Apathy is a dreadful thing. NBN contractors were working along Ocean Drive in Lake Cathie until about six weeks ago, ending at the corner of Fiona Crescent.
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It took until Tuesday, March 20 to get the last of their trash removed from the footpath. There were two companies, from what I can gather, one to bore the subterranean conduit and the other to feed in the fibre-optic cabling.
I made about 14 phone calls, 18 text messages and several emails over the six weeks, all mostly to no avail.
The NBN's NSW Community Liaison person was suitably unimpressed with the mess left behind - dirty rags, drink cans thrown onto front lawns, carboard coffee trays, lumps of clay and various mangled turf (etc). He called and said it wasn't good enough.
After the Porr Macquarie-Hastings Council ranger was notified, a person came and walked past the area and reported ‘there was no rubbish found in Fiona Crescent’. No doubt. All the work was in Ocean Drive.
Second week after the contractors left, a crew came and tossed dry-looking substitute top-soil where the boring entry point was, laden with bits of tape, plastic and metal components, plastic container lids, and jagged broken glass .. just what we need for unwary children and pets to slice their feet!
Another week later, a young contractor fellow phoned and asked me to walk along and show him the rubbish. He was mid-20s and I'm sure his eyesight would be better than mine, in mid-60s, yet he walked right past several lots of cable-ties. Seven on one front lawn!
What does it take for some people to respect community space? It's not hard, as any one-year-old knows: sight the object, bend, coordinate thumb and forefinger to pick it up.
For those yet to have the NBN experience, some houses have a boring entry point out front, others may have inspection holes, around which star posts are driven to hold bright plastic warning tape for pedestrians - which is secured by plastic cable-ties.
Each time the work proceeds further along the road, the cable-ties are cut and left where they fall - presumably for the fairies to clean up.
When I had my repair business, my customers appreciated that I never left any mess where I worked. I was brought up properly.
On Tuesday, March 20 cable-ties were left at the corner where they fell. I explained the issue to Dr Gillespie's office, and a very short while later, the cable-ties were gone. Remember that, people, when NBN contractors leave a mess on your footpath.
Johnno Rayment
Lake Cathie
