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News) President has a SPITBelow is a reply to a letter suggesting an extension of cement paths on the Spit.
Thank you for your reply. No matter what my personal feelings about 'beauty' and accessibility on the Spit, as President of SOSA my moral and ethical responsibility is to uphold the SOSA constitution and objects which are clearly outlined on the reverse of the SOSA membership form. In terms of Federation Walk you should refer to
their website and the approved architectural plans for the Friends of Federation
Walk vision and GCCC plans for that reserve which have been heavily researched
and approved after years of community consultation. As the Fof FW move
further north with their planting and path improvement program (which does not
include concrete) the visual quality of the area will improve. I vigorously
refute your claim that the current Federation Walk demeans and devalues the
Spit. Fed Walk Reserve is currently regarded by scientists, horticulturalists
and environment and town planning experts as a world's best practice community
public space project.
Given that State Governments of various persuasions
have contributed little to Spit improvements (except for $100,000 in recent
times) from the $12-15 million they derive from lease monies annually from
commercial developments on public land on the Spit, it is not surprising some
areas of the Spit appear neglected. As far as the burnt out sections of The
Spit, these were deliberately and systematically lit by professional arsonists
to degrade the quality of the Spit and allow business 'entrepreneur's to bid for
the land on the eastern side for international hotel compounds (see local press
articles circa 2004-2005) when the then GCCC CEO Greg Young suggested
trading the land off to International hotel consortia to pay for the 'clean up'
of The Spit.
I don't know why we humans continually see our
needs as being superior to the needs of wildlife, nature and sustainable
ecologies. Given tens of thousands of weekly users of the Spit love it and use
it in its current form the Spit doesn't need any more users especially when
those users are already catered for with the 90% of GC beach-front already
paved, packaged, concreted and with the same views of the ocean
that de-nuded and paved Spit dunes would provide. Those same ocean
views are available by simply walking on the beach from the Sheraton to the
Seaway Wall as thousands already do anyway on a daily basis. Even if your figure
of only 10% visitor use of the Federation Walk path per day is correct (although
there is no empirical data to prove this point) that still means up to one
thousand users per day esp. on weekends (the best times are at daybreak and late
afternoon, as you may have a better chance of witnessing the diverse range of
birdlife on the Spit including the majestic white-breasted sea
eagle.)
As a bike-rider, runner, walker and world
traveller, I much prefer the changeable terrain that currently exists on
the Spit as do the vast majority of people (over 800) who took the time to
respond recently to the GCCC 'Tides of Change' consultation process and told the
GCCC to 'leave the Spit alone'. But even so, as President of SOSA it is not my
job to push my personal barrow on Spit usage but to uphold SOSA principles and
support the majority community view which is to 'leave it alone' except for more
planting for shade and a visually and environmentally acceptable public
amenities block.
If I felt I was out of step with the values of
the people who currently love and use the Spit I would gladly resign from
my position as SOSA President. Personally it has cost me thousands of dollars
and thousands of hours of time to be involved in the SOSA campaign, dealing with
the self-interest of and criticisms from individuals, some journalists
and political opportunists often on a daily basis. Perhaps it is time for
someone else who prefers their nature manicured, controlled and easy to conquer
to take over the rains (pun intended), change SOSA's constitution and
convince the majority of Spit users of their vision. Personally I don't like
nature to be a replica of a suburban front yard.
Steve Gration |
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