Traffic Chaos at Greenbank State School

I am reluctant to make comment because this particular topic is so political and reeks so badly of favours being done that I feel dirty broaching the subject.

The Councillor that oversees the area in which the school exists came up with this plan quite a while ago and it was published in the local papers at the time (for those of you who keep them or just clippings) and drew the ire of environmentalists , ratepayers and Taxpayers all of whom will lose if it goes ahead because the crux of it is to move the main road over into the Greenbank Military Training Camp.

First, the Greenbank Military Training Camp is a highly diverse environmental area and even though the area across from the school is used primarily for accommodation it is the tip of the ice-berg and would set a precedent for future removal of sections for other purposes.

Secondly, It is the only plan considered, and will cost millions ( It may even be cheaper to relocate the whole school) because the moving of the road will still have to link up with the existing bridge and that means there is a high probability that a short cut will add another hard corner to that section between Newbieth Road and the bridge.

Several people have made comments about the behaviour of parents and children being dropped off and picked up and this latest incident where a young boy has been mildly injured by running (reported in the local press ) out into the side of a car, is an example of this and shows that having parking and drop off areas across the road is high on the list of causative factors.

Also there seems to be a mentality that because it is children involved, the whole world has to come to a stop and allow parents total right of way to do U-turns, stop and drop whilst still on the carriageway, and stop in congested traffic to turn into car parks across the road, all of which make the problems worse.

However, all the real problems aside, (and this is where it starts to reek) it is the Councillor who is at the top of the list in my opinion, making promises and going public with a costly and inappropriate solution and even starting steering committees to have her way regardless of common sense or expense, and as usual it seems this Councillor has instigated a course of action that makes everyone else responsible for an outcome, that makes everyone else except her have to do the work and also get the blame if it doesn't work out.

The person making accusations toward The federal Member, who has been there a few months as representative appears to be a person who assisted the Councillor with her election campaign, and there can only be one reason for those public rants against this Federal Member, to put pressure on him to talk to the Federal Member in charge of the Military to have a piece of the Training Camp given to Main Roads.

Now some of the very smart people in the local district can't understand why houses on the same side of the road as the school haven't been bought when available to use for parking, (that would be too easy) and even have an entry off Newbieth Road.

So far This has come to a child being mildly injured, the publicity machine getting into gear about it and trying to lay on a guilt trip about whose fault it is, and of course another "steering committee" (probably loaded with carefully selected people to ensure the desired outcome ; removal of a section of an environmental and military area) which is a good name for this type of gathering because it usually is convened to address a particular issue and then is steered by someone to another agenda, I guess we'll see.