Illegally Parked Cars in Boat/Trailer Spots - Wellington Point

[milo__]

Hope this is the right forum to bring this up but I am sick of it happening.......the Redland City Council needs to do something!!!!

Last Saturday the 30th of June, I went out to launch my boat at the Wellington Point Boat Ramp at about 12:30pm and simply could not get a park because the car and boat trailer parks were at least 50% occupied by cars illegally parked!! This happens every nice weekend even though there are signs saying boat/trailer parks only......cars park there anyway.

I have put up with it for weeks now and I have never seen anyone getting booked for doing this?? I even went up to one person who had just parked in a spot that stopped me from parking in and she even said she was willing to wear the fine and park anyway? There was another guy also trying to park a boat trailer and nearly got in a fight with someone over them parking their car illegally.....this was my real worry about the whole situation.

The local boat owners are being stopped from parking in designated spots due to rude people coming out to the point on the weekend.
Does anyone know how we can get better signage in the middle of the row of parks for boat trailers and not just on the ends of the rows because this might make the boat parks more obvious and also parking inspectors booking people? The Council would make a killing on parking fines on a nice sunny weekend as people do not care and park wherever they like. It would only take a few nice sunny weekends and people getting fines to stop them doing it I think.

Also, does anyone know of a number I can ring for Redland City Council parking inspectors on a weekend when this happens again. It would be nice to be able to ring someone to request their presence when it happens again.....or maybe I ring the Police, I am not sure?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Ausfish]

Would suggest you ring the council and find out who to talk to about this and either talk to them on the phone, send an email or arrange a face to face. Just make sure you record everything if you talk face to face as it is too easy for them to say they didn't say something after the meeting.

[milo__]

Hi Steve,

I have emailed the Council and also the local Councillor will see how I go and keep you all updated......I am sure this happens everywhere but it is just so rude and annoying, plus illegal!!

Cheers
Andrew

[Noelm]

I guess you also need to be sure that because the sign says "boat and trailer" that it is actually against some enforcable law to park a car only there, we have a very similar problem at my local ramp, there is long parking spots for trailers, but lots of them are taken up by tourists and divers in cars only, but the local Council says the signs are only advisory and have no law enforcement powers for that area.

[milo__]

I guess one good thing to eventuate was that when I eventually did get out on the water I managed to nab 16 whiting in about 1hr with my daughter so that was fun.

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi
Illegal parking happens everywhere. Not just cars being parked in trailer spots-- Try to get A DISABLED parking spot. Fat chance of that.

Ronnie

[netmaker]

i have contacted council over the same issue and guess what? no after hours number to ring. next time i have the same experience i will be parking behind one of those rude bastards and they can worry about out how they are getting out. be great if its one of my "extended" trips.

[gruntahunta]

Thats the spirit Netmaker...I have done just that.... I unfortunately picked a "nice" person that was so apologetic that I felt bad!

[Peter4]

Funny how quickly things change.

My son and I pulled our boat out of the water at Wello Point at 11.30am on Saturday morning and commented on how many free spaces there were for cars with boat trailers.

Musta filled up very quickly after lunch. Inconsiderate, self-centred a**holes...>:(

One time I saw a bloke walk nearly 1km from the boat ramp to where he parked his car on Main Road...gives us all the sh*ts!

Cheers

Pete

[netmaker]

righto. it appears i am wrong. council do now have an after hours service. BUT, after i requested to speak to someone about the law i was transferred and then told that council are not currently enforcing the parking laws at wellington point:-?>:( they are currently "studying" the situation::). so i suggested my parking behind idea and was told that if i am not blocking the road it is legal for me to do so. so i figure i can park behind one car and swing my trailer behind another;D. anyway they obviously suggested i dont do this but i replied that as they are not enforcing, the situation will only worsen and boaties will need to strike back or lose out. i was advised to check obstruction laws with the police and guess what? the cops are happy to enforce and issue tickets (hardly a suprise tho i spose:P). i am awaiting a call back as to whether or not i will be breaking any of their laws and will post result when i hear.
also gathered from council that complaints will help so please send a short email to council and have a whinge: rcc@redland.qld.gov.au
its good for the soul...

