Cooloola Coast

04/11/2016

Cooloola Coast the road paved with gold

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10210643605269231&id=1320772032

21/01/2015

LOW rates advocate Reg Lawler says he gave other mayoral candidates the chance to promise his idea of a real rates cut for Gympie people – and they blew it.

18/04/2012

2012-04-08 Bayside Rd, Cooloola Cove

17/04/2012

The following speech was delivered by me to nearly 100 members of our community at the Cooloola Community Hall on Saturday 14th April 2012

My election campaign has been centred around the lack of maintenance of roads and infrastructure here on the coast, but as you have probably noticed the roads are all getting fixed now.

But let’s ask ourselves why this has happened.

• Is this part of the council’s maintenance program, || and it’s just a coincidence that our roads were due for repair two weeks before the election? – I doubt it.

• If there was no up and coming election, would we be getting the flood money spent on our roads so promptly – I doubt that too.

• Have our roads been repaired because this council wants to be re-elected? – probably.

So, I’m guessing now is the time to get the wish list out. What else do you want? This council wants to be re-elected. They have made a start with the roads so you had better be quick there’s only two weeks to get whatever else is on your list.

People have been telling me what they think council should have been doing here on the coast.

• Roads, a few are done – tick
• Drainage to be addressed so that peoples yards aren’t flooded every time it rains
• Upkeep of parks and reserves
• Footpaths around Cooloola Cove
• Creeks to be maintained so they don’t flood peoples yards
• Increased business opportunities and job creation
• Council to put pressure on the State government so this community isn’t cut off every time it rains.

Our coastal community has the largest population outside of Gympie City, a population of over 6000. It seems incredible in this day and age that we have to rely a single track timber bridge that goes underwater when it rains.

• People can’t get to and from work
• No deliveries can get through
• No emergency services can get through
• Kids can’t get to school
• There’s no mail
• And you can guarantee that that specialist appointment you’ve been waiting 3 years for, comes up when the bridge is under!

So if you were looking for business opportunities would you invest in an area that doesn’t have 24/7 access?
So what ever is on your wish list, what ever hasn’t been delivered over the last four years, what ever you think this council will do to get re-elected, now is the time to ask.

This council has had four years to show us here on the coast what we can expect from them. What you can expect from the increasing rates we have all been paying over the last four years. You’re hard earned money, your money that you have scrimped and saved out of your wages and pensions.

So, do you think this council will deliver on your wish list?

Do you think this council will give you value for money on your rates over the next four years?

Do you think this council values this community here on the coast as more than just a cash cow?

Do you think that repairing a few roads two weeks out from an election is enough for us?

I am the only candidate for division 1 who believed and fought for divisions.

I have fought hard to ensure that we now have an opportunity in division 1 to have local representation in council.

You’ve seen that I’m a fighter.

Do you want a yes man or do you want someone who is prepared to fight for the coast?

If you want someone who is prepared to fight for the coast, you need to vote for me on Election Day.

17/04/2012

2012-04-08 6691 Toolara Rd & Gar St
From another angle

17/04/2012

2012-04-08 6689 Toolara Rd & Gar St
NB the quality Job this section of road was done less than 14 days earlier - so smooth - hahaha
To me it looks like they laid the spray and chip reseal straight over existing pot holes

09/04/2012

2012-04-08 Toolara Rd - NB within 6 days of resurfacing the road had lost the stones through subsidance. It was resurfaced on or about the 26 March 2012

20/03/2012

Council needs to get back to its core business

Council’s core business has always been the upkeep of infrastructure except in recent times. When roads, footpaths, reserves and parks are poorly maintained; it is purely a council failure. The ratepayers of the Gympie Region are paying top rates and what do they get back?

On the Cooloola Coast very little has improved over the past 4 years with roads and kerb and channelling breaking up, parks overgrown, council staff and funding for the coast slashed. Yet in and around Gympie City there have been many roads resurfaced and repaired, staff from the coast relocated to work in Gympie and surrounds and having to travel to Gympie to start work when there is enough work on the Coast to keep them occupied for years.

I have heard it said that our council services are our upgraded sewerage plant and water supply for Cooloola Cove but this is misdirection. The upgrades are to cater for future developments not for the existing housing and are paid for out of developer contributions and the levies that are imposed.

