Parking officers out in force

	St. Andrew in Forest Hill

Alexandros Logothetis


THE parking officers of the City of Whitehorse were out in force on Easter Saturday around the church of St. Andrew in Forest Hill. For the first year, parking infringement notices were issued in great numbers after complaints raised by local residents regarding litter, noise and parking.

A meeting was held on Wednesday April 23 amongst City officials, a police representative, church elders and St. Andrews priest Father Stavros Kakavas. According, to an official statement by the General Manager of Corporate Services for the City of Whitehorse Peter Smith: "In relation to parking, the Church elders confirmed that they had advised their parishioners of the need to park legally. They also supported the issuing of infringement notices to vehicles that were detected illegally parked. The meeting was advised that Council would have a presence on the night to monitor parking, and the Church elders gave their support. It's important for people to obey parking restrictions at all times as they protect community safety and resident amenity."

But, indicative of the zeal that the parking officers showed was a summons issued to Nikos Menelaou at 11:55pm for parking at a school pedestrian crossing. Additionally, Stelios Konstadinides member of St. Andrews parish committee said that other parishioners were summonsed for parking on nature strips, bus stops or too close to the corners. As reported to NKEE some nearby residents were out taking pictures of illegally parked cars and directing parking officers. "Even if the officers wanted to show leniency, with this ongoing pressure it was probably difficult to handle," says a parish source.

Meanwhile, during the Wednesday meeting the council officials asked from St. Andrew's representatives not to use loud speakers for the church service. Father Stavros told NKEE that he refused to adhere to this demand which he found preposterous saying, "You might have your laws but I follow to the law of God"

NKEE contacted the Mayor of Whitehorse John Koutras who was not present at the meeting but was informed of what was discussed.

Cr Koutras claims that he didn't know about the demand not to use loud speakers. "I didn't even know about that. What you're telling me now is news, I had no idea because I know how the Greek Easter works and I know that's important," says Cr Koutras.

He even conceded that if he made a mistake it was that he was not present at the meeting. "As a priority I will contact Father Stavros and make sure that it doesn't happen again in the future. Because this is ridiculous we're only talking about half an hour when people are going to celebrate their religion and their tradition. It's our tradition and our religion and we're not exactly harming anyone; it is a peaceful church gathering" added Cr Koutras and concluded by saying that he would discuss the matter with the involved city office ers.

Dr Hass Dellal, Executive Director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation stressed that "We are a multicultural and multi-faith society and people have the right in this country to observe their faith providing its not harming anyone, this is part of our Australian democracy."

Dr Dellal adds,"If previous complaints had been made and the council knew from a year ago, then there should have been long-term pre-planning, with community and church leaders, allowing them enough time to find solutions in regards to parking, noise and other safety issues rather than three days prior to the event as has been reported. Other communities such as the Muslim one with Ramadan have had to deal with similar situations this is not a new thing, it takes consultation and long term planning."