Parking plan a dead end
THE now-closed Marketplace car park contained several parking spaces for disabled drivers.
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With the new renovations, I have been informed there will be no new disabled parking spaces made available in the existing car park.
We could assume Wagga City Council approved the renovations and if so, we have to ask why they appear to continue denying assistance to the disabled and aged citizens of Wagga.
Peter Dolden
Wagga
Rights end at your nose
WHILE I regard Mary Kidson as a good friend and I often refer to her as a trusted advisor, I’m sorry that I have to disagree with her opinion about passive/public smoking.
I do not believe it is possible to light up cigarettes or other smoking implement in public “In a manner that respects the right of those who do not”.
Smoking in the presence of non-smokers is by definition ignoring the rights of non-smokers and in my opinion is thumbing one’s nose at those who do not wish to have to inhale and endure the sickening stench and ill-effects of second-hand smoke.
Like another anti smoker, I believe the right to light up ends at the tip of a non-smokers nose. Very sorry, Mary.
Peter Matthews
Wagga
Water plan a dud plan
MURRUMBIDGEE wetland restoration has been targeted as a priority by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). The aim basically is to try to recreate the environmental conditions existing before the dams were built. This is to be achieved by creating artificial floods through large dam releases on top of significant rain events, so called piggyback environmental flows.
The high river will then enable tributary inflows and the wetlands will commence to fill. This is to happen on a regular basis to ensure ongoing wetland health. It sounds very straightforward and indeed highly desirable, however the implications for adjoining landholders are dire, and the costs to taxpayers are set to escalate out of control.
Last Thursday, I attended a meeting in Collingullie convened by the MDBA to present the case for increasing the height of their Murrumbidgee environmental flows to 6.8 metres in Wagga. At this height, many more wetlands can be watered. However, damage to landholders is much greater with access issues, inundation, loss of income etc.
Some natural flooding is a feature of farming along the river but regular man-made flooding is a different matter and the presenters were met with resistance, cynicism and some hostility.
The costs and the risks involved with these higher flows are also far greater. For example, the Mundarlo Bridge and approaches, near Gundagai will have to be replaced. It's a perfectly functional bridge but it is not high enough for their proposed flows. I wonder how many millions that project will blow out to? And countless millions will also have to be spent on affected landholders as expensive agreements for flood easements will have to be entered into for every single one. No doubt protracted legal battles will ensue, the costs will be never ending.
The risk entailed with these planned higher flows must also be considered. What do you think will happen if a large release occurs on top of a rain event far bigger than predicted? A minor flood can turn into a major flood extremely quickly.
I am not against watering wetlands, far from it. But I think some sanity must prevail. We may have to be satisfied with watering far fewer. The cost of the over-bank flows needed to water wetlands only reached at very high flows is just prohibitive. How can we justify spending so many of our taxpayer dollars for this ideal environmental outcome?