Congratulations to councillors for organising last night’s forum. Approximately 35 to 40 people showed up which represents one of the largest turnouts at this kind of event.
The evening began with Jamie Hyams presenting an overview of Council’s achievements, followed by Jim Magee speaking on GESAC and priorities in capital works. Concluding the presentations, Oscar Lobo spoke about the organisational structure of council and the quality of the Annual Report. We understand that the original intention was that each speaker would proceed with their talks and then only at the end would the floor be thrown open to questions. The evening however did not follow this format. Members of the audience started asking questions and making comments almost from the beginning of Hyam’s presentation. This set the scene for a much freer evening where people felt they had the opportunity to speak their mind.
Some of the issues raised were:
- Lack of structure planning and the need for council to provide an overall vision for shopping centres that includes direct consultation with traders, residents, community groups, etc.
- Poor service delivery
- Inappropriate development and council’s need to protect residents
- Waste of public monies in sub-standard road and unnecessary pavement works
- Priority listings of pavilions and need for revisiting of such priorities
- Job descriptions for mayors
- Inadequate car parking at GESAC
There was generally some expectation that councillors ‘do something’ about the above issues. It will be interesting to see what eventuates from this forum. Will councillors first and foremost report back to residents as to their follow up actions? Will councillors introduce motions and amendments at council meetings that seek answers to some of the above? Will anything change?
Glen Eira Debates 
October 28, 2010 at 12:27 PM
It was a last minute decision to show up last night and I’m glad I did. Glen Eira, you’re being too kind. Why don’t you tell it like it was?
Presentations were nothing more than the usual spiel taken directly from reports and tabled documents from council meetings. The same old party line was trotted out – low cost, best performing and we can’t do everything otherwise the rates would go through the roof. What really got on my goat though was Magee’s response to one old gentleman, probably in his mid eighties, who complained about rubbish dumped and not removed for ages, street trees not being pruned, phone calls to council not going anywhere. Magee’s response was that the rubbish was part of a building site. Hey, Cr. Magee, we have rules and regulations about building sites. They’re supposed to be cleaned up and not create any problems. But I guess all this depends on how well officers actually police their own policies! As to the other complaints this old chap listed, Magee ended up by telling him that residents shouldn’t expect council to do everything – that this old man should sweep his own path! Sorry but you completely lost me then Magee – just shows how much you understand residents frustrations about what we don’t get and how many phone calls and letters it takes to even get a response.
Many of the other comments were also about quality control and how much money is literally being wasted. People gave examples of uneven roads (Rob Hudson) which are a pedestrian hazard, and others talked about the megabuck redevelopment of centre road with its ‘beautiful’ bitumen paths that have traders displays sinking into them!! it went on and on. So Magee et.al we’re all concerned about quality and the bang in the buck. Don’t give us all the rubbish about low cost councils. Your job as a councillor is to ask questions, make sure that workmanship is up to standard and if not sue the bastards.
The final joke was at the close of the meeting I stood around speaking with a couple of the other residents and we laughed about Lobo’s organisational chart. It comes from the annual report where there is the hierarchy of (and I quote) – community – council – administration. We all laughed and said that it’s really the other way around – administration – council and community on the bottom.
October 28, 2010 at 6:09 PM
We’ve just received the following email which was SENT to the three Tucker Ward councillors. We’ve put it up here because we believe it reflects many of the themes raised at last night’s forum. The sender’s name and address has been left out.
“Dear Councillors,
I am writing to you on behalf of several residents in Crozier Crt, McKinnon, all of whom are extremely annoyed at what has occurred in our court and along the Elster Creek Trail today.
Without any warning, or consultation, 4 ‘no standing’ signs have been erected in our street. For years and years now we have parked our cars along this strip of parkland without any concerns. Because Crozier court is, as the name suggests, a curved street, there is obviously less parking space available than in a normal street. Five families have more than one car, so the need to park where the signs have gone up is essential.
I rang council this afternoon and was informed that this is a ‘safety’ issue. I couldn’t disagree more! My daughter uses a wheelchair and scooter for mobility, as does another neighbour at the intersection of Brennan St and the trail. We have never been given any consideration as to our ‘safety’ needs. I was also told that one single complaint had been made. To therefore act on the basis of one complaint is unbelievalbe – especially when your actions impact on countless others and they have not been given the opportunity to voice an opinion, or even the courtesy of being informed that this is about to happen. We absolutely challenge the argument that ‘safety’ is involved at all. If it were, then why hasn’t Brennan St, which is identical, also had signs erected?
Further, I wish to protest in the strongest possible terms as to what I see as wanton destruction of trees along the trail rather than professional and prudent pruning and management. Several of these trees were not only showing signs of recovery, they had only been planted for less than two years. All these trees required was careful pruning, rather than their destruction. I am also concerned as to the costs involved in such wanton destruction and how our rates are being used.