[netmaker]

okay, it gets better. whilst the cop (general duties) at capalaba told me they issued tickets, the cop from wynnum traffic branch said that after conflicts with council it is no longer their policy to issue tickets ::). he quite liked the blocking in idea and suggested that most cops would have a giggle on their way past. he did point out tho that i could technically be double parking and wear a $40 fine. i told him that was a bargain and i wouldn't be moving my vehicle until the blocked car(s) got their $75 fine. either way it appears no-one is getting fined and things will only get worse. it looks like us wello pt boaties are going to have to start taking some drastic action.

[milo__]

Hi netmaker,

Thanks for the help with ringing the Councl etc.....I also emailed them this morning, plus CC'd the local Councillor (Wendy Boglary - wendy.boglary@redland.qld.gov.au). Maybe if we all email her as well something might get done as it is rediculous at the moment. On Saturday afternoon there were nearly fights because car owners were blatently pulling in front of boaties as they were looking for a park....it was quite unbelievable. Plus we pay heaps for rates to the Redlands City Council and for them to give you that response is quite amazing.......I will call the police next time as well and park behind people with car and trailer!! Probably block about 4 cars in I reckon, which would be good for a few hours fishing.

[hakuna]

Good luck,

I have lobbied this with the charris/deepwater ramp on the Gold Coast, the simple answer was I cannot pay the council as much money as Charis and the pub at deepwater across the road, so it is easier to upset the boaties, then the boaties park in the back streets and they book them for illegal parking.
Welcome to the real world

cheers

[milo__]

Hi all,

Got this email back from the Councillor......

Good afternoon Andrew,

Thank you for your email and I understand your frustration. The Reserve is loved by a variety of users and when the weather is good everyone wants space. Primarily though the eastern side is parking for the users of the boat ramps. The improvements made a couple of years ago increased parking for day trippers or those users without a trailer but with limited access to water in the City parking space will always be in high demand.
I have been working with officers to try and find a solution to alleviate the concern and at present we are organising a meeting of representatives of the various user groups. If you would like I can add your name to this list to attend.
In the coming year work will commence on the new William Street boat ramp car park and I am hopeful this may alleviate some of the pressure on Wellington Point Reserve.
I totally understand your frustration and am looking forward to future discussions,

Warm Regards,

Cr Wendy Boglary
Division 1 Councillor
Redland City Council
Ph: 3829 8619
wendy.boglary@redland.qld.gov.au
Due to the quantity of emails received daily occasionally one gets missed. If you do not receive a response within 48 hours, please follow up as your views and concerns are important to me.

[netmaker]

i'm thinking a meet and greet at wello boat ramp one nice saturday arvo:devilish:. wait till say 1.30 when its chockers and start double parking;). find a nice shady place and have a few brews... what? move my car? i've been drinking. cant drive for another couple of hours. sorry, you'll have to wait;D.

[Crisp Bee]

what about printing stickers that are very hard to remove.
"The driver of this car is a SELFISH #@#@#
and STEALS parkingpaces FROM BOATRAMPS"

[Crisp Bee]

tuna oil on their window or windscreen perhaps :)

[SUPERDAFF]

Milo - sympathise with you bro. Suffer the same issue down there regularly and I live in the shire. From time to time Council officers do issue fines, but only after a regular tirade of complaints. You can record your views with the local Councillor, Wendy Boglary and also lodge a formal complaint with Council - just needs to be a note in writing. Contact is: wendy.boglary@redland.qld.gov.au and also send a copy to the Mayor, Karen Williams mayor@redland.qld.gov.au
I've filmed it, photographed it - done the whole deal. Only way to get action is to stir the pot with more complaints.

