Councillor stands by his parking solution
Fairfield Advance, 20 February 2007

FAIRFIELD Councillor Lawrence White has stood by a divisive 2005 suggestion that signs in languages other than English could reduce parking problems in Cabramatta.

Cr White's comments sparked passionate community protests and resulted in two rallies outside Fairfield Council chambers.

They were based on figures that said in one financial year 2441 cars were booked in Cabramatta for parking in loading docks, compared to just 300 in Fairfield.

Now fellow councillor Thang Ngo has asked Cr White to use the first council meeting of this year as a forum to acknowledge those figures were baseless.

"The first time Lawrence raised the issue in council I asked whether parking inspection patrols in Fairfield and Cabramatta were even,'' Cr Ngo said.

"I was told they were. Now a report to the council's services committee has said there have only been patrols in Cabramatta on Saturdays, not Fairfield.

"I'm not looking for blood, I'm just asking Cr White to use the next meeting as an opportunity to acknowledge that the original figures were skewed.

"A lot of people in Cabramatta were hurt by the original dispute and this would be a good opportunity to make up for that.''

Cr White said he simply wanted to help the people of Cabramatta.

"I may have inadvertently been insensitive at the time, but I wasn't trying to be political,'' he said.

"I was just trying to fix a problem.

"Council issues a lot of parking notices in Cabramatta and it's something I take no pleasure in.

"A $100 fine is a big chunk out of the average weekly pay around here, and if that's happening because people are misunderstanding the signs then we have a responsibility to do what we can to help fix that.''

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