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2002 (c) Peninsula Community Access Newspaper Inc

 

Development costs more than money

 

Some of us see development as creating homes, adding to the residential district, creating employment for local prosperity, bringing in more ratepayers, and being the benefit to the community as a whole.

The only way is up, they cry, because of the unavailability of building land.

Others of us see such development as adding to existing problems already affecting a community.

Recently a development was advertised "for adults only".

Just imagine the hullabaloo if that were advertised as "for people under 40".

"Discrimination" those affected would proclaim and the advertisers would be threatened with lawsuits.

Kids should be out there with placards shouting "youth of the world unite" for this example is discrimination.

One wonders if this is a healthy trend.

Of course, other than their mothers, adults find children who scream at regular intervals in trains or who throw squealing tantrums in supermarkets a tiresome offence to their ears.

Those toddlers who run around stamping their feet in medical waiting rooms are hard to bear if you are feeling off.

But to demand that they be denied being in our proximity is a bit rough.

State and Council politicians deny developers the right to ravage the forested areas left so as to protect our climate from pollution and global warming.

And this seems a visionary motivation.

In practical terms "to build up" can mean creating architecturally-alienated buildings, concrete chasms, surrounded by paved pathways, dotted by a few potted shrubs, no grass, no trees.

This could affect our quality of life, and stops children from discovering the life of birds, insects and diverse plant life, which most of us grew up amongst.

Another issue is parking needs, with cars spewing onto narrow streets, which points to consideration for supporting infrastructures.

These are the provision of beds and medical requirements in hospitals, school buildings and equipment, and nursing home places.

These are only the tip of the iceberg in considering community options.

Add to this meeting places and sporting grounds and it is obvious that the problems are not simple.

Strictures should and do apply, and they need the support of all of us, when it comes to that magical word "development".

It costs in more than mere money.

Enid Harrison, Woy Woy