Last Tuesday week I did something I would not normally do, I watched the Council meeting live online. I was interested to see where things went with the Robertson Park toilet issue but sadly that got held over again after not a lot of discussion. Watching the discussion, I doubt they’ll ever land that plane.

Before Councillors got to that they discussed a number of other issues at some length and one of them caught my attention, the BMX track.

After quite a deal of discussion Council resolved to close the facility and consider other uses for the site, and to look at removing the soil. I’ll be honest, I had never even looked at the BMX track but after listening to the discussion, I think their decision made good sense.

Next day I started thinking about that space and decided to go and have a look at what it actually was, I wondered whether the Super Playground idea that we’ve floated before in OC Life mightn’t be a possibility.

Well bingo! It’s a big parcel of land behind the PCYC and yes there are some big piles of dirt but from my point of view, opportunity knocks for us to consider it as a site for a Super Playground. Orange could desperately use another family attraction of this type, especially after losing the pool at the Club.

The BMX site would appear to be perfect in size, location etc. I’m also mindful that the art gallery has recently been granted over 4 million to extend the gallery. To my mind, I can’t help feeling that that sort of money spent on something a greater number of the community would benefit from would be a better use of $4 million dollars in Orange right now.

I won’t dwell on the idea of a Super Playground, but I do sincerely hope the idea gets a decent hearing from the community and our Council, I think it would do wonders for Orange on a number of fronts and bring endless entertainment for families. Whatever happens, I hope our Council will very quickly decide on an alternate use for this very attractive piece of land that is currently the BMX track.

Apart from that and having also heard the discussion at the Council meeting on re-visiting the pool issue with the Club, the BMX track site could also be considered as an option for a second pool facility. Again, the location and space would seem ideal.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If I’m any judge, I believe our community needs a project to come out of our Council that we can all get excited about. I felt the Council meeting that I watched lacked any real enthusiasm or vibrance and certainly nothing exciting was discussed. If that’s how they are all the time, no wonder there’s a feeling that Orange is at best marking time and at worst going backwards in areas where we could do so much better.

Opportunities knock everywhere, but only if we decide to take them up.