Ocean Shores desperately needs footpaths and bike lanes. We need them to make the place safer and get pedestrians off the road verges and make safer lanes for bikes on existing roads. That’s where Byron Council staff and resources should be focused, not on building and maintaining boardwalks, supposedly to avoid just one of Ocean Shores’ many hills.
How does that make more sense than strategic footpaths that connect with Waterlily Park, with bus stops, with school and preschool, and shops? Apparently, people from far and wide think it’s a great idea to build an expensive boardwalk in our locality, if the 1,000+ signatures on the pro-boardwalk petition are anything to go by. Perhaps many locals that signed up are only now realising that it’s not just about ‘one hill’; that’s just Stage 1. Stage 2 of the project extends the boardwalk/paths for about 2km via an isolated route through our fragile nature reserves instead of using existing roadways. I guess it’s easy to forget that we live in one of the most biodiverse places in Australia. We need to be very smart about how we use our limited rates and focus on the real needs of the whole locality. By the way, you can remove your signature on their petition if you are now shocked by the true extent of the plans.
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. 
