Gunsmoke 66...Gunsmoke 66...March / April 2002
Light Rail – the progress to date
Ian RuecroftThe Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) hosted an information session on light rail (trams) on the 13th February 2002. The meeting was well attended, with almost 100 people present. The purpose of the meeting was to provide information to the community in a balanced way in order to let people decide the benefits or alternatives that are available now and in the near future.
The GCC has dedicated a section of our website to “light rail” in an effort to assist the community to access current information and/or provide links for people with an interest in the subject. The site can be accessed on www.gcc.asn.au and follow the links to light rail.
At the March meeting of GCC it was decided that our next step in progressing this issue would be to host a debate relating specifically to light rail and focusing on the Civic to Gungahlin route. This debate will be held on the 8th May 2002 (7.30pm to 9.30pm) in the upstairs meeting room of the Gungahlin Marketplace (enter near the bank). Note: The GCC May meeting will be held prior to this, commencing at 7pm.and concluded by 7.30pm.
The format of the meeting will be similar to 13/2/02 and we are hoping to have “Dudley the demon timekeeper” making sure we are finished by 9.30. The topics of debate will be: - The terms of reference of the light rail feasibility study
- What are the alternatives to light rail
- What are the advantages/ disadvantages of the light rail link from Civic to Gungahlin
- One other topic selected at the meeting 8/5/02.
Note: If you would like to make a suggestion of what this topic should be, please lodge the topic on our website or phone Ian 6242 9444/ 041 7272 019 with your suggestion.
At this time speakers have not been selected, so if you know of someone who would be a suitable to promote a point of view, or if you would like to speak for, or against, one of the topics above, please contact us. It should be noted that speakers are asked to nominate prior to the meeting. Only vacant speaking positions will be available at the meeting. Where there are more speakers nominating than positions available, the group will be asked to meet so that they can select their 3 speakers or decide on a way of presentation that will take a combined time which does not exceed 9 minutes.
The proposed schedule for the debate is: - 4 topics with 3 speakers for, and 3 speakers against.
- Each person has 3 minutes to speak.
- With 18 minutes for introduction, lost time etc, there should be about 30 minutes for questions from the floor.
At the end of the meeting we would like to have a motion that instructs the Council how to represent the Gungahlin community on this issue. In the near future the feasibility study will require the GCC to make representation on the community’s behalf. We need your instruction on whether we support the light rail concept or not. We also need an indication if there are alternatives that we should be promoting now and into the future.
If you have useful information related to light rail, or light rail alternatives, please visit our website or contact: Ian Ruecroft 6242 9444 or 041 7272 019. [Return to top]
Gungahlin Community Council’s Social Capital GrantDuring 2001 the GCC was awarded $20,000 as part of the ACT Government’s Social Capital grants program. The purpose of the grant is to assist the community to carry out projects that nurture community spirit, networking and enterprise. To achieve this, projects must focus their efforts in a way that will involve a range of stakeholders and encourage them to assist in achieving project outcomes (which can be “in-kind” contributions). Our main project, to date, has been the “Gungahlin’s 10th Anniversary” celebration that will be held at Gold Creek homestead on the 6th April 2002. Projects such as tennis walls, cricket nets and half basketball courts have all been suggested, but to date, these applicants have not been able to bring their projects to the “actually happening” stage. If your local community would like to become involved please contact Julie Brodrick 6262 2095 or Ian Ruecroft 6242 9444. [Return to top]
A Brief Summary Of The History Of The Gungahlin Community Council.
Ian RuecroftAt the end of March 2002 Gungahlin will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. During the majority of this time the Gungahlin Community Council Inc. has provided a public forum where residents can obtain information and voice their ideas, preferences and concerns. The Council’s formation followed a meeting held on the 16/3/93 at Zinnia Place in Palmerston. Robert and Lyn Floyd, Robert Rosenstraus, Alyn Doig, John Hosking, Mal Bull and Ian Ruecroft attended the meeting. At this meeting it was decided to call a public meeting in an attempt to form a local community council to act on residents’ behalf.
The first meeting of Council was held on the 19/4/93 at John and Roma Hoskings’ home in Halifax Close Palmerston, with more that 30 people in attendance. The meeting moved to support the formation of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) and elected an Executive committee to draft a constitution and arrange for incorporation of the GCC. Almost every person at the meeting lived in, or was building in, Palmerston (as there were no other areas of Gungahlin developed at that time).
Since the first meeting of the GCC, meetings have been held on the second Wednesday of the month from February to December. Meetings were initially held at the Hoskings’ home until the Palmerston (temporary) hall was completed in February 1994. During 1995 meetings were held in the temporary Nicholls Community hall, which was located in Anne Clark Av Nicholls. When the permanent Nicholls Community House was completed, in early 1996, this became the meeting venue.
During 2000 GCC meetings were relocated to the Gungahlin Marketplace (Level 1), which was made available by the Marketplace management. In July 2001 it was decided to relocate the meetings to the Gungahlin Resource Centre, where it is hoped that some stability can be maintained in a central location.
The GCCs’ local newsletter is “Gunsmoke” which is a play on the words “Gungahlin Smoke Signals”. The newsletter was first published in September 1993 and consisted of 2 (A4) pages that were folded and stapled before being hand delivered to homes that “looked finished”. Gunsmoke 7 (Oct 94) was the first A3 configuration; it consisted of only one page folded. Gunsmoke 14 (Oct 1995) was the last newsletter delivered GCC members, by this time there were 4,600 copies and it consisted of 3 (A3) sheets folded and stapled. From Gunsmoke 15 deliveries have been by courtesy of the Gungahlin Lakes Golf and Community Club. Gunsmoke 65 had 8,900 copies distributed. The Editor of all (66) Gunsmoke issues has been Roma Hosking. Roma has spent many long hours recruiting articles for the publication and balancing printing costs against advertising revenue and community values.
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