By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey mayor Sam Aziz has threatened to sue Berwick Springs residents protesting on Facebook against the destruction of their estate’s gateway roundabout.
In recent days, several residents received legal letters on behalf of Cr Aziz seeking the removal of allegedly defamatory Facebook comments.
The letters demanded an apology “in wording to be agreed”, and the payment of Cr Aziz’s “reasonable” legal costs as well as “adequate” damages compensation.
Cr Aziz told Star News: “As this is the subject of a current legal process, I can’t make any comment.”
Residents’ spokesman Michael Ball said up to a dozen letter recipients were concerned about wearing the cost of Cr Aziz’s “extreme response” to their comments on the Save Berwick Springs Promenade Roundabout page.
“You’d expect a politician with such experience to be able to manage these complaints and comments, and respond to them appropriately.
“When you’re talking about a couple of thousand residents who are emotionally involved in the issue, you can expect to get some negative feedback and commentary.”
The residents had either posted criticism or were purported administrators of Facebook pages protesting against Cr Aziz and a proposed widened roundabout at Greaves Road and Berwick Springs Promenade, Narre Warren.
The roundabout – five times larger than the present intersection – would destroy the landscaped, bluestone wall gateway to the prestigious Berwick Springs estate, Mr Ball says.
On 26 April, the Save Berwick Springs Promenade Roundabout pages’ administrators posted an “important notice” about the “threat of legal prosecution”.
The post suggested an embargo against further comments on the pages.
“We encourage any resident who receives the threat of legal prosecution to contact the administrators of this page,” the posts stated.
“We are in this together.”
The page has since posted an urgent request for legal assistance.
In the bitter four-month dispute, crowds of residents have protested at the site and up to 1300 signatures have been collected on a petition against the project.
Mr Ball has accused Cr Aziz of “turning his back” on his constituents while Cr Aziz branded the residents as “brainwashed … by a chief agitator”.
This year, Casey Council also investigated classifying Mr Ball as an “unreasonable complainant” and removed protest placards erected in the neighbourhood.
The council, backed unanimously by its councillors, has pledged the building of a comparable gateway set back from the roundabout.
Mr Ball said the latest threats had only made him more resolute, and would make Cr Aziz more unfavourable to the public.
“The fact remains council … voted in favour to proceed with this unwarranted destruction and loss of parklands that will not benefit residents but only benefit a developer who wants access to their estate on the other side of Greaves Road.
“Threats of legal prosecution will never change or have any bearing on these facts.
“We are not going to be distracted by these mind games.”
