IT’S genuinely perplexing that the Mayor of Queanbeyan City Council which says it can’t afford to maintain its parks and footpaths without levying a 5.8 per cent Special Rate Variation (SRV), and which is selling city parks to raise more funds, places such a high priority on spending $3 million for a facelift for Monaro St (Queanbeyan Age, August 3, 2012).
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The Greens can identify plenty of other priorities for funding and council’s attention. For example:
■ Constructing a parkand- ride facility in Queanbeyan CBD to encourage people to use public transport and thereby ease traffic congestion;
■ Developing the transport plan Queanbeyan Council resolved three years ago to undertake;
■ Preparing the stormwater management plan for which Council has been collecting a levy for several years;
■ Committing to implementing the Queanbeyan bicycle plan within a certain timeframe instead of budgeting funds and then under spending;
■ Allocating more funds for weed management;
■ Building footpaths for part of the city long denied them, to improve safety and encourage walking;
■ Designating public land for more community gardens;
■ Developing a system of greenways for people to travel by foot, bicycle or horse across rural parts of our city;
■ Providing more facilities, such as youth centres, for young people; and
■ Investing in renewable energy for Council buildings. Budget priorities reflect values.
Mayor Overall’s speak volumes about his.
Katrina Willis, Greens candidate for Queanbeyan City Council