Electric cars still require roads, and they are as destructive to the environment, built and natural, as the petroleum-fuelled cars they currently serve. Further, the use of cars supports ever-greater suburbs which in turn errodes farm and wilderness land, reducing the area of land available for cul...

http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20080718-Could-Melbourne-lose-its-mojo-.html I don't know much about architecture or engineering, but I don't see why the ACC shouldn't require that even if the main street entrance is a foyer or a food court, the ground level of tall buildings facing into alleys an...

Further to the bin issue, they are made of stainless steel in Germany, not see-through perspex. Who wants to see the inside of a bin at a major tourist destination/through-point? Continuing on the issue of the ACC's loss of power- I wonder why the four of the five independent panellists on the Devel...

Clr Yarwood and Raulduke, can you both be right? Of course it's a governance issue- but do you really think the State Government is any better at transparent, consultative government than the ACC? And it is a civil rights issue- you may not like it, but the people who live in the city have a right t...

Speaking of the ACC-
They're now stripped of their planning powers for developments worth more than $10mil.

I assume most people on this forum are happy? (Said with no small disgust)

Maximus, It morphed into a debate on population density because that and public transport are so closely intertwined. Frankfurt, a German city of around 650,000 can afford a frequent, late, subterranean train service because it has the density to make it practicable, and people's transport expenditu...

As News subbie, I try not to be too political, though I am highly opinionated. However, one group of potential editors for next year have offered me a place as travel writer, and I will inevitably include a lot about why German local councils are far superior to the ACC. A competent municipality wou...

This seemed interesting:

http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20080 ... l#comments

Enjoy.

One would hope for funding from the Education Revolution. Short of that, education can continue to slide and Adelaide can continue to pretend to be a city which values education. I would prefer the former, but as someone whose education was privatised and who did very well out of it, it doesn't affe...

If you started the descent at Pirie St, would the tram be able to underpass Flinders St as it went under Victoria Squ? This is my plan to make the thing whole again. For the East-West, would Gawler Pl give a shallow enough gradient for the trams to use? I base this on the flyway on the current Glene...

Norman, hear, hear. What I worry about though is where all our plastics are coming from when we have burnt all the oil. Given that we have loads and loads of good alternatives to petrol, but none yet for plastics, it seems odd to me we should continue burning it.

monotonehell, I appreciate your comment. But think carefully about my (slightly more detailed) proposal. Subject to a range of conditions I'm not qualified to prescribe or judge, the jobs in Aldinga would move as well, or Aldinga would become a village (a small town outside Adelaide's urban boundary...

This is getting very interesting. Firstly, I would like to say that people misinterpret me when they hear me say I want to restrict the urban boundary. I'm not advocating we compulsorily acquire entire suburbs, just slowly cut them off from enormous government subsidies in the form of free roads and...

Granted. But let's accept that it's going to take several decades to build all the trains we need (not to mention start re-organising our city along more PT-friendly lines)- then we have to get started today, or we actually will become a third world city with a dual economy, slums, subsistence farmi...

How much does it cost to charter Popeye for a day? Could it be beaten down in a long-term contract? We'd have the narrowest strip of water with a ferry. A bridge is nice, but would take up so much park space on either side. A ferry could add pedestrian and cycle traffic to the park, making it feel m...