IT is easy to see most drivers still don’t seem to realise, or don’t care, that the Anson Street ‘Brown’s Cows’ block between Summer and Kite streets is a 40km/h zone.
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The cops would have a field day with a radar gun because there is no way people stick to 40km/h, believing no doubt they are untouchable.
The block has some of the worst traffic problems in Orange, with one or two Brown’s cows wandering across that fool pedestrian crossing holding up cars half way to the hospital.
When the cars have a free run, and that’s not often, they go like the clappers, adding to the chaos.
However, like some cities, we could rip out the traffic lights at Summer Street, pull down the advisory signs, take out the gutters, put in some paving and street furniture, impose a 10km/h or 15km/h speed limit and give the thoughtless pedestrians equal right of way with cars.
Called shared space the move is designed to discourage driving in busy shopping areas by reclaiming them from the dominance of the car.
With the kerb gone, pedestrians and vehicles share the same surface in the absence of a formal roadway.
The intention is that motorists will tend to drive more cautiously and negotiate the right of way with pedestrians on a more conciliatory level.
That would probably be putting your life in your hands in Orange but would it solve the Anson Street shemozzle?
Roll out the welcome mat
FORMER premier Barry O’Slowly-ButSurely announced he was moving more than 3000 public servants to new office blocks in Parramatta, Liverpool and Penrith under the government’s decentralisation plan.
Whether Premier Mike Baird goes on with it remains to be seen.
But what about us poor yokels in the bush?
Parramatta, Liverpool and Penrith are hardly regional areas, where the mixed bag of departments to be relocated should go.
Those earmarked for the move include the Ambulance Service, Sport and Recreation, Community Relations Commission, Environment and Heritage, Environment Protection Agency and Office of State Revenue.
Orange, like other centres, is chasing the Rural Fire Service that has to vacate its present premises in a year or so.
Any of those departments would be welcome in Orange where we can match or better the community facilities in Parramatta, Liverpool and Penrith.
And now that Electrolux has gone, Newcrest has been putting off staff, with another big swag to go soon, and Myer shutting its doors after Christmas, we could do with a government department relocated here.
Local authorities should be knocking on doors.
Loss of another icon?
US clothing giant HanesBrands has made a surprise billion-dollar offer for Australia's Pacific Brands, which sells Bonds clothing among other labels.
Pacific’s board unanimously recommended shareholders accept the offer although it’s also subject to approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
But isn’t it sad another Aussie icon will go into American hands?
And what do truckies and tradies think?
Their favourite Aussie clobber for years has been classic Chesty Bond blue singlets.
Chesty Bond, a cartoon character launched in 1938 by the Sydney Sun newspaper and taken up by advertising agency J Walter Thompson to promote the singlets, was Australia’s answer to Popeye the Sailor Man, who spent a good deal of his time selling the virtues of spinach.
Chesty ran as a paid-for comic strip in the Sun and other newspapers around Australia until 1964 and was credited with selling more than 130 million singlets.
You can still buy them, but they now have a more modern look and heaven knows what might happen when Hanes takes over.
Shifting shires
WITH council amalgamations heading the news, it’s interesting to note Orange has had its share over the years.
The first followed a referendum in September 1911 to decide whether the municipalities of Orange and East Orange should be amalgamated, when 90 Orange ratepayers and 113 from East Orange voted in favour while 76 were against the move.
Formalities took a while but a government proclamation was signed in December 1912 amalgamating Orange and East Orange.
Until then we had two councils, two mayors, two lots of aldermen, two town halls and two different staffs.
Can you imagine that?
The government back then reckoned two councils in such a small area was too wasteful and costly and supported the two amalgamating.
Since then Orange and the surrounding shires of Boree, Canobolas, Lyndhurst and Molong were amalgamated into three areas to form a slightly bigger Orange city and the new shires of Cabonne and Blayney.
Canobolas, based in Orange, Molong and Lyndhurst shires bit the dust.
So with Cabonne and Blayney ratepayers going off about amalgamating with Orange, they should remember their shires were born through amalgamation.
Number’s up
IT must be tough at times for people like police, ambulance, posties, taxi and delivery van drivers to find houses in Orange that haven’t any street numbers.
And the numbers on some are hidden by shrubs or are so faded they can’t be read anyway.
Orange City Council requires people to have a number on their house and also has responsibility for allocating numbers for new subdivisions, altering numbers for people on corner blocks or because of superstition, religious beliefs or for providing better clarity on their location.
But can the number of your house affect your life?
Yes, says a property psychic who claims lots of people buy their houses based on numerology.
For example, if your house number is 3, it’s supposedly good for creativity and expansion of abilities, creates a sense of optimism and energy and is great for partying and entertaining.
Supermarket sweep
A YOUNG bloke hired by a supermarket reports for work on his first day.
The manager gives him a broom and tells him his first job is to sweep out the office.
“But I’m a university graduate,” he says.
“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know that,” the manager says.
“Here, give me the broom and I’ll show you how...”