Supermarket Plans and Other Stuff

Have been trying to figure out what’s going on with the supermarket development on the highway for the last few weeks, and I’m trying to piece together lots of little bits of information, and I’ve not been blogging regularly because I always think I need to have my facts straight before I stick things on here (maybe I needn’t be so rigid). I’ve gone through the Council minutes at the local library and read the Employment and Land Strategy (which is where the Council says you can read about the rezoning of the land on the highway)… but all I could find was a tiny little paragraph about it, and it didn’t really say anything I could understand. I’ve also been reading articles in the News Paper about it, and talking to people generally, but the details are so unclear. What I’ve found out is that a Buidev-Coles submission to rezone the land (which currently won’t allow the building of a supermarket complex) has gone to Council; that the local Residence Association supports this over it going in the middle of town- though as far as I know they aren’t trying to stop the development, and the local Chamber of Commerce is opposing it going on the highway (but I’m not sure if they’re opposed to it entirely). The Newspaper has lots of articles and letters to the editor on the whole thing, but the public seems divided. I’ve been trying to get enough people interested to start a group. Although I’ve met several people who do care about this issue, so far I get the impression that people feel this issue is being discussed and fought by others- like the Chamber of Commerce, Council and Residence Association- and perhaps aren’t really sure what they, and me, could do.

So I’m still floundering around the Micro-stages of the project plan- who knew making connections would be so tricky! I thought I’d just walk up to someone go “Hey do you want to get together and do something about the rezoning/supermarket issue” and they’d go “Oh yes that sounds like fun- forget everything else I’d planned for today!” So, I will keep trying to find interested people, although I look like I have a one-track-mind at the moment asking everyone I run into if they’ve heard about it and what they think. I’m also going to keep researching on my own, so that when I do speak to people I have some more factual information to share. As Shields (1994) points out, its important to gather information on complex issues before launching into action or debates with people. Perhaps this idea seems pretty obvious, but it’s hard to be really well prepared when there is very little information out there and when the info that is out there is confusing, vague and uses government policy language! I’m going to try to talk more with people who are members of some of the involved groups and see if I can find out more that way!

Here's some Newspaper articles (and some public opinion) for anyone interested in this development:
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2010/04/17/retailers-battle-macksville-retailers-battle-super/
http://www.finda.com.au/story/2006/07/05/apn-shops-at-raj-mahal/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/24/2828980.htm?site=news