[Jakers 69]

I was fined $70 for parking car and trailer on the grass next to the boat ramp at TE Peters behind the convention centre, there were 3 cars park with no trailers on and there is a car park for non trailer cars only 30 m away.
I did not block any one or roads.
Wrote a letter to council, only to get a reply that I parked illegally .

Also thinking to get some nasty stickers.

[milo__]

Hi Superdaff,

Yep done all that.....please see previous post with email back from Wendy. Please also note that she is organising a meeting where you can be added to the list to attend as a representative, so please email her and attend as I have done?

Essentially all I am asking is that a council officer regularly on a nice sunny Saturday or Sunday afternoon about 1:30pm walk around writing parking tickets just as they would for any illegally parked car anywhere else, because once a few get booked they will not do it again. Plus the council will get heaps of money as last Saturday they would have nabbed at least 40 cars.....some cars were even parked one behind the other in the boat/trailer park.

This is actually discrimination in a way because I am sure that if I parked in a disabled car park there would be outrage, so why is this not the same? Boat owners are having to park at the top of the hill and walk back to their boat which is moored back at the ramp in the water because they can not get a boat/trailer park. I had to leave my 11 year old daughter on her own near my boat while I spent 15 minutes getting a park on Saturday afternoon. She was not safe and this is not good enough!!

It is just so frustrating......

[johncar]

Get a few at Bribie too even though the council have put in designated cars only spaces adjacent to the trailer parking, they are most often empty but cars still in trailer parking bays for no good reason is just lazy and inconsiderate in most cases. Yes this is the world we live in...

[cormorant]

Some smarty at a smaller local ramp down here printed up some stickers that covered the existing signs completely. Mention of a $300 fine and Vehicle with trailer only. The pleasure lasted about 12 months until they started to peel and a wouser removed them. Wish whoever did it would go again as it bluffed a lot of people.

The bloke that really peeved everyone off was a commuter at another who left his box trailer down at ramp chained to a pole and everyday just reversed back to hitch up for the day and walked to the ferry. Not sure exactly why but he doesn't do it anymore but there was a sign every few days on his windscreen saying that everyone knew what he was doing and lets just say he was never short of fish guts or left over bait, berley in his airvents near the windscreen.

The long walk at the end of the day to get the car and the trailer knowing you are keeping people waiting at the ramp is never a good walk on solo days.

[netmaker]

hey milo. reckon wendy was probably happy with my whinge as she already had a reply ready and sent me carbon copy of yours;).

also sent a copy to my local member for birkdale and thorneside to which he has replied already too.

my email:

hi paul, just wanted to mention that boaties trying to park a trailer at wellington point reserve on weekends are nearly having fistfights with weekend tourists and visitors who decide to park in trailer bays minus a trailer. it gets so bad sometimes that half or more of the bays are occupied with trailerless cars. some boaties are parking their trailers up the top of the hill because of this. i have parked on median strips there for the same reason. i have spoken to council who advised me that they are not enforcing parking breaches any more. i have spoken to wynnum traffic police who advised me that they are no longer issuing fines either due to conflicts with council. i have also learned that i can park my vehicle behind another illegally parked car and i am not in breach of council by-laws. i can potentially attract a $40 double parking ticket from the police but that would be worth every penny. i often go out for 12 hours or more at a time! i would hate to do this but am certainly prepared to do so. this is a topic currently gathering interest on ausfish fishing forum. boaties are getting cranky at these rude people. if the authorities are doing nothing about it, it will only be a matter of time before more boaties will block in cars who's owners will be getting upset etc etc etc.
thanks for reading my whinge
david anderson

paul's reply:

Hello Dave,


Thanks for your email about the Wellington Point boat Launch & Parking issue...
As a Wynnum/Redlands boy for the majority of my life, I am aware of the eternal dilemma of boaties and visitors and the tension this raises, but was not aware of the recent issues you have raised, and certainly not aware of council/police not sharing a commitment to enforce local/state law. Will try to understand what is going on and why...


