People Power Prevails

 

My comment in today's Herald.

Found here. or you can read below.

 People Power Prevails

As part of a local Area Traffic Management Plan a location was chosen on East Ave, Clarence Park as suitable for a pedestrian refuge. At the time some people supported the proposal and some did not: the reasons given for both were a reduction in safety. However, at the time there was no community outrage and the crossing was included in the Plan and in 2020-21 budget was funded. As is often the case this is when it became an issue for the community.  The owner of the coffee shop, Rise and Grind, did his sums and realized that the loss of parking required to construct the crossing would cause a significant loss to his business that he might not be able to sustain. This is a great little business and much loved and used by the local community. The business owner  then put together a petition that could be presented to Council. At the recent September meeting he presented this  petition with nearly 500 signatures calling for the crossing to not be constructed. Nearly half the signatures were for local people. After strong debate people power won the day and the work will be abandoned?

Council is also beginning to feel the heat from residents regarding the Council declaring a Climate Emergency. At recent meetings we have received many deputations calling for this.  While Unley Council has a strong reputation in  greening the city and reducing our carbon footprint there is much more we can do. One of these is to get the state government to start thinking about what they can do to better enable the work of Council in matters such as planning legislation, tree legislation and rate collection. Council will debt this matter at their October meeting.