The Only Way to Save the World is to Buy It

2010-03-04T08:01:00.010+11:00

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What price is culture or a way of life? What price is the welfare of a community over the greed of business? The purpose of Save Byron Bay is to raise funding to develop low cost eco housing, resources, and facilities for artists, permaculturalists, community workers, and their families. Please make a donation and follow our progress as a friend and spread the word and make this progress faster. We are all volunteers and have a lot of work to do to make this project a success. To ask a question, please make a donation and you can leave a note. Every bit helps. Thank You.

Art - "Days at the Bay" by Stephen Phibbs

Expediential Economic Tragedy of Byron Bay

2010-02-20T13:13:00.005+11:00

Expediential =...adherence to expedient means and methods "to put more emphasis on expediency than on principle". Merriam Webster Dictionary

High rents by real estate speculators and developers and non-resident holiday home-owners are pushing good people out of their home towns and making Byron Bay and surrounding areas unsafe and unhealthy and have created a shaky local economy. Progress without principle creates imbalance which creates long term growing problems for local populations.

When a town looses its local artists and residents it looses it’s soul, it’s culture, it’s street safety, and it’s caretakers. Byron needs artists as well as tourists to maintain a healthy balance. The aim of Save Byron Bay is to develop low-income housing for artists and community workers so they can continue to live in their own home-town and repair the imbalance and take care of the town. .

Local people in living full time in your neighborhood means a steady stream of shoppers all year round and people who keep and eye out for crime, graffiti, and garbage on the streets, beaches, and parks.

Even tourists are complaining
These are excerpts from a discussion on a local Byron forum for visitors
- Asking about moving to Byron ..." when I speak about my plans"a lot of people remind me of the violence , crime , alcohol and drug problems that this little " paradise "affects the last years ! Is that really so ?" -
- Reply ..."..Now that I am a lot older and have lived in Byron Bay (for a year or more) I can safely say that its the most awful place in the world and would be happy if I never return there again. Because Byron bay has such a large tourist population flowing in and out most of the year pretty much anything goes. remember also that as far as the locals go...its a small town. Instances of rape, drug abuse and violence are more frequent because people looking for a good time can do the things they want because in a week they will be gone again. "...
Source: http://www.bayweb.com.au/forum/is-there-a-crime-and-violence-problem-in-byron-bay--vt1027.html

Read about Yamva, another little beach town only 80 miles away.
Excerpt: Article - NSW seaside village of Yamba ruled by mob law - February 14, 2010 - "A BURNT out police wagon is a shocking symbol of a town abandoned by the law... But locals said this latest incident was just another example of how they have been left to fend for themselves in a town where the population soars from 7000 to 18,000 every summer. Only last year, a travel magazine voted Yamba Australia's best town, pipping popular holiday spots such as Byron Bay and Port Douglas. Residents have been agitating for better policing after a violent robbery at the golf club last month. More than 3000 people have signed a petition pleading for more local police. Residents and politicians agree there are simply not enough police to cope with the violence, with overnight patrols up to 45 minutes away when an emergency strikes. Police Minister Michael Daley said police numbers in the command had risen 38 per cent in the past 15 years. Locals also help keep tourists in line, such as when they leave trash on the beach, light fires during a fire ban, ignore common courtesy, or out of town thieves breaking into vacant holiday homes."
Source: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26724386-953,00.html

It started in the 1980's when holiday homers would complain about hippies on their street and started putting the rents up. Every tourist season the crime rate would go up and their would be riots New Years Eve. Business owners and council members will say that Byron is OK now, but they have to say that to protect the tourist dollars. Byron is not OK, it's growing worse every year. More police doesn't word, only preventing crime with a healthy full-time local community works.

Local residents also maintain vital community facilities and services, such as skate parks and activities to keep teens out of trouble, elderly and disabled care, victims of violence, after school programs, unemployment retraining, homeless, public gardens, and too numerous volunteer jobs to mention. These jobs prevent crime and neglect and prevent the huge cost of clean-up and compensation for crime and neglect.

We can't blame the tourists as we invite them there to have fun; they are not there to be vigilant as they would in their own hometowns, they are tourists are on holiday. Tourists also don’t know when something is amiss even if they do care, because they don’t know what is usual and what is not when they are only visiting for 2 days or 2 weeks.

What makes the Save Byron Bay program an added bonus for Byron’s economy is that local artists buy their materials locally, rent local studio spaces and retail outlets, sell their art in the town which attracts tourists, and they spend their profits locally, all year round, not just for 2 days or 2 weeks.

Please donate to Save Byron Bay so we can return it’s artists and caretakers give Byron its soul back and make it safe again.

Thank you for your contribution

Sincerely

Save Byron Bay Team

Save Byron Bay

2010-02-20T00:57:00.000+11:00

My name is Deborah and I’m a co-founder of www.iq.org.au an outdoor, arts, community, and eco center in Byron Bay, Australia. I’m now living in San Francisco and helping spread the word to save my favorite little town of artists.

Byron is visited by thousands of tourists each year for it’s unique alternative culture and arts, but real estate developers and speculators are pushing out the artists and writers that made Byron Bay famous and created the culture that tourists come to see.

I am raising donations to develop low cost eco housing and work studios for artists and facilities for the community in Byron bay. If everyone who loves Byron Bay donates $10 or more we will be able to do this and save and heal Bryon Bay.

If you have visited Byron Bay and love Byron Bay or want to visit Byron Bay please help by making a donation before Byron looses all it’s culture and totally becomes another generic resort that is too expensive for artists and backpackers and a boring dirty tourist trap.

Here’s a video on the problem… made by Byron Bay locals.

Please click the donate button to make a donation to Save Byron Bay, and leave a note with any questions.

Thank you

Sincerely

Deborah and the Save Byron Bay crew.