by Ron's Rant
Don’t get me started but what dumb bunch of public servants are coming up with these hair brained, stupid, nonsensical, dim witted, half baked, crazy, irrational, cuckoo, weirdo, wacko dumb and dumber ideas…..?.. Oh that’s right I think I met them last Saturday (2nd) at the “community engagement” session outside Fat Alberts in Albert Park.
I came down early as I had a busy day and a small battalion of them were struggling to set up a tiny display and I overheard them talking about what other hair brained, pie in the sky, dumb bum ideas of what they could do with the centre of the green space of Kerferd Road. I felt like Alice in Wonderland listening from the sidelines to a conversation from the Mad Hatters tea party.
I finally got to speak with one of the team members that were there and quickly worked out that they were not there to listen to the communities opinions and concerns but to placate and justify their predetermined decision to reduce this busy major road down to just one lane. The person l was speaking with was trying her best excuses such as how the current layout would be too dangerous for her 7 year old to use… she doesn’t live or know in the area…..and how the bluestone pitchers that were embedded in the roadway asphalt were a danger to bike riders. Which as an occasional bike rider I agreed with and suggested that they be removed and the ratty road itself be resurfaced, at which she said….now wait for this one…. The bluestone is Heritage Listed…..
Yes they have a Heritage listing on them,! So I suggested that if this proposal was developed for the safety of the bike riders then maybe these Heritage Listed blocks be relocated and reused and placed where the public could appreciate the importance and beauty of these sacred objects.
The BS I was being served up got under my nose a bit so l asked whether the comments I was making were being recorded and if there was a research questionnaire that needed to be filled out? Clearly not . Not even a simple YES I agree with the proposal or NO I don’t agree with the proposal. The only form they had has was one asking what I thought of the engagement session. (Which I filled in with both barrels).
Not to be deterred the interviewer went to the graphic which described how the Floating parking design would work. ( see graphic ). Now for those who know this neck of the woods there is already a significant bike lane along both sides of Kerferd road that are about as safe as you can get with bikes and cars sharing the same strip despite the heritage bluestone dangers.
As you can see from the graphic they are removing an entire car lane to add 2 buffer Zones to protect our precious 7 year old bike riders from the outer suburbs that will swarm to Kerferd road to use these fabulous facilities.
No discussion or thought to how much traffic this roadway takes especially during peak hour, no thought to what side roads traffic will flow into when it bottlenecks and runs down Mill street next to the primary school. No thought to how emergency vehicles will deal with a major being road down to one lane when rushing to an emergency No thought to how garbage trucks will block traffic during their pick up days. There hasn’t even been any research made as to how many cyclists actually use this roadway. It beggars belief.
The public outcry was quite obvious with many local residents talking up petitions.
The question begs as to whether this public outrage will be heard or whether those that are employed to serve us will continue to ignore the public and do as they please. Why are we paying for these dumb and dumber public servants to serve up and bully through these dumb and dumber projects. Is it to protect their dumb and dumber jobs…? Me thinkith yes… But don’t get me started.