I intend to present a petition and would like you as my representatives to ask the relevant questions and receive the correct answers from the parks and traffic departments in order to ensure that the signs are reviewed and that trees are correctly pruned and preserved.
yours truly…”
October 29, 2010 at 1:53 PM
Well it certainly was obvious how out of touch with the public, Cr Magee and the other councilors where. That poor block from Victory Park expressing the scenario he faces when having to “walk young girls past changing boys and men only to then be faced with a urinal prior to getting to the cubical”. What an appalling situation to be in. Only for Cr Magee to admit and I quote, “I am embarrassed, deeply embarrassed and so is the council about the situation of Victory Park, but we are embarrassed about Centenary Park also…”. Helow, Cr Magee you and the council now about the situation and all you can say is your imbaraced? Does Centenary Park also have girls in the same situation?
October 30, 2010 at 6:48 AM
No, Centenary Park doesn’t have girls in this situation.
October 30, 2010 at 5:02 PM
If this isn’t that biggest admission of guilt, I don’t know what is. What is more damning is that it was said not only in the presence of 40 odd people but infront of Rob Hudson.
October 30, 2010 at 5:43 PM
I wonder what was racing through Mr Rob Hudson’s mind when he heard all this. If I where him I would have made a fast exit.
Considering the amount of money that has been put towards GESAC and Duncan McKinnon reserve by the local MP and yet there are children in 2010 that do not have access to basic facilities. Looks like they all have their heads in the clouds!
November 23, 2010 at 12:30 PM
I can only say this is politics at its best.
Rob Hudson is chasing the votes and has gone after Centenary Park with $1,000,000. Why? You would assume Cr Magee told him to.
Rob Hudson must think that the public at Centenary Park have a bigger support base to that of Victory Park.
Mr Hudson, in an effort to get the greatest number of votes one would think to spend money on the interests of the greater community. Did anyone tell you that greater community of East Bentleigh is in support of having the parents, girls and boys at Victory Park catered for?
November 23, 2010 at 9:15 AM
Not only is the council ignoring this “Embarrassing” situation but now so is Rob Hudson.
I have just been on his web site and low and behold he has promised $1,000,000 to Centenary Park.
How in heavens name can he do that fully knowing what is happening at Victory Park?
November 1, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Why would Cr Magee ADMIT that “he and the council” are “embarrassed” about the situation at Victory Park and then bring up other Pavilions like Centenary Park when they do not face the same issues as Victory Park?
What is going on here?
Duncan McKinnon Reserve has facilities for both genders.
Why aren’t they attending to Victory Park which lacks these facilities as a priority?
Isn’t it obvious what needs to be attended to first?
November 23, 2010 at 9:36 AM
Interesting that Cr Magee mentioned Centenary Park at the Forum.
Only to see, that Rob Hudson has now pledged $1,000,000 to Centenary Park.
What is the interest here?
I thought councilors where representatives of the municipality and where suppose to be the voice of the people. Only to see that Cr Magee like all the other councilors ignore what the community deems to be important and we strongly believe Victory Park is important. Cr Magee and Rob Hudson, shame on you.
November 1, 2010 at 11:42 AM
It might be an idea to speak to Rob Hudson as he is actively doing things for the community.
It would be intresting to see if he Rob Hudson has been approached by the man or even council about the situation at Victory Park.
November 3, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Just looked up Rob Hudson’s web page and amongst his achievements he mentions nothing about Female Facilities at Victory Park. Disappointing, I must say.
November 23, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Dear Jim Magee. You openly stated that, “I am embarrassed, deeply embarrassed and so is the council about the situation of Victory Park, but we are embarrassed about Centenary Park also…”.
You had a chance to make a difference and to show the whole community of Tucker Ward that we were right in voting for you and then you proceed to ignore what is the obvious priority and get Rob Hudson to direct his attention with a $1 mil injection into Centenary Park. Centenary Park doesn’t have the same problems as Victory Park and they don’t have girls.
You are damaged goods, just like the rest of the Glen Eira Council. You have conformed to the antics of the other councilors and you have lost my vote. Just as Rob Hudson, is about to do so for being out of touch with the real issues of his electorate.
October 29, 2010 at 6:40 PM
It wasn’t just Cr Magee that dug a big hole for himself and the council. Cr Hyams did a great job himself. Cr Hyams bailed up that gentleman from Victory Park and I quote, “in 2007 when the Pavilion Report was established did you have any girls teams? Because if you did, you would have been higher in the priority list.” The reply from the gentleman this question was directed to by Cr Hyams was as follows, “ Jamie, don’t take my word for it but you are aware that we don’t have pavilion access as it has been passed over to the local cricket club. I suggest you grab the keys tomorrow from the council and have a look at the flags the girls team won in 2006. They are still hanging on the pavilion walls. Those same girls where there as Under 13 and Under 14 in 2007.”
