Mayor Sarah recently posted on social media that she was rather upset about a community meeting being held about the proposed Special Entertainment Precinct for Byron Bay while she was away and unable to attend.
Mayor Sarah and Councillor Pugh are telling the community that the SEP is only a trial and that we can shape the SEP to suit our town. I am at a loss to imagine how late-night liquor trading can be shaped to suit our town. Do we really believe that the majority of people drinking in Byron Bay after midnight are interested in what suits our town?
Byron Bay data for alcohol-fuelled violence and sexual assaults is something we cannot ignore. This SEP will only add to an increase in these statistics. Ask the medics and law enforcers in our town what they think about the SEP. At the ‘community insultation’ on Tuesday, August 12 for residents, the out-of-town consultant kept stressing that questions would be allowed at the end so that the information on the PowerPoint slides could be covered.
I guess that ticked one of the boxes for ‘community consultation’. The overwhelming sentiment in the room was disgust, fury, dismay and frustration that Council has not engaged in community consultation before agreeing to the SEP in December. This week, I received an email from Shannon Burt encouraging me to share my feedback on Council’s ‘Your Say’ page. Seriously? What I found was an ill-designed form where residents, business owners and visitors can fill out a form and Council can tick a box to claim they have engaged in community consultation. Why are visitors being asked to comment on the SEP?
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. 
