Stop Stupid ($200 Million preliminary estimate cost) Tram on The Spit and Main Beach

Hi All,

Sorry to be back and having to ask you all for your assistance once again but it is critical in the Grand Scheme of things to try to STOP and HALT the Proposed Cruise Ship Terminal/Multi Storey Highrise Developments/Casino/Fully Integrated Resorts/Residential Apartments Exploitation for The Worlds Wealthy Elite to buy into and make a minority of Developers Mega Rich on Land that is Owned by the People of The State of Queensland in which was granted to them by the former Bjelke Peterson Government for The People of The State of Queensland's recreation, entertainment and enjoyment purposes, where The complete Main Beach Seaway Spit Area was deemed to only ever have a Building Construction Height of Maximum 3 Storeys or 15 Metres Height, so that any buildings could blend in with any tall trees height and for those buildings to not over shadow or exploit the beautiful vistas across the Broadwater Bay Areas, whereas other areas throughout Surfers Paradise, Southport, Broadbeach were permissible for Multi Storey. In other words some areas are permissible to be exploited for Multi Storey and Mass Density Buildings and other areas preserved to form Urban Density Relief, so the whole joint does not end up being "A COMPLETE CONCRETE JUNGLE", in other words as the Joanie Mitchell song refers "PAVED PARADISE" if you truly understand the Lyrics.

Anyway, The Mayor of The Gold Coast, Mayor Tom Tate has of recent proposed a Survey for Gold Coast Residents to have there say on wether or not they would like a Spur Line approved or Built to from the Current Light Rail Line, right through Main Beach (with several alternative directions in and around Main Beach with much the same consequences might I add) and onto a station stopping at the current SeaWorld carpark on the Main Beach Spit (at a preliminary estimated cost being bandied about of $200 Million to the people of The State of Queensland). Now it does not much of a brain to realise this proposed Spur of The GLink Light Rail Line is designed purely to service a plethora of future Multi Storey Highrise Developments to that area and Mayor Tom Tate's pet project of a Cruise Ship Terminal off the Beach Front at Phillip Park, Main Beach Spit. It is understood by many that if the Public support the Spur of The Light Rail Line to this location (it only has to gain approval and not necessarily get built) that it will then allow Mayor Tom Tate and The Developers to over-ride the current Planning Law height restriction of 3 Stories to then come under a new section of the Planning Law that there is a Special Economic Zone with 800 metre of The Light Rail Line that allows for a Building Construction of Unlimited Height Restriction. Now many, would understand and smell a cunning "SHOUSE RAT HERE". I know I can smell a pretty rotten stench coming from Gold Coast City Council. I wrote an email to Cr Mayor Gary Baildon just recently voicing my utter abhorrence and rejection of the wasteful amount of money being proposed to be thrown at such a small distant Light Rail Line and for what, to service a Minority of International Richies and not serve the broader community like any transport to service to the End of The Seaway Spit? Improve a bus service at 1/1000th the cost difference and particularly when there are so many other priorities that the Mayor really needs to concentrate on 21st Century stuff instead of pandering to a minority of Developers who want to bend the rules and exploit our wonderful open space areas for their once off financial gain, like extending the Light Rail Line to Coolangatta Airport, Duplication of The M1 Motorway to Brisbane and Beyond, Highspeed Train Servicing, Brisbane/Gold Coast/NSW/Melbourne, Bike/Pedestrian Path along the whole Gold Coast Beachfront from The Seaway to Coolangatta. To name but a mere few of the top of my head.

Here is what Cr Gary Baildon Division 7 Councillor for Surfers Paradise Area sent to me in a return email just last Thursday 20 April 2017 and referring to my email I sent him and a Public Consultation Meeting where he and I attended on Monday 10 April 2017 where he addressed the crowd of about 100 people there who were nearly all vehemently opposed to the Light Rail Proposal for Main Beach and The Spit.

"Thank you sincerely for your detailed letter of the 10th instant. As I did indicate when speaking, I knew nothing of this proposal until just over a week ago. Indeed, I have written to Council's Chief Executive Officer asking for details of any Council decision referring to this proposal. It would appear the plan came from the Mayor's office without reference to Councillors until quite late. I was absent from Council from 2004 to 2016, only returning 12 months ago. During my absence, the Local Government Act was changed, giving much more power to the Mayor. I was in Council in 1997 when Council and the State government completed a joint study recommending light rail as the best option for public transportation and hence we have this system today. Not everyone agrees with light rail (as I note your comments) but that is the system we have and plans are being developed and implemented. Whether the rail goes to the Spit, I cannot say, as this appears to be an initiative from the Mayor's office and would be only one of a number of options depending on whether the Statement government is to proceed with the development of the land south of Seaworld. Personally, I do not support this proposal. Nor do I support the light rail throughout Tedder Avenue, but again I believe such a decision will be made by the State. Thank you again for taking the time to express your opinion."

Apart from Cr Gary Baildon being publically now on record as being opposed to a Light Rail Spur to Main Beach and The Spit, Mayor Tome Tate in a media interview that day latter on Monday 10 April 2017 said in response to what he heard of the protest "Oh well if the People of The Gold Coast don't want it then they won't have it." He then went on to say and refer to there is a Survey he has on the Gold Coast City Council Have Your Say Website where people can voice whether they want this or not. This is where I strongly urge you all now to jump onto that website and register yourself and then fill out the survey in the "NO, WE DON'T WANT THE LIGHT RAIL SPUR TO MAIN BEACH AND ONTO SEAWAORLD ON THE MAIN BEACH SPIT!"

