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Totally agree Kim ...!<br><br>
In the nations biggest local authority with expertise authorised to carry
out engineering works costed in the tens of billions of dollars, it isn't
about competence.<br><br>
Far more it is the fact there are too many Mexicans who don't seem to
remember (or were not here) when BCC decided cycling was a "good
thing" ...!<br><br>
Clearly it is by far the best solution for Council if an individual rings
up and complains ... that's why Council promotes that process ... in part
so nobody else knows ...!<br><br>
If you don't accept that view, try finding or requesting data on how many
complaints relating to say, cycling, were lodged last year and what the
complaint was about.<br><br>
The reality is that BCC continues to carry out works of all kinds ... on
the cheap ... and in all probability with little if any of the
prerequisite surveys, audits etc ... to save money and reliant on a
secret complaints system to cover any mistakes.<br><br>
It is a bit like the problem caused by people who have crashes in similar
situations due to substandard facilities, but then don't pursue the
Council for costs and damages ... the complaints and their causes then
don't exist ...<br><br>
Is BCC subject to any form of Quality Assurance process? That is another
question that might well be pursued. If it does, is it open to
inspection?<br><br>
Or does Council need to do nothing because it chooses to rely, as in this
case, on putting the blame/responsibility on somebody else?<br><br>
BTW if you ask to see the pre-project material, Council will reject that
as it is for internal operational use not for public scrutiny ...!
<br><br>
Should we have to try to pay for and use FOI ???<br><br>
And in case anybody thinks it is only cycling facilities, it isn't ...!
<br><br>
Its just that you tend not to know about the other places the same sorts
of problems occur .. because they too are based on secret individual
complaints.<br><br>
This is why we appear to be a bunch of whingers to anyone not familiar
with what should be done ... and sadly, that includes the Councillors and
the Lord Mayor ... who believe what they are told by their bureaucrats
... so no need to investigate further..<br><br>
MY.................<br><br>
At 12:44 PM 28/10/2009, kim wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Hi John,<br>
<br>
I would hope that Council knew about it because it is a major project to
decommission the water main from the city out to the west side which
dates from the 1800's and projects of this nature all need to have an
approved safety audit done. Sure, I have reported it, most of the works
and ATU folk in Council know me as the regular complainer regarding
cycling issues, but it is not just a matter of a simple fix that concerns
me. I had met up with Council Works people there not long ago to discuss
many of the problems with the pavement and markings which they then fixed
up. At that time we discussed the control that Council had over
contractors doing the works there, as that was much of the problem. And
here we are just a few months later and more of exactly the same is
happening with yet another contractor. That's what concerns me. I know we
can report problems as we see them, and some of us make the effort to do
that, but the real solution is to make sure that the problems do not keep
recurring when they could be avoided by doing things by the books. It is
very unlikely too that the contractor will just whip out there and pull
those plates up. It is raining as I type and the risk is still there. I
have been told by Council's project manager for this that the contractor,
Tenix, has yet to go out there and investigate it. It's not just the
metal plates that are dodgy, on the opposite side they have claimed much
of the parking/bike lane to store their diggers and equipment and there
is no prior warning for cyclists that the lane is constricted or there
are any works in progress, nor are there any reflective measures to
highlight the closure in the dark. It's as if the bike lane was not
considered important and they were just taking up a few parking places.
That's what gets me grumpy.<br>
<br>
k<br><br>
John Nightingale wrote: <br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><br>
<pre>Kim, Have you phoned the call centre or sent a Fix-o-gram to
Council? Thanks
for the warning, but it'll be fixed only if Council knows about it, and
I've
had reasonable results from both phone & internet complaints.
J.
On 27/10/09 5:52 PM, "kim"
<a href="mailto:pharmer_kim@hotmail.com">
<pharmer_kim@hotmail.com></a> wrote:
</pre><font face="Courier New, Courier"></font>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><br>
<pre>Westside commuters will have noticed the return of the metal plates
on
the bike lane inbound on Sylvan Rd at Toowong. A contractor is doing the
pipeworks there. Pretty poor timing as Council has just finished
patching, resealing and marking that road. Some of the new bike symbols
are gone yet again. Dodgy patches have been made to the water service
covers which have sunk already (council's efforts last time were to fix
previous dodgy patches that had sunken) The real highlight though, are
the large polished metal plates that have been placed smack bang across
the bike lane. No warnings, no lighting, and like riding on ice when wet
as they were yesterday. I just have no idea how they can get to be
there, it's like nobody is even aware it is a bike lane and no safety
checklist has been done by the contractor or council. Is anybody really
concerned unless there is an accident? The upside tho is that unlike the
previous ones placed by Origin this contractor has been courteous enough
to build up some cold mix around the edges so we don't have the 40mm
step we had last time.
<a href="http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/Image:Towong_-_Sylvan_Road_-_Metal_plates.JPG">
http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/Image:Towong_-_Sylvan_Road_-_Metal_plates.JPG</a>
k
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