Battery Point Foreshore Pathway

There is an election for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and six aldermen coming up in October for the Hobart City Council. One of the primary matters on which I will be basing my vote is the construction of a foreshore path around Battery Point.

This issue has been festering for some decades now, stymied mainly by high-profile residents of Clarke Avenue who regard the foreshore as their private domain, and who seem to have great sway on council and state government.

I have written to all candidates standing in the election to ascertain their position on this relatively simple infrastructure project. See below for the text of my letter, and click here for contact details for all candidates. Watch this space for their responses (or non-responses as the case may be).

3 October 2009

Dear Candidate

The Battery Point foreshore pathway has been stuck in a standoff situation for many decades now. As you are no doubt aware, the issue has again been given quite a bit of oxygen over the last year or two, culminating in exhibitions of concept drawings for the area, which, it now seems are going nowhere yet again.

It is my opinion that the pathway should be built in its entirety, and be fully capable of fulfilling the needs of both able bodied and disabled pedestrians, as well as providing a safe, off road route for cyclists. This is especially pertinent given the HCC’s current plans for Copenhagen style cycle lanes along Sandy Bay Road between Marieville Esplanade and Lower Sandy Bay.

A full pathway around the foreshore will provide the necessary link to complete a flat, seamless and safe route for commuter and recreational cyclists virtually from the CBD to Long Beach.

As you are a candidate in the upcoming Council election, I am writing to establish your position on this vital and simple piece of infrastructure development. I will be publishing all responses (and noting non-responses) on my website, www.plimpton.org, as well as other Tasmanian news sites.

I will be voting in the October election, and my major consideration will be this issue. Likewise, I will be advising others I know to vote based on your response to this correspondence.

Please respond either by email, or by post to me at PO Box 3106 WEST HOBART 7000

Regards,

Scott Plimpton

Thanks to Jan Dallas for the beaut header photo. There's a heap more of his foreshore shots right here. And there's some photos I took walking around there last weekend here.

List of HCC Candidates

Title	Firstname	Surname	Address	Suburb	Postcode
Ms	Dina	Alexopolous	No public contact details as advised by State Electoral Commission.	Sandy Bay
Mr	Peter	Brownscombe	peter.brownscombe@utas.edu.au
Alderman	Helen North	Burnet	helenburnet@netspace.net.au
Mr	Leo	Foley	31 Brushy Creek Road	Lenah Valley	7008
Alderman	John	Freeman	jwfreeman@netspace.net.au
Alderman	Darlene A	Haigh	ald_haigh@netspace.net.au
Ms	Wendy	Heatley	wendy.heatley@itsa.gov.au
Mr	Corey	Peterson	coreyjpeterson@hotmail.com
Mr	Toby	Rowallan	tobyrowallan@gmail.com
Mr	Peter	Sexton	peter.sexton@medicareaustralia.gov.au
Mr	Damon	Thomas	damon@damonthomas.com.au
Alderman	Rob	Valentine	lord.mayor@hobartcity.com.au
Alderman	Marti	Zucco	ald_zucco@netspace.net.au

As any good Hobartian knows.....

......you'd best not have your car parked at the Domain when faced with this view at lunchtime.

In a not totally unrelated story, I know a bloke who was chained to the mooring rings on these steps at low tide and left there for the day as part of his buck's celebrations.

Only in Tassie

This is the courtesy shuttle at Forestry Tasmania's Tahune Airwalk attraction:
(click image for full view, cos blogger don't work proper)

To quote a mate of mine: "You can just imagine Paul Lennon behind the wheel going 'welcome to Fantasy Island'......."

Wonder if it was confiscated from an unfortunate protester?

A Visit to Two Metre Tall Brewery

Click on images for full size.

