THE SPECTRE OF THE FLOOD

 

Apparently the City of Launceston Council is holding another one of those 'blame the resident rather than council for flood risk matters' .

It's at the Invermay Bowls club. The hope is that some people might be able to go and ask a sticky question or two. The Council needs to take responsibility for all the nonsense it has recently allowed to happen on the flood zone. The Council needs to retire or sack a whole bunch functionaries masquerading as 'planners' .

This whole exercise smacks of rankism. Here we have ‘functionary bureaucratic somebodies’ aiming to talk to a group of ‘Swampy nobodies’ in order to persuade them that the status quo ... well it’ll all be OK if you can just do this and that. What is most likely is that as soon as the ‘Town Hall Somebodies’ enter the room they become nobodies on the Swampies’ turf, their 'place', their HOMEplace indeed – albeit that it might not be seen that way by the self-appointed somebodies.

Why is all this going on? Well because these somebodies represent all those who have been the main instigators of all the inappropriate development, the traffic issues and the social distress of people living behind those levies we know will fail at some time – perhaps soonish. These somebodies  have also been looking the 'other way on this or that pretext with this or that payoff in mind.

Are they actually seeking forgiveness and understanding?  It is unlikely but just like GOD made little apples its an even money bet that they’ll be there defending the status quo. These somebodies see their livelihoods as bing invested in the status quo.

Then there was that survey that asked Invermay people just how often they could tolerate flooding.

Let's put it like this, they should be sent to Lismore and the far North in NSW armed with their clipboards to attend say Council meetings in Lismore and Byron Shire and then go door knocking asking such questions. 

IF they escaped being lynched they would return to Launceston battered and bruised and rightly so.

However, IF this gathering was to become for the establishment of a 21st C CHANGEagency focused on 'placedness', PLACEmaking, PLACEmarking and CULTURALlandscaping, and if so, that might well be a positive step forward.

LOOK YE HERE AT THIS INVITATION 

AND SPOT THE MISTAKES

You really do have to wonder about who puts this stuff together and how much they get paid for their efforts

Please RSVP by Thursday, February 16, by emailing sarah.mccormack@launceston.tas.gov.au