Once again all our previous records have been absolutely obliterated. Our monthly record now stands at 15,903 (and this is with one less day than the previous month). Our weekly record has also gone through the roof, as well as our daily figures – 1023 hits in a 24 hour period. We also welcome another 14 new subscribers to the site. We are incredibly chuffed with these results and thank all our readers.
Since we’ve been online for 1 year and 2 days, we thought it was time for a ‘retrospective’ – to pinpoint the issues that appear to have generated the most discussion, greatest concern or interest for residents. Without a doubt, GOVERNANCE, in all its guises, was the top issue. We’ve had another Municipal Inspector’s investigation (whitewash?) which queried various practices of councillors; there was a focus (again) on Newton and his shortened reappointment; as well as various conflict of interest matters. Then there was the resignation of Whiteside and her allegations of poor governance on the part of certain councillors. None of this has really been resolved as far as we’re concerned. Good governance, transparency, accountability, and openness are still in short supply at Glen Eira.
Planning, whether this be individual applications, or Planning Scheme reviews, are also strong contenders for ‘issue of the year’. It is however extremely gratifying to find that council meetings are no longer empty echo chambers, but now often filled with placard waving objectors who have taken the trouble to organise themselves and to fight what they believe to be poor planning policy and even worse decisions. In this way, decision makers are held accountable. But we believe much more needs to be done, and this leads onto the third and probably most important issue that faces the community – consultation, or the lack thereof.
For the past decade, any semblance of genuine community consultation has been eroded and stripped away via tiny ‘adjustments’ to the Local Law Meeting Procedures and policies which go through the pretext of consultation, but which, we suspect, have the outcomes preordained. Real engagement, consultation and ultimately empowerment of residents is non existent. Whatever spin administrators and certain councillors insist on trotting out, nothing can hide the reality that residents’ views are largely ignored, or worse, not even sought.
So everything seems to boil down to a corporate culture that is aided and abetted by processes that only pay lip service to the tenets of open and transparent government. The success of this site is clear evidence that many, and an ever growing growing number of residents generally agree with us and welcome a forum that enables them to express their views.
A sincere ‘thank you’ for all your well wishes and support.
Glen Eira Debates 
July 1, 2011 at 2:45 AM
Congratulations for all the hard work and production of an excellent and reliable account of the careless governance we are receiving from our GE Council. As far as I can see many councillors and asministrators in the “ivory tower of Caulfield” do not have the interests of ratepayers as being anywhere near important and the sooner we rid ourselves of this shoddy representation of our wishes the better. Hopefully it wiill be very soon before the whole of the parks are re-concreted and bitumenised and those who wish to run and breathe fresh air will still have this opportunity without damaging their knees on the hard surfaces.
We now also need to sing the song of “goodbye mr Wick(Southwick” loud and clear.
July 1, 2011 at 10:01 AM
I’ll second these comments and thank the people running the blog. It’s important that there exists a counter voice in Glen Eira that does put the spotlight on issues and gets past the council version of events to the real story.
July 1, 2011 at 10:29 AM
I am interested to know why you never quote what Cr Lobo has to say. Seems to me you you ignore him. You have plenty to say about Hyams, Lipshutz, Esakoff, Pilling, Magee. How about reporting Lobo’s views.
July 1, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Dear Anon,
we have not reported on Cr. Lobo’s views for several meetings simply because he literally has not said anything! He has voted on issues but has not spoken on any, nor asked questions. When he does, we will include a summary of his comments. In fairness, we should also note that Cr. Lobo has had leave and just returned to meetings. Currently, Cr. Penhalluriack is on leave.
PS: you should also note that quite often council meetings turn into the Lipshutz/Hyams show. We suggest that you research the resolutions and examine how many of them have the above two names beside them as movers and seconders.
July 1, 2011 at 11:08 AM
Maybe Cr Lobo’s silence should be noted. Lipshutz and Hyams are simply doing what they were elected to do. Like what they say or not they can probably justify the $20,000 we pay them each year. Lobo seems to get paid appearance money. He is either lazy or stupid. Maybe both.
July 1, 2011 at 11:55 AM
If Lobo is “lazy or stupid” then he aint’ alone. Liipshutz qualifies magnificently. Have you ever got him to answer an email or a phone call? How about showing up to meetings when he’s supposed to? His absences alone are probably worth $10,000 of ratepayers money.
July 1, 2011 at 1:37 PM
From observing your posts on this blog I am with the impression that you have conveyed a degree of rudeness to Cr. Lipshutz. If this is the case I am not surprised that he does not respond to your emails or phone calls. Taking an aggressive approach always leads to failure.
July 1, 2011 at 3:25 PM
As Honest Abe once said “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”. Thank you Messrs Lipshutz and Hyams.
