Lakeside parking woes
TORONTO has a real problem when it comes to lakeside parking. Only 15 designated off-road sites exist on the foreshore. Contrast that with the parking provided in other lakeside suburbs.
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Between Speers Point and Eleebana there are 244 designated off-road spaces adjacent to the lake. Some 132 spaces exist at the Cockle Creek entrance.
An additional 465 are located near the children’s park and pool at Speers Point, while at the Booragul waterfront a further 80 car places are provided. And 32 long spaces exist for cars with boat trailers. This makes 953 sites in all.
Is it any wonder people are critical of council’s plan to “activate” Toronto’s foreshore by erecting a large building on the scarce waterfront space which gives access to the lake? Consider, for example, the large number of visiting competitors who participated in Toronto’s recent sailboard regatta. Most of them parked on the Bath Street site.
Council needs to take this project back to the drawing board. There are many other ways to “activate “ the foreshore without creating the huge parking problem which will arise if this proposed building eventuates - especially when one considers the parking pressures imposed by the six-storey commercial/residential development already conditionally approved for the next-door block, behind McDonald’s.
- Robert Ireland, Toronto
Climate change a cycle
IN response to Richard Mallaby’s letter (“Climate data is in”, Lakes Mail, February 7) it’s not called global warming any more, but climate change, as world temperatures have not increased for over 15 years.
Climate change is a natural cycle of the Earth. If we took every car off the road and closed every factory and power station in the world, it would not make a difference to world temperatures.
Droughts? Tell that to the Queenslanders and every country suffering destructive flooding. Increasing temperatures? Tell that to the Americans and Europeans who are experiencing temperatures of minus 60 degrees.
The Greens here in Australia want to take us down the renewable energy path, to ruin our economy and way of life. Why do you think so many coal-fired power stations are being built around the world?
- Dane Tuxford, Toronto
Keep driving past, tourists
I WRITE regarding the decision to shut down access to the Morisset Hospital kangaroos - another tourist attraction - after complaints from a few. We had visitors from the Netherlands we met in Europe and took them to see the kangaroos and they were overawed, sending back photos and singing the lake’s praises.
While we were at Morisset Hospital we never encountered anyone mistreating the animals. That’s not to say that it mightn’t happen on occasion.
Why not put a ranger in place at certain hours? The easy option is to put up a couple of gates to appease the fun police. That’s typical in Lake Macquarie where, at Rathmines, they put up signs to stop overnight caravans or campers staying on the foreshore.
Wait, I know the answer: put up a boom gate at the exit from the M1 Pacific Motorway to Morisset with a sign saying ‘Visitors not welcome, drive on’.
- Ian Karuso, Rathmines
Privacy concerns
THE Bay Hotel owners have submitted a proposal for a development which, in my opinion, would invade the privacy of residents along its eastern boundary, and set a worrying precedent. The proposal to build a road and 21 townhouses that dwarf the adjoining residences by up to 16 metres would also reduce sunlight to our homes. In my opinion, council rules should be made to protect residents. Please, Lake Macquarie City Council, stop this development.
- Phillip Blease, Bonnells Bay