Friendly country village disappears

I am writing to ask if you could please assist us.

We have deep concern for the area of Woy Woy. We would like that you please take up the concern of the concerned citizens.

During the years that we have been living in Woy Woy, both my mother and myself have seen the area change from a friendly country village.

We have been living in the area for 30 years and 28 years respectively.

We would like you to please help us in some way to prevent any further stress and discomfort from being put on the area and its long time residents by the developers and development which is so rampant in the area.

We feel deep concern for the wildlife of the area and have witnessed its recent decline.

Until recently, the area's long time residents have felt safe to live in their own homes and enjoyed the quiet and friendly atmosphere of the village.

Now they must lock their doors day and night because of the robberies and violence which are occurring so frequently in the area.

Robberies and violence are increasing. There are punch ups; fights in the streets.

Last week blobs of blood were hosed off the footpath outside the Commonwealth Bank.

No longer is there law and order in the area.

People urinate on the footpaths and against shops in Blackwall Road.

Two days ago a neighbour of mine told me that nine homes had been broken into and robbed within one minute's walk from where I live.

Two school boys have been hanging about the shops asking for money for bus fares.

Children are riding skateboards down the ramp at Woy Woy railway station and along footpaths in the shopping areas.

Last week an elderly lady was knocked down by a boy riding a skateboard.

Shopping trolleys are dumped in streets around the area of the shopping centre. Some are tipped over into gutters alongside the footpaths and into drains.

Some trolleys are seen many streets away from the shopping area.

Children ride them along the footpaths. Shoppers push their shopping across the roads and up the streets to their homes or to the bus stops and then abandon them.

When is somebody going to pull out the grass and weeds which are beginning to grow over the pavers on the footpaths?

When is somebody going to clean up the stinking mess of cigarette butts which fill the gaps between the pavers on the footpaths?

I have been living in the area for nearly 30 years and the Woy Woy area has never been in the dirty, filthy, neglected state that it is presently in.

The area of Woy Woy is fast becoming smothered in villa homes and dual occupancy.

Dual occupancy has two or three family homes built on the one block of land - land which was originally occupied by only one family home.

There are streets and streets of villa homes. In some streets as many as 14 villa homes have been built on one or two blocks of land. Fourteen persons, couples, families are now living on land where once only one or two families lived.

The area is presently suffering, and has been under stress for some time, from much trouble and the many problems caused by too many people coming into the small country town.

We are very concerned about the rapidly increasing development in the area and its effects on local residents and native animal and birdlife of the area.

Woy Woy is a beautiful area. It is made up of many wetlands and natural bush-covered mountains. These areas of our clean waterways have been home to teams of native birds and animals for hundreds of years.

We would appreciate any assistance you can offer us to put an end to the over-crowding and over-development of the Woy Woy area.

My mother, Mrs Marjorie Low, is past President of the Ladies Auxiliary South Woy Woy and is a life member.

Mrs P. Paris, Woy Woy