The Verve – in their biggest hit – sang of “a bittersweet symphony that is life” and I felt that this week when one of our councillors actually admitted the $2 million Get Wyndham Moving campaign had failed to have the impact they had hoped.
I won’t criticise them for having a go; Lord knows, it’s about time. But I am going to have a crack at them for being naive, arrogant and dismissive in the way they ran the campaign and the way they treated anyone who didn’t think it was a great idea. It was a good idea. Not a great idea. It lacked any power and impact where it really mattered. For the most part it was ignored or dismissed by everyone in Spring Street and above.
The campaign was supported by only a very small percentage of Wyndham ratepayers, going by the petition numbers. In the end it became another lame failure and a waste of money.
We all know people are frustrated by railway crossings and the constant gridlock of traffic. That’s not a news flash. Parking, too, is a problem, as my last few columns have highlighted. We all know what the problems are.
Councillors holding up signs at a railway crossing won’t change any of this. We have four state ministers sitting in our backyard. Many tell me that’s NOT a good thing, but the eternal optimist in me says it should be a great thing.
We voted these people in and, forget their political persuasion, they represent us. As I implored the councillors to do in last week’s column, so I do to our state and federal representatives.
Be remembered as the people who made a difference. Make a significant contribution to impact the lives of your constituents. Any dill could sit in any of these roles and throw money around like a drunken sailor on a Friday night, as my dad used to say.
But where is the vision for the future? Where is the plan to get in front of the problems rather than chase them from behind? Leaders lead, they do not follow. What we need right now is Leadership with a capital L. It’s time for our sitting members to stand up and fight.
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