A ‘‘frivolous’’ notice of motion to have the proposed $57 million Shellharbour City Hub building named ‘‘the Taj Mahal’’ led to questions about what name the controversial building would actually be given when complete.
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Cr Peter Moran said naming the proposed City Hub ‘‘The Taj Mahal’’, not only seemed appropriate ‘‘but has resonance within the community’’.
Mayor Marianne Saliba, pointed out that the Taj Mahal in India was actually ‘‘a gift of love’’.
Cr Moran said while the original Taj Mahal was an expression of the love from one of the mughal emperors, ‘‘in this case the hub would be a gift given to the community by some councillors out of their love for themselves ... not quite the same thing’’.
‘‘Having said that I would rather see it be called the City Hub than being named after a Labor factional warlord,’’ Cr Moran said.
‘‘Saliba House has a good ring to it,’’ the Mayor replied.
Questions were then asked what the name would be.
‘‘Is this not very similar to the naming of the railway station?’’ Cr Helen Stewart asked.
‘‘Perhaps we need to have the name Shellharbour in there.’’
Cr Saliba said nobody wanted it to be called anything but the ‘‘Shellharbour Civic Centre’’.
‘‘We are making fun of a project that has taken a lot of hard work to get to this point ... if buildings are going to be named after individuals then that will be a decision for the community,’’ Cr Saliba said.
The council’s general manager Michael Willis said the project has been talked about as the City Hub.
‘‘Whether that ends up being the name of the facility when it is built I doubt that,’’ Mr Willis said.