Shamsiya Hussainpoor
Emerald Village Association (EVA) hosted an intergenerational meeting on Thursday 14 March to improve Emerald both for locals and visitors.
The community round tables welcomed many locals from all age groups including Emerald Secondary College student leaders, Menzies Creek Primary School students, Emerald Glade residents, Emerald Men’s Shed members, seniors and other interested community members.
A number of questions were prepared by the EVA in regards to Emerald’s future planning and community’s safety – these questions were answered by participants and the answers will be fed back to State and local government.
The meeting consisted of 12 tables, in each table there were one or two senior citizens, secondary student and three or four primary students.
Emerald Village Association committee member Shelley Beardshaw said it was a successful gathering with three generations of Emerald in district people attending.
Ms Beardshaw said there were questions about what teenagers did during weekends and after school.
“We saw there’s a need for places like the hub and the library to have rooms and activities for teenagers who weren’t into biking or skateboarding, like a games room.”
Many members and decision makers of the community were there including Cardinia Shire Council Mayor Jack Kowarzik, Councillor Jeff Springfield, Emerald Secondary College Assistant Principal Tiana Clayworth and other council members.
Ms Beardshaw said they were feeding back to council people while they were there about how the locals want emerald to look like in the future.
“It was a great meeting where people shared their opinions and points of view,” she said.
“One group of students said, they’d like to see a smaller carbon footprint on the earth and we thought it was a worthwhile contribution.”
While the meeting mainly had positive interactions, there was some negative feedback too, particularly regarding the traffic through Emerald and issues around storm damages and clean ups.
“It was a very positive morning, just the getting together was positive in itself because all those kids feel as though their opinions are valued,” she said.
The meeting ended with a morning tea.
