Mitcham Mall- "Must be an election in the air"

Local residents must be thrilled to see that security cameras have finally been installed at Brittania Mall. I had the pleasure of opening the mall redevelopment as councillor for Springfield Ward, along with Cr. Chris Aubrey,in 2005, but after repeated vandalism and grafitti, retailers and residents were demanding that something be done to protect both property and shoppers.

The cameras were first proposed in the lead up to the Federal election by the sitting member for Deakin,Mr. Phil Baressi. After his defeat at the polls, Mike Symon took up the issue of security and applied for the Federal funding which was announced two years ago. Retailers and stake holders of the mall convened a meeting in 2011 to keep pressure on government to fulfill the promise that had been made.

I hope it won't be long before all the lighting throughout the mall is fully functional. The 2005 budget included uplighting for the carpark, walkway and bench lighting. A separate $360,000 was set aside for the Superloos that were installed in time for the opening. It is with delight that I observed electricians attending to the bench lighting arrangement which has been more off than on these past years.