the St Marys Streetscape. He was concerned that the Streetscape may well be delayed further. I hope that this doesn’t mean that it will NEVER happen – that would be a terrible thing. Small towns like ours need to not be forgotten and over the years, not just here of course, but in lots of small communities things get put on the backburner.
The Streetscape goes back quite a way. Without researching dates and so on I’d suggest 15-20 years since the first design plan was done by a dedicated group of locals and a group of young planners from Hobart. The SMACD (St Marys Association for Community Development) team and the town planners of those days created what most people thought was a plan that would enhance this town as a place where people would not just want to ‘pass through’ but would be a place to “go to” or “stop at”. Whilst a few improvements have been made here and there, the overall nuts and bolts of the original Streetscape or the more recent Streetscape concepts have not been implemented.
One of the major sticking points for any of it to work is of course the issues and red tape over car parking. The age old debate over angle or otherwise types of parking cars has to have a direct bearing on whether any street improvement plan can go ahead. I wonder if we could resolve such a sticky issue for the greater good or if in five years’ time we will still be arguing over the same matters and wondering too if any street improvement plan, to make this 156 year old town a more attractive place, will still be under debate.
I also hope that someone from Council would like to fill us in on the current status of the Streetscape – whether it’s scheduled, delayed, scrapped or otherwise… Gee it’d be nice to know wouldn’t it?
One other quick mention…To the idiots who once again dumped their rubbish in the bush rather than putting it in the skip bin or spending a couple of bucks at the tip…SHAME ON YOU. I can’t believe how stupid and thoughtless you are. I’ve seen two glaring examples of fresh rubbish being dumped around the Mt Nicholas tracks in the past couple of weeks and I hope one day you get caught and fined if you keep doing it.
GIVE IT A REST PLEASE…
What do you think ? Rod McGiveron.
