IT’S about time something concrete and practical is done and done quick regarding community and public safety issues in Noble Park and in our city of Greater Dandenong.
How can we aspire to be a city of opportunity if we are not safe?
We have to begin by examining the root causes and addressing each of these individually instead of trying to window dress the symptoms and pretend things are not so bad and we need to stop being politically correct.
Quite frankly the situation has never been more unsafe.
Improvised local law, legislation and good planning in conjunction with the local police can be the starting point to make all the difference.
It should not be so difficult to obtain better local policing resources given Noble Park’s strategic location sandwiched between two large police stations, Springvale and Dandenong, and the high-calibre state representation of its local members.
Immediate action is paramount.
We cannot shift blame on to the perpetrators, or sit back and condemn such actions when tragedy occurs.
We live in civilised cities, not the wild, wild west, where civic safety is co-determined and maintained by our lawmakers and elected representatives.
It is pointless to shift blame or justify the unfortunate situations once they have occurred.
At the end of the day the frightening reality is loss of life, permanent damage and human disability, life-long trauma and broken, hurting families.
Such hurt cannot be recompensed.
Sad! Sad! Sad! A tragedy that should not have happened!
Enough is enough! Please do something soon.
Geraldine Gonsalvez,
Dandenong.
MY husband and I first moved to Noble Park in 1971 as a young couple.
The area grew rapidly with new families moving in, housing estates, schools, shopping centres all developing.
Many of us who raised and educated our children locally still live here and have watched many local transitions, becoming part of a larger and amalgamated city about 13 years ago, but still retaining our identity.
Noble Park is justifiably a proud and hard-working suburb, which actually bought and owned its own public hall, now the O’Donoghue Centre.
It is very saddening that a tragic set of circumstances has catapulted us into the radio, print and visual media for all of the wrong reasons.
I am hoping that this will galvanise our community in becoming more cohesive, bringing in the existing supportive agencies that have been doing excellent work for a number of years, as well as many new agencies experienced in the transitional issues occurring at the moment.
I am very privileged to represent the community as a councillor at local government level.
As a council we are coordinating local responses to some of the issues concerning residents and traders of the area and are most interested in hearing from you.
Roz Blades,
Keysborough Ward Councillor,
City of Greater Dandenong.
