Ipswich Flood Recovery Failure

News broke officially this week that the Ipswich Super Bowl is a permanent casualty of the January floods.  The Queensland Times wrote up the story yesterday, giving the basic facts of the case following from their March article detailing how the landlord of the alley had chosen to throw the alley out after the floods.

Firstly, the landlord of the flooded property needs to be brought to the public and given the chance to explain themselves. Throwing the alley out is more than just a business decision, it affects the Ipswich community and on the face of it, is a very mean spirited thing to do. Plenty of people would love to know why this was done.

Next on the list is Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale. Considering his public trumpeting of Ipswich and his mission to move Ipswich foward and build a greater community, his failure to solve the bowling alley issue leaves questions about how serious he is about Ipswich.

Local council member Paul Tully even tweeted about the New McDonalds opening at Redbank Plains on the same day the news of the permanent closure of the bowling alley was in the paper. This begs the question, what does the local council value? Multi National Billion Dollar businesses who can pay the ever increasing rates, or quality local businesses providing a social outlet? (More on the Macca’s tweet in a minute)

Mayor Pisasale says that a new building would cost $5-$7 million dollars to build. Really? Only if the council builds I would suggest. A bowling alley is a very simple building, and I cannot see how that could run to $7 million dollars, and suspect that figure is for a completed bowling alley. Seeing as the current business owner would have had plans to refit the existing alley post flood, and clearly was able to do that, then all the council needed to provide was an empty building for him to do it in.

Finally, where was the great Anna Bligh? Where was JoAnn Miller? Probably busy wasting more money on School Halls nobody needs.

I suggest Ipswich residents angry at the loss should comment on the Queensland Times article as many already have. Let the powers that be know you aren’t happy.

One Response to “Ipswich Flood Recovery Failure”

  1. John M Says:

    I am as anti Anna Bligh and Paul Pisasale as you can get. Our mayor has pushed us all to get behind Riverlink, and pushed for the big businesses to build it, and what has happened? All the businesses from the Mall, and more have filled the complex and now its a pretty good shopping centre (aside from the people who shop there who dont shower or wear shoes). But now he is wondering why the mall is abandoned….. Paul… come on. Its because you built Riverlink.

    I think there has to be somewhere in Riverlink/mall for a bowling alley. A really cool alley like the ones everywhere else. The Ipswich one was pretty dated, but I was there every week. I miss my bowling league. I miss the meeting new people. I miss the fun of the competitition.

    Someone needs to get something happen!

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