INC NEWS - perhaps this issue is a different one...

[RW Pickle]

Reading in todays Herald Sun, I saw where City Council will be voting
tonight on a new development in the Hillandale Road area. In it, the
article stated that the Planning Commission (that's the citizen folks we
keep talking about in these development equasions in wanting a NA or
something else to get our voices heard) had voted 10-1 in favor of
REJECTING the development proposal. But the article went on to say that
City Council would probably approve it...

Well, it seems to me that our elected officials really are the ones who
are at fault here if they do not listen to those in our community who are
charged with dealing with development issues as the Planning Commission
is. And as it is with every decision made it seems, regardless of what is
suggested, Council always has the last say and can vote it either way
regardless of the recommendations of the citizens who work tirelessly to
make those recommendations. I can't see how having a NA (or what ever they
would be called) could trump what ends up being the ultimate decision that
Council, and Council only, has the power to make. If they don't want to
listen to the Planning Commission, to whom do you think they'll listen?
It's not like a 10-1 vote by them was a decision that one could read any
other way but to reject the plan. It's not like a 6-5 vote where maybe
some further study would be necessary.

It spits in the face of every citizen, when, after spending countless
hours volunteering our time (this is the collective time spent by all
citizens that sit on committees, commissions, and authorities in our
community), making recommendations to do this or that, to have all of that
time wasted when decisions are made that contradict those citizens
efforts. Maybe if we'd all quit doing all of this volunteering for a
awhile, we could send a message that someone needs to hear us! Otherwise
it just seems as if we're all wasting our time on deaf ears...

RWP
27 Beverly