Happy Chinese New Year, Hands off Hampden Park!

February 7 is Chinese New Year.

So, allow me to give you the traditional greeting: "Kung Hei Fat Choi" which apparently is Cantonese for "Congratulations and Be Prosperous" (well, that's what Wikipedia tells me).

Auspicious things were meant to happen in the heavens, today. There was "supposedly" a partial eclipse of the sun this afternoon. In Robertson there was rain - heavy rain. So how can we tell what was happening up there in the sky? The light was dull, but that could have been from the heavy rain.

Meanwhile, down here on earth, the Council convened a public meeting in Robertson to authorise the "stealing" of public land in Hampden Park, to sell off two blocks in order to fund the creation of an Indoor Leisure Centre in Bowral.

Great! In these days of global warming concern we are supposedly planning to build an indoor heated pool (which is not designed to be "carbon neutral", not even solar heated). And it is a fifty kilometre round trip from Robertson. What is the sense in that, when we are all trying to plan to reduce our travel, because of fuel costs and also because of the use of energy?

This idea is a hang-over from the 1960s when we would gladly have piled the kids into the back of the Holden station wagon, to go for a swim.

The EH Holden Station Wagon
Ah, the good old days.

Today we have to think about such excessive use of fuel. And if it is bad today, how will it seem in 10 years time?

The Indoor Leisure Centre is a dinosaur - in planning and environmental terms. The people of Robertson (every local resident who spoke tonight) told the Council's "facilitator" that they do not want to sell this land, for a Leisure Centre to be built in Bowral.

The only person to speak in favour of the proposal is the wife of the Councillor who has proposed the construction of the Leisure Centre. Her argument is that as a school teacher for 30 years she has taught many (too many) kids to swim in cold water. I can understand her point, but is that a justification for building an environmentally unsound building?

Time to re-think the idea, everybody.

Think Globally, Act Locally.
Hands off Hampden Park!