I will now go onto to explain how to do this to make it easy on you to do so, taking example from what I filled in on the Survey and how to go about it:-

A) Firstly you need to log onto www.gchaveyoursay.com.au when you are directed to that site it will ask you to submit your email address and then a "logon user name" note this can be anything you decide to make up, then you will need to make up an 8 digit password and then do a verification password. After that there is a few check box fields to fill in, which are not to difficult and then you can decide how much other information you are prepared to leave for the site. To give you an example I do not give them my name or phone number and nor do they require those fields to be entered if you don't want. Click sent and it will then send a verification to your email address where you will need to log out of this website and then go onto and open up your email address. Please don't worry, it sounds harder than it actually is.

B) Then once you have found the gchaveyoursay activation email to you, open it up and it should say that you are now activated. You can then click on a tab at the top of the email page that says "Open Consultations" Scroll down the drop down box where it will have "Light Rail Main Beach/Spit Consultation" or words to that effect where you will need to click on that and it will then open up the page for "Light Rail - Main Beach to The Spit" There is then a seven step Survey Questionnaire to do tick boxes or right in a comment box. I will show what I did for convenience, once again it sounds harder than it actually is!

Step 1 on page 1) Question 1 Tick the check box "Strongly oppose it"
Question 2 Leave the comment box blank
Then Click the Tab "Save & continue"

Step 2 on page 2 Question 3 Tick the check box "Strongly oppose it"
Question 4 Leave the comment box blank
Then Click the Tab 'Save & continue"
Step 3 on page 3 Do exactly for Questions 5 & 6 the same as previous questions
Step 4 on page 4 Do exactly for Questions 7 & 8 the same as previous questions

Step 5 on page 5 and this is the important one, don't stuff it up! Question 9 "TO DO NOTHING"
you must check the first box "STRONGLY AGREE"
Question 10 you can fill in the comment box if you like with your disapproval for the Light Rail to Main Beach and The Spit. You may be able to just copy and past the comment I made from here if you like. My comment was as follows:-

I am completely opposed to any Light Rail Spur ever built through Main Beach and onto The Spit Area regardless of what route it takes. It is a complete waste of money ( at a preliminary only estimate of $200 Million construction cost), will further restrict already under stress roads and traffic in the whole area, hamper and choke free movement of vehicular and bicycle access, kill what businesses there are currently in The Main Beach and Spit Areas from noise, construction and ugliness of Light Rail and it's lines, it's a useless transport system that only goes to serve up to SeaWorld when many uses of people going through those areas and beyond to the Seaway have so many multi faceted purposes that mainly only vehicles would ever be the viable option as people transport Boats, Jet-ski's, Windsurfing Boards, Canoes, Sup's, Surfboards, Fishing Rods, Scuba Gear, Picnic Tables/Chairs, Barbecues, Pets and a whole array of stuff to those areas, that any transport system would be useless. In my view a simple supplementary Bus System (at 1/1000th of the assumed cost of this Light Rail Spur proposal) is more than sufficient to transport any others throughout the Main Beach and Spit Area s as always has been the case with possibly a few minor improvements to it, would be extremely more cost effective than a Light Rail Spur could ever be and the Mayor would be best served pursuing an extension of the Light Rail to Coolangatta Airport and a Duplication of The M1 Motorway all the way to Brisbane and beyond instead of this hair brained totally lame proposal!

So there you have it guys and gals, please do not waste a minute (AS YOU ONLY HAVE TILL Monday 1 MAY 2017 ) and get your Survey in to send a LOUD AND CLEAR MESSAGE to The Mayor that we do not want your DUMB MINORITY DEVELOPER BACKED GROSS EXPLOITATION OF OUR LOVELY AND WONDERFUL MAIN BEACH SEAWAY SPIT!

there's already buses that go there, so they're just changing the type of public transport that's operating in the area, also the end of the spit has always been owned by Qld water, which is why there is an anchorage up there that is free to use for upto a week, unless that is things have changed in the last 5 years, personally I don't intend to ever live on the Gold Coast again so I don't care, but since you obviously do, good luck with your campaign.

Certainly, Cicero would be burning with envy reading your period or rather circular interpolation.

Good luck with your cause!

The Gold coast was ruined 50+ years ago with development. Just let it continue so the "developers" spend their money there, before they ruin some other coastline.

I think the Gold Coast might be the best place to live in the world. The beaches are beautiful and clean with easy parking and a variety of surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing and sup options.

There is no heavy industry. No pollution to speak of. The gardens and parks are well maintained and clean and people are generally well behaved.

I used to be at the beach nearly every windy day, traffic is easy to deal with compared to other major cities. it takes 10 mins to sail out the seaway into the ocean. Thursday twilight races inside the Broadwater are great fun.

The flat water cruising area is immense and stretches for hundreds of kilometres from Bribie Island to Southport. One guy told me there is one thousand cruising miles in the area. Don't know if thats true but it sounds good.

Its big enough so your kids have opportunities and want to come back and live there after they have travelled the world or whatever after they have have done what they wanted to do. So your grandkids are close by.

The hinterland is spectacular. The people are great. what's not to love?

I lived on the Gold Coast from 1977 until 1999 and in those days the Coast was a great place to live.
I now live in Brisbane and the traffic on the Coast is horrendous compared to most of Brissy.