What has happened to all our maintenance programs? There does not seem to be any programs for maintaining the roads, drainage, paths and parks. Ad hoc repairs are expensive and ineffective.

Roads and kerb and channelling

A road, if built properly will last 7 to 8 years and then needs to be resurfaced to last another 7 to 8 years. When roads are left 15 to 20 years and some longer, as many have on the Coast, resurfacing will not work because of potholes and softening of the road foundations and water getting under the bitumen and decomposes. The road then needs to be rebuilt at enormous cost. Chip and spray does not work over potholes. This is now the situation on every road in Cooloola Cove and some in Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach due to the neglect over past years.

The kerb and channelling built by council for past developers of Cooloola Coast fell far short of any recognised normal standard. To put it bluntly, it was shonky, and too thin in places, low grade concrete mix with not enough cement to sand or maybe it was salt in the sand that is now failing everywhere. This is something that you would expect in the third world and yet was passed by our previous council’s inspectors. This should be a lesson that I hope council has learned. Council is now responsible for the replacement of all this concrete and it will cost us millions of dollars over years of work. Shortcuts end up costing the ratepayers in the long run. The future developers or council must do the proper job with no more cheap shortcuts to get passed or to maximise profits.

Drainage

Major drainage problems threaten homes in Nautilus Ave between Santa Maria Ave and Achilles Ct in Cooloola Cove where there are single 30cm diameter pipes on low lying flat land to handle thousands of litres of water. Diameters of pipes may need to be tripled or quadrupled to handle the volume of water. Considering the heavy thunderstorms and flash flooding that has occurred lately it should be on the urgent list. The same situation occurs near the intersection of Investigator Ave and Canberra Ave. Again council is now responsible for replacement because of previous developers and inspectors.

Decentralisation

Centralisation is not cost effective at a council level. Having all the staff and equipment centralised in Gympie means it is expensive to constantly move it across the region.

When there is more than enough work to keep all the staff on the Coast fully occupied permanently. The same goes for the staff out at Kilkivan and other depots in the Region. If they run out of work they can then be temporarily moved but they will not run out of work on the Coast.

With all these problems that we face for the future it is important to remember the lessons of the past. Council in the future must ensure that when a job is done it is done right the first time so that we do not have to revisit it over and over again at the cost to ratepayers.

When we look to what can happen in the future a goal or vision needs to be in place. Without a vision we wander aimlessly wasting time and money.

26/02/2012

Flood Report
http://t.co/n13OgiPn

Your online guide to the Gympie Regional Council, information for residents, businesses and visitors.

20/02/2012

Road Awareness Signs

We have awareness signs for horses, kangaroos, cattle, trucks, etc. We don’t need to ask why because it’s obvious; these things can kill car drivers if they were to hit them. Most drivers respect this point and use caution. Where are all the cyclist awareness signs?

Many drivers are courteous and to them I say thank you but it’s a shame that some drivers, including some well known commentators and a sportsman in Australia, don’t pay the same courtesy to cyclists as well. If it was the case that hitting a cyclist were just as lethal as colliding with a truck or horse maybe these drivers would show more respect for others using the road but at the moment it’s not the case.

At this point I would like the uncourteous to take a moment to consider how they would feel, for the rest of their life if they killed somebodies child, mother or father because it was going to cost them 20 seconds out of their life to wait until it is safe to overtake.

I have witnessed bullish driver behaviour many times where the driver has done the most ridiculous overtake risking all including their own life. I have been missed by 30cm by cars doing 60km plus down Investigator Ave trying to not go over the centre line because a car was coming the other way. A few weeks ago a four wheel drive overtook me over double lines on the down hill blind corner on the Tin Can Bay Rd near Rainbow Beach Rd. If something had been coming the other way at that moment all of us would have been dead. Stupid! It was for 20 seconds out of a driver’s day.

Queensland law states that cyclists can ride 2 abreast and statistics have shown that cyclists riding 2 abreast are less likely to be hit so don’t get annoyed or beep them for riding that way.

Everyone needs to be more patient and courteous.

What can you do as a driver?

