Now that the dust is almost settled on Slade and a deal almost complete, I wanted to pass on my thanks as a member of the Warwick community, to the people involved in the Slade Lives Again endeavour. Margaret McKinnon, Ian Perkins, Sue Propsting and other members of the SLA committee worked tirelessly against pretty big odds to secure the precinct, purchased with community funds, for the community – with no self-serving agendas. They were fighting for something they believed in and that’s not something we see too much of these days. So thank you, to that group who put themselves last in an effort to do what they believed was right. It’s said that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone and I hope that, should things progress to a conclusion with the College, they can see their way clear as new owners to allow continued use of part of the site by community groups so that that doesn’t ring true for Slade.
I now have a question for the councillors – and I reckon this should be an election issue and something EVERY member of the district should get and deserves to get – an answer on. If Slade was purchased using $3.65 million of community money, when the sale goes through, can we expect to see a refund cheque in our mail boxes from SDRC? If the community don’t see something for that $3.65 million, by way, say, of a new civic centre or publicly accessible function space for community groups currently using Slade, isn’t that effectively misappropriation of community funds? Please, if any of the six councillors who voted for the sale could let us know, I’m sure the community, whose interests you represent, would appreciate it.
Lyn Bishop
