Now we’re all getting used to the City of Toowoomba’s no longer being the central focus of our local government system – only one of the combined eight competing regions – there are many critical questions out there for the asking.
The impression is that the Councillors of the new Toowoomba Regional Council are almost overwhelmed by the hugeness of the administrative task confronting them.
They’re a good lot and there’s little doubt they’re all working to the limit of their ability. They don’t intend to neglect the City - but the crude truth is that Toowoomba has seven other rival regions.
There are, by the latest measure, 65.000 registered borrowers of the City Library, housed meagrely in two floors of the parking station in Victoria St near the corner of Margaret St. For years now, the faithful librarians there have worked in conditions disgraceful for a City of Toowoomba’s size.
The librarians have worked miracles of goodwill and public faithfulness. Hundreds of books have had to be taken from the shelves and housed in a separate depository. Shelf space is crowded to the limit.
One of the most delightful experiences of this town is to visit the Children’s Section on a weekend morning or during school holidays. This is a magic place of both education and entertainment. How the staff manage to keep it going is beyond me.
In our past City Council days, forward budgeting to improve the library and its facilities was put back and put back. Now the job ahead is multiplied by the requirement of seven other regions.
One of the social imperatives for the new TRC is to tell the City what its plans for library improvement are. What are the planning templates for a city of this size and what chance - and what timetable – is in TRC’s blueprint for the future?
And while they’re thinking Toowoomba, TRC must lash out on more white paint for the central city’s roads and tell the Railways Department to get off its seat and even out those jagged railway crossings in the city centre.
Toowoomba and Darling Downs political and social commentary. Print copies of this newsletter may be ordered from Toowoomba's Office Works, phone 4699-5300
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Hugh Bingham
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About Hugh Bingham
Bingham is a career journalist with experience in State and Federal politics. He has been Editor of the Sunday Truth, the Sydney Sunday Mirror, Associate Editor of the Sydney Daily Mirror, and has reported overseas for The Australian.
In retirement he turned farmer in the Felton Valley, near Toowoomba, breeding Appaloosas and winning best foal and filly at the 1992 State championships.
Now 80, Bingham takes a keen interest in current affairs, especially politics and social issues. Bingham has tutored U3A groups as diverse as poetry, memoir writing, and classical music.
In retirement he turned farmer in the Felton Valley, near Toowoomba, breeding Appaloosas and winning best foal and filly at the 1992 State championships.
Now 80, Bingham takes a keen interest in current affairs, especially politics and social issues. Bingham has tutored U3A groups as diverse as poetry, memoir writing, and classical music.
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