By Suprovat Sydney
Mr. Matthew Stewart,
Chief Executive Officer
Canterbury Bankstown City Council
Dear Matthew,
Thank you very much for your response on 29th November 2023, regarding my letter from 7th November 2023. About the speed bump – the size, materials and function of speed humps offers greater flexibility for road safety. In addition, a speed hump covers a longer section of road, sometimes as much as a full wheel rotation, making a speed hump a less aggressive obstacle for cars when compared to a speed bump. In fact, just a handful of the key reasons to install speed humps that are still relevant today include installing speed humps is the increased safety for pedestrians. Many major road accidents occur due to vehicles exceeding the set speed limit, which in turn greatly increases the risk of a collision. Speed humps are a physical barrier that restricts the capacity of a driver to speed, and therefore improves road safety.
Humans generally respond quite well to visual cues, and the semiotics of speed humps mean that their eye catching yellow stripes instantly alert drivers to the fact that they need to proceed with caution. While signs are commonly installed prior to approaching a speed hump, their easily identifiable stripes can also be seen from quite far away as well.
Also, while taking a detour through a residential street may be a quicker route to work, a driver is more likely to avoid the area if they know that the road has speed humps present. In turn, installing speed humps in suburban streets can help to deter excess traffic, and keep the streets safer for the residents who call the area home.
Road safety is an extremely serious business – and it should be. Although getting behind the wheel of a car is something that many of us do multiple times per day, the likelihood of an accident is sadly on the rise. We encourage you as the local council to install speed humps on Haldon Street from Woolworths to Traffic light of Haldon Street & the Boulevard. We need at least two speed breaker from Woolworths to next Pedestrian crossing and one speed breaker from Traffic light of corner of Haldon Street & the Boulevard to the Pedestrian crossing. For the safety of the community, we think these three (at least) speed breakers are super important.
The people driving on that street have problems to see the other sides upcoming people. Small tree on the sides are one of the barrier and blocking the pedestrian to see. Also, there is no speed hump at this moment near the Mussalah but everyday so many people passing through.
From the broader community, we are humbly requesting to you, Please review your decision for the safety of the busy pedestrian crossing. Anytime, big incident can take place, who will take that responsibility. To minimize the risk & safety, please think twice wisely. Please check the area again as there are not enough speed bumps in the area. If you wish to come inspect it, please give me a time and I will come help take a look with you.
Suprovat Sydney investigated whether limiting the hours of alcoholic beverage sales in bars or shops had an effect on homicides and violence against women in our community. Restricting alcohol trading hours can substantially reduce rates of violence and relaxing trading hours has the opposite effect, according to the first systematic review of alcohol trading hours and violence in more than five years.
The review, published in the Sax Institute’s Public Health Research & Practice journal, analyses 21 separate studies on trading hours and alcohol-related harm from Australia and across the developed world.
“From reviewing the evidence, the message is clear − the more you restrict alcohol trading hours, the more you reduce violence,” said lead Claire Wilkinson from Melbourne’s Centre for Alcohol Policy Research at La Trobe University.
“The findings of this systematic review are strong enough for us to recommend Governments make restrictions on late trading hours for bars and hotels, in any strategy to reduce late-night violence. We analyses 21 Australian and international studies for this review and the weight of evidence demonstrates the effectiveness of restricting alcohol trading hours in combating violence.
“A study from Newcastle for example, found a 37% reduction in assaults in the city between 10 pm and 6 am following the introduction of trading restrictions in 2008. In Sydney, assaults were down between 26% and 32%, following the NSW Government’s ‘last drinks’ and ‘lockout’ laws introduced in 2014.
“Evidence from abroad was also compelling. One Norwegian study found each one-hour reduction in trading hours was associated with a 16% drop in recorded assaults, and a Dutch study found a 34% increase in alcohol-related ambulance attendances following the extension of trading hours in two entertainment precincts in Amsterdam.”
There is less research literature examining the impact of changing trading hours for takeaway liquor sales, although the limited research points towards effectiveness. Two studies from Europe provide some evidence that reducing availability of packaged liquor late at night can reduce hospitalizations, particularly among young people.
