WHEN a community input meeting was last called in Lithgow a few years back ostensibly to provide an opportunity for members of the public to throw in their ideas for advancing the district community it became more than a little farcical. This ‘public input meeting’ proved to be little more than an ambush for Lithgow Council. For most of the well attended meeting the speakers took the opportunity to seek to settle personal scores with the council representatives present. Any ideas that came forward were lost in the vitriol. That meeting had been called by the Lithgow Business Association. On Tuesday evening next week (7pm) another community meeting has been called at the Workmens Club to discuss the ‘crisis’ in employment resulting from job losses in the mining and power generation industries and again to seek new ideas. This time the meeting has been called by the mining unions and hopefully the input will be more constructive than the last time around. No doubt it is no more than coincidence that the meeting has been scheduled just 12 days out from the state election.

The alternatives

YOU can expect traffic volumes on Hartley Valley Road and the Chifley Road-Darling Causeway route to just about reach motorway standards over the next couple of years now that work is beginning on the reconstruction of the Forty Bends sector of the Great Western Highway. Although physical work is yet to begin the road has already been reduced to one lane in each direction with a corresponding dramatic drop in the speed limit to 60km/h all the way from the top of River Lett Hill almost to the 70 zone at Donnybrook. The result? Slower progress and the immediate creation of a new happy hunting ground for the Highway Patrol. The work at Forty Bends, not without its critics, was supposed to have started more than two years ago but better late than never. Meantime the project will be a test for Hartley Valley Road where the bitumen is already in a poor state at several locations.

Off the calendar

IS the Lithgow upmarket social calendar becoming overcrowded? The Highland Ball is one of the ‘must attend’ events of the year and over the past couple of years the Highland Band has introduced a traditional Scottish knees up with the unpronounceable title Ceilidh. It was scheduled to take place again next week but has been now cancelled for this year at least due to lack of early ticket sales. But don’t despair; the Highland Ball will again join the Catholic Ball in dominating ‘the season’ later this year and provide another reason to dress up and play up.

Found wanting

ENDEAVOUR Energy’s emergency line was found wanting when the electricity failed across the Lithgow-Hartley area during a violent storm on Sunday. Callers sitting in darkness while seeking to contact Endeavour (on their mobiles) encountered a robot informing them there were no supply problems in the 2790 postcode area and that ALL customer service operators were busy. After remaining on hold for as much as 45 minutes the column was left wondering about Endeavour’s definition of ALL. Perhaps that robot was the only operator on duty on a Sunday afternoon. It was a long and frustrating experience for callers wondering how long they would be without power. Community Cinema supremo Ross Adams was so frustrated after seven attempts when the power failed mid way though the matinee that he even tried a different supplier to see if they could help with information. With the price of electricity these days one would hope for a better response system.