https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/about-council/council-projects/brisbane-2032/making-our-mark
Just wondering what our thoughts are on this new site the Brisbane City Council has put out which is asking for feedback and ideas on the Olympic Games legacy.
Lots of ideas from companies, planning groups, and even the mayor, but most of them are very broad and along the lines of 'I want young people to have their voice heard'. A couple of good ones among them, but will this actually do anything and lead to concrete action rather than talk, particularly if heaps of people submit their own ideas that the council isn't as keen on?
Posted by buttsforpm
7 Comments
IMO they’re noticing that there’s a strong demand for making this multi-billion-dollar project to (shock!) actually deliver some lasting benefits for the community… but they’re also unwilling to actually change their approach, which so far has basically been to funnel all the benefits to developers etc (privatisation of public land, high house prices, brand new stadiums).
If anyone’s interested, the Greens have been building a bit of a conversation around a better deal from the Olympics, and are hosting a “People’s Olympics Summit” on 28 Feb – reserve free spots at [https://michaelberkman.com.au/olympicsummit](https://michaelberkman.com.au/olympicsummit)
(And yes disclaimer in case people don’t check usernames, that’s my website, I’m the Greens MP, it’s my event!)
I highly doubt it. The past informs the present. Always a lot of talk and not much to show for it.
The only time something will change is if someone completely radical shakes things up, regardless of affiliation to political party. Personally, I want a Council who puts actions first and words second. You don’t need to make a fancy site to explain how you’re going to improve the city ahead of the Olympics. Either make a public commitment to improving them WITH specific KPI’s, or action the infrastructure upgrade first and then tell us.
The infrastructure needed to be built yesterday, but we’re still getting hour-long shutdowns on public transport for a simple electrical signal fault.
Take Zohran Mamdani as an example. He announced the rollout of free childcare for two-year-olds within his first two weeks of becoming Mayor, as well as fixed various infrastructure issues around the city that previous administrations never did.
He even listed out with transparency the amount of debt the city is in, as well as released media on how the city operates financially and how they budget.
I’m not advocating for Mamdani personally. I just know that we have been stuck in this political and culture war for so long that trust in democracy is slowly being lost, and rightly so. We have politicians doing backroom deals, infrastructure upgrades that just seem to never get off the ground, a homeless population that only worsens every day, despite all the talk of them solving the issue.
What I see in NYC as a comparison in a similar capitalist economy, is that change is possible. Politicians can make it all happen; we’ve just been having the wrong ones in power.
If it was going to make a difference they wouldn’t have made the website
Unfortunately the only mark I see, is no lower income earners being able to live on this city.
And middle class will be relegated to lower class.
Thats for anyone starting out on the future of course.
Public transport and public housing is what they need to concentrate on but we have LNP idiots in chat of council and state so both of these essential needs will be ignored .
The Olympics will be a cluster fuck beyond comprehension .
And we still haven’t decided which regional town we will bus the homeless off to , probably Townsville.
The games should be a public good.
That mean something the government pays for that benefits all society, with zero thought of dollar return. Only civic returns: heart, hope, selflessness, camaraderie, spirit…
As soon as the “return on investment” is conceived of in dollar terms, the fight is already lost
Because the “return” you want is history. And that cannot be framed in a linear “money in, money out” way
I found it difficult to believe just how easily the scumbag LNP decided to break their election promises and demolish the Gabba. I’ve opted out of caring about the Olympics since then. If they are too stupid to realise that an iconic venue with existing global recognition where Bradman scored a double ton is worth keeping as one of the beating hearts of our city, they are certainly too stupid to organise anything else well. Other than apartment developments to enrich their mates of course…