EDITOR- Mr Tony Starkey (Mercury June 17) suggests that the addicted souls of Whoonga Park will “disappear” before, and during the Union of Architects World congress to be hosted in Durban in August, and then will “reappear” after the congress.
The Durban Metro probably does have plans for some kind of window dressing of this nature, but I have another suggestion.
It’s pointless to hide the truth, so why not leave things as they are, which the Metro has done until now anyway, and make Whoonga Park a feature of the congress. Delegates from all over the world can be bused to the park to see the phenomenon for themselves. Discussion could follow, and I am sure that we’d glean huge amounts of useful knowledge from a range of international experts on town planning and the maintenance of urban bylaws – areas where we clearly need help.
Of course, I imagine that some of the questions an international panel would ask, are: “Don’t you have a functioning police force?” and “Don’t you have any bylaws, since it appears that anyone can camp anywhere in your city at any time, even if they use the streets as a toilet?” and “Are your rate-payers happy to fund this mess?”
Rick Andrew
Glenwood
