Re. Truck curfew battlelines drawn (Weekly, April 23)
The only solution is to use another port. I don’t really understand why MTAG (Maribyrnong Truck Action Group) doesn’t push for this. Moving more freight by rail sounds good, but all you are doing is pushing the noise and vibration problem on to other people who live along the line.
Catherine Mcdonald
Re: Oriental Hotel collapse warnings unheeded for months (Weekly, April 23)
What Evolve does not mention is that the developer has resolutely refused to protect the Oriental despite residents speaking about this neglect at hearings in the past few months.
In fact, an Ann Street resident repaired the double door and replaced the padlock on the wire gate near the overgrown grass on the Ann Street side of the block. Another resident removed torn-up posters in the other Ann Street doorway because it was a fire hazard.
Evolve is making capital out of the recent tragic incident in Swanston Street to make the most of this tragedy to get planning permission for demolition of this iconic old pub.
Why, you may well ask, has Evolve done nothing for eight years to maintain the building instead of allowing it to deteriorate. Helen Lardner, an eminent expert on heritage buildings, has said it’s possible to save the Oriental if the will is there to do so. Evolve has spent nothing on the building so far, so why not use some of the future profits from this development to fix the building?
VgVal
It’s a cruel tactic of the developer to associate the Oriental, a heritage pub (that the developer has let become more run-down), with the tragedy of the Swanston Street wall collapse. Clearly they will use any means to promote their application for a six-storey, 83-apartment dwelling on this site.
Jackie
Re: Former Eritrean freedom fighter gets to art of matter (Weekly, April 9)
I feel sorry for Michael Adonai. He was a respected artist in Eritrea. But now . . . he is hiding from his community in Australia and yet saying he will help his community. On his arrival in Australia, his community and the consulate of Eritrea organised an exhibition and many young and elders attended.
We Eritreans wish Michael all the best, but for an Eritrean freedom fighter and member of Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, none of us can be convinced by the reason you gave to remain in Australia. Because you were one of the respected ones and had a relatively good economic and social life in Eritrea, no one expects or believes your complaint about the Eritrean situation.
MID
Great to hear you have escaped the huge prison that is home to many of us. I hope you can now freely express our people’s misery through your art.
Freeing Eritrea
So glad to read the news about your escape from “hell”. Men like you are the ones to save the country from falling apart.
Dan Dan
Congratulations, Michael, that you could manage to escape from a “hell on earth” and the throat of “Alligator”. Use your skills to express your feelings against the suppression and dictatorship you were freed from.
The real man
