Thursday, 26 July 2012

Landowners Win Lotto

Land near rail stations is worth more, all over Australia. On ABC 720 Mornings today John McGlue and his property adviser guest made this very clear. The Melbourne Age today had an article on the same point, headlined “Ticket to a Prize Location.”
As our freeway chokes and petrol prices go up, more of us walk a short way to the train station. And we love to do it; the trains are very well used. For people near Canning Bridge and the proposed South Perth Station this is good news. Leave the car until the weekend. Use less energy. And smile while your property appreciates. What a deal!
South Perth City Vision seems to have been right on the money five years ago when the community took the first steps of our Canning Bridge plans. When hundreds of residents put their heads together with the City Planners, good things happened.
On mornings like this one, the views are artistically hazy but our eyes and lungs don’t like the air. One more reason to get moving and get Light Rail going, now. With the news that people are buying into the area near the rail stations there’s even less reason to hesitate.
Next time I hear about a community forum on where we want our City to be fifty years from now, I’ll be there. Will you come too?
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Thursday, 5 July 2012

Heroes Come First, Others Later

Blue lips, no breath, floral tights, soft feet, lying beside Manning Road on a Saturday afternoon. Asthma, drugs, heart attack, who knows? A hundred cars whisper past, not seeing. Death crept closer.

Two off-duty coppers slow down and have a look. Quick, jump, mouth-to-mouth, no time to think. Colour returns, breathing again. Whew, that was close.

Thank you for caring. I don’t know any of the people involved. The bloke who gave his breath washed his mouth with hand-cleaner, for the next fifteen minutes. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, not far away. Beautiful day on the river. On the path at Salter Point. A local resident has donated big bucks for hundreds of trees. Built new steel steps for walkers too.

I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, same place, same view. To the right is more river mercury than anywhere else in Perth. In front the dominant fish species is an import from the Gulf of Mexico. Underwater cane toad. Upstream, water hyacinth, just found. Covers thousands of square kilometres of lakes and rivers in Africa. Deadly to the river. Imported and dumped. Grows fast.

The SERCUL team is onto it. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, same river. Shiny wagon, deep tracks, our river bank, who cares?

I care. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

Please pass this message on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you.