gullybogan

Dear Reader,

You may remember my concern that The Man (in the shape of Knox City Council) was going to cave in to some shopkeepers’ whim to rename parts of Ferntree Gully “Ferntree Gully Foothills”.

I can now confirm that this whim has been soundly defeated.

It all started when 127 busybodies signed a petition to bring about the name change. They wanted it brought in to stop what they considered ‘undesirable development’, despite the fact that there are already Council measures (e.g. the planning permit system) in place to stop ‘undesirable development’.

Three thousand ppl responded to a mail poll the Council used to see what the residents of Ferntree Gully who would be affected by the name change thought about the proposal.

Three quarters of those three thousand respondents totally rejected the proposal, saying – according to the local paper – that it was “elitist” and “pretentious”, among other unflattering things.

It cost ratepayers $5400 to get this result.

As a result of that expenditure, Council is now reviewing the process for suburb name-change proposals, as well as other spurious and minority-based ‘petitions’ from busybodies.

Because, as things are at the moment, i could go to the train station, gather 127 signatures to a petition saying that there should be ppl handing out free ice creams and condoms on every street corner in Knox, and the Council would HAVE to deal with that proposal, as it is a formal petition bearing valid signatures.

Clearly a(nother) failure of the local government system. And possibly “democracy”, too.

Yours,
Gullybogan