Vote may be a week away

Referendum papers will be distributed soon – possibly by 15 March.  When you receive them, you will have three weeks to return your ballot papers.  All ratepayers and residents must understand what is at stake.  This is not just about us today, it’s really about providing an exciting, well thought-out aquatic centre for current and future generations.

A YES vote will be an investment in a first class development that promises a dividend of improved fitness, health and social well-being for all ages and generations to come.  It will come at the cost of a ratepayer subsidy which is roughly the same as last year’s rate increase – but this time there’d be a more tangible outcome.  The funds that result will be quarantined and the annual subsidy will be a fixed dollar amount not a fixed percentage.

A NO vote cannot be reversed.  It will be the end of the project.  There can be no resurrection.

On a lighter note … Legend has it that when Archimedes suddenly saw the solution to a problem that had been bugging him for ages, he leaped from his bath and took to the streets naked, so excited by his discovery that he had forgotten to dress, crying ‘Eureka’ ("I have found it!"). 

My own Eureka moment came with my first glimpse of the Pixeltrix-Bollig concept plan for the redeveloped Denmark Leisure Centre.  There were no beautiful 3D impressions at that stage– just a site plan.  From that moment on, I knew that it would be a winner.  The architects had solved a problem that had bothered me for ages … i.e. “where to put the front door”?  Their solution, like all the best, was simple and elegant.

I’m talking swimming pools of course ... should the ‘main’ entry face the footy oval or the old drive-in movie site at the ‘back’?  Answer?  Strikingly simple … get rid of the front door!  That’s right - get rid of it by making the back door equally attractive!

The architects propose a compact central entrance lobby that affords equal importance to access from either side of the building.  With excellent sightlines over areas at risk, it allows staff to manage both wet and dry activities safely.

You saw the building from the northern side in the last Bulletin.  Entering from the south, visitors are drawn in via an outdoor patio (canopy not shown) spacious enough to allow school classes to assemble before entering through the large glass doors just visible in the shadows on the right of the patio.  Neat!

But enough about the design … these features, and many others, will be clarified in the material that we plan to distribute in the next three weeks. 

Since this will (probably) be my final article before the referendum papers are distributed, I have a one final message.

 

We hope that you will share in the vision and future of our community by voting YES in April. 

Cyril Edwards, Vice President, DACCI.