Can you believe it’s already the end of March! 

There’s been a whirlwind of activity happening around our City this month and I am grateful for all the amazing people who helped make it possible.

I recently joined former Mayor Helen Westwood AM at the re-naming of the Chester Hill Community Centre in her honour. I also met the religious leaders who are guiding our community during this holy season and attended Tender Loving Care’s recent event aimed to Ignite Change Through Connection for people with disabilities. 

It was also great to head out to local parks to see the upgrades happening around our City and the people who maintain them all year round. 

And I was very excited to hit some of my own major milestones this month as mayor. 

I held my largest citizenship ceremony to date where I swore in over 1000 new citizens, a truly humbling experience for someone like myself who was born overseas and arrived in Australia as an immigrant.

I also met the beautiful, five-year-old, Sophia, who fled the war in Palestine with her mother, grandmother and aunties to start a new life. She is starting a new life in Australia, losing her father and grandfather. 

A special thank you to all those who helped make the past month possible and I look forward to continuing to meet everyone who contributes to making our City wonderful.

• Celebrating Greek Independence Day in Earlwood, the most populated Greek community in Australia, was an amazing experience. I was honoured to fly the Greek flag and celebrate with cultural dancing. 

• The amazing new Paul Keating Park upgrades are underway and the new multimillion dollar park will be ready by early winter for the kids to enjoy. 

• Bankstown Arts Centre’s Culture Alive Exhibition was a real eye-opener. I strolled through artist Travis De Vries’, experimental exhibition, ‘Blak Flaneur.’

• I dropped into Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital to visit stroke patient, Bob after an incident that left our Council rangers playing medical professionals. 

The two rangers found Bob unconscious in the street and have been commended by doctors for helping get him to hospital on time.

• The changes that happened at the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs called for a quick visit to wish new chairman Adam Driussi good luck on his appointment and thank John Khoury for his dedication to the club.

• Keeping Belmore Sports Ground maintained is not an easy job, and I met the man who does it every day. With over 22 years of experience at this ground alone, Council groundskeeper, Lee Best is simply the best at what he does.