A petition prepared by Theresa Matthews of The Mogo Lolly Shop is to be tabled at next Tuesday's Council meeting.
The petition with 70 PAGES of signatures is in support of a Disabled Access/Parenting Facility.
The Petition states it wishes to:
'Draw to the attention of the Eurobodalla Council the urgent necessity for a disabled/parenting bathroom facility to be built in John Street reserve prior to building the recreational area.
The reason for this is that our town of Mogo is a tourist destination and the Princes Highway has no crossing facilities for pedestrians. The park area that is going to be built will encourage parents to take their children into this area of recreation but then leave them stranded on the wrong side of the highway to get to a toilet urgently… which is what happens with young children.
Presently young mothers are having to lay their infants on the grass out in the hot sun to change nappies. Disabled tourist have to navigate the Princes Highway and also Tomakin Road during tourism seasons to gain access to the bathroom in Tomakin Road that is truly un-accessible to people in wheelchairs.
The cubicles are not wide enough for a wheelchair and a carer to fit in with them. The ground is uneven and presents a fall issue.
We are part of a progressive council which I applaud, the belief here though is that the council is actually building the new recreational area in a reverse manner. There is already a bbq in the reserve, there is seating in the reserve, there are shade trees from the summer heat in the reserve but no accessible toilet.
Building the toilet first would be of more benefit to Mogo and tourism than building a park area without a toilet.
It is unfathomable that the toilet block would be an agenda item to later address.
I therefore ask the Eurobodalla Council to consider making the disabled access/parenting bathroom the first priority in beautifying the John Street Reserve, before installing recreational facilities. Using the finances available for the beautification recreational space on the toilets and applying for a further grant to do the recreational equipment.'
Ms Matthews, on behalf of the Mogo community, entered the My Community Project round of grants earlier this year to see if she could gain the votes necessary to secure the $94,000 for the Mogo Disabled and Elderly Accessible Bathroom Facility
The project was not successful in garnering the votes in what is now considered a very poor way to determine the distribution of government funds based on what appears to be manipulated crowd-voting.
There is little doubt that the petition will be received by Council and, as per standard practice, noted with a response that the request will be considered in the wider scheme of priorities in the Toilet Strategy that is determined by a Point Score system controlled by Council's Asset Maintenance database that ensures ratepayers money is spent in the areas where there is maximum benefit for the wider community.
The Mogo Community have been requesting a central public toilet for more than thirty years and have protested the inadequacies and condition of the Tomakin Road toilet block for just as long. While recent upgrades have been done to the urinals, toilets and basins to that facility they fall well below standard and reflect poorly on the Shire when encountered by the thousands of visitors to Mogo every year.
Above: sub standard, trip hazards, on the edge of town across the busy Tomakin Road, poorly sign posted, poorly lit and poorly maintained. Welcome to "All kinds of Natural"
