Focus on the biggest R: the Residents

Back in July, like you, I received my rate notice and a bright shiny newsletter from Central Coast Council.

It included a message from our new CEO, Gary Murphy, among other things.

After reading his missive I thought, at last, a man of action.

Well, Gary, I think we are still waiting for some of that action.

You said traditionally Councils focus on the three Rs: Roads, Rates and Rubbish.

We have certainly had enough rubbish heaped on for a lifetime.

Let's start by looking at what happens to our rates.

They disappear into the great big pot you have up in Gosford and we get back about two cents in the dollars.

For years, we have been asking for our fair share, but we never get it.

We are cast crumbs from my lord's table and expected to be grateful.

Perhaps, you could make equitable sharing one of your first priorities.

While you are thinking of ways to spend our money on us, how about the increasing numbers of ladies teams being formed to play cricket, footy, soccer, Union and Aussie Rules.

We could do with some more playing fields before developers have built on every square metre and there is no more room to extend existing grounds or build new ones.

Have you driven around the Peninsula lately?

The roads are a disgrace.

Potholes make up more of the road than the roads themselves.

We are promised, by every candidate seeking election, that our roads are their number one priority.

Then they get elected and nothing happens and you never see them.

After months of bashing our cars about or having near head-on collisions trying to avoid them, the same blokes come past with the same shovel of cold mix and fill the same holes, with the same result that has been happening for years.

Cometh the rains, cometh the potholes.

Here's a thought: Forget about our first Community Strategic Plan.

Let's go back about 30 years and start on the job of providing proper drainage, kerbing and guttering for all the roads here.

Do the job properly.

Don't waste months and money with contractors.

Get our staff who have pride in their work, and may even live here, to have a go.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to drive down Blackwall Rd without damaging your car?

We are not particularly worried about rubbish.

I reckon our last big R is residents.

Month after month, we see approval for non-complying new developments.

Two wrongs don't make a right, or in our case more than a dozen illegal applications approved.

From the objections raised over all the non-complying developments and the hundreds of objections to multi-storey apartment blocks, surely it is obvious we don't want them.

We like our way of life here.

We don't mind sharing with newcomers, but one new family at a time.

Not fours and fives where there used to be one and certainly not 40 or more.

We came here because of the village atmosphere and I think I speak for most of us when I say that's how we want it to stay.

The traffic is getting so bad at times that the only way to get to the other side of Ocean Beach Rd is to have been born there.

Try getting a parking spot at Peninsula Plaza mid-morning, you have more chance of winning Lotto.

Have a look at the commuters parked all-round the streets leading to the station.

Traffic is horrendous and there are plans to let more people move in.

Perhaps Council could be pro-active for once and get the necessary infrastructure in place first.

We like our Peninsula and our way of life and would be obliged, if you won't help us to preserve it, at least don't destroy it for the sake of a few developer dollars.

Email, 30 Oct 2018

Laurie Powell, Woy Woy