Note from Janette Barros..... Dear friends With quite a bit of difficulty, I have managed to organise for Prof Gary Evans to address a meeting of community groups and interested community individuals. Essentially it was eventually done as a personal favour to me. I am still in the process of organising the finer details and will keep you posted. First a little about Gary Evans - taken from the Noise Effects 98 conference brochure. He took his PhD at Univ of Massachusetts, and is currently Prof of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University, NT. With others, Prod Evans carried out pioneering research in the 1980's into the effects of aircraft noise on children's blood pressure and motivation, and has recently been involved in further research on the latter topic at Munich Airport (the study came out last year and was reported in the Sydney press). His research interest are: environmental stress, children's environments, poverty, and research methodology. Evans and a Sydney colleague applied to the FAC to do a study on the effects of aircraft noise on children's blood pressure and motivation at KSA (for the third runway), but the FAC were not interested and rejected the application. The organisers have attached a little string to allowing Prof to speak to us which is not a big deal, which I want to tell you about it. The catch is that the conference organisers have requested that, in return for allowing the Prof to address our gathering outside of the conference, they want us, the community groups, to do as much as we can to help them advertise the Noise Effects '98 conference (as they are running short on registrations and desperately need the money). Obviously there are bureaucrats and pollies we all know who ought to be going to this conference in shackles and made to sit there until they swear they have understood that noise is a real problem for the community!!! The organisers have also requested that we chip in something each to allow a community group person to attend one day of the conference (that adds up to a bit more than $200 ). So depending on how many people turn up, the cost per person will be minimal. In this regard, my first thought was that Judith Ohana (President Lane Cove Airport Action Group) would be an ideal person to attend as a community representative because of her profession as a consulting psychologist and because she has the rare gift of taking great notes. She has said she will check her diary but that this is a traditionally busy time for her because of the approach of Christmas. Obviously I personally would welcome the opportunity to attend as a community person and report back to groups and individuals accordingly. I wouldn't have a problem in attending on one or more days of the conference. If you have other suggestions of who the lucky or unlucky candidate should be, please let me know. Presumably, if we can get someone there that should mean we end up with a copy of the proceedings. There are also other speakers at the conference whose expertise is equally valuable, including Prof Guido Smoorenburg, Prod Andrew Hede, Dr Judy Edworthy, and Dr Jerry V Tobias. FYI, registration for the full Noise Effects 98 conference (which commences on 22 November) costs just under $800. Seems that Gary Evans will be staying in Annandale during the conference (not at my house, unfortunately!) so an Inner West venue is being sought as a first preference. The Leichhardt Town Hall and the Annandale Town Hall are booked out. Date: Sat 21 November Time: Approx 2pm (to be confirmed) Venue: To be advised (quite likely it will be the St Peters/Sydenham/Tempe neighbourhood centre but I won't find out for sure until tomorrow) Cheers LL.NK
