LAST September you could barely hear the decision over the back-slapping.
Sutherland Shire Council voted unanimously to nominate Wanda as the preferred location for an eastern area skate park and the wheels were finally in motion on a decade-old promise.
The echoes of that back-slapping died on Tuesday night in the shadow of this September's local government elections as the council carefully hedged its bets.
The equivocation was too much for one person in the public gallery who was escorted off the premises by security when his frustration boiled over and he stood to abuse councillors.
"You lot couldn't order lunch,'' he shouted. "You're hopeless.''
It was the only point during the proceedings that anyone seemed to have the support of the entire gallery.
The rest of the crowd was similarly restless as supporters and opponents of the park continually interjected, drawing several reprimands from Mayor David Redmond.
After more than an hour of debate the council decided to wait another three months before committing itself, leaving one skate park supporter to sum up the feelings of everyone involved.
"So is there going to be a park, or not?'' he shouted.
Officially the council decision was to defer a decision for three months while other options, such as an indoor-outdoor facility, possibly in an industrial area, were considered.lw0
At the same time detailed designs for a park at Wanda will be drawn up, meaning after more than a decade of investigations, consultations and deliberations the answer to the question shouted from the gallery is still "maybe''.
Opinions among councillors varied.
Cr Kevin Schreiber felt the park should be an indoor-outdoor facility, which would effectively rule out Wanda as a location.
Cr Lorraine Kelly felt Gunnamatta Park was a better location, Cr Scott Docherty thought a skate park was a good idea but agreed Wanda was the wrong spot for it while Cr Phil Blight said kids caused trouble only when they had nothing to do.
"If we give them nothing to do then we deserve what we get,'' he said.
Cr Steve Simpson blasted his fellow councillors for failing to show leadership and said the council had already made the decision twice, once last September and once at the special community services two weeks ago.
"What we have here is 10 years of people being neglected,'' he said.
"And why? Because young skateboarders don't vote.
"We have talked and talked and talked and looked and now it's time to act.''
Clr Kent Johns argued Wanda would never be the right spot for a skate park.
"It is an icon site and it has no security at night,'' he said.
"I hope I'm clear on this, Wanda is not the appropriate location for this establishment.''
Clr Ken McDonell accused some councillors of trying to deceive ratepayers.
"To say you're going for an indoor-outdoor area is dodging the issue,'' he said.
"It's just putting it on the back-burner with a view to eventually throwing it out.''
After councillors Ken McDonell, Jan Forshaw, Magdi Mikhail, Steve Simpson and Mayor David Redmond were defeated on a vote to proceed with the Wanda site, they and councillors Phil Blight and Melanie Gibbons voted in favour of investigating other options while drawing up plans for a park at Wanda.
Councillors Kent Johns, Marie Simone, Kevin Schreiber, Lorraine Kelly, Val Sugden and Scott Docherty voted against, preferring to investigate other options without drawing up plans for Wanda.
Tell us what you think about the council's decision.