St George Letters: Please restore pride in heart of Penshurst

Safety is a significant concern. The entire intersection between Bridge Street and Penshurst Street is hazardous, with faded crossings and cafes on precarious corners lacking guardrails. Guardrails are needed on both sides of Bridge Street to ensure the safety of residents and the many commuters who use the train station.

The Connelly Street car park is full of potholes, loose gravel, and faded linework.

Resurfacing it and adding trees would help reduce the urban heat island effect, as Penshurst's canopy coverage is significantly below the goal of 40 per cent, currently at just over 20 per cent. The pedestrian lanes connecting the town centre to the car park are dirty and lack lighting.

We need street plantings and outdoor seating to make the area more inviting and to activate the space. We're told our pavers are new, yet my daughter, who just turned 20, was three when they were installed.

Despite numerous calls and complaints over the past decade, our requests for clean streets, safety, and greenery have been ignored. This is the feedback we constantly receive, and I know this from my own experience.

Are the ratepayers in Penshurst getting their fair share in town centre beautification and safety?

Why can't Penshurst have a regular deep cleanse? Why are the bins in Penshurst always so dirty? Why do I constantly see council trucks driving out of Oatley after maintaining their many gardens, but no one seems to be able to maintain a strip of greenery between Bridge Street and Penshurst Lane? Why did the community of Penshurst have to form a group to plead with the council to get the basics done in our suburb?

We are not asking for anything extravagant-just safe streets and roads, cleanstreets, and greenery. The basics that will help restore our community's pride and well-being.

The previous mayoral car, just two-years old, which cost over $30,000 has been replaced with a new one, over $70,000.

The first question, was a new mayoral car needed? Was the previous one in such a dilapidated condition?

The second question, was the improved status - doubling in price - necessary?

That's a very big increase, paid by the ratepayers in Georges River Council. This big expense suggests that there is sufficient money in the budget to allocate above community projects.

Imagine if the previous mayoral car had been detailed, and over $70,000 was directed to other services, like playing fields, street lighting, policing of e-bikes and e-scooters using public footpaths, extended library hours, a business plan for Glenlee, remove silting from creeks and drains, clean out GPT (Gross Pollutant Traps) regularly, attend to Bushcare, replace broken public seats at bus stops, fill potholes on the roads.

I regularly catch buses and taxis in and around the Kogarah and Hurstville areas. There are often people smoking in these spots. This is illegal and in breach of section 6A of the Smoke Free Environment Act 2000 which deems a number of public spaces smoke free including bus stops, taxi stands and places where groups of people congregate.

I have been requesting no smoking signage be installed in Kogarah and Hurstville City centres since 2017. These areas are heavily used by commuters including vulnerable members of our community like mothers with babies and small children, school children, the elderly and people with disability who are at a higher risk of developing illnesses and diseases as a result of secondhand smoke. This is a public health issue. The Department of Health are responsible for the Smoke-free Environment Act 2000 but the displaying of nonsmoking signs is the responsibility of council.

Council needs to order the signs from the Department of Health and then install them but instead they keep passing the buck back to Health or Transport. Council now needs to do their part. Signage will ensure smokers are clear on where they cannot smoke and thereby not pass on their secondhand smoke to others.