The annual general meeting was not well attended but then again, these meetings seldom are. People are frightened that they could be pressured into accepting a nomination for office.

Actually the election of the committee members took only a few minutes because most of the nominations were received well before the meeting. 

Those residents who did attend the meeting had the opportunity to find out the very latest on the Fig Tree Pocket Local Plan from Councillor Jane Prentice. Other issues also came up in a question and answer session and it was a great opportunity to get your personal viewpoint on any subject across to the council.

The blowout in insurance costs as well as the costs in staging a major local social event forced the A.G.M. to consider and vote for the first increase in membership fees for more than 20 years. This year's membership will cost ten dollars per family.

Ten dollars today buys a lot less than five dollars did twenty years ago, so I hope the increase will not effect our membership numbers which are at an all time high right now.

Recent intruder attacks on Mandalay are a real worry.

A large number of houses have been hit over the past few weeks and most of them were occupied at the time. There have been a number of calls for the re introduction of Neighbourhood Watch into the area.

Our association lobbied for Neighbourhood Watch to be introduced into Queensland way back when the state government felt it was an additional expense they didn't want and the Police service thought it was their 

job and theirs alone to handle crime. Neither wanted a bar of it.

We eventually won and the scheme was introduced but the Police Service claimed that they could only work with it, provided there was no "political involvement". They classified our association as a political organisation (which is incorrect, but try to explain that in Roma Street).

Mandalay had one of the first Neighbourhood Watch groups in Queensland. We were also one of the first to fail due to insufficient community involvement. The progress association kick started it again a few years later and then had to once again let it run by itself because of Police Service regulations.

It struggled along for a while and then it fell apart again.

Before I retired from the committee three and a half years ago, I spent months negotiating with the Police service for permission to amalgamate the M.P.A. and the local Neighbourhood Watch group.

I am not sure what happened after that but I suspect it all got lost in the dust covered files.

Areas that have an active Neighbourhood Watch scheme have had crime rates drop by up to 80 percent.

We can try one last time but only if you want it and are willing to be become involved with it.

Neighbourhood Watch is not like many organisations where you appoint a committee and they do the work. The scheme does have a chain of command but everybody has to be involved.

Should you feel that we need the Neighbourhood Watch scheme re introduced and you are prepared to become involved and not just let others do the work, I will do my best to get the thing up and running again.

There is a small form at the bottom of the newsletter. The number of responses we receive will determine what happens next. Please fill it out and either post or drop it in the mailbox at the listed addresses





Warren Fletcher
President
Mandalay Progress Association Inc.


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