Is that Laman Street in NEWCASTLE that John Price is talking about? Last time I took a look, yesterday, the footpath in the section of Laman Street that is supposed to be the ‘issue at hand’, the section from Darby Street past the Art Gallery & Regional Library (one block), was looking fabulous and inviting!

The pavement is wide and in good condition. There are no private residence there and i haven’t heard of ANY complaints about the public buildings struggling with the trees for space. The trees themselves, anything but aggressive, don’t have protruding or unruly above ground roots, they are orderly & incredibly well behaved, contained to a small area and at ground level.

Gosh, one would hardly know they were there, unless someone wanted the very space that they occupy for another self-gratifying use and erected fear-mungar signs everywhere to bring attention to them and to influence the opinions and actions of others towards them. I wonder where John gets his facts?

If it takes a person to have a drop of dreamer (Martin Luther King) or romantic (Shakespeare) in them to respect and appreciate natural wealth & beauty and to expect truth & transparency, then maybe Mr Price has you pegged Dr Raschke!