Page 20
The 1998 Update
During the five
years since the 1994 Annual Presidents Report was presented to the
residents, many of the issues mentioned in it have been resolved.
The small block
housing issue involving the Pony Club resurfaced and was again
defeated. The Pony Club and the E.F.A. now have a twenty-year
lease in place.
The Fig Tree Pocket Act has been
repealed.
Low flying aircraft are no longer a
major problem of the area. The gravel mining
of the river bed has ceased and the heavy industry across the
river has closed down.
Perhaps the
greatest challenges for the immediate future will be maintaining
the interest and support of local residents when there is no major
issue on the agenda.
It is important
however that we do so because while such issues as pressure to
develop vacant land and establish new river crossings exist,
threats to our lifestyles and land values are going to arise in
the future.
In modem times it
is quite dangerous for a residential group to "take on"
a development proposal without the protection offered by
incorporation.
When the M.P.A.
recognised that requirement in the late 1980's it took our
established organisation almost two years to achieve incorporated
status.
Future proposals to
which we may object will not allow that time frames, so it is
essential for the M.P.A. to continue to exist and to maintain its
status as an incorporated body.
The residents who
originally founded the Mandalay Progress Association set out to do
a massive job.
Over 125 residents have since put
their hands up to continue it.
Almost all of them
have been busy people who could have considered the time
impossible to find but they found the time anyway. The only reward
that we can offer them for their efforts over the past quarter of
a century is to acknowledge a job well done.
Look around you and you will see
what you have achieved.
We call it
Mandalay.
Warren Fletcher President
20
