A man has been taken to hospital in a critical condition after he was struck by a car at the intersection of the Pacific Highway, Albert Avenue and Oliver Road. He was crossing the Highway with his wife and dog. The man sustained spinal and head injuries and was been taken to Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition. The woman received minor injuries after falling during the incident. The injured dog was taken to the local vet.

The CWWPA has been lobbying Roads & Maritime Services (RMS) and Willoughby Council and Police for years to rectify this dangerous location. Maybe something will be done now someone has been nearly killed.

The Police report the car was travelling southbound on the Highway meaning it probably ran the red light at Albert Avenue. Many cars have been observed doing this and we have reported this  specific problem.

Many times on the Highway the Centennial Ave lights are green and the Albert Ave lights are still red for a while so cars cruise through the whole intersection, often at speed. Even railway replacement buses have been seen having trouble stopping at the red on Albert.

• Item 6.1 in the agenda and minutes for the 15 Aug 2018 meeting concerning Pacific Highway and Victoria Avenue; and
• Item 6.2 in the agenda and minutes for the 20 June 2018 meeting concerning Pacific Highway/Albert Ave/Centennial Ave.

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To become a member of CWWPA, direct deposit $20* with your name in the reference field to BSB: 032090 Acct: 548083 & complete our Membership Application. Renewing members $10. *Non-refundable and subject to meeting membership criteria.

Willoughby City Council is a substantial organisation with:

• 413 full-time staff,
• $1.7 billion of assets under management,
• annual revenue of $119 million,
• combined capital and operational expenditure of $140 million, and
• a spend of $34 million on projects and capital works next year.

It is fitting that the leader of an organisation this dynamic and complex be
identified as a Chief Executive Officer.

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To become a member of CWWPA, direct deposit $20* with your name in the reference field to BSB: 032090 Acct: 548083 & complete our Membership Application. Renewing members $10. *Non-refundable and subject to meeting membership criteria.

After the ludicrous situations with the Mascot and Opal residential towers the State Government is only now considering a crackdown on dodgy construction work.

They are proposing registering building designers, engineer and architects on the basis that they could be de-registered if they transgress.

They still seem unwilling to recognise the deficiencies in the private certifier process where the developer pays the certifier to sign-off on the building.  They claim that they have already addressed the issue of shonky certifiers. It is obvious the certification process has to be returned to the only qualified independent staff and process – Council inspectors.

You can read the details of what is proposed and have your sat at:

https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/consultation-tool/building-stronger-foundations

Submissions close on  24/07/2019 at 11:59 pm

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To become a member of CWWPA, direct deposit $20* with your name in the reference field to BSB: 032090 Acct: 548083 & complete our Membership Application. Renewing members $10. *Non-refundable and subject to meeting membership criteria.

Willoughby now has a Chief Executive Officer. It was argued that most people did not realise that the General Manager was the chief executive of the Council. Whilst the title has changed, the new CEO is in fact the old GM!

Representatives of Willoughby’s Progress Associations met recently with the new CEO and the Mayor. Items discussed included:

• New Council meeting schedule
• Confidential meetings
• Local Strategic Planning Statements
• Local Planning Panels
• Boarding Houses
• Local (shopping) Centres
• Willoughby Leisure Centre
• Off-street parking in new developments
• Upkeep of verges

Full details of what was discussed are on the Agenda for our 18 July meeting in the Dougherty Centre – 7:30 PM

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To become a member of CWWPA, direct deposit $20* with your name in the reference field to BSB: 032090 Acct: 548083 & complete our Membership Application. Renewing members $10. *Non-refundable and subject to meeting membership criteria.

Willoughby Council is about to release its Draft Tennis Court Strategy. Of particular interest is a recommendation by the consultants to: “Consider installing lights to support increased participation opportunities” on the tennis courts at 52 Fullers Rd.

Given the constraints of the site. adjoining neighbours will likely be outraged at this suggestion. A similar suggestion some time ago was soundly voted down by neighbours.

As can be seen, there is a significant stand on native vegetation near the courts where flora and fauna would be at risk from light pollution.

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To become a member of CWWPA, direct deposit $20* with your name in the reference field to 032 090 548083 & complete our Membership Application. Renewing members $10. *Non-refundable and subject to meeting membership critera

This high profile advertisement for the new movie ‘Child’s Play’ is on display at Chatswood Station. If you look, the child is holding a large knife.

Hundreds of our children pass this sign twice a day. Given that the issue of children and weapons is problematic in our schools, many people are outraged.

If you would like to express your outrage you can write to the responsible organisations below (and send a copy of your correspondence to cwwpa.org@gmail.com)

The musical community of the Chatswood Education Precinct are concerned about losing facilities both during the construction period and after the new school facilities are completed.

They have a petition with nearly 3,000 signatories so far.

In the background to the petition it is stated that

We want to ensure that during the construction and post construction our Music Program can continue at the same high level it is today with room for growth in the future. To date not enough details have been provided on the real impact on the Music Program both during and after the construction.

We understand that the schools are also lobbying the State Government to ensure the quality music program is maintained.

Sign the petition

Transport for NSW has announced some changes to local bus routes:

Route 534 between Ryde Shops and Chatswood via North Ryde will be replaced by route 533, which will now operate full time seven days a week.

Old 534 route

New 533 route

Chatswood Rotary War Memorial Athletics Field is an important open space resource in the Willoughby Council area with significant recreational and environmental value.

Willoughby Council is now planning to replace the existing two floodlights with six new poles and floodlights.

The proposal includes:

• Removal of existing 2 floodlight poles 25 metres high.
• 6 new floodlight poles around the field perimeter
• New poles proposed to be: 4 x 20 metres high, and 2 x 22 metres high.
• Hours of use: from sunset to 9.15pm

Some concerns with this proposal could be:

• light spill into bushland with impact on flora and fuana
• visual light pollution as viewed from neighbouring homes
• better lighting could mean the ground may sustain higher usage with consequentials such as increased traffic and noise

Council has called for comments. Details are available at: Have Your Say

Submissions close: 12 July 2019

Something different for once.

We all know that the weekend traffic congestion is the worst. Part of this is caused by the number of trips taken to drop-off and pickup at sporting venues. Finally, the state government might be doing something to address the issue.

Transport for NSW is working with Sutherland Shire Council to introduce weekend bus services that will stop at every major sporting field. It is hoped this will help reduce traffic congestion.

Why has it taken so long for such an initiative? For decades the private bus lobby were able to sway the Government of the day to implement policies that favoured themselves. Hopefully those days are long gone. In the past, a Council could not charge a fare for any bus service it wanted to run (such as a community bus service or Link service).

Details of this new proposal are not clear. If it is a ‘user pays’ service, past experience would suggest that it may not be successful. Time will tell.

An alternative funding source might be to include a levy in the fees charged by the sporting body to its players. This could then be returned to the service provider.

SMH story

Comments welcome.