Are we a backwater????

[Knackers]

With the recent comments by the premier from next door, is Adelaide a backwater?

Whilst working really hard today (I have way too much down time) I came across this news article, it speaks for itself. What would you do with $85 Billion? Build a complete new city maybe?

Adelaide can't eveb get a multipurpose facility off the ground in the city (Vic Park) yet others can start from scratch.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23167976-5005962,00.html

Hey, but at least we got a new tram line extension!

[Zippy]

Time to do what a previous Premier wanted  (was it playford or dunston)

Build a new city in the area of Monarto.  Start with a few suburbs and a CBD...thing with monarto area...the city can expand NESW...not NS

[chook]

Are thats why we pay so much for petrol!
I think there is settlement out there - it called Murray Bridge?
Yes we are - a single city dominated state, lots of nay sayers, don't like change!
In our area we could have had a non irrigation or agricultural industry - NO we might get attacked!
We could have had a rural city like Mildura, Shepparton, Albury etc - No we want to keep our sub 10,000 population towns & hospitals & schools etc.
In just over 100 years we have gone from a leader to a laugh!
We rip up the country rail system, while Victoria, NSW, Qld are expanding theirs & then sook about trucks on the road
The rural areas are dying & the only real industry we have is building weapons systems or digging stuff out of the ground.
Yep welcome to the festival state - don't expect too much to happen anytime soon
cheers

[Zippy]

Mt Gambier, Riverland, Murray Bridge, Loxton, Pt Augusta, Whyallya, Port Lincoln, Ceduna   all out of the hat   are our Mildura's Bendigo's...

Adelaide itself struggles to contest being a city against BENDIGO.

[chook]

Yeh, so you know where I'm coming from then
cheers

[bittenyakka]

well we do have fewer people that next door.

i think the problem is that our state govts do not want to  invest in anything at all. then they announced the "marge mahal" and suddenly think that is all that is needed what about our trains, some roads like "half a freeway" in the south or even CFS? or mabey the hospitals we have until 2016?

[Zippy]

Governments take a choice to either spend the money paid by tax's or horde it some how.  Our state government...is the Later...

no Mr Foley no excuses.  and i also think the last few governments have led to the state of Adelaide that is today that are to blame.  That does not discount that THIS government can create a full 360 turn...(not a 380 like mitsubishi).

Correction. 180 degree turn for all u maths geeks out there

[chook]

no I think 360 is right
Yep with more revenue than ever before it makes you wonder.
However I think governments of all persuasions have been scared off by the big economic disasters of the past - so now they are economic rationalist all of them.
And that then flows to the public sector where you are only judged on how much money you save.
A good example would be the duplication of the Sturt hwy at least to Truro, I know its happening now but its 15 years too late!
And the Desal plant, water filtration for rural users etc
these are things that "brave" governments do not wait until there is a public outcry. Anyway enough politics
cheers

[rescue5271]

Well when I first moved here 8 years ago from Victoria I used to hate going into adelaide on the weekends as most shops where closed or only open for half a day.In the past few years all that has changed as SA was missing out on the extra money but was also missing on tourist that came into this great state.

Things dont change over night but SA is getting there,sure we dont have the population like Victoria or any other state but we are a clean state,you go for a drive any where in SA and it would have to be the most cleanest state in AUST.Sure the goverment could and should do more,fix up roads,keep community hospitals open and stop giving large companys a helping hand all the time....

[Gilly]

Adelaide is not a backwater.
To me, saying we are a back water is as useful as comparing adelaide to murray bridge. Sydney and soon melbourne have 3 times the population we do, hence requiring 3 times the resources, infrastructure, everything is larger. If we're a back water city, then im glad. It doesn't take long to drive from one side to the other of the city, everything is located easily, we still have beautiful parklands and green fringes surrounding the city and hills. we have some major infrastructure happening to improve our roads such as southern and port road expressways and the south road underpass. More will follow for sure. The tram, although seen as small and wastefull by some, has actually opened up the area of the city down north terrace that was dead apart from the uni. The "waste of money" tram is so busy they have to buy another carriage for it...

Too many people whinge about the lack of progress in adelaide. Go to sydney then, it will be worse. We're not perfect. Our trains are old. A north-south freeway would be great. But our industry is thriving (aside from mitsubishi), our agriculture remains strong, mining is booming. Everything is looking up for SA and Adelaide.

My thoughts only.

[Cameron Yelland]

Just come to Mt Gambier where they knock back anything that even smells like progress!

[chook]

Same here - Gilly agriculture fine? Not in our neck of the woods.
We will loose around 50 people (perms + labour hire) by the middle of the year.
Hospitals cut back, shops closing, lots of houses + fruit blocks for sale.
Yep things are great.
Anyway I've said enough (yep agree about Sydney, but you could get 24 hr everything )
cheers

[bajdas]

I know everything needs to be checked and a compromise gained from all parties....but it takes soooo long from an idea to actually built.

I recently drove to Sydney for a week and have lived in Melbourne. Both are more exciting & vibrant than Adelaide (been down Rundle Mall on a public holiday or tried to get a cup of coffee after 11:30pm ??).

But Adelaide is different and not as hectic.

For example, the road underpasses...yes it looks better in the west parklands and Anzac highway...but it takes longer & costs more than an overpass.

Personally I hope they consider an overpass for other sections of South Road (eg Port, Torrens & Sturt road intersections).

The tram extension was quick and it works as a base for further expansion in the future.

The failure to build the Victoria Park grandstand is a disaster given the time to setup & dismantle the temporary stands.

The private sector is building commercial in the city very quickly (eg SA Water HQ in Victoria Square & around the Post Office).

