We’ve been in touch with the Lord Mayor Campbell Newman about the lack of any Growing Older and Living Dangerously programs in our upper Kedron Brook valley suburbs of Keperra Ferny Grove or Upper Kedron in the last 5 years.
Mr Peter Ellis of Council’s Active and Healthy team has now contacted us and discussed very helpfully and at some length a wide range of possible activities for these suburbs. Through our Recreation website we were able to refer him to quite a lot of local recreation providers in this area. Our understanding is that they will be actively organising for some GOLD program activities in Keperra Ferny Grove and Upper Kedron in the coming programs. This is definitely encouraging.
It wasn’t encouraging at all though to have him suggest that we should be traveling to Mitchelton The Gap Everton Park and Chermside to participate in GOLD program activities when what we are clearly trying to do is build up resilience in this area.
There is very little public transport access to enable seniors access to GOLD programs elsewhere if at all. Suburbs that might seem close by to someone who is not paying attention are often only accessible by a car journey of at least 10 kilometres (for example from our house to The Gap). In rush hour traffic it has taken us an hour to drive across to Chermside and trying to get to a GOLD Program activity there by public transport would defeat my abilities cost a lot and take a lot of time.
For example there is a Tai Chi/Qigong arts activity at 60 Kuran St Chermside. It is a one-hour activity from 2-3pm on Fridays. I looked up on the Translink website how to get from my place to there by public transport. Here is the answer:
[i]There were no results found for your search. You searched for journeys from nnXXX St Ferny Grove to 60 Kuran St Chermside with time: Arrive by 3.00PM 5/11/2010. The search was limited to TransLink Services Only with a maximum walking distance of 1000m. The mode of transport was: Any.[/i]
I went right through the GOLD website and couldn’t identify any GOLD activities in Mitchelton The Gap or Everton Park.
But let’s imagine one in The Gap at Walton Bridge Reserve on Waterworks Rd. This is what a Translink journey planner search found to get there:
[i]There were no results found for your search. You searched for journeys from nnXXX St Ferny Grove to 985 Waterworks Road The Gap with time: Arrive by 3.00PM 5/11/2010. The search was limited to All available services with a maximum walking distance of 1000m. The mode of transport was: Any. [/i]
What about something at Mitchelton Library (the BCC Library for our suburbs): Translink journey planner says:
[i]There were no results found for your search.You searched for journeys from nnXXX St Ferny Grove to Heliopolis Parade Mitchelton with time: Arrive by 3.00PM 5/11/2010.The search was limited to All available services with a maximum walking distance of 1000m. The mode of transport was: Any. [/i]
Simply put we want things here for residents here. We all pay a lot of rates. There are a lot of us (over 15000 residents) and we seem to be in a ‘rain-shadow’ when it comes to BCC paying attention to providing facilities here. It is simply not good enough to have all the services across Kedron Brook in the Moreton Bay Regional Shire and for BCC residents to use the MBRS services rather than having the BCC provide for us or be told to get in cars and drive long distances to use services elsewhere.
Not everyone has access to a car to get places now but we are thinking about how to reduce fuel-dependence in the face of huge looming global shortages. If we don’t start planning now we are going to be in a lot of trouble a few years down the track.