I will pass this email on to Wendy Boglary from Division 1 Wellington Point, and also to Mayor Karen Williams, and at the same time send it to my work email paul.bishop@redland.qld.gov.au so it can be registered into the council system as a matter of community concern to be addressed.


Last weekend was spectacular weather, but I can understand how tempestuous things might get if people are parked in...
And if laws are not enforced...


Thanks for highlighting the issue.


Best wishes,
Paul Bishop

[royslaven]

where is this new williams street boat ramp car park the councillor talks about? ......roy

[Linedropper]

I have seen a couple of good arguments at the Grand Hotel ramp in Southport while having lunch and we don't even eat there much.

Last time the cops came along booking a few for parking in the trailer spots. One lady who got booked was from the table next to us and when she noticed she went over and grabbed the ticket off the car. She was pissed off and didn't even move her car after getting the ticket. When she got back to the table I couldn't help myself and gave her some stick about parking in the trailer spots and stirred the pot just a little more saying that now that the ticket isn't on the windscreen if the cop comes back she'll get another fine. She moved the car then and gave me evils the rest of the time we were there. I just smiled back.

I used to have a parking problem outside my place in Perth. There was a cafe nearby and people used to park on the lawn wrecking the sprinklers all the time. I would just call up the Ranger and out they would come and start writing tickets. The problem is people get a ticket once but it might be on the only time they ever visited the cafe (or the boat ramp in this case) so the message doesn't get out there. In the end I used to chuck council traffic cones I "acquired" from around the neighbourhood out on the front lawn on weekends which stopped most of them but some would actually get out and move the cones.

Good signage for trailer bays is the only way to go preferably with bright yellow painted stripy bays saying trailer parking only. Then it is up to us to "educate" the muppets as soon as we see them doing wrong.

[netmaker]

where is this new williams street boat ramp car park the councillor talks about? ......roy

good question roy. no william or williams st at wello pt according to my new referdex or whereis.com.au. closest to wello on the water would be william st at cleveland. cant see how that is going to relieve pressure at wello tho.

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi Superdaff,



This is actually discrimination in a way because I am sure that if I parked in a disabled car park there would be outrage, so why is this not the same? Boat owners are having to park at the top of the hill and walk back to their boat which is moored back at the ramp in the water because they can not get a boat/trailer park. I had to leave my 11 year old daughter on her own near my boat while I spent 15 minutes getting a park on Saturday afternoon. She was not safe and this is not good enough!!

It is just so frustrating......

Don't be so sure it would be outrage if you parked in a DISABLED park. You would be surprised how many people are just too lazy to walk an extra few metres to a shop. My latest yelling match was in Morayfield-- just ready to pull up and this sheila gets in before me. No sticker so i stuck it to her good and proper. And if you're wondering why I have a disabled sticker-- My mum is on oxygen and has heart failure so she cannot walk far and I take her out.

Went to Bribie for a drive today-- Bongaree Boat ramp must be the new TAXI rank as there were two parked in trailer parks.

Ronnie

[Ausfish]

Hopefully they will sort it out and have the spaces available only for cars with trailers soon.

Was just thinking though, if several people were to park their trailer behind the cars, wheel clamp them and leave them there for several hours, what would be the problem. The sign says parking for cars and trailers, they park their car, you park your trailer. :-) Council and police would not do anything as you would not be illegally parked. Would the person that parked their car want to ring the police and say that they have broken the law and someone has blocked them in?

Hopefully it would not need to get to this and the council will enforce and/or fine to fix it.

[randell]

I used to live on Sunny Coast, the council used to be very diligent in booking people parked in car and trailer spaces.
I have a canoe on a roofrack and had to find a carpark somewhere.
Worst one I heard was a guy at Mooloolaba, La balsa ramp, had to find a park, and when he got to his boat his gear was missing, over a $1,000 worth.............
He asked some people who were standing around and fishing, and they said yer we saw your "friend" doing something with your boat...................

