Some Letters to Cairns Post

Cairns Style

Monday, April 23, 2007
The Cairns Post

It's good that the Cairns City Council has launched Cairns Style guide (20/04/07) with its advice to use louvres, wide eaves, fans, balconies and foliage to block off the sun.

However, residents can't help but ask how come it's taken so long for Council to discover what the early residents of Cairns knew more than 100 years ago.

The early builders did not build the sorts of houses that were suitable for the southern cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart; buildings that were designed to keep the warmth in. They invented the Queenslander with all of the wonderful features that made living in the tropics easier.

We need to respect and admire what is left of the heritage of Cairns, learn from it and not be hell bent on creating a city where old Queenslanders are bulldozed and replaced with concrete boxes.

Val Schier
Candidate for Mayor '08PO Box 2 (151 O'Shea Esp)MACHANS BEACH Q 4878Ph: 07 4055 0353; 0407 100 886

Cairns Style Design Guide
To view the Cairns Style please click on the links to the Chapters below. The file sizes are large due to the nature of the document. Copies of the Cairns Style Design Guide are available from the Council Customer Service Centre.
Chapter 1 - Introduction (2.6MB)
Chapter 2 - Queenslanders (3.1MB)
Chapter 3 - Contemporary Dwellings (2.7MB)
Chapter 4 - Multiple Dwellings (3.0MB)
Chapter 5 - Commercial and Civic (3.0MB)
Chapter 6 - Resources (582KB)

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Reducing water usage by 10%

Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Letters to Cairns Post

Dear editor,
It's good to see that Cairns Water is putting into place a campaign to make people more water conscious and encourage them to reduce their daily water usage.

However, setting the reduction at only 10% is not a very big ask. We currently use more than 500 litres per person per day - huge in comparison with most other cities and towns in Queensland - and most people think that we can go beyond the 10%.

If we reduce demand for water significantly then we can delay the time when we have to outlay huge expenditure for new water infrastructure.

Meanwhile, we also have to ask what is happening to educate tourists to reduce their water usage and what resort developers are doing to help. All those inefficient shower heads and single flush toilets are wasting water and pushing up the daily average.


Val Schier
Candidate for Mayor '08PO Box 2 (151 O'Shea Esp)MACHANS BEACH Q 4878Ph: 07 4055 0353; 0407 100 886

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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Cairns Development
The Cairns Post

It is with dismay and a sense of despair I have just read two seperate articles in the Cairns Post (Monday 19th) . The first has a developer wanting to bulldoze through his "dream" of a muti million dollar resort at Buchan's Point, despite the project being quashed by the State Government last year. And who rises to support this, but a once vigilant independent member of Council, Sno Bonneau, giving the weak excuse that "Council had no choice but to approve the new request!"

Then, relegated to "In Brief", I see that a surge of more than 900 applications by developers have been submitted to Council for approval since December!. It seems to me the people of Cairns deserve much, much better from Council members . We need less tired and ground down independents who are not afraid to rigourously and intelligently debate development applications, rather than saying there is no choice. 2008 can't come quick enough!

Yours in despair

L. Kruger
112 George St
Gordonvale

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No Music for Cairns

Thursday, 24 May 2007
The Cairns Post

How disappointing that there is not one event in Cairns during the Queensland Music Festival that runs from 13 to 29 July.

Residents of Mackay, Mt Isa, Townsville, Innisfail, Longreach and Cooktown will all get a chance to see and hear an array of musical events in what is billed as a "festival of the people," but not Cairns.

It seems that Cairns City Council has not expressed an interest in partnering with the Queensland and Federal governments to showcase our many talented musicians, artists and designers.

Is this because the Council is so focussed on Festival Cairns? We've missed out this year but let's stop trying to cram too many events into September and get on board with this wonderful musical celebration in 2008.


Val Schier
Candidate for Mayor '08

PO Box 2 (151 O'Shea Esp)MACHANS BEACH Q 4878Ph: 07 4055 0353; 0407 100 886