By Alex Spence
Devonport's beachfront will take on a distinctly Victorian air if retired museum owner Bryan Jackson can cut through the red tape.
Mr Jackson wants to pour $50,000 into brightening up Devonport beach and Windsor Park.
He plans to spread sand on the beach and replace the park bandstand with a
replica Victorian rotunda as a memorial to his brother, a pilot killed in the Second World War. He also wants to spread picnic tables around the waterfront and plant three queen palms outside his nearby "muzeum" in Victoria Rd, which closed in March.
But winning approval for the project means dealing with local councillors and community board members, with whom he has a history of personal differences. He fought a long-running battle with the board over his old curiosity museum.
For his latest venture, his solution was to bypass the community board and go straight to the top. But North Shore mayor George Wood says he cannot personally endorse Mr Jackson's plan, regardless of its merits, because it is not the mayor's place to dictate to the council.
"Mr Jackson is certainly a person who has made his mark with innovative ideas," said Mr Wood. "But he is going to have to work through the community board. Mr Jackson knows that as well as anybody else."
A long-standing community board member, Mick Gannaway, said Mr Jackson was trying to buck the system. He gave assurances Mr Jackson would receive fair consideration if he followed procedures.
The proposal would also be put out for public consultation, said Mr Gannaway.
"Maybe they don't want sand all over the beach. Why should Bryan Jackson come along with a bulldozer and change it?"
Mr Jackson said his project was worthy of special treatment. "Why should we be put through the third-degree for daring to improve Devonport?
"I will not submit myself to people working against the best interests of the community.
"They have been proven many times to be impossible to talk common sense with ..."
Mr Jackson bought the old Devonport post office in 1991 to house his extensive collection of mainly Victorian collectibles.
After years of bureaucratic wrangling, most of the exhibits were auctioned last year and it closed in March.
