Parramatta City Council has removed all the parking meters from in and around a local shopping mall - and I’m told business in Harris Park has never been better.

And yet good old Wollongong wants to put more of these things in our main shopping areas.

Maybe they should have a good look at Sydney’s second capital first.

Those were the days  

Good on you former Wolves hard-working secretary John Vilestra from Balgownie for your letter in the daily last week drawing attention to the good old days at Brandon Park when the Wolves drew big crowds and their hard working followers, particularly president Lawrie Kelly, did so much to advance the area.

I was at BHP at the time and I know just how much we willingly put in to help the development, and we did it largely because of Lawrie and John’s efforts, and the amount of time given by supporters who regularly turned up at working bees organised by Jack Zanier.

And let’s not forget the wonderful input of the late John Cleary and Ab Willcox, and BHP too, in getting the grandstand extended at WIN Stadium and for helping to create the Steelers Club.

Those were the days when we locals cared about our city and we were prepared to pitch in and get our hands dirty.

But also back then we had a largely apolitical city council whose members were truly interested in the city and its people and not themselves.

No thank you

And why do we now face a change to our Federal electoral boundaries?

Obviously some federal public servants had nothing better to do with their time but come up with some suggested changes and we locals who live in Throsby, Cunningham and/or Gilmore are likely to be affected.

But does anyone really care apart from the likeable and hard-working MP for Gilmore Joanna Gash who seems to always cop it when these ideas pop up.

All talk and no action  

On and on it goes all this talk, and that’s the key word, about climate change and why or why not we should pass something in Federal Parliament to make it a reality.

And this week our parliamentarians are expected to vote on the matter even though their leaders don’t appear any surer than the average man or woman in the street about the whole issue.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and his Environment Minister Penny Wong don’t even appear able to answer basic questions about the proposed legislation and the Opposition is equally up in the air.

So what hope have we got locally where there are some who believe our region would benefit from a future green, energy efficient economy.

Now, we well know that our region is famous – or was – for its steel and coal industries, both of which are far from coming under any green umbrella, so where is this green, energy efficient economy going to come from?

Is it just another case of the normal talk, talk, talk we have become used to from our so–called civic leaders, unions and politicians?

We deserve and must demand fact–based legislation and not just humbug from politicians and civic leaders who have no real basis of what they are talking about.

And anyway the swine fever and the normal winter colds and runny noses we are used to are causing us more heart ache than the climate, or are they???

Very much alike

Watched with interest The Liberal Rule TV series shown recently on SBS and couldn’t help thinking just how much Howard and the incumbent PM Kevin Rudd resemble one another.

They are about the same height, have receding hairlines, are good behind a microphone and love to meet foreign dignitaries.

Kevin won’t agree about the hairline, but the similarities I have mentioned are there for all to see.

One difference though is that John used to have his wife Janette at his side on far more occasions, although it was pleasing to see the PM’s wife, Therese Rein, get a run the other night over her appointment as a patron of UNICEF.

Personally, I thought she had much more going for her than her boring,
talk-is-cheap, husband.