Vale Clem, Public Servant

Vale Clem Jones who has died at the age of 89 and achieved a heck of a lot for Brisbane, including:

He was curator at the Gabba cricket ground - which has a stand in his name - during his time as lord mayor.

But more importantly in terms of Brisbane being such an attractive city:

Under his stewardship, the city bought properties to build underground car parks, which were then topped with public parks and gardens.

The new.com.au story makes something of the fact that:

...Dr Jones also closed the city's large tram and trolley-bus network, replacing them with buses, a move which attracted widespread controversy.

...and Labor has indeed occasionally been shortsighted regarding transport in Brisbane - they opposed Joh Bjelke-Petersons's vision of a three or four lane South-East Freeway - but many cities all over the world got rid of their trams and trolley-buses, thinking the unconstricted motor-bus was the only way of the future.

Thanks for a great city, Clem.

-- Nick