Thank you Chair.
I rise to speak about two traffic matters in the Pullenvale Ward.
As my colleague, Cr. Wines said in this Chamber a couple of weeks ago, the new traffic bridge at the Mt. Crosby weir will provide major benefits to residents in the western part of my Ward, particularly if we experience future flooding issues.
This bridge was built by Seqwater as part of the East Bank Flood Resilience programme and it is now open for use. As part of Seqwater’s arrangement with Council, the bridge will be handed over to us as an asset to manage going forward.
Chair, I was excited recently when asked by Council officers to provide a recommended name for the new bridge.
This is a unique opportunity and I am open to all suggestions, so I decided to write to residents in Mount Crosby, Karana Downs, Lake Manchester, Kholo and Chuwar for their feedback on what it should be called.
Before doing that, I spoke to the Mount Crosby Historical Society for their input and they provided me with some options.
They included an acknowledgement to the original name assigned to Mt. Crosby by John Oxley and Allan Cunningham 200 years ago, through to the names of engineers associated with the building of the water treatment facility at Mt. Crosby.
I also reached out to a friend who is a First Nations leader in my community and asked for any suggestions his people may have for a name.
If the responses I have already received on my social media post a couple of weeks ago are any indication, I expect arriving at my recommendation won’t be an easy decision.
My Facebook post has already reached 45,000 users and generated engagement among almost 6,500 of them. All that before I receive responses to the 3,000 letters that have gone out this week.
But I look forward to the challenge that lies ahead and know from this that we will have a fitting name for this very important piece of infrastructure in the Pullenvale Ward.
Chair, I would also like to provide a follow-up to a matter I raised in General Business last week.
You’ll recall I spoke about the Google Maps issue of directing motorists unnecessarily down Pinjarra Road when the easier and quicker route between Kenmore and Bellbowrie was to simply stay on Moggill Road.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised to take a call from a Google representative in Sydney late last week advising that the anomaly on their Maps app had been rectified and thanking me for bringing it to their attention.
They provided me with contact details should we ever experience this issue again. So I want to publicly thank Google for their prompt action.
Chair, I know Cr. Strunk also mentioned in this Chamber last week an issue that he had with Google Maps in his Ward. So, in the spirit of bi-partisanship, I have provided Cr. Strunk with the details of the Google representative to help him have his issue addressed.
Thank you.