The latest issue of the Sax Institute’s Public Health Research & Practice journal has a focus on alcohol consumption and its impact on public health. Editor Dr Jo Mitchell, from the Centre for Population Health at NSW Health said the effects of alcohol consumption were far reaching.
“Alcohol kills more than 5600 Australians every year, impacting families and communities in every corner of the nation, and alcohol-related harm is estimated to cost more than $15 billion each year,” Dr Mitchell said.
“High-quality research into the impact, effect and treatment of alcohol is central to any strategy to tackle this public health issue. These papers in Public Health Research & Practice contribute to the evidence base and will be an important resource for those at the helm of public health decision making in Australia.”
Here is how cities can reduce violent crime by regulating alcohol sales, you may interested the links below:
https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Publications/CJB/cjb137.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1061508
https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/227646.pdf
As we all know and understand that, Alice Spring is a prime example for the alcohol sales time restriction benefit. Just in case, I provide you the link:
We are law abiding peaceful Australian citizens and would like to stay without any trouble. Please see the attachments for our local bottle shops and would like you to make the community safety measurement by restricting the alcohol sale times bar.
On behalf of the Lakemba Muslim community, I would like to request you to give us permission to make five times call for prayer (Adhan) in microphone from Mussalah and Mosque in this area.
It takes only Ten minutes in 24 hours, 2 minutes each time.
Adhan literally means “announcement” in Arabic and refers to the Islamic call to prayer that takes place five times a day. The five daily prayers signify one of the five pillars of Islam that are traditionally considered obligatory for every Muslim. The prayers are performed in the direction of Mecca throughout the day.
The practice of calling the Adhan dates to the time of Prophet Muhammad, when it became the standard way to mark the beginning of each prayer’s time and to call Muslims to prayer. In his text “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations,” scholar Michael Sells notes that “the call to prayer punctuates daily life five times, drawing people out of their everyday preoccupation to matters of ultimate concern.”
It’s nothing new but happens almost everywhere in the world, please check the links:
USA
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/29/us/new-york-city-mosques-broadcast-call-to-prayer-reaj/index.html
UK
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8351505/Mosques-Britain-sound-call-prayer-loudspeakers.html
https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/132191
Canada
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/islamic-call-to-prayer-ramadan-al-rashid-edmonton-1.5576598
Italy
https://en.shafaqna.com/143439/broadcasting-adhan-in-parma-italy-video/
Germany
If you can read the above report carefully, they are smart people who have done the right things to make harmony and bridge between the community and councils, even in non-Muslim country. Lakemba is a well-known place in Australia & historicy. Lakemba was at an early time in its colonial history originally known as “Potato Hill” because potatoes were cropped at Lakemba. Land grants by the new colonial government began in Lakemba about 1810. Samuel Hockley was granted 50 acres (200,000 m2), which he called Essex Hill Farm, after his home county in England. The suburb was known as Belmore South until 1910.
Benjamin Taylor had a 22 hectare property in the 1880s. He named his property “Lakeba” (pronounced Lakemba) after the Lakeba Island in the Lau Islands group of Fiji, where his second wife’s grandparents, Rev and Mrs Cross, were missionaries from 1835. One of the original streets is Oneata Street, named after another small Fijian Island, close to Lakeba. Benjamin Taylor was variously an entomologist, town clerk, Alderman and Mayor of Canterbury Council. The railway line was built to the neighboring suburb of Belmore in 1895 and extended to Lakemba and beyond, in 1909. The station was built on Benjamin Taylor’s property and was named after his ‘Lakemba Cottage’.
Also, we would like to pray Juma (each Friday 12PM-2PM) and Tarawee pray in the Haldon Street, Lakemba.
We would like to carry the values of Lakemba and add up one more item to the history. We will celebrate that first day of Adhan day (If you allow so). Please show the world, you are not racist and following the civilized country like others.
We have shown the whole year through since around 50 years and now your time to come forward and show your wisdom. We would like to work shoulder to shoulder together. I personally believe that, our relationship will be stronger with the community any other time than before.
Please consider all above & give us a chance to make a big news in the front page about you & council. You and your council will be popular and people will be happier than any time before.