Dani & Ant, Katie & I tripped out past New Norfolk on the banks of the Derwent today on a real ale pilgramage to Jane & Ashley Huntington's Brewery, Two Metre Tall. I first ran into 2MT at the Hobart Beer Festival in 2007, and we've been trying to get out to their HQ ever since, but it took CAMRA loyallists' Dani & Ant's visit to get us in the Mercedes and steam out to Plenty.

It's a compact operation, but pumps out some amazing product, from the Derwent Clear Ale, to the (Beautiful) Cleansing Ale, and the Oyster Stout that they contract brew for the Barilla restauarant near the airport (it's made with real oysters, shell n all!).

Jane & Ashley are most hospitable folk, and we totally recommend that you give them a dial and go visit. Otherwise, their product is on tap in a few pubs and restaurants around the state.


I don't know if the inhabitants of the Hayes Jail Farm down the road are lucky enough to get a barrel here and there though.

Top marks all round!

My two cents

For those not in Tasmania, my letter to the editor relates to the redevelopment of the old Princes Wharf #1 shed on Hobart's waterfront, and Premier David Bartlett's vision for Tasmania to become a beacon of renewable energy:
Text:
Seeing as the Princes Wharf shed roof is going to be replaced, what are the options for supplementing the energy needs of the building by making the roof structure a massive solar energy collector?

Scott Plimpton
West Hobart

Banner ad, F.A.R.T. style

F.A.R.T. Forest Art Renaissance Team MR
This morning, the Forest Art Renaissance Team (F.A.R.T.) pinned a banner the size of a double decker bus, that’s equivalent to 19,047.619 cigarette papers, onto the billboard perched 7 storeys on top of the Fountainside Hotel on the way into Hobart’s CBD.

Full story here.

Today on Sullivan's Cove

Lifting a new catamaran onto a freighter for (presumably) a long distance delivery. Who says Hobart's a dead port?

A few more photos here

Home made Scallop and Flathead Pie

Check out this winner over at Progressive Dinner Party. will get it up on my Scallop Pie Rater real soon....

I saw it

Here;s a very grainy video of a standard 8 reel Dad took of me watching 'em land on the moon in July 1969. If this player ain't any good, it's on youtube here.

Tassieblather's Tribute to Michael Jackson

He certainly knew his beer.

Emerald city has lost its soul, not just its sparkle

Richard Ackland sadly speaks the truth in the article below.

Our largest city is a now nothing but a dirty, car choked, unpleasant to negotiate shambles of soulless shopping malls and faceless bank buildings joined by above and below ground insulated walkways and an 80's throwback Monorail.

Kennett may have been a mongrel on lots of fronts, but hey, Melbourne after his reign is a showpiece example of a rejuvinated city.

Emerald city has lost its soul, not just its sparkle

Richard Ackland

June 12, 2009 - 12:04AM

Sydney is not a lovely place in winter. The CBD is a biting wind tunnel, Frank Sartor's granite footpaths are stained with the grease from spilled milkshakes, the sun is thin, the faces chapped and there's a pervading pong of rotten cooking oil and urine.

You've more chance of being crippled for life by a wild-eyed skateboarder than you have of finding a delicious and inexpensive meal after 2.30 in the afternoon. In fact, you can walk the entire length of the city from Central to Circular Quay on some thoroughfares and find nothing other than 1950-style cafes doing ham and cheese on toast.

Forget all the "Emerald City" nonsense, to borrow a line from someone I can't remember; Sydney makes Dallas look like Paris.

Here's another line, from the late great French cultural figure and politician, Andre Malraux. In Paris, he said, the city controls the developers. The developers do not control the city. Naturally he said it in French, so it sounded so much better.

Sydney's what you get when the developers run the place. Badly designed, cheaply finished buildings. You can count on the fingers of one, maybe one-and-a-half, hands buildings constructed in the CBD in the last 50 years where aesthetics were given at least an even break with the money. The big institutions, particularly the banks and Telstra, have given us some shockers.

