Peaceful protestors at the July 5 council meeting should not have been ejected.
Camera IconPeaceful protestors at the July 5 council meeting should not have been ejected. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Time to trim high-handed council

Name and address suppliedStirling Times

WITH regard to the proposed Opal Aged Care development in Carine, Stirling council should have canvassed the views of all ratepayers living in the Hamersley Ward between Okely Road and Marmion Avenue.

Instead, the mayor berates unhappy residents – City ratepayers – for staging a peaceful protest at the July 5 council meeting.

As effective shareholders in the council, all they want is proper consultation. Is that asking too much?

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Mayor Italiano needs to remember that he was re-elected to his Osborne Ward seat by only 33 votes last October. It won’t take too many disillusioned ratepayers to dump him in 2019.

The City’s population already exceeds 225,000 but, with several hundred more people set to live in Carine Rise, it is far too big and high time that the Local Government Minister cut the council’s size.

One option could be to switch all properties west of Wanneroo Road and north of the Reid Highway and North Beach Road (west of Marmion Avenue) into the City of Joondalup.

Perhaps Carine MLA Tony Kristicevic, who rightly criticised the Stirling council’s failure to communicate with residents about the Opal development, can get the wheels turning in that regard.

Name and address supplied.