This brings up the next question, how thorough an analysis was performed by the then Cr Tang on the public that utilized these facilities that assisted him in creating this so called priority list? With the statement made by Cr Hymas obviously not a good enough analysis. Thus these people have been enduring these conditions well before 2006. That is at least 5 years ago. Well Glen Eira Council you should be EXTREMELY EMBARRASED!!!!!!!!
October 30, 2010 at 8:57 AM
I attended the forum and although my only interest was to make a point about unnecessary and unwanted development in the municipality, I couldn’t help but be drawn in to the situation at Victory Park. From my understanding on what is being written on this site, what was said during the Forum and correct me if I’m wrong. They have been enduring these conditions for at least 5 years. This is not a third world country Councilors.
It was stated that the pavilion at Duncan McKinnon Reserve will proceed and it will take two years to complete. Meaning it will be finished somewhere between 2012 and 2013.
Therefore, even if the Victory Park Pavilion was next in the priority list, they would have been subjected to and I quote, “this Embarrassing situation” for 7 to 8 years. But they are not next on the priority list from what was said by Cr Magee. I listened as he rolled off another 2 or 3 Reserve names prior to the Victory Park. What are those kids suppose to do?
Let us say for argument sake the Council proceeds with the Duncan McKinnon Reserve upgrade.
What is council going to do to address immediate “Embarrassing” situation at Victory Park?
Surely they have ignored it for long enough.
October 30, 2010 at 12:19 PM
I was at the Forum also and I can’t believe that the Councilors new about the conditions at Victory Park and purely sat on their hands. They know about it. They are embarrassed about it. They do nothing about it. From where I stand this is illegal and discriminatory.
October 30, 2010 at 4:39 PM
I pulled up the November 2007 report, Item 8.11 Priorities for Pavilion Upgrades.
Categories:
“Policy & Strategy: Existing Policy/Strategy” Marks out of 10
“Building Issues: Physical Condition
Building Compliance” Marks out of 20
“Functionality: No of change rooms
Size of Change Rooms
Showers able to cater for both genders
Multipurpose Change Rooms
First Aid Room
Referees Room
Sufficient Storage” Marks out of 30
“Usage: No of Seasons Tenants Domiciled in the Pavilion
No of Teams that the Seasonal Tenant has
No of Change Room Users (based on the team size for the sport played and the facility usage)
Average No of Casual Sporting Tenants
No of Uses per annum of Facilities
Proportion of Junior members” Marks out of 30
“Service:No of Facilities Served
Facility Compliance: the facilities serviced should comply with required standards” Marks out of 10
Rankings:
Duncan McKinnon Overall score 88/100 Demolish/New
Marlbrough Reserve Overall score 69/100 Demolish/New
Centenary Park Overall score 68/100 Demolish/New
Murrumbeena Park Overall score 67/100 Demolish/New
EE Gunn Baseball Overall score 67/100 Major reno
Victory Park Overall score 67/100 Demolish/New
EE Gunn Pavilion & Grandstand
Overall score 66/100 Major reno
Caulfield Park Main Pavilion
Overall score 64/100 Major reno
Etc.
Most noticeable is that Victory Park was rated higher (and deemed under the “Indicative Works as Demolish/New”) than Caulfield Park (that under the “Indicative Works as Major Renovations”) and yet Caulfield Park was Demolished.
Section 6 says and I quote, “The Priorities for Pavilion Upgrades will be used to guide capital bids each year and improve the accuracy of the strategic resources plan. Community input will be sought through the annual consultation on the budget. More importantly, community consultation will take place during the planning and design stages for each pavilion.
It is recommended that a full review of the Priorities for Pavilion Upgrades be undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that changing circumstances are reflected. This review would include checking that the scores for individual pavilions are still correct.
The ranking provides guidance only and Councilors still have the opportunity to consider specific circumstances each year through the budget planning process.
While the ordered list shows that some pavilions may not receive major upgrades in the near future, Council also has capital programs for minor upgrades including bathroom and kitchen upgrades.”
Additional questions arise from this:
Why did Victory Park score so low under “Building Issues” when it obviously doesn’t comply with the regulations?
Why did Victory Park score so low under “Functionality” in 2007 when it had girl’s teams and it did not cater for both genders?
How realistic is the scoring for “Usage” when council imposes restrictions on the number of members clubs can have at a facility? If this is the case then only the clubs that are allowed to have more participants will benefit in this scoring process. Once again it’s at councils’ discretion as to which clubs, have how many participants. Not exactly a transparent process.
In fact my view is that this whole scoring process is subjective, floored and definitely not transparent.
