Councillor Don Palmer Providing Local Leadership & Working for You

Kate Ellis discussed a number of contentious issues at 2 street (or park) meetings held in the west of the City of Unley this morning, one at Everard Park in Goodwood Ward and again at Dora Guild Playground in the Goodwood South Ward.

I attended both these meetings are can report they were quite interactive. That is what her street meetings are about, hearing from you.

Topics concerning all three levels of Government were discussed, and for the first time since I have been attending these meetings I can say that State agenda was the main focus, with some local thrown in.

At the Federal level the Gonsky report was discussed, as was the boat arrivals.

Rail Revitalisation Works

At Dora Guild the State focus centred squarely around the rail corridor and the issues concerning residents concerns/perceptions that DPTI are paying lip service to their needs and running roughshod over them.

Residents along the corridor made an impact on their local state representative Steph Keys. I assisted by pointing out that residents outside the immediate area of the Goodwood Junction have felt disenfranchised and that they can not get a proper airing at the G-RAG meetings because of the shear intensity on what is happening around the junction.

She appears to have taken up my suggestion that these groups need to be heard separately and not be forced to fight for priority at G-RAG. I expect that she will attend personally at any house meeting arranged to ensure that they have someone in Government listening to them and advocating for them.

A time is being set up for Cowper Road residents as we speak. I will encourage the same thing to happen for Cranbrook residents, as soon as I can set Cowper up.

Leah Street Speed Humps

Of interest to Goodwood South residents, the local focus at Everard Park was the concerns of residents other than on Leah Street about the negative impact the newly installed speed cushions (by Council). So Goodwood Ward residents share the concerns of the residents East Avenue and like streets.

In the budget currently under public consultation we have allowed for a LATM (Local Area Traffic Management) survey of the whole area surrounding Leah Street. The purpose of this is to prevent us simply making more decisions on the run, without taking into consideration the impact a decision may/will have on surrounding streets.

I personally feel we made a mistake in approving the cushions. But let’s do a proper survey and not rush the next decision.