Pittwater Life April 2023 Issue

The Way We Were
Every month we pore over three decades of Pittwater Life, providing a snapshot of
the area’s recent history – and confirming that quite often the more things change, the
more they stay the same! Compiled by Lisa Offord
25 Years Ago…
The Way We Were
Cover images showed
Craig Goozee and team
as he prepared to head
off on his first marathon
to raise funds for cancer
research and the Randwick
Children’s Hospital. A story
about Craig’s 800km paddle
from Avalon to Broadbeach
on the Gold Coast and
more pics featured inside.
Craig raised $150,000 that
first year and went on
to complete many more
gruelling marathons over
the years, raising millions of
dollars for cancer research.
Also in this issue, Pittwater
land values “have risen by
an average of 43% and the
number of properties subject
to the Government’s vicious
land tax has doubled to more
than 300”. Parents at Mona
Vale Primary School were
to vote on a plan to sell off
school land fronting Bungan
Street from Waratah Street
to Pittwater Road. “The plan
put forward by Headmaster
Richard Hoskins would see
the land sold for construction
of shops along the area, the
money being used to rebuild the school as a high-tech 21 st
century showpiece.” Avalon RSL examined a plan to buy
the old Woolworths building to create a new shopping
arcade, restaurant and a main street entrance to the club.
Meanwhile “… a majority of residents of Ruskin Rowe and
Palmgrove Road Avalon are planning a court injunction to
stop any further trapping and removal of peacocks from the
heritage listed residential area. This is the latest step in a row
over the birds following a move
by a recently arrived resident to
trap the birds and remove them
from the area”. (There were
more than 30 peafowl and their
numbers had been reduced to
about six). The Council’s move
to tax restaurants and cafes with
tables on its footpaths was set
to commence “… and A-frame
signs will also disappear” and
Council Rangers “have become
an extension of the Police Service,
with ratepayers of Pittwater
paying them to do police work…
booking motorists for illegal
parking not only on the Council’s
reserves but in all public streets
and shopping centre carparks.
While our Rangers do the work
the Police Service has so far this
year skimmed $150,000 from
the revenue raised as its fee for
processing the infringement
notices. Pittwater Council
retained more than $346,000 by
the end of March. But there is
now growing concern because
the Police want to take over this
role, no doubt as a revenue
gatherer for the Government”.
More funds were needed
to cover additional safety
features for the Avalon Skate Park project, with the target
raised to $80,000: “… There is now $65,000 in the kitty from
what has been one of the most extraordinary community
fundraising projects in Avalon.” And there were more voters
for Pittwater: “The Pittwater State Electorate will gain an
additional 3000 votes in the draft boundaries redistribution
proposal… it will be extended south to include all of the
suburb of Narrabeen to Wetherill Street”.
32 APRIL 2023
The Local Voice Since 1991