Treat the cyclist as if the cyclist was as wide as a car to allow room for error by cyclists as well as drivers. When overtaking a cyclist cross the centre line and overtake properly on the other side of the road, where it is legal to do so, giving the cyclist plenty of room. Don’t try and squeeze between the centre line and a cyclist, this can be fatal.

Cyclist awareness signs are urgently needed on all major council and state controlled roads. Here is the place for one of the biggest problems; all tiers of government need to fix the roads’ edges and potholes if they want cyclists to keep left.

Finally, compare how many cars have been run over and killed by cyclists to how many cyclists have been killed by cars. Pretty obvious! I challenge any uncourteous drivers who think the worst of cyclists, if they have the guts, to come for a ride on our roads. It would be an education.

20/02/2012

Cycling, Sports Tourism and the Cooloola Coast

I believe that sport tourism in the form of cycling would suit the Cooloola Coast as a way of boosting our economy and at the same time is beneficial to all the residents with the improvement to our infrastructure on the Coast. Using the existing Rainbow Beach Triathlon and other events, we need to actively work towards a future where we enhance our tourism economy with sports tourism. At the same time as improving our economy it will improve and enhance the health and lifestyles of all that use it.

In Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove cycling is becoming more and more popular and it would be ideal to connect the whole of Cooloola Cove and Rainbow Beach into an integrated cycling system of multi-purpose pedestrian/cycle paths beside the roads or cycle lanes on the roads. In the future cycle ways or lanes connecting everywhere in the entire Gympie Region should be the goal.

The Cooloola Coast can attract cycling and sports training and tourism if we integrate residents, business and sports needs. Repairing and improving our infrastructure is not only important step forward for the residents and businesses of the Coast but the entire Region. Unfortunately we have to get our infrastructure up to an acceptable standard and this will take time because most of our road infrastructure on the Coast is in very poor condition.

With the cost of cycle or dual purpose paths being large it will be necessary to have an ongoing program over years to get where we want it to be.

Without any doubt the most dangerous road to cycle and walk on that does not have a path in the residential area is Investigator Ave, between Nautilus Ave and Queen Elizabeth Dve.

The lack of a multi-purpose path on Investigator Ave has created a “disconnect” in Cooloola Cove where children who live at the south-eastern end cannot cycle to anywhere due to the high traffic loads on this road. Mothers push prams, the elderly with mobility scooters, disabled with wheel chairs, pedestrians and cyclists risk their lives by using the road or are isolated in their homes. Cooloola Cove Residents and Friends Inc, a local community based organisation, along with unanimous support from the residents have been requesting council, for ten years, to upgrade Investigator Ave to the modern standard width, and for a multi-purpose pathway along this road. I have talked to many residents about the road condition and path issue and it and it comes out as the major issue in Cooloola Cove.

Future attention for a multi-purpose path then needs to be placed on Investigator Ave from Nautilus Ave to Endeavour Dve as well as the whole of Endeavour Dve.
There are many, not only cyclists, that would use this path besides those who live near it and it would extend the path from Tin Can Bay that has been the greatest of successes which the then council also opposed for many years.

A multi-purpose pedestrian/cycle path or cycle lane from Rainbow Beach to Seary's Creek with the ultimate plan to connect with Cooloola Cove and the Tin Can Bay-Gympie Rd would join the coast together in a way that would benefit all and create new opportunities previously unconsidered.

I would like to see a future where the Coast can become a centre for sporting activities and eco-tourism. The pathways connecting our Coast can encourage tourists to come and see nature while riding and walking in safety. The Cooloola Coast needs to broaden its income base with new ideas thereby enhancing the mono-culture tourism base of dolphins feeding in Tin Can Bay and Fraser Island access for Rainbow Beach. It’s very important for the Cooloola Coast that tourists come to see what we have now and we should treasure it, but if anything upsets these attractions we are in trouble. We need to diversify.

An integrated cycle network with paths and lanes throughout the Cooloola Coast ticks many boxes:
o Health
o Enhance tourism
o Broaden our economic base
o Sports and Training
o Eco-tourism
o Children being able to ride to and from school
o Ability to ride to and from work

The Cooloola Coast is an ideal location for cycling due to the mixed terrain allowing for long flat rides for beginners and hills for the experienced as well as cross country cycling.