The council should be on the ball.................................
It's their JOB........
They work on weekends, it wouldn't take too much time to enforce the law....
All the kayakers too........

randell

[Jarrah Jack]

i'm thinking a meet and greet at wello boat ramp one nice saturday arvo:devilish:. wait till say 1.30 when its chockers and start double parking;). find a nice shady place and have a few brews... what? move my car? i've been drinking. cant drive for another couple of hours. sorry, you'll have to wait;D.

Make sure you have TOL with you mate. He'll sort a few out...... He's a well know car park terrorist.:)

[honda900]

I think a bit of militance will go a long way.. make sure you ring the papers as well, start taking photos of the cars, and number plates and request action be taken..

Redlands has the highest number of registered boat owners in australia (according to an article in the CM)/

Regards
Honda.

[Noelm]

In a way we have a different problem (but in a way related) for many years we have been on to our local council about doing some much needed maintenance and repairs to our ramp and parking area, so... after some time we were told they were going to spend a couple of hundred thousand doing up the area. What they did was build some nice gardens, redo the parking area and painted nice lines for cars and trailers to park in an orderly fashion, however, in building the gardens and putting in all the nice seats, they reduced the parking by about 30 cars!!!!! after some more council interaction we were told that we were never happy, we just spent all this money and your still whinging! Where do these idiots get their qualifications from? not one cent was spent of repairs to the ramp, or making the parking any better, it just made it look nice for the tourists who come and park anywhere they like (including across the ramp at times) and take pictures of Pelicans and stuff.

[mattyd]

Oh my lord....Wello Pt boat ramp on Good Friday just gone.....what a joke?!

We hadn't organised anything until late, so got there at 12:30pm. Two words - 'Never Again'

I abused at least two offenders as I drove 3 laps around the entire carpark trying to park my trailer. They just didn't care. It was fortunate that about 5 boats all came back in at lunch so I just waited until one them moved their rig so I could jump into their spot.

Another boatie (who also abused a guy who had just parked his car) was doing laps with a video camera of all the 30+ cars who were illegally parked. Someone left a flyer that said how council had relaxed the laws and allowed cars to park there now apparently. News to me.

Hooked onto plenty of juveniles at Harry's, and I think the pair of dolphins hovering around our boat for the whole 3 hours got a HUGE feed.

Worth getting out, just never seen so many illegally parked at a boat ramp in my life.

[netmaker]

obviously we met on good friday matty. i didn't abuse anyone though. i told them in quite civil language that they were parking illegally. if you want to know more about the wello pt scenario, visit this link: www.rampitup.net.au (http://www.rampitup.net.au)
if you want to see the 3 different times of footage taken on friday, go have a look at: http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?187052-battle-for-wello-pt-lost-the-WAR-continues.../page19

please sign up also and tell your boatie mates too!

[mattyd]

haha - I thought you'd be on these forums :) We even made it into the vid too!

Yeah for sure I'll be taking a look at the rampitup site and getting other boaties onto it.

Cheers,

Matt

[netmaker]

haha - I thought you'd be on these forums :) We even made it into the vid too!

Yeah for sure I'll be taking a look at the rampitup site and getting other boaties onto it.

Cheers,

Matt

good stuff matty. if you dont mind i will also send your post to council in my next email.

[mattyd]

Of course Dave - please pass it on.

[bazza65]

maybe a blockade one weekend and inform the media when and where we will be doing it.
bazza

[pachedu]

Hi all,

Got this email back from the Councillor......

