The full text of the Letter to the Editor of the Comment News, sent on 12 May 2006, is below.
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I refer to the letter published in the Comment News dated 9 May, from Ben White, referring to the condition of the Selby Street Reserve, and his assertion that “the council is doing what it can with the limited rates it receives”. No doubt he is aware of the public admission by the mayor, at the special meeting of electors to try to save the heritage of Armadale that is to be destroyed in the name of the Woolworths expansion, that the council had paid about $350,000 to a contractor, to persuade the contractor to become involved in the project to destroy part of the heritage of Armadale, in defiance of the ratepayers of Armadale. That money would have gone a long way to maintaining the reserves away from the city centre. No doubt, Ben White is aware of the response from the council officer, to the dumping of the rubble and green waste on the council land opposite the Selby Street Reserve, in December 2005; “We know who dumped the rubbish, but we don't mind, as it is alright to dump rubbish on council land, out there”. The rubbish is still there, five months later, with the knowledge and permission of the council, and is a safety hazard. No doubt, Ben White is aware of the two tractor mowers that it took, to mow the reserve known as Gwynne Park, on Tuesday 9 May, as the grass must have got to all of two inches high, which is clearly too much hard work for a single tractor mower. But, two days later, had any of the tractor mowers, managed to travel the extra few hundred yards, to mow either the Selby Street Reserve, or the reserve at the end of Gerald Street? No way! That would mean crossing the border, into the dreaded Swamp Ward, apparently created by the council, from what the council regards as the undesirable bits of what used to be the Forrest Ward and the West Armadale Ward. And, after all, crossing the border into the Swamp Ward, is too risky, as “it is a jungle out there”. We do not see grass allowed to grow to knee high to waist high, in the manicured Minnawarra Park, as that is where the council offices lie, and, as is the policy of the council, Armadale exists to serve the interests of the councillors. And, I am amazed that Ben White is of the opinion that the shattered glass, is shattered only by human hands, and not by the tractor mowers that run over the bottles which would be clearly visible, if the grass was kept mowed and maintained, like it is in Minnawarra Park. But then, he seems to know all that there is to know about what goes on in the area.
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