It is really disheartening to hear our mayor still promoting the fake news that the people opposing Council’s plan to put a block of housing units on the town car park (57 Station Street) are home owners who don’t understand the plight of those without a home.
Mullumbimby residents have been clear in all the public meetings, and in the petition (that over 2,400 of them signed), that they are absolutely in favour of more affordable housing being built in town. Which is one of the reasons they question it being built on the town car park, because it is by far the smallest of the many sites available to Council.
Council’s own car park is more than double the size. If you are really serious about providing more homes, why aren’t you using that site? Mayor Ndiaye has stated that the library may need to expand there – are you really suggesting that a library expansion is more important than affordable housing?
The site north of Woollies is also more than double the size of the town car park, but Council has suggested that the car park be torn up and relocated there, at ratepayers’ expense.
We are frustrated because we really can’t see the logic. You have a small but fully-used car park and public toilet where you could build 28 housing units and a small boarding house (four rooms).
Just 200 metres away you have your own car park, which was on your original list of car parks proposed for this project, where you could build over 60 units without negatively affecting town businesses or traffic.
And 350 metres away you have access to state-owned land where you could also build a minimum of 60 housing units.
Yet you want to raze the public toilet and car park and relocate them further from the town centre (at public expense) and build the smaller number of housing units, at the same time as you are saying we are desperate for more affordable housing?
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. 
