Kings Cross neons

Letter to the editor, Wenty Courier

Thanks to Mark Gibson for putting my name into print (Wentworth Courier 11/8/04 p39).
However he would do better to play the ball, not the man. And getting a few facts straight would help, like spelling my name correctly.
Mark, I am not Jo Holder's 'comrade' as you state. If you are implying I am some sort of communist, you must be very short of real arguments. I am not, and indeed run a business for a living as does Ms Holder.
But I do believe in grass roots democracy and, far from ‘telling Kings Cross residents what is important to them’,
I find my ideas have great resonance locally, having put them very prominently in the public arena.
Clover Moore's welcome decision to save the more significant neons in Kings Cross was not made without wide
community support -- perhaps, Mark, you should have attended the recent community forum in the Cross and
seen for yourself.
Your assertions about heritage make the same mistakes as the City's outdated signage policy which assumes
heritage stopped with quaint Victoriana. Heritage also has to do with a sense of place, and neons have defined the
identity of the Cross since the 1930s (see, for a start, Kenneth Slessor's poems from the time). You talk about
'diversity' but seem to think it entails making the Cross a clone of the city. A love of diversity, not cloning, is
what drives my position on the Cross.
As for my not living here -- I can walk from home to the station in one minute and, like most other locals, moved
here because I like this gritty, colourful and never boring town. Long may Kings Cross offend snobs and
wowsers!

Michael Gormly
Woolloomooloo