October 30, 2010 at 5:32 PM
Interesting stuff ‘researcher’. Reminiscent of something about Vunabere Avenue which was listed about 240 in the ‘priority list’ and suddenly it jumped way up and was taken care of. There were also several letters to the Leader asking this very question: how can one street jump over 200 places and another street that according to the criteria is placed in the top ten not have any work done on it? Interesting isn’t it about how ‘flexible’ some of these criteria are – but only when council wants to ‘jig’ some of the figures and actually do something. guess it all depends on who is pushing what for what reason? Only then do these inviolate, set in concrete, criteria suddenly become blanc mange!!!
October 31, 2010 at 11:39 AM
In reference to “GE Res’s” posting based on the comment Cr Hyams made on the evening which was, “in 2007 when the Pavilion Report was established did you have any girls teams? Because if you did, you would have been higher in the priority list,” and the supporting evidence by “researcher” on the catagories and scoring”, makes it plainly obvious that the then Cr Tang did not do his job properly and is a perfect example of Councillors being out of touch with the public that put them in this position. But it also shows that the work they perform and the cost to the community to investigate these issues are a complete waste of time and money. As Caulfield Park was supposed to be a “Major Renovations” and yet the Councillors decided to spend 300% to 400% more than they originaly allowed for, and I use their terminology, to “Demolish/New”.
This also shows that had council done what they where suppose to do to Caulfield Park (and that was “Major Renovations”) there would have been enough money to upgrade Duncan McKinnon, Victory Park and other pavilions all at the same time. Therefore the situation would have been addressed a year ago. Now this “Embarrassing” situation at Victory Park will be haunting the Local MP Rob Hudson, Council and Community till something gets done.
October 31, 2010 at 2:30 PM
If I recall correctly in the Council minutes dated Tuesday 12 October 2010, Item 9.12 pages 1175 to 1176 with attachments 1 to 3. Marlborough Reserve is being looked at to have the tennis courts and club house converted to a “dog agility park”. This was put forward and seconded by Cr Magee and Cr Hyams and the MOTION was put and CARRIED unanimously.
Now how “EMBARRASSING” is this with Council having full knowledge of the issue at Victory Park whilst constantly telling us their spending is directed to priorities.
“What the hell are your priorities you idiots?”
To my knowledge and having looked back through Council minutes, they haven’t even requested a report or to seek council authorization to even look at what is needed at Victory Park.
Don’t get me wrong I love animals but are we now putting animals before children?
The dogs haven’t had an agility park till now and owners have managed.
How long do the kids at Victory Park have to wait for essential facilities, 20 years?
Or is it that the Honarable Rob Hudson will be putting some funding toward the Dog Agility Park and thus making it a PRIORITY to council?
October 30, 2010 at 7:42 PM
A little post-script to earlier message for ‘researcher’. We’ve located the original letter to the Leader (dated 16th Sept, 2009)and reproduce it below –
“Street upgrade puzzling
IWASinterested to read about Glen Eira Council plans for traffic-calming measures in Vunabere Ave (‘‘Councillors resolve an epic battle’’, Moorabbin Leader, September 9).
According to data I received from council in March in response to a Freedom of Information request, Vunabere Ave was ranked equal 325th out of 325 streets in line for traffic management works. That’s right, last. The two key measures used by the council to assess traffic are volume and speed.
Council traffic monitoring data show fewer than 500 vehicles a day use Vunabere Ave and speed (measured at the 85th percentile) is within the speed limit.
Contrast that with Whitmuir Rd in McKinnon, which the same set of data shows carries more than 2000 vehicles a day with more than 300 of those exceeding the speed limit. Every day.
That is enough to make Whitmuir Rd ranked 97th but still it is ‘‘unlikely to receive funding for traffic management in the foreseeable future’’.
I wonder if anyone at council can explain how Vunabere Ave leapt over 320 other streets, including mine?”
Stephen Kenihan
November 1, 2010 at 4:28 PM
Dear councilors, by making frank admissions of guilt as stated above and I quote, “I am embarrassed, deeply embarrassed and so is the council about the situation of Victory Park…..”
It’s not just Embarrassment you should be feeling. You should be ashamed and disgusted in this admission of guilt. By admitting this do you honestly think that things will be all right?
Or the other comment and I quote, “in 2007 when the Pavilion Report was established did you have any girls teams? Because if you did, you would have been higher in the priority list.”
Ignorance dear councilor is not a defence in the court of law.
It frightens me and gives me a sense of insecurity that Councilors have known about this and have done nothing about it. What would have happened if this man didn’t show up at the Tucker Ward Forum? I and many others would have been none the wiser. How many cases such as this are you aware of and have swept under the carpet?
Children should not have been exposed to this type of environment in our municipality.
Parents and children should not have to persevere with that substandard facility for such a ridiculous period of time.
Did you honestly believe that tactics of ignoring the obvious would cause matters of public importance just to disappear in the night?