DEAR Editor,-
The article written by Simon April in last week’s Herald almost got me into a tailspin. For a while I thought this was an April Fool’s joke (excuse the pun), but then I realised it is way too early.
May I just ask Mr April a few questions as a concerned citizen and not as an opposition politician out to canvas for votes – or as an ‘undercover journalist’ trying to add to this perceived ‘vendetta against the HCM’?
1 How effective and reliable is this customer service system really? Because there are numerous calls to this service which go unanswered. Do not pride yourself in the few issues that do get resolved. Measure that against the number of service-related complaints you get and a pretty dismal picture starts to emerge. A lot of people eventually just give up trying.
2 Do you, Mr April, ever take the time to drive through the CBDs and note the decay and deterioration happening within? The overflowing dustbins, the rubbish in the streets, the broken signage, the public toilets being non-existent and the few available working ones that are in an appalling state and smell worse than a pigsty. Walls, lamp posts, transformer boxes covered with ‘penis enlargement’ and ‘free abortion’ pamphlets!
3 Do you or any of your department heads, Mr April, take the trouble to make random stops at places of work, shopping centres and CBDs to check up on progress or quality of work? If you need more pictures of the abuse of state resources, I will gladly oblige. It will take me a day or two to compile a large file of pictures which will include times that state vehicles are at shopping centres or being used as taxis, and so on.
4 Are you able to provide the public with a proper management plan of current road repairs being undertaken and how these contracts were awarded?There is a total lack of supervision by HCM during these repairs and they are a total waste of money. As we see all the time with repairs being repeated over and over. Potholes are not being prepared and fixed properly before being tarred. I have driven past holes that were filled with old pieces of tar! How do you compact that? Immediately next to the fixed pothole is another patch of broken tar, resulting in a new pothole. But alas, the ratepayer must just pay.
5 Can you honestly say that the lifeguard situation is under control? I beg to differ.
6 Where is the policing in the CBDs with regards to double-parking, parking on pavements, taxis jumping red robots, stopping on corners blocking the flow of traffic, to name a few.
You talk about the freedom of the press being abused to the benefit of a certain grouping! Please elaborate on that point. Grouping? What are you referring to?
You, Mr April, need to man up. As does your party. And take responsibility for the absolute rot that has set in. By always shifting blame you will never be able to take control of the situation and improve the plight of the people on the South Coast. You can write whatever you want and blame others, like groupings, vendettas or political agendas before the elections, but me, as a concerned citizen, I see daily in our towns and streets that we are going backwards at a rapid rate of knots.
BERND M KANKOWSKI
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