You have to do what you have to do first, then you can do what you want to do (“Stop the dog whistling on public art”, Letters, DA).

Some things take precedence over other things.

Some things are more important than others.

I dream of having a golden table encrusted with diamonds but I believe having food to put on the table is more important.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was not a documentary. You can’t have everything.

CAN I please ask anyone who is considering donating money to the Wagga Rail Trail development to ask themselves one simple question?

Would you like people walking or cycling through your backyard?

If the answer is “I don’t care” or “those people walking through my land won’t affect me”, then go ahead and donate your hard-earned money to this project.

However, surely you could think of more worthwhile projects or charities to donate to.

I READ with interest Pamela and Richard Martin’s letter on May 23 titled “Farms before rail trails”.

Rail Trails for NSW has been portrayed as a group of elitist bicycle riders based in metropolitan areas of Australia when in fact it consists of a diverse group of people from all across regional, rural and metropolitan Australia. 

It is a varied group that consists of people from all walks of life, including farmers, businessmen and women, doctors, retirees and engineers with interests far broader than just cycling.

Many of us have lived, worked, farmed, toured and volunteered in rural and regional Australia and have an intimate knowledge of those communities. 

The co-authors mention a legal and moral obligation for compensation to affected farmers. 

Rail Trails for NSW is not proposing taking land from farmers. Far from it.

The proposal is to utilise neglected crown land for an activity that can contribute to the health of local communities while providing an avenue for those same communities to gain compensation by adding tourism dollars to their income stream.

The land has, in the case of Wagga to Tumbarumba, been crown land for 100 years and has been disused as a railway since around 1974, but been available to farmers, free of charge for any purpose since that time.

Perhaps a rent premium could be asked for from those landholders?

They also forget to mention that large tracts of these corridors also sit within existing road and travelling stock route corridors.

The authors also forget the fact roads travel through their holdings and towns, providing access to their farms, urban businesses and residential areas.

I also recently read where the Snowy Valleys Shire are exploring "agri-tourism" as an initiative and mentioned several businesses in the Tumbarumba area which could benefit from such a venture. 

I do agree with the authors on the need for cycle paths around regional towns, but they also need to travel into the heart of the city or town and also connect other sections of the community .

The right to farm has far greater threats posed by the urban sprawl occurring around Wagga, where valuable farming land is now growing houses instead of food, than it does from the development of a linear recreation reserve such as a rail trail.