I write in reference to the article in Peninsula News 501 on August 24 about the laneway between Umina Beach surf club and Ocean Beach surf club being “upgraded”.
For the Central Coast mayor Lisa Matthews to say that the installation of seating, signage and landscaping in this laneway is an improvement just shows the people who live here just how far out of touch she is to what this community really needs.
To install seating anywhere along this laneway is a dumb idea.
Seats will obstruct traffic the people who are fortunate enough to live on these beachfront properties, this is their only access to their properties.
Seating will only make a thin laneway even thinner and what’s the point of seating when you will be only looking at property boundaries and backyards?
The $300k grant funding could be better spent on seating along The Esplanade so people can look at a view.
Or, the beach accesses at the end of South and Berith streets could be improved.
For a small community group to be able to lobby Council and achieve funding for a project very few have even heard of is remarkable.
It took many community groups, local MPs and lots of public pressure for this Council to even think about dredging the channel when lives could have been in danger.
Now we are going to get seats installed on the side of a road that doesn’t have a verge for them to be installed on.
Smart move, Central Coast Council!
SOURCE:
Email, 29 Aug 2020
Carl Veugen, Umina Beach