Parking near station
I WAS disappointed to find no mention of future parking improvements in your article discussing the disruptions to Macquarie Street parking (‘Works block street parking’, Lakes Mail, November 22). As any regular train traveller will tell you, it is getting harder and harder to find a park near Morisset station. The southern car park is full early in the day and travellers must find a park anywhere. Is there any intention to address the problem? Surely if they are digging up the area, this would be an ideal time to develop a parking solution.
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- Jonathan Noble, Windermere Park
School intersection
THE $769,000 that Johnson Property Group was supposed to contribute to the intersection of Fishery Point Road and Macquarie Street (‘Ahoy Trinity marina’, Lakes Mail, November 22) should instead be put toward improving the intersection of Fishery Point Road and Morisset Park Road, at Bonnells Bay Public School.
This intersection is bad now but will be seriously impacted when the Trinity Point development is in full operation. Especially at school start and finish times.
- Mark Spinks, Brightwaters
Coal the big problem
CARL Stephenson (‘Bushfires versus coal’, Lakes Mail Letters, November 15) should try the internet some time. A simple internet search confirms bushfires represent 20 per cent of all fires in Australia, and all fires in Australia produce, on average, 3 per cent of our nation’s greenhouse emissions, peaking at 5 per cent in extreme bushfire years. This is a small fraction of the greenhouse gases emitted by coal-fired power stations.
- Richard Mallaby, Wangi Wangi
Sewer connection costs
RESIDENTS of southern Lake Macquarie might well feel pleased to have sewer connection, but will they feel the same when they get their water rates with $200 or more per quarter in charges for it?
- John Bonnyman, Fern Bay
No power comes free
THERE seems to be a perception that hydro pump electricity is extra power for free, created by water running down the hill during peak demand, turning power generators and creating electricity (which is partially correct).
But nothing comes for free. Because it uses possibly more power than it creates when pumping the water back up the hill, but allows a broader, more even distribution of power, it doesn't create an extra energy supply – probably less – just a better energy management system.
Pumping water back up the hill needs to be done during daylight hours, not off peak, if using only renewable energy, because when the wind and sun have stopped working nothing works. Thus the water reserve on the hill remains empty.
This is why renewables will never be able to go it alone, and will only be used as an assistant to man-made mechanical power. The question is which mechanical power will provide for future population expansion?
I appreciate people’s passion for a complete renewable system, but unlike European countries we can't borrow or buy from neighbors. We must go it alone and there will be no second chance. Mother Nature is too unreliable, and unpredictable.
- Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
On the buses
PLEASE give us a proper bus interchange. I recently had a holiday in Perth and was a regular user of their excellent bus transport, which was frequent and punctual. The outstanding feature was the CBD interchange which was underground, air conditioned, comfortable and displayed arrivals and departures on an electronic board. A free shuttle bus should connect with the tram at Newcastle East, circuit the beaches and return via Darby Street. One can hope.
- Eric Roach, Croudace Bay