July 1, 2011 at 10:39 AM
The three issues that the moderators have selected (ie governance, planning and consultation) are certainly the most contentious in this municipality. I’ve just finished reading the annual Community Satisfaction Survey and it reinforces the above dramatically. Glen Eira has gone backwards on the public’s perception of engagement, planning, traffic management and consultation. The only improvement is in how parks look and I’d suggest that this is largely superficial and what council invests a large part of its resources on. I also found it to be an intriguing admission that in the past when this research is released we have the obligatory media release lauding the achievements of council and how much better we are than our benchmark group. This year there is no media release and not even a blurb to accompany the link from the home page. Is it possible that even someone of Mr Burke’s talents for self promotion found the challenge of debunking this set of results well and truly beyond him? Since we’re repeatedly told that quantitative research matters, this survey cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. It is simply more independent and unbiased evidence of the growing dissatisfaction out in the community.
July 1, 2011 at 6:01 PM
Cr Lobo non-communicado is most interesting as he was quite vocal for sometimes and then all of a sudden he shut his trap. Who got to him, good and proper? One guess, the one that thinks he is the best, Cr Lipshutz that knows how to intimidate, and bully if necessary, quite legally, behind closed doors! And who has assisted Cr Lipshutz in that task to make Cr Lobo ineffective, upset, depressed, and eventually withdrawn from his usual jovial, outgoing nature? The one that gets most out of such dissension among councillors, the CEO Andrew Newton.
But that is not all. Now we have an action by the ‘gang of four’ to exclude Cr Penhalliurack from carrying out his duty as a councillor. Why? Obvious, it will allow Mr Newton to continue his term beyond the 2 years decided in 2010.
Glen Eira community I despair for you and your destiny with Andrew Newton at the helm.
July 1, 2011 at 8:52 PM
Lobo has been a passenger on Council. He obviously doesn’t agree with the ruling clique but lacks the guts to speak out. He should resign.
July 1, 2011 at 10:24 PM
Afraid I can’t agree with you on Lobo. When he first came in he was an absolute dynamo – speaking to as many residents as he could just to see what the problems were. He also tried to get things changed in council but was hitting the wall repeatedly with the gang of four. I’m told that he has been ill recently and this may account for his less vocal performances. Either way, in my view anyone who quits a well paid job to take on being a councillor for a mere $20,000+ deserves some kudos. Shows that his intentions were admirable, if not always successful.
July 1, 2011 at 10:38 PM
I accept that he may well be an admirable fellow. I was not aware he had given up a job to be on council. However, he has been a very ineffectual councillor. I just wish he would stand up for what he believes.
July 2, 2011 at 9:20 AM
This fellow didn’t really get elected. He got very few votes and was running to soak up votes and defer his preference to Staikos. He like Cr. Forge arrived unintended. He really thought that he would become mayor after being on the Council for 5 minutes. This is an insight into his thinking. Not all his fault. No one ever said politics is a nice persuit. By his behaviour I suspect he has worked this out. I don’t know of another Councillor anywhere in Australia that has a personalised number plates on their car telling all that the driver is a councillor. This guy has been used by others, unfortunately.
July 2, 2011 at 12:03 PM
One day soon all the dirt will come out. We will know exactly why Feldman left in such a hurry and why Whiteside quit and why the gang of four/five have control over voting. What’s in it for them is the question that keeps running through my head especially when in 2005 it was Esakoff and Hyams who lead the charge to get rid of Newton. They were inept, but this doesn’t explain why there’s now this total backflip. The other important thing is the role of Lipshutz and what he gets out of all this. Far too much is happening out of public view and it all leads to rotten rotten rotten government.
July 2, 2011 at 10:14 PM
I’d like to acknowledge the very impressive contribution Glen Eira Debates has made to improving the functioning of democracy in Glen Eira, but there’s a particular contribution I think that deserves special mention.
When Council publishes its Meeting Minutes you can read what decisions were made but rarely *why* they were made. Who spoke to a motion, what they said, the arguments Councillors used to justify a particular position…none of that is disclosed by Council. Someone independent has to sit through Council Meetings and take notes.
We should all be grateful that there are people who are prepared to do that. After all, more fun can be had at the Dentist. Its through their efforts that we gain a much richer insight into decision-making processes at Council. While its not pretty, its essential for the effective functioning of Democracy.
Who could deny the tears of pleasure that well up when Cr Lipschutz claims he routinely bags VCAT, then invokes their name to justify granting a Permit that fails to comply with “our” Planning Scheme. Or Cr Pilling supporting yet another concrete box with no landscaping and minimal articulation to fulfil the Greens vision. We have been regaled by Cr Hyams with his views about the desirability of C60. And since apparently its “Pick On Cr Lobo Week”, there was the infamous week where Cr Lobo exhorted his fellow Councillors to fight for residents rather than big developers. Not very successfully though.
Local Government is serious business, and there’s lots of money to be made by some. More than ever we need the community to be well-informed and to get involved in the decisions that affect our lives. We should insist on clear rationales for each decision ostensibly being made in our collective name. So well done Glen Eira Debates for the critical analysis of each Meeting and highlighting the huge yawning gap between what is said and what gets officially published.