~Adelaide Connector

As I stood at the intersection of Kintore Ave and the Pathway of Honour, waiting in the freezing cold for the Adelaide Connector bus, I was not thinking about the ACC, I was listening to my iPod. However, when, 5 minutes after it was due, it drove straight past us, full, I was annoyed. I walked to King William Road and paid for a ticket on the ordinary metro system. 

I understand that they have just spent a lot of money on a solar bus, and I know that at some times of day, the bus is virtually empty, but perhaps the service is popular enough to justify extra buses at peak times, bigger buses, or buses on which it is legal to carry standing passengers. (The four people waiting at Scott Theatre stop would have fit in, if we were allowed to stand.)

I know only four people were affected at my stop, but how many people at stops before and after? How often does this occur? Does it happen at other times of day- lunch rush, in the opposite direction in the morning, on weekends with special events? As part of my not-just-being-reactionary campaign, I suggest positive movements towards improving the Adelaide Connector service.

~Anger

The State Government has declared war. 

According to a news bulletin on channel nine not 30 seconds ago, it has stripped the ACC of planning powers for developments worth more than $10 mil. 

RIP Community Consultation, Heritage, Urban Planning and Local Governance.

In their place we welcome Vested Interests, Marginal Constituencies, Power Politics and Thoughtless Development for the Gain of the Few. 

~The First of Many

For reasons of marketing and privacy etc., etc., I have moved all blogs relating to the ACC from my own personal blog to this site. It will now be the public focus of my campaign to become a city councillor in 2010. I welcome you to my blog and urge you all to earn your right to bitch by voting in the local council elections. If you do not live in the ACC area, fear not, for over time I will have a list of candidates I endorse from the other councils in the Adelaide Metro Area.

~Pokies and the 2am Lock-Out

Who knew they were not going to apply the lock-out to discrete [sic] pokies areas?
Good on them! The rule as it applied to drinkers is to prevent unruly behaviour on the streets.
(It won't, though. There will be a spike at 01:30am, and then again at the closing time of the various pubs as drinkers who've just had one for the road head to the taxi ranks.)
On the other hand, locking a pokie player to a certain machine is surely more harmful than letting them get up, leave a venue, walk to another, go in, sit down, and start again? At every point on this chain they are more likely to reconsider their next $1 bet than if locked into a single venue for the rest of the night.
On another note, is always amuses me when they quote that, "of the city's 88 venues, 11 had not agreed to the voluntary lock-out." (pg. 11, City Messenger, 26/06/2008) As is their democratic right, since it's voluntary. If you expect everyone to do something voluntary, you're naive or dumb.
I support neither a compulsory pub lock out, nor a similar imposition on pokie players.

~Pub Lock-Out

Tony Tropeano is a good man with a good heart, but misguided. A city lawyer, he wants to raise the age at which one may buy a bottle of alcohol at the bottle shop to 21.
On the surface, this seems a good idea. It would discriminate against young binge-drinkers by allowing them to buy it in pubs, but preventing them from pre-drinking.
But scratch deeper, and we find it is a silly, unenforceable and ultimately useless law. Just as underage-drinkers today get their hands on alcohol, so will the 19-year-olds of the future have their big sister buy them a bottle so they can pre-drink. Besides which, I know plenty of people older than 21 who enjoy getting sloshed now and again. On the other hand, at the age of 20, I own several bottles of hard liquor (Southern Comfort, Jaegermeister, Gin etc.) which take me months to get through, one nip at a time. Am I to be prevented from making the occasional martini or black Russian because I'm not allowed to buy a bottle of Vermouth or Kaluah?

~Amalgamation off the Agenda

In a heartening move, West Torrens Councillors have supported (10-2) that council's office position of being against a merger.
Mayor Trainer said that, while personally against any amalgamation, if forced by the State Government (as in Queensland) his first preference would be the ACC. Well, duh. His and every body else's.
It is by now well understood that my position is that as long as State Governments exist, local government must be as grass-roots (this means small area and population) as is possible. I do not believe the economic efficiencies are worth the inevitable trade-offs in terms of having a personal stake in democracy and how your neighbourhood is run.

~Don't Rain on My Parade

Ray Light (pg. 2, City Messenger, 26/06/2008) argues against a ban on protest marches along King William St, allegedly for safety reasons because of the new tram line.
Well, there were trams there in the '50's. And I bet that didn't stop protestors then. Why should it now? Mark Parnell has a valid point when he says that protests are designed to disrupt traffic. And in a worrying trend, Clr. Moran and I agree once more. She was intending to move a motion to allow it at last night's council meeting. I assume she did.