RESIDENTS SAY STORM BIGGER THAN TEACUP

CONCERNED Minnamurra Street residents have lashed out at comments made by Mark Colys in the Kiama Independent labelling the Kiama Blue developer as out of touch with locals.

Angered by an article that appeared on Wednesday November 22 the group have growing concerns with the Kiama Blue development after a series of incidents have brought a growing list of problems for local residents.

Also concerning the group is comments made by Mr Colys in the Kiama Independent in which he labelled the Blue Diamond Bar & Bistros 16 alleged licensing breaches as a storm in a teacup.

I dont think you can label these serious breaches as bugs, Local resident Terry Browne said. You cannot employ people without RSA certificates to work in bars.

You just cant do it. I am sure if you talked to someone in the licensing police they would tell you 16 breaches is definitely more than a storm in a teacup.

It was supposed to be a cocktail bar but my understanding is that all the bar prices are geared towards young people and you only have to see the bottles left out the front, the people urinating in the gardens and the fights around the corner to realise that Mr Colys has not got the classy bar he promised Kiama.

Between the Win Stadium lights out the front which light up your whole house, the people yahooing when they arrive and leave, the workers trucks, the garbage trucks and the staff leaving at 3am there really is little time just to relax anymore.

One resident who did not wish to be named labelled Mr Colys comments as insolent and dismissive saying the article which appeared in the Kiama Independent was another case of Mr Colys glossing over the problems and using spin to turn the publics perception.

I am not adverse to development but objectively what we wanted for that site was our own town hall, movie theatres and a community and tourist facility which we could all feel part of, she said.

In the editorial of that same paper it made out that council had put Mr Colys through all these bureaucratic hoops which is absolutely ridiculous. The first DA council did knock back but the second DA council rezoned the land for them, changed the LEP and DCP and labelled it site specific.

That is certainly not what I call hoops and is another example of the spin being used here.

At the end of the day we know it is not going to go away, we realise this but we do not want to be dismissed with people inferring this is a storm in a teacup.

There are problems here everyday whether it is the noise, the smell, problems with traffic now the trucks are here again or the lights at night. We dont not want to be simply dismissed as whingeing wowser fools.