IllustrationCredit: Matt Golding
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Housing v green space
I found it both amazing and deeply troubling that so few of the candidates for local government election thought housing was important and that so many couldn’t say whether or not it was important.
Surely housing is vitally important to the health and wellbeing of everybody. The article ″Allan housing drive faces local council pushback″ (4/10) emphasises the reasons why those who can enjoy housing want to preserve what they have and the current amenities, such as green space, as against those who can’t because of the current housing shortage, who believe, of course, that housing should be prioritised over green space.
The problem is that both sides are ignoring the sheer volume of new housing the government aims to provide over the next decade: 80,000 homes a year. One wonders if this rate can ever be achieved, but even if it can, it seems so large that it would render enjoyment of current green space a thing of the past.
Tony Santospirito,
Camberwell
Put paid to this
If the Melbourne City Council was indeed serious about encouraging patronage of the ″high streets″ then it should not have altered the free weekend street parking in Carlton around Lygon Street to one and two-hour paid parking Monday to Sunday. On the city side of Cardigan Street it is now two-hour paid parking from 7am to 10pm Monday to Sunday. Other streets have been changed to 7am to 7pm Monday to Sunday.
It is an obvious money grab, not an incentive to shop and dine in Carlton. There are now very few free weekend street parking spots available.
If the council is serious about getting more people into town, by all means clean things up, but also change the weekend parking back to free. Or is the clean-up money going to be raised by the parking fines people are sure to incur?
Maxine Trezise, Narre Warren
How to help youth
The public is very sensitive and understandably threatened about youth crime. As columnist John Silvester writes, though, a different, more complex treatment yields much better results (“Scot free: Youth crime success”, 5/10).
Silvester outlines the process in Scotland and the team players to help diversion from jail include medics, dentists, former gang members, forensic psychologists, teachers and youth care facilities.
Some may see all this as “bleeding heart” stuff. However, young offenders often feel that “society (is) rejecting them” and they are seeking a sense of belonging.
It’s going to be difficult to introduce more diversions from jail when politicians stoke voters’ fears and prejudice and dwell on the “lock ’em up” mentality, which doesn’t work. Better youth justice helps define who we are as a nation.
Jan Marshall, Brighton
My friend, the magpie
Having been a victim of attacks by magpies over the years I certainly relate to the article ″Worst places for close encounters of the swooping kind″ (5/10). As stated in the article, magpies have a long lifespan and tend to have the same mate and territorial footprint. They are also intelligent and have good memories. I recently made friends with a local magpie family in my street by providing water and treats.
Over two years they recognised me and would come to my front door warbling their arrival. Occasionally if I had the garage doors open and I was inside they would pop in and wander around.
I was never swooped and they kept me company during days when I was working from home. It was nice to sit outside with my morning tea and watch them potter around the front garden.
So, if possible, try and make friends with your local magpie.
Steven Haby, Hughesdale
Talk to the birds
I was hit about five times last year in Kilsyth by a magpie. I turned around and found the culprit on the wires high above the street. I stopped for a couple of minutes, looking at him and talking to him. I was not attacked any more that year. Maybe I was lucky but magpies are an intelligent bird.
Bruce Cormack, Kilsyth
The real Magpie season
Surely everyone knows magpie season starts in March.
Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills
Protest in parks
I have no problem with the rights of people to protest but does the city need to suffer so much disruption every weekend and, as taxpayers, do we need to bear so much cost? Surely protesting can occur at designated areas like parks to alleviate disruption.
And, ultimately, is it going to change anything in Palestine?
Michael McKenna, Warragul
Flagging an issue
It would seem from all of the media coverage recently that the worst crime committed last weekend, and potentially this, is the waving of a flag. It would also seem that this potential crime needs extended police powers to intervene.
I am joyous that I can walk our streets knowing that burglary, assault, speeding, obnoxious behaviour and the like are at such a low level that my most dangerous encounter this weekend might be a flag. We have law and order under control.
Graeme Gardner,
Reservoir
Talk is road to peace
The conflict in the Middle East is like some horror movie where the downing of one creature produces two in its place. Hezbollah and Hamas are ″win-at-all costs″ ideologies in which death of an enemy is glory and death of self is martyrdom. Every martyr produces more adherents.
When you can’t actually win by killing, isn’t it time to think of something else, such as negotiation after a ceasefire agreement?
Alastair Pritchard, Templestowe
Shrinked and not rapt
The big supermarkets may not be angels, but the shrinkflation spotlight also needs to be shone on the manufacturers who reduce the size of the contents and keep the packaging the same. We’ve all seen our chocolate bars become chocolate cubes over the years. I’m sure they’re not discounting the wholesale price to the supermarkets; otherwise, what would be the point?
Claire Merry, Wantirna
Quiet, please
Roby D’Ottavi (Comment, 5/10), I’m with the waiter. When people get excited in a public place they often get louder without realising it, and unless they’re at the football or similar, may need to be reminded of the other people present.
I hate noisy restaurants mostly because I can’t hear once the noise gets to a certain level. It’s not unreasonable to be asked to quieten down if you’re affecting the comfort of others. It’s not an insult, it’s just a reminder that you are not the only person in the room.
Megan Peniston-Bird, Kew
Fact meets fiction 1.
The photograph of the ″Women for Trump″ at a Donald Trump campaign rally (5/10) disturbingly evokes the novel The Stepford Wives. The ″North Carolina Girls″ live in the appropriately named town of Spindale and Trump approves of them because they have money. Fact + Fiction = Trump.
April Baragwanath, Geelong
Fact meets fiction 2.
I can’t believe UFOs are being raised in a presidential election. For the record, UFOs are not coming to invade us. They are tourist trips from other planets showing occupants what will happen if they stop giving a stuff about their own planet and the beings who live on it.
Greg Tuck, Warragul
Here’s the good news
As I opened Saturday’s Age, I expected to find distraught stories of people fleeing homes, homes destroyed and many injured or killed. Certainly, they were there but to my surprise I spent a very pleasant time with stories of animals, people of goodwill and a town getting a hug.
The most harrowing story was about swooping magpies and where to avoid them. I learnt magpies often give you a warning swoop to move you on. Next, I was transported to the nursery at the Melbourne Royal Show and experienced the warmth of the farming community (″Bringing a little bit of country to the city″). After the devastating floods in Rochester two years ago, Michelle Payne brought charm and the Melbourne Cup to her old home town (″Payne relief for a town still scarred″).
Finally, I was enthralled with columnist Tony Wright’s story of good-hearted neighbours in the 1920s (″Beyond family trials, there awaits the gift of good-hearted neighbours. Bless them″). The only story missing was of the Peregrine falcon chicks at 367 Collins Street. That appeared a few days earlier.
Kevin Laws, Thornbury