The country areas & manufacturing are both struggling to change. This will cause pain and hopefully the people involved will find a solution by expanding to other industries (eg cropping, tourism, forestry for carbon credits, etc).

Personally, how to limit development in the northern suburbs (eg Pt Wakefield & beyond) for defence industry employees while supporting expansion south of the city (given many employees of Mitsu live at Noarlunga) is a challenge.

[6739264]

Short Answer: Yes

Long Answer: Good god yes!

But is it a bad  thing? Nope. I like our state just the way it is.

Nice and quiet, not so much hustle and bustle...

[Zippy]

The failure to build the Victoria Park grandstand is a disaster given the time to setup & dismantle the temporary stands.

I think it was a great thing it wasnt built...simply because the design of it was bad.

To cater for the crowd size of the Clipsal 500, you need the same amount of seating provided by Temporary Grandstands, this i believe was not met by the design of a multipurpose Grandstand.

(personally i care more about V8's than horses)

[bajdas]

The failure to build the Victoria Park grandstand is a disaster given the time to setup & dismantle the temporary stands.

I think it was a great thing it wasnt built...simply because the design of it was bad.

To cater for the crowd size of the Clipsal 500, you need the same amount of seating provided by Temporary Grandstands, this i believe was not met by the design of a multipurpose Grandstand.

(personally i care more about V8's than horses)

Agreed...but the pit areas which contain the expensive/dangerous stuff gets built each year...and the temporary building cannot be used at other non-V8 race events.

It will be even more interesting when they expand the track length to the old F1 track so they can accomodate more grandstands. I thinbk they take six months now to build and dismantle, how long when they extend the track ? How many trucks bringing in supplies from interstate, etc, etc..

I think a compromise will be reached when the old buildings drop something on a persons head during a race.

[F.B.R.T]

Just come to Mt Gambier where they knock back anything that even smells like progress!

Yep, spot on Cammo,
We get frequently told we are the busiest station out of Adelaide and we still don't have career 24/7 staffing............
Oh! that's right.......we are not a suburb of Adelaide

[rescue5271]

You guys in the mount should be fine now that you have bunnings 24 People dont like change in anything,if shop owners want to open 7 days aweek let them why hold back in the end the town or city will loss out...

[bittenyakka]

I think the Victoria park stand was crap as it was a government corporate box and the state government didn't want to listen to council.

however although Adelaide doesn't have the culture of the eastern states it is still cheaper to live here and the traffic isn't that bad at all. and  of years ago i was up at the gold coast and all their shops closed at 4:30 so we really aern't that far behind.

Blinky: what shops want to open 7 days a week? if it is Myer then they just employ lots of staff and so what but it will make the small  one or two man jobs need to stay open as well or you will end up with a mish mash of shops open and closed.

[Katrina]

Don't complain in the Mt.
Come up to Penola we are so backwater we don't even get on a map sometime - get anything??? The only reason Comms has computers is that someone donated them a few years back (though I have been told that we are getting some new ones) and we only got internet on several months ago (just look up the latest weather? just fill those forms out on line?) And to get way off topic unless you are loaded you can't even get into the emergency department at our hospital ($140 normally and I think $170 after 11pm - and if you haven't got the money they pretty much kick you out the door)Okay rant over, I'm off to go and do something sensible before my head explodes
Backwater - can't believe people in Adelaide think that's the case, can't believe how lucky you are with everything available there
Okay I know calm down you are standing to rant again

[Darius]

Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: Good god yes!
But is it a bad  thing? Nope. I like our state just the way it is.
Nice and quiet, not so much hustle and bustle...

so I guess you are planning to move back at some stage.
(and yes SA is a backwater but who cares)

[sesroadcrashrescue]

yes south australia is a backwater it is so far behind the rest of australia that its not even in there dust anymore my old town had people fight against getting a pedestrian crossing with stop lights at the high school (this was to make it safer for students to cross a main rd to get to ag and pe) as people didnt understand what they were. same with the other two school crossings the council wanted to make it safer for students to get and from school and classes and the public were against it so yeah its a back water 

[Alan (Big Al)]

Don't complain in the Mt.
Come up to Penola we are so backwater we don't even get on a map sometime - get anything??? The only reason Comms has computers is that someone donated them a few years back (though I have been told that we are getting some new ones) and we only got internet on several months ago (just look up the latest weather? just fill those forms out on line?) And to get way off topic unless you are loaded you can't even get into the emergency department at our hospital ($140 normally and I think $170 after 11pm - and if you haven't got the money they pretty much kick you out the door)Okay rant over, I'm off to go and do something sensible before my head explodes
Backwater - can't believe people in Adelaide think that's the case, can't believe how lucky you are with everything available there
Okay I know calm down you are standing to rant again

Ha ha my sister is a school teacher who's has just moved to penola, she says they like things the way they are and don't accept change all that quickly.

[Gilly]

yes south australia is a backwater it is so far behind the rest of australia that its not even in there dust anymore my old town had people fight against getting a pedestrian crossing with stop lights at the high school (this was to make it safer for students to cross a main rd to get to ag and pe) as people didnt understand what they were. same with the other two school crossings the council wanted to make it safer for students to get and from school and classes and the public were against it so yeah its a back water 

SO victoria and NSW have automatic student teleporters across the road in their country towns...? We are not behind. We are smaller. And your old town is even smaller! Of course its going to appear behind.

The comment by our Victorian "friend" was made about Adelaide, not mt Gambier, or Greenpatch, or anywhere other than Adelaide for a start. Yes your small communtiy may be behind. But so are most small towns anywhere in Australia simply due to the size, money income, and demand for change.

[SA Firey]

You will find some of the best fishing in a backwater

On your bike Brumby