The desire to hold court with Logan City council mayor Darren Power has finally been granted for the concerned residents of Palm Lake Resort.
Cr Power met with concerned residents of the retirement village that is slated to be intercepted by the Bethania to Logan Village Rail Trail.
Cr Power and deputy mayor, Laurie Koranski, previously told residents they would be attending an information session held at the resort clubhouse last Thursday.
At the session, prior to the councillors’ arrival, residents said they were not interested in speaking to the council officers who were present.
Instead, they said, they wanted to speak with Cr Power and Cr Koranski.
Residents came to the meeting armed with signs and microphones, collectively chanting “divert the Rail Trail” and “go around”.
“Come on guys, get up and show council how pissed off we are,” one resident said in an attempt mobilise her neighbours.
After more than an hour of waiting and chanting for the mayor, the room grew more quiet and the crowd began to dwindle.
But those who were left were reinvigorated at the sight of Cr Power and Cr Koranski when they arrived.
Cr Power asked residents for “civil conversation” and asked “are you going to scream at us with the microphone?”
He reminded those in attendance the council staff were “here to listen.”
Residents asked Cr Power about trail’s impact on crime, safety, privacy and cost to rate-payers.
“As you know, we’ve had a huge blow-out in costs because of construction prices – concrete has gone up 70%,” Cr Power said
“On top of that, we’ve tried to improve the design… to alleviate some of your concerns.”
Another concern of Palm Lake residents is that the trail will go unused.
Cr Power told Palm Lake residents there were “tens of thousands of people” outside the area who would “appreciate the trail”.
“You are the very noisy minority,” Cr Power said.
“When I go out into the community, people are looking forward to the Rail Trail continuing.”
“We live here, we don’t visit… so we’re not the minority – we’re the majority,” a resident responded.
A leading voice for the diversion group and a resident of the gated-community, Verne Charlesworth, said council were treating the residents like a “bunch of children”.
“… or a bunch of irrelevant oldies,” he said.
“They’re not going to listen to you – they’re not here to listen to you.
“We were literally told – it doesn’t matter what you say, the trail is going ahead.
In a more private conversation with Mr Charlesworth, the deputy mayor said the project was likely to proceed, regardless of the residents’ protests.
“I’ve done as much as I can to make your voices heard,” Cr Koranski said.
“I have been legitimately engaged.”
Mr Charlesworth acknowledged Ms Koranski’s efforts, but said the same couldn’t be said for others in council.
