A CLEVELAND State High School graduate who plans to run in the next local government election says Toondah Harbour’s priority development area is not needed.
Callen Sorensen Karklis said the proposed development was a monolithic project that could cause harm to the environment and people’s livelihoods at Cleveland and further strain road infrastructure and parking.
Mr Sorensen Karklis said councillors should push for a total upgrade of Cleveland’s CBD and work with the state government to upgrade and duplicate the Cleveland train line to solve the area’s economic issues.
“For the past six years Cleveland’s once thriving CBD has been in a sharp decline, with many businesses closing down shop due to increasing crime and business from abroad,” Mr Sorensen Karklis said.
“What is clear is a growing drug and homelessness problem where many people, including young people, who can’t find work or homes are now finding themselves on the streets.
“With such a growing drug problem in the area we need politicians to look to solutions with local law enforcement and mental health services to provide the help to those going through hard times.”
He said council should work with a university to place a campus in the Redlands that could help youth who found it hard to look for work.
Mr Sorensen Karklis said he was a former Labor member and was the Queensland Fabians secretary but understood Redlands needed councillors who were independent to push for the community’s goals.
He said council should be focused on North Stradbroke Island’s future.
“The First Nation’s peoples need our support in the transitions towards native title and treaty talks in the not too distant future but we must do so by mending old wounds not opening them or creating new ones,” he said.
“As a Quandamooka Noonuccal Aboriginal man with strong European links in my heritage and ancestry as well, I understand this.”
Mr Sorensen Karklis said he had lived in the area for most of his life, worked in retail and digital marketing and held media roles.
