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PUBLIC MEETING 9 APRIL 2017 DON'T BE DEVELOPED OUT OF PITTWATER RALLY AT MONA VALE MEMORIAL HALL, 9 APRIL 2017 A public meeting was held in the Mona Vale Memorial Hall 9 April 2017 to discuss the B-Line project and that it is a "Trojan Horse" to bring high density and high rise Dee Why style development firstly to Mona Vale and then to Newport and beyond. Is this what the new Northern Beaches Council has in mind for Mona Vale? Ben Taylor (previously President of SHOROC - Shore Regional Organisation of Councils) and now assistant GM of Northern Beaches Council signed an agreement on 27 February 2017 with Transport for NSW for the current works to proceed in Village Park Mona Vale for the new B-Line bus stop. This was done internally at staff level and did not go to a Council Meeting. The public meeting held 9 April 2017 to discuss this and other issues was a huge success with an estimated 200 people attending. BRING BACK BRONWYN BISHOP Manly Daily 12 April 2017 Robbie Patterson BRING BACK THE BISH Former MP receives rousing reception at rally against B-Line, suggesting it will lead to highrise units CALLS to “bring back Bronwyn” were made as the former Mackellar Liberal MP gave a defiant speech at a Mona Vale protest rally. Bronwyn Bishop speaks at an anti-B-Line rally in Mona Vale and (right) Barrie Unsworth. Bronwyn Bishop – who was asked to resign from that position over expenses claimed for helicopter flights – is now fighting the public transport upgrades. The former parliamentary speaker used her impromptu speech to take aim at other Liberal Party policies , including the plan for Mona Vale Hospital and council amalgamations. THERE were calls to “bring back Bronwyn” as the former Mackellar federal Liberal MP gave a defiant speech at a Mona Vale protest rally. Bronwyn Bishop – who quit as Speaker over expenses claimed for helicopter flights – is now fighting public transport upgrades on the peninsula. She also took aim at other Liberal Party policies, including the plan for Mona Vale Hospital and council amalgamations. Mrs Bishop made an impromptu speech to a full room at Mona Vale Memorial Hall on Sunday, moments after former Labor premier Barrie Unsworth criticised her replacement Jason Falinski The group, which is protesting against the B-Line and the removal of trees in Village Park to make way for a bus stop, believes it will be used to justify highrise units. Yesterday, Mrs Bishop told the Manly Daily she had no intention of returning to politics, but admitted she sympathised with the Save Mona Vale group’s plight. Mr Unsworth made the call for a return of Mrs Bishop, citing comments by Mr Falinski in February that a private operator, rather than the State Transit Authority, should run the B-Line. Mr Falinski wrote to Premier Gladys Berejiklian, asking her to consider a privately-run B-Line. “Handing over the B-Line to the STA and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union without giving local businesses the chance to tender for it is putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank and letting the lunatics run the asylum,” Mr Falinski wrote. Mr Unsworth, premier from 1986 to 1988, said: “With someone representing us like him, I say, bring back Bronwyn.” The same sentiments were echoed when Mrs Bishop took to the stage. She said she had missed Mr Unsworth’s speech, to which he again called for her return to cheers from the crowd. “There was a meeting called and I attended it because I thought the people had a good point to make and it is important people realise how special this part of the world is to us, but also as a resource for other parts of Sydney,” she later said. She told the crowd that the region’s unemployment rate was lower than 3 per cent, and “is deemed to have full employment”, meaning units would have to be built to make the B-Line feasible. “Wanting to have more jobs here ... means that you would have to import more people to take up those jobs,” she said. “High-density living is what most people in this electorate have come to escape.” Mr Falinski said he had spent the last week getting opinions of peak-hour commuters and not one person had criticised the B-Line. “I doubt any of the protesters you refer to catch buses during the morning peak,” he said. “It is disappointing that people who don’t use public transport every day are trying to deny the many who do an opportunity to get better services.” A Transport for NSW spokesman said Mrs Bishop was “incorrect in her characterisation of the drivers behind B-Line”. “The B-Line has been designed to deliver customers on the northern beaches with more reliable and more frequent bus services between Mona Vale and the Sydney CBD, where there is increasing demand,” he said. In her speech, Mrs Bishop also said the Mona Vale Hospital needed to be retained and include an intensive care unit, which is currently not part of its upgrade. She said the hospital was being bulldozed, but that “has been denied, denied, denied denied, and really we can’t have that”. “I personally raised $250,000 towards keeping that hospital and to see that it will no longer have the ability to do proper emergency work because it will lose its ICU ... is shameful,” she said. “There is a need to maintain that facility here ... to see that hospital now abandoned is just appalling.” Health Minister Brad Hazzard strongly denied any suggestion Mona Vale Hospital was being bulldozed. “The northern beaches is getting the biggest and the best new hospital facilities that we have had in more than 60 years,” he said. “Let’s just get that constructed and let the people of the beaches decide whether this is a facility they principally want to be using.” He pointed out that Manly and Mona Vale hospitals combined have five operating theatres, and the incoming Northern Beaches Hospital would have 14. Mrs Bishop also told the Manly Daily she supported Pittwater Council being reestablished. “I have always opposed forced amalgamations from day one,” she said. “There were people talking (at the rally) about wanting to see that happen". “It has been a successful council, in my view, and I oppose its forced amalgamation.” She expressed concern that Pittwater Council had opted not to take legal action like other councils against the mergers. ALL SPEAKERS The Hon. Bronwyn Bishop - ex Federal Member for Mackellar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqlOMIaq97w The Hon. BARRIE UNSWORTH - ex Premier of NSW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9tfgbmF7nw Bob Grace - Ex Pittwater Councillor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5aUw3fQP6E Published on Apr 11, 2017 'Don't be developed out of Pittwater' rally at Mona Vale's Memorial Hall, 29 April 2017. When we were Pittwater we had a vote! We are back to where we were (part of Warringah) but whereas it was 3 out of 12 we are now just 3 out of 15. People I speak to are over politics: politicians don't represent us anymore, they represent themselves. We will go back to as we were. "Don't be developed out of Pittwater" rally at Mona Vale's Memorial Hall, 9 April 2017. Phil Walker exposes the Mona Vale Place Plan for what it is - a massive FAIL. "Don't be developed out of Pittwater" rally at Mona Vale's Memorial Hall, 9 April 2017. Jenny Stone’s eloquent address: 1) The importance of the social contract between governments and citizens, and the consequences of it failing. 2) The importance of environmental design – invest in inclusive public spaces. 3) Mona Vale Library and Village Park are perfect examples of inclusive public spaces that facilitate social cohesion. 4) Their erosion puts our community at risk. William Bourke - President of The Sustainable Australia Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQuMge4LQNk |