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Collapse Issue 518:<br />3 May 2021<br />_____________Issue 518:
3 May 2021
_____________
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Council plans to sell Peninsula land
Tesch speaks against carpark sale
GUST welcomes consultation on park sale plans
Council budgets $13 million for the Peninsula
Government announces public inquiry into council
NSW Opposition calls for 'broad inquiry' into council
Council inquiry terms of reference released
Vietnam Vets join impromptu march to memorial
Local Member at Anzac ceremonies
Biscuit theme for Anzac Day
Search and rescue training for the Bays brigade
More bike storage needed at station, says Tesch
Bike paths should 'go all the way', says user group
Safety needed to walk or cycle to school, says Tesch
Bingo at Ettalong on Wednesdays
Umina CWA wins cookery trophy
CWA branch makes bereavement bags
Storm debris clean-up continues
Dunes planted with 2000 new plants
Guides hear of importance of speaking up
Lions accept entries for tea cosy show
Second driest April in 16 years
Collapse  PLANNING PLANNING
Application to modify three-storey Blackwall Rd plan
Two more townhouse proposals for Warrah St
Council sets strategic planning priorities
Panel appointments extended
Invalid application
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Memorial Ave land provides significant habitat
Trees and cool open space are of more public benefit
Outrageous that local park sale is on agenda again
Contentment of ad hoc Anzac march
Leave wooded block intact for a hotter future
Bush parkland was reason for buying in Blackwall
'Improved planning outcome' test may still be subjective
Democracy should never be put on hold
Distress at sale of land and other council assets
Sell-off should be paused for much deeper inquiry
Collapse  HEALTH HEALTH
Aged care providers jointly call for government action
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Folk club holds house concert
Patchwork group completes many projects
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Variety Night performances to be held over two nights
School opens gates to parents for student pick-up
Annabelle wins four Australia athletics medals
Students congratulated on Anzac speeches
Catafalque party at Anzac assembly
Geography students study coastal processes
Secondary students investigate global warming
Umina starts enrolments for next year's kindergarten
Life membership for former childcare employee
Shadow Minister meets parents' groups
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Ettalong Eagles firsts lead in pennant season
Umina pennant bowls results
Boxing starts again at PCYC
Bridge club holds special events
Bridge lessons for beginners
Diggers' Day at bowls clubs
Netball draw updated
Softball club to hold annual meeting
Goalkeeper training starts for Umina United
Coaches wanted for junior touch
The Lakes proved too strong for the Lions
Defeated in all grades
Netball association splits Junior Blue grade
Trial game at Woy Woy
Bowling clubs to vote on unification proposal

EXTRA!!!

Democracy should never be put on hold

Congratulations on your local news and community coverage for the Woy Woy Peninsula.

I have been a property-house owner in Umina Beach since 2012, and my partner an owner since about 2010.

We both love the area and, despite our voluntary work commitments in our offices in North Sydney, look forward to retirement as soon as possible when coronavirus is over and the economy back on track.

However in our irregular stays on the Peninsula, it appeared that the former Central Coast Council had priorities elsewhere, perhaps because of population densities in Terrigal and Gosford.

I have to admit that in almost a decade I have visited Gosford less than half a dozen times and Terrigal only once, but regularly Woy Woy as I train from Sydney and shop there frequently.

The beaches at Ettalong, Umina, Pearl Beach and Patonga have a unique atmosphere that I don't feel elsewhere on the Central Coast. It is hard to explain.

Perhaps it is the bus services which I use extensively.

Therefore it is very disheartening to read about the insolvency of the former Central Coast Council and the mismanagement by councillors of budgets following the forced merger of Gosford and Wyong Councils.

This new identity I and many residents opposed and still reject.

Now on your front page of April 19, there is the unseemly disputation between the Member for Terrigal Mr Adam Crouch, who is calling for support for a public inquiry into Central Coast Council, and the Central Coast Administrator Mr Dick Persson.

Mr Persson was defending his final report to Local Government Minister Ms Shelley Hancock, proclaiming that he is "an independent person with extensive experience" who has carried out the said inquiry-investigation.

I wonder what the Member for Gosford Ms Liesl Tesch thinks about this "inquiry-investigation", as well as the Central Coast branches of the Labor and Liberal Parties.

Some years ago, unknown to myself at the time, the Peninsula News ran an article based on my communication with the mayor and deputy mayor suggesting a 50-year success story in North Sydney Council.

This was a precincts system where residents and ratepayers come together in about 16 sub-districts and gather through a Combined Precincts Committee to advise or criticise the council on local issues including decisions by the state and federal governments impacting the council.

While not perfect, such a structure for Participatory Democracy on the Central Coast may have more forcefully alerted councillors to the errors of their financial ways and thus avoided current difficulties highlighted by the Administrator in his report and the call for a further inquiry-investigation.

I agree with the views expressed by Mr Crouch and Mr Perssons that the currently suspended councillors should not be allowed to return to their positions or be re-elected without showing cause.

However, I disagree that the the Central Coast Council election this September should be delayed.

Representative democracy should never be put on hold.





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