Still, we're used to shockers: the Cahill Expressway and the monorail have helped deaden our response to whatever fresh hell is around the corner. My personal favourites are the overhead footways criss-crossing the city, like vast vacuum tubes sucking consumers from one shopping extravaganza to another. If ever there was a determined piece of civic uglification it is the overhead pedestrian tunnel - the brute force of commerce crushing charm.

The old Carlton brewery site on Broadway, if work ever recommences, will be massively overdeveloped - as will the Barangaroo project. Opportunity after opportunity is missed - Darling Harbour has the unmistakable aura of a tourist clip joint and that other great promise, Pyrmont, is filled with apartments designed for dwarfs.

Every time an area requiring sensitive management comes on the horizon a special planning committee filled with party hacks, mates, real estaters and "planners" gets to work to eviscerate the promise of something uplifting.

Of course, there's the dazzle of the harbour and one or two incredible structures. You can get the odd good Thai dinner in the suburbs and there's the odd terrific new development (witness the new community centre in Crown Street, Surry Hills).
But what's happened to the soul of Sydney? The fact that the place is crawling with merchant bankers doesn't do much for a soul, but the real drag on the spirit has to be sheeted home to the politicians, who at best are ordinary and at worse dubious.

And that's what the city has become - ordinary and dubious.

There's no leader whoever spruiks the spirited talk of the greatness of city life and urban design. You have to go back 30 or more years to the days of the Department of Urban and Regional Development and Tom Uren to recall any government that had a passing thought about urbanity.

It was never on Howard's radar; however, the Ruddites have just established something called the Major Cities Unit, which exists in the Office of the Infrastructure Co-ordinator, the outfit charged with "prioritising billions of dollars in infrastructure investment".

But, when you look at the visionless political oiks of NSW, night after night on the box, you just know we haven't got a hope. It makes you want to see again that little jumping jack Leo Port, the former lord mayor of Sydney, who at least had some energy and always seemed to be rolling out plans and poring over models for improvements and beautification.

Today there's political paralysis. A few years ago the Government had an opportunity to tear down the Cahill Expressway, but was frozen by the thought that there'd be a backlash from the whingers in the bush if a red cent was spent doing something half-decent for Sydney.

Still, the great beer-barn developments in places such as Kings Cross get waved through the development machine, including the Land and Environment Court, while the small bars are stymied in red tape. Try and get a civilised drink out of sight of a poker machine, just keep trying.

John O'Neill, the chairman of Events NSW, had a piece on these pages on Monday. My pulse quickened as he wrote that the Business Council and a whole pile of other worthies think it's about time something was done about the city and the state.

"Something radical, a bit out of left field," he teased. This exciting bit of boldness turned out to be "Brand Sydney", yet another marketing exercise, or putting lipstick on the pig. Apparently "Vivid Sydney", a winter wonderland cultural event, is part of the brand. All I noticed was that the Opera House was lit up.

Yet, Sydney always manages to trick its way into getting listed as an incredibly desirable place to live. It's equal eighth on The Economist's latest "liveability ranking". Last year in something called the annual Anholt City Brands Index it came first. Don't believe it.

On second thoughts that's a measure of branding. O'Neill's people are doing well. Shame about our heart and soul.

justinian@lawpress.com.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/emerald-city-has-lost-its-soul-not-just-its-sparkle-20090611-c4tm.html

Hummer

Tassie Scallops are Back!

After a break of three and a half years, the Bass Strait scallop fishery re-opened this week for commercial takes. The first harvest hit Hobart today. They look good and plump, the price is almost reasonable, and I can't wait to tuck in to some (very lightly fried in butter and garlic) very very soon.

The curried scallop pies will be pretty bloody good for a while too. Check out where the best in Tasmania are are right here.

Steve Fielding is a Moron

For those of you who missed it, click here to watch Senator Steve Fielding being interviewed by Tony Jones on last night's (June 3rd) ABC Lateline.

Steve is on a mission to further understand global warming. How did he do this? He travelled to Washington, attended a Climate Change Denier's conference, hosted by a the Heartland Institute, a Republican "Think Tank".

