I refer to your article in the Leader titled “Roof proposal angers parents” (December 16).
I was interviewed for this article and I was shocked to read mayor Kent Johns’s comments.
He said the suggestion by Miranda MP Barry Collier that the rezoning of the eastern side of University Road being a ‘‘done deal’’ was a ‘‘blatant lie’’.
On the day this article was printed I had a telephone conversation with a Ms Lisa Jansen, senior assets planner from the Department of Education and Communities who told me that she had phoned the council to find out its position on University Road.
She said Mark Carlon, manager of environmental planning, told her that the LEP3 had gone to the Minister for Planning for gazettal, and council is zoning for eight storeys on the (deferred) eastern side of University Road, which shares a boundary with the sensory regulation playground for children with special needs at Miranda Public School.
This clearly contradicts mayor Johns’s statement that council ‘‘currently has no position’’ on the rezoning.
Neither do I accept his claim that he was not aware of the meeting at the school on November 27.
I contacted Ms Jansen on December 17 to ascertain who the council representative was at that meeting.
She told me: ‘‘It was Mark Carlon.’’
Neither do I accept that the mayor ‘‘is concerned about the needs of all members of the community, especially those of children with disabilities’’.
I am still waiting for mayor Johns to reply to my letter of December 13 asking him to explain his comments at the council meeting of November 10, when he said: ‘‘I have knowledge across all areas of disability, I have friends with children who have autism, I have spoken to experts ... This [eight storey development] will have no impact on the way the playground is used.’’
Mr Collier is the only elected official at this point in time who has displayed any integrity or transparency in this matter by clearly advocating for the rights and well-being of this shire’s valued children with special needs.
Personally I feel the P&C is in the position of the biblical David, battling against the overwhelming might of the Goliath mayor and his allies.
The P&C is in a position I would not have believed possible: trying to protect the assets it worked hard to obtain for the benefit of the shire’s most vulnerable children from the mayor and members of his council.
This situation is beyond appalling and I call into question the suitability of Kent Johns and the councillors who advocated for high-rise next to the playground at the meeting of November 10.
