I have a thing about waste.

Why spend a fortune on solar powered school zone flashing lights when there is a proven cheaper alternative availiable.

Driving past the new Cronulla Railway Station car park, I noticed security cameras on poles in the car park inside the spike topped 8 foot high security fence.

The locals call the high fenced car park "Stalag 13"

These are 4 of the 12 security cameras.

Why would you need 12, yes TWELVE cameras for a 30 car space car park surrounded by an 8 ft fence?

AND THERE'S MORE!!!!!

TO LOOK AFTER THE CARS OF RAILWAY STAFF, AS WELL AS THE FENCE AND THE 12 CAMERAS, THERE IS ALSO A 24 HOUR SECURITY GUARD.

The security guard doing his part to protect the sanctity of the car park.
Notice the cameras on the poles

Where are the machine gun towers?

All the authorised users of the car park have an electronic tag that opens the automatic entrance gate

BUT....

It appears that there have been problems with this gate and it malfunctions and the guard is there to make sure that cars entering the car park are allowed to.

I was told that the gate malfunctions in the OPEN position.

Does the construction company that installed the faulty gate pay for the security guard?

Why the need for 12 cameras, is the law and order situation that bad in Cronulla?

Are we in Sydney or Baghdad?

I'll email the transport minister who is also happens to be the deputy premier and ask him.

If no result there, maybe Today Tonight or A Current Affair might be interested to show the voters where their money goes.

______________

----- Original Message -----
From: stephens1510
To: Deputy Premier
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:34 PM
Subject: Cronulla station car park

Dear Mr Watkins,
The new Cronlla railway station staff car park which is surrounded by an 8 ft. high spike topped, steel security fence, now has 12 security cameras to watch over it's 30 car spaces.
Is law and order so bad in Cronulla that this number of cameras are needed inside an 8 ft fence? The locals call this car park "Stalag 13"
Railway staff of course need their cars looked after, but is it necessary to have a 24 hour security guard there as well as this 8 foot fence and 12 cameras?
I was told that the guard is there to check cars coming in when the automatic gate malfunctions.
It appears that the gate often doesn't close, so drivers have to prove right of entry.
Is the company that installed this faulty gate ( John Holland I believe) paying for this security guard?
If not, why not as it's their gate that malfunctions?
To have a man stand in a small car park around the clock in case the gate won't close is almost laughable, but the average person struggling to make ends meet wouldn't see the funny side.

Efficiently running a railway system and all that it entails is a huge undertaking, but the obvious waste of public money as this appears to be at Cronulla, doesn't look good.

Thank you for your time

Yours Faithfully
Hans Stephens

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A reply came back and my concerns would be "investigated.

Then a questioner came back from Railcorp asking how my complaint was handled,

I didn't tick in the boxes marked
strongly disagree, disagree, somewhat agree, agree, stongly agree in a form with the above note, but instead mailed (not emailed) this:
......................................................................

Dear sir/madam,
I received the feedback letter inclosed in the mail today.
As I have had reason to question two things involving Railcorp, I don’t know to which the letter applied too.
Back in July I was concerned that it took six months to relocate the Sutherland station newspaper kiosk and I rang railcorp a number of times and was told my query was being passed on.
I emailed the transport minister and recieved an email with:

“The matters you have raised will be investigated as quickly as possible and a reply will be forwarded to you.”

That was the 4 July and I’ve heard nothing since.

I didn’t wait to be “passed on” when ringing Railcorp in August, and went straight to the “top?” when I sent this email to the then Transport Minister.

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----- Original Message -----
From: Deputy Premier
To: stephens1510
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 11:00 AM
Subject: RE: Cronulla station carpark

Dear Mr Stephens,

Thank you for your email. We appreciate the time you took to send us your comments.

The matters you have raised will be investigated as quickly as possible and a reply will be forwarded to you.
Yours sincerely,

Jenny Johnson
Private Secretary
Office of John Watkins MP
NSW Deputy Premier
Minister for Transport
Minister for Finance
Ph: 9228 4866
Fx: 9228 4855
Em: dp.office@watkins.minister.nsw.gov.au
www.nsw.gov.au
www.131500.com.au
..................................................................
And I’ve heard nothing since.

I think perhaps that this is the standard reply to emails like mine

I sent the then transport minister photos I took at Cronulla Station and if you want you can see them a couple of pages back on

www.schoolzonesanta.com

I think having 12 cameras in a 30 car space staff car park surrounded by a 8 ft high security fence, is a news paper headline waiting to happen.

Could you can pass this letter on to someone would can explain to me the need for these seemingly excessive and (no doubt) expensive security measures

Yours faithfully
Hans Stephens
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(to be continued)