Fast Buck$, Coorabell
Council meetings are bad for your health and morale, which is why as soon as public access is over I’m out the door. At the last meeting, however, I decided to stick around for debate about the Tinsel Dick on Ewingsdale Rd and about compliance issues. Bad move.
In relation to the Tinsel Dick I noticed that no councillor had the gumption to suggest that it be removed, no councillor had the gumption to suggest that it constituted such bad taste that it was appropriate only to the Gold Coast, and no councillor had the gumption to ask Sarah Ndiaye what she meant by the ‘improvements’ she was proposing (more seagulls as it turns out!). Nor did anyone ask who came up with the brilliant idea of a lighthouse, if ‘idea’ is the right word.
Nor did anyone point out the contradiction between blaming the artist for not following the agreed design and using wrong materials, and then imploring that he be given a chance to redeem himself by finishing it – at our further expense.
This is a perfect illustration of the level of ‘debate’ that takes place in this dysfunctional council, the Tinsel Dick a permanent (?) reminder of their incompetence.
It turns out that while Cr Jan Hackett bravely took the blame early on, it’s Sarah who seems to be the driving force. She seemed chastened and surprised by the negative public feedback but was determined to preserve her monstrosity at all costs, arguing in a way that demonstrated that she is very stubborn.
During all this it was extremely difficult not to interject, of course, and I succeeded in getting her to call me a ‘clown’, as well as issuing another presumed insult that I didn’t catch. This is a breach of the Code of Conduct of course, which compels councillors to be nice, nice, nice. If I filed a complaint she would no doubt plead provocation, not realising that her Tinsel Dick is a provocation for everyone with a taste quotient above 80.
Last time round the Greens gave us a real estate agent. This time they gave us Sarah.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
