Councillor Chris Harris

Media Release

Last night, at the City of Sydney Council meeting, Greens Cr Chris Harris
attempted to present a petition from 2800 concerned inner east residents.

The petition called for the Lord Mayor to advocate on behalf of that
community to reverse the road closures and road works that are causing
massive traffic chaos in the local streets of Darlinghurst and surrounding
areas.

“The Lord Mayor relied upon a technicality to prevent the petition being
presented to the council. She wouldn’t even allow me to read the petition
to the councillors. All the Lord Mayor allowed was for the petition to be
placed on the table. She showed no interest whatsoever in the petition nor
the fact that 2800 people signed the document in good faith that their voice
would be heard. In fact the Lord Mayor didn’t even pick up the petition.”
Cr. Harris said

“Surely the responsibility of the Lord Mayor is to at least listen to the
views of the people who she represents. To use a procedural manoeuvre to
block community concerns is extremely disappointing.

Cr. Chris Harris “It’s easy for me. As a Greens representative, I operate
under a set of principles that lead me to allow all points of view to be
heard. Sadly, particularly in the case of the Bourke street closure, this
principle doesn’t appear to exist at Town Hall.”