Tides part of lake story
WENDY Davidson's letter ("Pressure on the lake", Lakes Mail, April 2) is only partly correct. Like Wendy, I was of the opinion that the only cause of the lake rising and falling was atmospheric not tidal. Now I live on the lake in Wangi Wangi Bay I have witnessed a significant tidal influence on the lake. In Wangi Wangi Bay it is approximately three hours behind that predicted for Swansea. Atmospheric conditions can exaggerate or diminish the tidal affect at times.
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- Russell Williams, Wangi Wangi
Delays on the foreshore
IN August, 2019, Lake Macquarie City's mayor Kay Fraser announced, to a relieved community, that council had finally listened and that there was now no need to proceed with its Bath Street site high-rise commercial development proposal on Toronto's foreshore.
This was followed in September by a council resolution with six recommendations. All work on the proposal was to stop, the site was to be integrated into the park master plan, which was to continue, and processes put in place to reclassify foreshore land from 'operational' to 'community'. Yet six months later, foreshore upgrades and reclassification will not take effect until mid-to-late 2023, despite about $9 million of developer contributions already being available.
Excuses given for this long delay include the need: for a major review of council's entire property portfolio, not just for Toronto; to obtain a small rental income from the two remaining cottages on the foreshore before reclassification occurs, and; for an external consultant to explore a wide range of options for the Bath Street site, including "do nothing" and the original development proposal, against its sustainability policy.
Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 backdrop council's intended community engagement is postponed.
But if the community is to have trust in council what is required now is open and frank information flow and a commitment to the prompt completion of the master plan in accordance with council's September resolution.
- Nico Marcar, Carey Bay
Five-star whingers
HOW about the whingers complaining about spending quarantine in luxury five-star hotels, with three meals a day compliments of the taxpayer? Think back to the 1950s and 60s and the thousands of migrants, from all over the world, who spent weeks on end in migrant hostels everywhere. I'll bet they weren't five star.
- David Davies, Blackalls Park
Ice age a hard sell
IN his letter ("Plan for global cooling", Lakes Mail, March 19) George Paris reckons we are heading towards the next ice age. Well, I wish George the best of luck selling that idea to all those who suffered loss in the recent bushfires, not to mention all the firefighters who bravely battled the blazes.
- Richard Edmonds, Balcolyn
OzHarvest's bumper haul
FOR 10 years the local OzHarvest branch has been using refrigerated vans to collect food five days a week from clubs, supermarkets and food businesses committed to reducing food waste, and delivering it to local charities for distribution to those in need. In recent years it has typically involved three vans, each with a driver and volunteer, averaging a total around 7000kg of food per week. Last week, with some donors caught by coronavirus closures and with food they could not use, and others simply being generous, the total was 14,321kg.
Having suspended their volunteers (many of us in the at-risk age group) due to coronavirus concerns, this had to be collected by the drivers. Considering you have to lift that weight a number of times in a day, it was an awesome effort from a group of dedicated, mainly female, drivers.
- Richard Mallaby, Wangi Wangi