Good afternoon Andrew,

Thank you for your email and I understand your frustration. The Reserve is loved by a variety of users and when the weather is good everyone wants space. Primarily though the eastern side is parking for the users of the boat ramps. The improvements made a couple of years ago increased parking for day trippers or those users without a trailer but with limited access to water in the City parking space will always be in high demand.
I have been working with officers to try and find a solution to alleviate the concern and at present we are organising a meeting of representatives of the various user groups. If you would like I can add your name to this list to attend.
In the coming year work will commence on the new William Street boat ramp car park and I am hopeful this may alleviate some of the pressure on Wellington Point Reserve.
I totally understand your frustration and am looking forward to future discussions,

Warm Regards,

Cr Wendy Boglary
Division 1 Councillor
Redland City Council
Ph: 3829 8619
wendy.boglary@redland.qld.gov.au
Due to the quantity of emails received daily occasionally one gets missed. If you do not receive a response within 48 hours, please follow up as your views and concerns are important to me.

There is a council move to increase the shared bays to 42 and these to be available to the public after 12 noon. Ramp up have reported that this will be signed off by council on the 15th May.
Reality is
Wellington point boat ramp is unprotected from the wind and as such it is a nightmare if you have to hold your boat at the ramp for any period of time whilst waiting for its trailer or to get the vehicle.
There are no facilities or pontoons where the boats can be moored and you as a boat owner who pays fees and rates are left to sustain damage and safety risks to your property so that picnicers can park closer and don't have to walk any distance. The people out for a picnic have many options and sites that they can use we boat people have very few. To redirect the boat traffic to an already congested Cleveland boat ramp is ridiculous. Why not direct the picnic people to one of the less utilised parks.
It must be realised that the time between launching and moving out of the ramp zone and between landing and getting the boat out the water is the high risk period for safety and damage.
Reckon the council only see this as a perception around lazy boat owners and not around the practical risks and problems about getting the boats in and out of the water without damage or danger. There also seems to be a perception that we only go out in the morning without the realisation of the number of people who are night fishing or driven by tides.

[Nicko_Cairns]

Hi guys,

Having worked at a council before you're doing the best thing now, get as many people as possible to write to the mayor, local member and newspapers, enough demand and they'll finally act. Newspapers can be your best friend as the more the message is communicated the faster the council will act. You can request that the carpark be made cars with boat trailers only at certain periods of the day etc, but that doesn't help fishos who head out for a late trip. best if a certain amount of the carparks are permanently made cars with boat trailers only and if you ask the council to place signs stating the penalty for anyone that parks without a boat trailer.

The local laws/parking officer guys who write the tickets are told where to patrol at most councils, at least given a certain area, if there's enough demand and the parking laws are changed then there will be a lot of parking officers told to visit that area as a priority.

Good luck, feel your pain put pen to paper and also ask for group meetings the mayor, get at least twenty folks together and ask to book a time, invite a newspaper etc, there's nothing better than a group asking for the same thing together to get the slow council cogs moving.

Cheers.

[netmaker]

problems.
council officers are afraid of aggressive pignickers. on 2 occasions they have been threatened and have gone home tail between legs. they are now simply photographing offenders and posting them a fine a week or so later. this is just revenue raising and goes nowhere at all towards keeping the bays available for trailers. most pignickers are there for a day never to be seen again. the frustrating thing is that when the cops show up those bays clear out super quick but council has issued a directive to the cops to back off from wello pt. this may yet be where the cmc gets invited into the shit fight.

[Feral]

Trust Me CMC involvement is useless, just look at the goings on up in Moreton Regional Council, Mayor suspect of being a crook, CMC called in, they just refer it back to the Shire Clerk (or CEO or whatever they call them these days) and low and behold, nothing to answer is the almost instant response!

[netmaker]

Trust Me CMC involvement is useless, just look at the goings on up in Moreton Regional Council, Mayor suspect of being a crook, CMC called in, they just refer it back to the Shire Clerk (or CEO or whatever they call them these days) and low and behold, nothing to answer is the almost instant response!

that may well be the case, however it should still put the wind up them. I know there was a hive of activity when I lodged the ombudsman complaint. it also makes good reading in our local rag and helps publicise the problem which garners more support from boaties oblivious to what is going on...

