Speaking of today's election...

I woke up this morning to yet another ad campaign for Ray Smith that I hadn't seen before. Now this one happened to include images of damaged roads and an explanation about how the previous council failed in basics.
Yes, I can vouch for this to an extent.
On Brisbane north side our roads are still full of road damages that only get worse every time it rains.
For JOUR1112, I reported on a story that I started before anyone had made a single mention of road damages. After pestering the politicians in my ward, in the last week they changed policies leaving a lot of very confused residents. Rhys joked around that I started it, but I like to think I had some influence ;)


Here is my article:

NORTHSIDE STREETS STILL STURGGLING

The Brisbane flood aftermath has left streets on the north side still suffering and they won’t stop any time soon.

One of many inadequate drains on busy Zillmere Road

Many main and busy streets including Zillmere Road, Handford Road, Beams Road and Robinson Road East faced constant flash flooding this wet season and remain littered with pot holes, inadequate drainage systems and dangerous quick fixes in attempted repairs.

The Summers of 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 have seen 484.8mm, 952.6mm and 638.0mm of rain respectively, all classified as ‘high’ recorded rainfall according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

While the ‘la nina’ weather pattern over Brisbane that caused the severe rainfall for this wet season has now broken, the damage remains the same, and is likely to worsen next Summer time.

The streets became a danger to both pedestrians and motorists as sink holes were opening up damaging vehicles while pedestrians were made to wade through rising flood waters on busy roads with no alternative routes. One sink hole opened in Geebung to measure over a 1 metre diameter before anything was done about it.

The loss of Labour in the March election meant Leanne Linard (ALP), who was planning on addressing these road problems has now stepped down. The newly elected NLP Member Jason Woodforth’s focus is instead centred on “cutting costs”.

In the upcoming Brisbane City Council election the focus for the Deagon and Bracken Ridge Wards roads are familiar. The representative responses of Victoria Newton (ALP), Gordana Blazevic (LNP), Georgia Farrell (Greens) and John Harbison  (Independent) all believed that the focus regarding transport was on the much needed Geebung overpass and nothing at this stage was on the table for road repairs.

Yet in local letterbox leaflets distributed through the week, Ray Smith announced an $800 Million Local Roads Package to be used on road maintenance for flood aftermath if elected, but north side suburbs have again missed out. The package does not include resurfacing or maintenance.

“In the last 4 years, the current Council Administration has failed to deliver more than half of their promised Road Action Plans and our roads have been left in a deteriorating state,” Ray Smith explained in a press conference this week.

The elections this year have meant a backlog of promises from politicians without any clear indicators they will honour them. The added confusion of last minute changed minds and policies regarding budgets have left residents fed up.

“It really is an important issue. It’s becoming quite dangerous when it rains,” said north-side resident Paul Hoffman, “It’s definitely going to affect how I vote.”