Last year the Queensland State Government floated the idea of selling off the Townsville Showground to make way for more development near the centre of Townsville. This week though the government announced that they will not be selling the Townsville Showgrounds for redevelopment.

As a resident of West End, Townsville I had mixed feelings about the sale of the Townsvile Showgrounds. In one hand I like having the Showgrounds here, there is a lot of history to it, and it is central for most people in Townsville. At the same time though I was getting fed up with some of the noise, especially from the motor sports and speedway events begin held there.

In backing off the sale of the Townsville Showgrounds the Queensland government also stated that “high-level impact events such as motor sports and outdoor concerts should not be allowed at the (Townsville Showgrounds) site“. The report went on to say that state government land in the Bohle, a mostly industrial part of Townsville, had been identified for a proposed motor sports complex and drive trainer centre.

So as far as I am concerned, it a win both ways. Townsville gets to keep it’s Showgrounds, and there will be a new, suitable facility built for the motor sports.

Technorati Tags: Townsville, Queensland, showgrounds, Townsville Showgrounds

The Queensland state government has decided to merge the twin cities of Townsville and Thuringowa.

In a move that will cut the number of local councils by more than half in Queensland the state government has begun the process of merging many of the smaller councils into regional councils. The number of Queensland councils will go from 156 to 72 with elections being help in March of next year.

Considering that Townsville and Thuringowa are virtually indistinguishable from one another I don’t find this move to be all that surprising. The new city will be called “Townsville” and the only remembrance that there will be of the name Thuringowa will be one of the suburbs called “Thuringowa Central”. We will go from two councils of 1 mayor and 10 councellors each, to one council with one mayor and 12 councellors. The total population will be about 164,000.

There are about 55 different businesses in Thuringowa that use the city name in their trading name. It will be interesting to see what happens to them, but quite a few have already expressed the fact that they will likely not be changing their name immediately.

I’m not sure that this will mean to building here in Townsville. There are reports already that some developers are putting a temporary hold on building project until things become a bit more clear. One of the biggest worries is that the two councils coming together will not be able to make decisions that benefit the entire city, but they will instead try only to serve their former city.

(Hopefully) our project should be completed, or at least mostly so, before the amalgamation of Townsville and Thuringowa happens in March of next year (2008). Already in the 19-months since our project was approved we have seen regulations change, so hopefully we won’t see too many more changes to building guidelines and regulations before the end of the building project. I’ll write more about some of those changes later.

Tags: townsville, queensland, thuringowa

One of the big topics of conversation here in Calgary since we have been visiting has been the cost of housing. Since we were here last in 2003 house prices have easily doubled, they have increased 46% in 2006 alone! The median house price in Calgary is about $450,000, and the median condo price in Calgary is over $310,000.

This is proving to be a huge challenge for a lot of people in the city. Many service professions, like teachers and social workers, are finding the increased cost of living to be extremely challenging. My sister, who has a university degree in social work and is currently working at a group home, has found that she can not afford to purchase a house, or even a condo in Calgary on her salary.

This situation is not only evident for those wishing to purchase a home, but it’s also the case for people wanting to rent. Calgary has a unique situation now where people in lower paying jobs are being forced to live in their cars on in shelters.

So what are some solutions being presented?
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