[Ausfish]

Maybe a letter to the council outlining that they will be held personally responsible and liable for any injury or death to a person that is holding on to the boat that was a direct result from a larger than normal delay in retrieval of said boat due to the car and trailer being a long distance away due to cars parked in the trailer parks. Seems that these days the only way to get government departments to outline how they will be financially responsible for their decisions.

[netmaker]

Maybe a letter to the council outlining that they will be held personally responsible and liable for any injury or death to a person that is holding on to the boat that was a direct result from a larger than normal delay in retrieval of said boat due to the car and trailer being a long distance away due to cars parked in the trailer parks. Seems that these days the only way to get government departments to outline how they will be financially responsible for their decisions.

steve, believe me when I say we have covered all bases. have also sent them emails advising we will assist any legal complainants involved in violence as a result of their policies and also any boating mishaps that result from boaties travelling from other ramps being caught in weather. its all water off a ducks back...

[deckie]

How about unhooking your trailers and parking them in ....and attach your wheel clamp and hitch lock for "security"
Then leave a message on the illegal car with your phone number that says "you are parked illegally but ring me on 0432 ### ###. I am only 2 minutes away and i will move trailer so that you dont get fined"
When they ring be very polite and tell them you;ll be there "in a minute or two", but just go back to whatever you were doing. When they find noone turns up and they ring you again tell them "sorry held up but on my way, a few minutes only" ....and so on. Might as well have some fun for an hour or two with them and see just how irate they can get. As far as i;m aware YOU are not parked illegally at all. Plus you can take up designated picknicker spaces with your unhooked car now...which can only help with the lack of overall parking problem.
Can you get your heads together designate a bloke each day on weekends and drop your trailer hitch key for their lock with them ?...he can move trailers about and let guys in. Just put witches hats over designated trailer parking. Most guys i know with a vested interest will happily "work" for beers and a good laugh on a sunny sat arvo. Guy can just say "sorry mate i dont have his key but cant be too far away"...if any of them get truly pissed off maybe the guy can then move your trailer for you "when another becomes available".

Steve.

[Nicko_Cairns]

problems.
council officers are afraid of aggressive pignickers. on 2 occasions they have been threatened and have gone home tail between legs. they are now simply photographing offenders and posting them a fine a week or so later. this is just revenue raising and goes nowhere at all towards keeping the bays available for trailers. most pignickers are there for a day never to be seen again. the frustrating thing is that when the cops show up those bays clear out super quick but council has issued a directive to the cops to back off from wello pt. this may yet be where the cmc gets invited into the shit fight.

That's no good mate, go with the group mayor meeting option then and phone the newspapers to get a photo of the group with the mayor or at the site, try to get the parking changed to cars with boat trailers only. If you can get even ten people to a meeting it holds a lot more weight than sending individual letters, so get a contact list and arrange that meeting. Remain polite yet authoritarian, nothing shuts down communication quicker than someone getting too emotive.

Go with a plan explain the situation and history to the mayor (nominate one speaker on behalf of the group rather than having it like a bar conversation after a footy game) and state your end-state, what you want the council to do.

Trust me that it will get the cogs moving but you have to plan the meeting before you go.

Good luck.

[netmaker]

That's no good mate, go with the group mayor meeting option then and phone the newspapers to get a photo of the group with the mayor or at the site, try to get the parking changed to cars with boat trailers only. If you can get even ten people to a meeting it holds a lot more weight than sending individual letters, so get a contact list and arrange that meeting. Remain polite yet authoritarian, nothing shuts down communication quicker than someone getting too emotive.

Go with a plan explain the situation and history to the mayor (nominate one speaker on behalf of the group rather than having it like a bar conversation after a footy game) and state your end-state, what you want the council to do.

Trust me that it will get the cogs moving but you have to plan the meeting before you go.

Good luck.

more problems. it was the mayor who moved the original motion for shared parking...