Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
- Read the story: Van life wears thin with locals tired of campground views
I am constantly writing to Sunshine Coast Council letting them know and complaining about van campers throughout Maroochydore and Cotton Tree.
Most are clearly not ‘homeless’ and are most likely just travellers who stay for a few nights. Those staying put for weeks and months may be homeless and council should do far more than just move them on.
When people are van camping along rivers and beach areas, they’re abusing what residents pay a lot of money to live near, and visitors pay a lot to stay at (campgrounds, holiday units and so on). They should park elsewhere for short periods, and council should offer options or move them on out of the region all together.
They’re right that homelessness and camping are not always the same thing but they’re not doing enough to combat either. I’m sick of seeing van campers taking up waterfront and nearby parks, ruining the look, using the amenities and so on. Digital marketers living the laptop travel lifestyle and general travellers should pay for camping like the rest of us.
Aimee Clark
- Read the story: Road upgrades to create new routes into booming area
I would have thought that by now the council, state government and TMR would have the knowledge that if you build a suburban development, that the road access needs to be at least four lanes. Surely someone in town planning with a engineering degree would have learnt from the past mistakes.
Yes, I know the cost comes into it. But must we do everything so backwards? Delays to upgrade major roads, railways and so on then cost more than triple.
It isn’t too hard to see the traffic hold-ups and gridlocks around the Coast roads now are an everyday thing, and not just at peak hour. Kawana Link Way, the Mooloolah River interchange, Sugar Road, Mooloolaba Road and of course the Sunshine Motorway to Noosa are all examples.
Remember “build it and they will come”? Well they came and we weren’t ready. The Olympics are coming. Will we be ready?
Victor Elias
- Read the story: Dog taken down after biting woman and family pet
Are dog owners the most selfish people on the Coast?
Hinterland towns echo with dog barking through the night – in stereophonic – as these selfish people’s usually-multiple creatures start rolling bark attacks across the town.
And dog owners please be truthful with your language: 80 per cent of the time people aren’t taking their dogs for a walk, they’re taking them for a poo. Gross.
Mick Turner, Eudlo
- Read the story: Mayor reveals what she learnt from Paris trip
After the mayor’s trip to Paris she realises that here on the Sunshine Coast the transport system needs updating. I think anyone that travels via public transport could have explained that without the trip to Paris.
Fly into the Sunshine Coast after 6.30pm and expect public transport from the airport: that won’t happen. Want a taxi from the airport anytime? Well that depends how far you want to travel because they don’t like short journeys. Try catching a connecting bus that should arrive but doesn’t, then have to wait another hour. The bus drivers here on the Coast do an amazing job, often faced with verbal abuse and people just not paying the fare.
I’d say to the council and mayor, look into NSW and Victoria’s public transport system before spending ratepayers’ money on trips to Paris.
Diane Derby, Marcoola
- Read the story: Locals to comment on plan to attract luxury hotels
It is good to see council beginning to take seriously the lack of quality accommodation offered to visitors on the Sunshine Coast with the hope of attracting five-star hotels. Like Ron Beattie, I question the huge ratepayer subsidies being offered in the hidden discounts and fee waivers that will not contribute to our local economy, but rather go straight to the coffers of these international hotel chains.
For years now the Sunshine Coast Council has held policies to destroy the viability of quality accommodation on the Coast – particularly home-hosted bed and breakfast establishments, having had the ear of the small number of existing hotel operators. As a result, these home-based B&B businesses have all but disappeared from the Coast.
Senior aged family friends were offering three high-quality B&B bedrooms in their home in Maroochydore in an approved zone, only to be hit with bureaucratic officiousness, obstruction and council greed. Only one room was permitted by council. The operating, marketing and maintenance costs, the labour involved and the energy and commitment of the hosts – when matched to the two-thirds loss of income, threats of rate increases of over 100 per cent, lack of council encouragement and support, along with capital gains tax implications – meant the project was unviable and was shut down.
This proposal would have cost ratepayers next to nothing, and if duplicated with minimal council support through many other B&B offerings in homes on the Coast, could have easily provided the desired number of ‘hotel’ beds the current incentive project is desiring. And more than providing quality beds, these B&Bs would have boosted our local economy and connected guests (many being international) with Coast residents who are the best promotion of our fabulous lifestyle.
Council behaviour towards B&B operators has shown how frustrating it is to be entrepreneurial on the Sunshine Coast. This culture of obstruction must be weeded out, and focus should be directed on low-cost accommodation options.
Phillip Adamson, Maroochydore
Thank you to Cr Ted Hungerford and Cr David Law for standing alone in supporting residents and ratepayers (SCN, September 4).
The Sunshine Coast Council claims that there is a shortfall of 1250 upscale hotel rooms leading up to the Olympics – that is, they say we need nine new 140-room high-rise hotels.
As SCN reported, Cr Hungerford heard from council officers that the value of incentives for each 140-room hotel would be “worth more than $500,000”. In other words, Mayor Rosanna Natoli and eight other councillors have voted to commit more than $4.5 million of ratepayers’ hard-earned to some of the world’s wealthiest property owners. Councillors have also voted to deny us any say in how our money is to be spent.
The council’s farcical consultation is buried in its Your Say website. It does not mention the cost of incentives to ratepayers or the massive developer windfalls to be accrued by raising height limits and removing parking requirements.
Despite the cost-of-living crisis that fills our streets with the homeless and requires food banks to feed the working poor, Cr Natoli and friends have chosen to feed the rich.
The fact is, a simple Google search shows that two of the most recognisable, upmarket international hotel chains have property portfolios worth about $US25 billion.
Ask your councillor why they demand that these hoteliers get a bite of your pay cheque.
The spirit of the Olympics?
Ken Fisher, Yaroomba
It amazes me that any new development will not provide adequate parking for both owners and visitors.
The Coast is already seeing significant population growth with no apparent thought to the consequences. Don’t get me started on the mistakes the Gold Coast has made, yet we seem blinkered to the example they have set.
John Parkes, Buderim
- Read the story: Resurfacing work to start on link to and from highway
$3.8 million to resurface Caloundra Road. That will really improve the traffic flow on one of the worst-congested roads in Queensland. What a waste.
Bob Mullin
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
