Dear Charles Sturt residents – hope you had a good holiday break and enjoyed time with friends and family; we just have a quick update for you this week as it is a busy weekend!!
The Save St Clair Reserve residents group have had a very busy Saturday morning and joined one of their favourite western suburbs pollies on his jaunt to some eastern suburbs parks; I am sure you can guess who that might be? Yes, that’s right – Mr Atkinson. It is wonderful to see him taking such an interest in the parks of the eastern suburbs as well…..
Apart from enjoying the lovely green surrounds of Heywood Park and the Unley Soldiers Memorial Park, the St Clair mums and dads displayed some appropriate signs on saving our lovely St Clair Park, met some friendly mums and dads from the eastern suburbs and protested the loss of free speech (their mouths were gagged with tape, I don’t think we need to say why!!).
The St Clair group were joined by other concerned residents from community groups in the Community Voice Coalition, who are also concerned with the loss of our open space and significant trees in favour of shopping centres and apartment buildings (eg Glenside). Unfortunately they were not able to find anyone interested in answering their questions or concerns, despite it being a “street corner” meeting for residents; Mr Atkinson was unusually quiet…….oh well, better luck next time?
As you may already know, on next Monday 25th January the Charles Sturt Council has its first meeting for the year and we are of course maintaining a keen interest in its activities!! Given the government preparedness to spend big money on the Pandas at the Zoo, we are encouraging concerned residents and ratepayers of Charles Sturt to come along dressed as Pandas (let your imagination run wild!), with some appropriate signs about money for Pandas, but not for Parks!!! Make sure you get there early (6.30 or so) as the council seem to have developed a nasty habit of locking the doors to their meetings and stacking the seats with invited guests! There will be a prize for the best Panda costume/sign.
It is planned to have the Fitness Club up and running very soon; thanks for your patience to those who have contacted us about this already. This initiative will assist with informing residents who may not otherwise find out about issues of concern to them, other than through letter-boxing (St Clair is a good example!!). It is a good cause, with the added bonus of getting us out into the sunshine and improving our fitness with our friends and family! It will be particularly important in the lead-up to local and state government elections to help promote candidates that we believe will be genuinely concerned about issues of concern to our community! If you are interested in joining the Fitness Club; see the membership page for details on how to join as a member. The more members we have, the stronger our voice!!
Lastly, an update on the next meeting of the St Clair Reserve Ratepayers Association; it will be in the Woodville Primary School Hall on Monday 1st February at 8pm – come along and join in the fun!