Driving to work through Lauderdale last Thursday, after navigating around debris deposited by the previous night’s hurricane-force winds on to the Ralphs Bay foreshore, I was struck once again by the madness of the canal estate plan we continue to fight. White-capped waves were churning across the sandflats where developer, Walker Corporation, would build a clump of artificial islands and try to flog off its real estate to gullible investors.

Prospective buyers and the Resource Planning and Development Commission Panel assessing the proposal might want to check out the CSIRO Droughty Hill wind readings for 3 April 2008. At its pre-dawn peak, the wind blasted into Ralphs Bay from the West-North-West at 174 km/hr. Its average speed during this period was 130km/hr. Extreme weather events aside, all the locals, and particularly the windsurfers, know that Ralphs Bay is one wild and windswept place. Who in their right mind would want that sort of oceanfront lifestyle, and can Walker Corporation actually be serious about putting houses and people into such an environment?

Cassy O’Connor
139 Roaring Beach Rd
South Arm 7022

(m) 0400 628 939