Council under fire for slashing funding for popular Christmas lights street

A council in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs is facing scrutiny after slashing traffic safety funding for one of the state’s most beloved Christmas street displays.

For decades, Ninth Avenue in St Peters has turned into a holiday wonderland every December, with more than 70 households putting on a light show that attracts thousands of families.

Last year, the Norwood Payneham and St Peters Council funded a $60,000 traffic management plan to handle the bumper crowds and keep suburban streets safe.

However, a letter recently distributed to residents confirmed those measures “will not be provided” this year.

Council officials confirmed to 9News the budget has instead been reduced to $10,000, designated solely for pedestrian safety signage.

Locals are concerned that those measures won’t be enough.

Read more

David Jones ‘in breach’ for failing to pay rent for Westfield stores, operator says

“As families we just want the kids to be safe, so having traffic restrictions I think is quite important,” resident Sarah said.

Long-time resident Sandra also questioned the council’s spending priorities.

“Council spend so much money on everything else, why can’t they support something fun like this?” she said.

South Australian Minister for Housing and Urban Development Nick Champion echoed the community’s safety warnings, urging the council to “rethink the traffic management issue”.

“You’ve got a lot of young kids moving down a street, and you’ve still got traffic moving down that street,” Champion said.

The safety funding cut is not the only blow dealt to the event.

Read more

A blue tsunami just hit the US. Trump may unleash ‘tremendous powers’ to get around it

Council has also advised that no permits will be issued to food trucks or mobile vendors this year, officially locking out popular fixtures like ice cream vans.

Reg, who has lived on Ninth Avenue for more than half a century, said the ban will take the shine off the community tradition.

“It’s got particularly big perhaps over the last 15 years or so,” he said.

“[The ice cream vans] are a pretty popular part of the event.”