Rumour has it that Byron Shire Council is set to implement of one two road maintenance strategies that are currently in consideration. Both promise to provide huge budget savings:
1. By introducing a more European medieval cobblestone effect for the CBD area. The cobblestone effect will be achieved by varying the levels of linked potholes which will encompass the entire road network. This has the advantage of making overseas backpackers feel more at home during their stay. Council acknowledges that together with interstate visitors both groups remain the mainstay of the economy. Neither group arrive in any number via their own means of transport and therefore any negative feedback should be limited.
2. Allow the current network of potholes to multiply and thus revert to gravel surface. This concept is the panacea for all budget woes given that the road maintenance equipment required can be slashed to a number of nocturnal street sweeping trucks affixed with grader blades.
The only hurdle identified, appears to be problem of transitioning the roadway surface from loose gravel to the silky smooth bitumen surfaces that commence at locations such as the Ballina Shire boundary at one end and the Pacific Highway at the other.
Should one of the above proposals be implemented, council will gain the penultimate advantage of having more time available for discussing the less practical and thus more ephemeral and eclectic themes, which abound in this region.
Greg Cooper, Lennox Head
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
