Councillor Dos Santos battles City Parks

MONDEOR- Residents from different parts of Mondeor have been complaining about the state of City council property such as the power sub-station on Eynham Road and the state of Bellefield Park.

Cllr Sergio Dos Santos has provided a response to all complaints in efforts to reassure residents of his efforts to get residents issues resolved.

“The majority of the parks throughout the South are in an atrocious condition and in particular Bellefield Park in Mondeor, and residents are very upset and rightly so with the state of the park, as it has been neglected for months now.

“In January I contacted City Parks when the parks and sidewalks would have been attended to. It has not been touched in the last two months. I was told that there is a new strategy to address the backlog and that (maintenance) teams would do blitzes in the various wards. This took some time, but was eventually done with unacceptable workmanship. Most of the parks were cut in patches, others were not even touched, like Bellefield Park and others. The cut grass remained with no signs of this been cleared. This was all considered ‘completed’ by the department.

“I emailed in early February our Region F Director and CRUM Manager to ask for their assistance, as I was not having any success directly with City Parks (CP). On Friday, February 14 I had a ward tour with various officials from the different departments to highlight my on-going issues and the state of the parks was my top concern.

“This seemed to have yielded results, as grass cutting commenced soon afterwards. Quality? It would seem like there were two contractors. The park along Dungarvan/Downham Avenue and the park along Fernhurst and Ormonde was very well done and no reason to complain. The park along Frandaph Drive/Chelverton must have had a different contractor, because this was not up to the same standards as the other two. Yet again, Bellefield Park remains attached!

“There was a fallen tree that was cut and removed by residents, for which I requested assistance from CP that very same evening to remove it, and still nothing. The intersection of Ormonde and Bellefield is a hazard, as the grass is so high and vehicles cannot see oncoming traffic from Ormonde Drive.”

Dos Santos said that Bellefield Park is in urgent need of grass being cut, and overgrown trees being pruned, alien vegetation being removed and treated.

“I am feeling a little more positive at the moment. I had a fruitful meeting with City Parks last week Thursday to discuss my concerns, and we have come up with my priority list. Bellefield Park is at number 1. I hope to have some action next week.

“My frustration with City Parks is that they are well aware that grass needs to be cut regularly during the summer months, and their turnaround time of every three months is not good enough! I encourage all residents to phone City Parks on 011 712 6600/ 55 and or contact me.”