Click here to read the ABC's account of the preamble to the conference, featuring such luminaries as US Senator Dana Rohrabacher. His jape at the start of the Quack's and Flat-Earthers' love in: " I do know a little bit about science. I know there are protons and neutrons, electrons and morons..."

Today, our man in the States will be "...meeting Obama's administration" (read: more than likely the President's Climate Change Office's Intern) to try and balance the story from both sides.

"I'm an engineer, Tony, and I suppose that looking at both sides is pretty important...". Well, fuck me Steve, good on YOU.

Be thankful, Australia. Senator Steve will save us all. Or (literally) send us into the deep fryer.

Be more thankful for Tony Jones ("...so are you gonna go into the White House and actually have a devil's advocate debate with the White House experts, with the scientists who are advising Barack Obama, putting to them what you've heard at this sceptical conference and arguing the toss with him?") for exposing Fielding for the simpleton he really is.

Watch the interview here.

Bridgewater Jerry, 22 May 2009

View down Warwick Street to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.
Click image for full size

The Bridgewater Jerry has been lurking around Hobart a fair bit over the last week or so. Finally I remembered to take my camera with me.

There's a few more photos here.

Monday-Friday: Mild Mannered Hairdresser

....But when Ben hangs up his shears for the weekend, no rabbit is safe from his steely gaze.

There's some more photos here*

*may contain dead furry friends.

Project Scrumpy 2009

Click thru to Bonnington Brewery for some fine action pix of our first foray into the murky world of scrumpy making.

Bonnington. It's Beer. And Cider

Cidermaking-a noble art

One of Julian Temperly's offciders fills our barrel on the way to Butlins

Julian Tmperley, of Burrow Hill Cider fame has been granted the freedom of The City of London. Which apparently gives him the right to drive sheep over London Bridge.

Julian's the guy who brings the much-loved Cider Bus to Glastonbury festival every year.

He has been selling his fantastic scrumpy at Avalon since the first festival in 1971.

I've been to his cidery on at least three occasions, the last being our infamous trip to the All Tommorrow's Parties festival at Butlins in Minehead. We filled a home brew barrel with Burrow Hill Scrumpy (at a pound a litre or so!) and proceeded to drink it all over three days. A shedload cheaper, and a load more refreshing (and alcoholic!) than the slop lager they were flogging for four quid a pint! We were quite creative in our methods of smuggling past the door goons.

Anyhow, congratulations to Julian on his award. May the Burrow Hill flow for many years to come.

Coincidentally, I'm collecting 250 litres of apple juice from the Huon Valley this afternoon for the very same purpose; that of making loads of scrumpy. Watch out for my flock coming over the brow of the Tasman Bridge! Though I don't think cidermaking is a guaranteed direct path to freedom (of the city).

Fiddle de de POTATO

Or....WHICH TASSIE SPUD DO I USE?

THOSE of us fortunate enough to reside on this island of Tasmania will be all too aware of the infinite variety of potatoes grown and sold in the land of Van Diemen.

When I moved from Hobart to Sydney (via Orange) almost two decades ago, I was horrified to discover that the only taters available in the shops were washed, brushed or new. The streets may have been paved with gold, but there was not a Pinkeye or Bismarck to be had.

One of the issues with having such a bountiful supply of numerous spud species was remembering which tattie was good for what method of preparation, eg mashing, boiling, salad, chips or roasting.

Well, help is at hand, my fellow Tuberites! The good bureaucrats at the Department of Primary Industries and Water have put together a chart which cross-references TWENTY FIVE varieties of potato against six methods of preparation.

I saw a printout of it stuck to the shelf at the Hill Street Grocer about a year ago, and saved it to my web favourites very soon after that.

And now, dear reader, I share it with you. Click here, listen to the government, and never wonder what makes the best mash ever again.

Tassieblather, the consumer's friend.