After reading last week’s Advertiser article “Is this Cessnock’s worst road?”, Greta resident and business owner Michael Younes wanted to highlight other areas of Cessnock he believes need council attention.
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Mr. Younes owns the Metro Service Station on High Street, Greta as well as the Quick N Easy Car Wash on Wermol Street, Kurri – both of which he said are poor quality roads.
“There is no incentive from the city council to bring business people into Cessnock,” Mr. Younes said.
“It’s a tourist area; they [Cessnock City Council] should lift up the image of Cessnock and the surrounding area.”
Mr. Younes has lived in Greta for 13 years and said he has not seen any improvements to the roads in that time, apart from the ones that have come from his own back pocket.
Around six years ago Mr. Younes spent almost $50,000 of his own money to repair the road leading from the New England Highway into the service station.
Prior to this, the road “was full of dirt”, he said.
“All the trucks brought dust into my business.”
He preached to council and Roads and Maritime Services through phone calls and by going down to the council, but when he realised no action would be taken he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“People say ‘Michael, you are so lucky the city council did it,’ but I say no, it came from my own pocket.”
He said since he has upgraded the road business has improved.
“All the streets are similar in Greta,” he said.
“We are paying high rates and we should be getting good facilities.”
Mr. Younes said he pays nearly $15,000 in rates per year for his business in Greta and almost $10,000 for his carwash in Kurri.
He said the quality of Wermol Street in Kurri is affecting his carwash business.
“You spend $25 to get your car washed and vacuumed then you go five metres away from the carwash and it’s dirty again.”
He said the only work that gets done is patching up the potholes, which is a “waste of time and a waste of money”.
“It’s time to ring the bell in the ears of the city council and say ‘wake up’.”
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