Once again I am perplexed. Back in June of this year the Victorian State Government implemented a competition to commemorate the Year of the Built Environment 2004.

Citizens were invited to nominate their Favourite Built place. Our Mayor, through the Press, acknowledged this competition and stated, in part :

"I encourage every one to nominate a place that they hold dear and submit an entry for Greater Shepparton as one of Victoria's favourite places".

As we now know Parkside Gardens became, not only the favourite place of Greater Shepparton, but took out the honours across North East Victoria!

Sadly, our Mayor does not want to comment on this stunning result not even to thank the citizens who followed her invitation. I would think that many of our citizens would feel slighted by this snub.

More vandalism at Parkside Gardens screams the headlines! Any wonder. The Lions House has been littered with broken furniture and shelving etc., for months as well as being littered with shattered glass, in many places, several centimetres deep.

A high cyclone fence encloses this building but the bottom of this fence has been lifted in order to gain entry. It was only a matter of time before the latest vandalism occurred. Several months ago our organization had to notify the Fire Brigade about a similar circumstance where scrap timber was piled ready to be lit in a council compound at Parkside Gardens with children gaining easy access.

Children and fires can be a deadly combination and we expect our Council to do a lot better. By crikey, it did not take Council long to knock over the Chinese Pagoda and Moongate a couple of years back on alleged safety grounds!

Bill Brown

Chairman Friends of Parkside Gardens.