Letters to the Editor

Presently, there is a board at the railway station, advising where to catch a bus which can be from the station, from Curtis Street, or from Eastwood. This is confusing enough for locals, but what happened to any possibility of a welcoming gateway for tourists? At one stage, there was talk/mention of a local bus terminal at the railway station, so everyone knew where buses were going. Local buses would have one changeover place that would assist everyone.

This way, a passenger would board a bus at the station and go to their destination. As an example of the present situation, if a passenger boards a No.1 bus at the station, once it leaves the station, it might not be a No.1. It can change at Curtis Street or Eastwood, so the passenger finds themselves heading to Sebastapol or Mt. Pleasant or wherever...Who should we contact to ensure a local bus terminal is included in the station precinct, so we have a public transport hub in Ballarat? Or has this been done and they are keeping very quiet about it?

Instead of drivers having to field questions from passengers boarding at the station precinct, asking where they are going, everyone will know and the drivers can concentrate on keeping to timetables, and playing dodgems with the traffic (particularly reversing cars) along Sturt and Drummond Streets. If a tram is 30 rhinos, how big is a bus? Car drivers, please take note.

Bernadette Cheesman, Wendouree

Minimum risk with maximum benefit

Solar and wind energy enjoy strong support from the Australian public, with 80 percent of people putting them both among their top three energy choices in a poll for the Australia Institute. In a separate review of medical literature by the Australia Institute, the fear that wind power damaged people's health was debunked, finding "no credible evidence" directly linking exposure to turbines with negative health effects.

In Australia, more than 3000 people die from urban air pollution every year. According to the Centre for Air Quality and Health Research and Evaluation, those most at risk live near coal mines and coal burning power stations and smelters. It is time all of us who have benefited from the Latrobe Valley and other coal power generation areas recognised this, and embrace clean energy coupled with community support and job creation (renewable energy creates more jobs than fossil fuels) for those communities, as well as our own.

With technological and mechanical improvement that has accompanied global wind farm development, newer and larger turbines create no more, and in many cases less noise than older models and no more risk to wildlife. It should be noted that stationary buildings and cars pose a hugely higher mortality risk to birds and other wildlife yet no one has ever called for a ban on either of those.

Sandra Hawkins, Canadian.

A strategy the Golden City Paddle Steamer and Museum Society might not have considered - maybe loading the boat with people (or sand bags etc) might allow the boat to sit sufficiently lower in the water that it can be pushed out of its shed, and moored elsewhere until the water level drops. 

Garth Junor, Sebastopol

Why are Australians rushing to embrace Halloween with its ugliness, horror and threats of tricks if treats aren't forthcoming? How much nicer it would be to have a day where people adorned themselves with flowers, or some such thing, and performed random acts of kindness.

Jenny Moxham, Monbulk