It is with pleasure that I tell you that I have a great local member of parliament (Mr Peter Abetz).
You see, I had a problem with a badly positioned street light...well badly positioned from my perspective anyway.
I originally didn't have a problem with this light until the neighbour cut down a big tree. So, I approached Western Power who advised that I had to approach my local council, to get permission to have it shaded. Unsurprisingly, the council refused to allow the light to be shaded, on so-called safety grounds. I think our council has an automatic policy of just rejecting everything, it seems? So much for them representing us, the rate payer.
Anyway; enter the pollie! I then called the above mentioned Mr Abetz, who, almost immediately (in fact, it was only 20 minutes), came around to my house to have a look at the situation. Frankly, this really impressed me!
He agreed that there was no reason for the council to reject my request, particularly on safety grounds, as it was only the back lighting I needed shading and didn't affect the verge or road lighting. To cut a rather long story short, Mr Abetz went into bat for me and subsequently had the light shaded. Fantastic!
Fast forward six months........a "clown", in a car, decided that he didn't like the light pole and ran it over! He missed the corner and hit the pole! Idiot was probably drunk. Well, the drama started all over again, mostly due to miss communication, apparently; another long story. Western Power replaced the pole and didn't shade it again. Once again, I approached my local MP and he had the situation rectified.
So, it is shaded again!
Yippeee.
I can't believe I am actually saying this, but our local MP actually cares about his constituents. I have spoken to others around here and they have similar stories. A pollie that actually cares, unbelievable, but true. Mind you, he was a pastor for 25 years before entering politics, so that may have something to do with it.
Now, I am just waiting on the council to approve my observatory, but that is another story.
It has been sitting under my patio waiting to be erected, for nearly 12 months. But it is about to finally happen. I hope?
